Chapter 44

Closing my eyes, I listen to the world around me. If I can hear something apart from the pounding in my head, maybe I can make my way to the beach. It’ll be easier and safer to navigate the shores rather than stumbling through the dark forest.

“Sasha, get up. Get up and run.” Dante’s voice snaps through my mind, dragging me from my delirium and pain. “I need you to describe the area. I’m struggling to feel you. I can’t track you by your scent. It has changed.”

I sniffle and scrub my face with my hand. “I thought you left me and that being bitten might’ve changed things with you. I was so scared.”

Dante groans in my mind, his voice softening. A wave of foreign emotions crashes through me. He’s conflicted about me.

About the situation. I was right. Things have changed with him, but I don’t understand what or why.

“No, my love. Things are just a bit complicated. Now listen to me. I need you to get to your feet, channel my strength if you have to, and hide. I don’t want you running to the beach. I don’t want you trying to find me or the cave. Hide. It’s important.”

Hide? Where do I hide? I can barely see the forest in front of me. The wolves have more enhanced senses. They can hear me. Smell me. They probably already see me, watching and stalking me like a game of cat and mouse. Wolf and hare.

Then I remember what Dante had me and Breck do. We climbed a tree. If I can get up high enough, the wolves will have to transform into humans to reach me. It will give me a fighting chance. I refuse to make this easy on them.

I stumble forward, looking at the trees. I find one with a low branch that I can swing my leg up and climb even with my throbbing wounds. I think through each move carefully, getting high enough to slide from one heavy branch to another in a different tree without the lower branches. Huge leaves unlike any I’ve seen before obscure my surroundings, and I carefully camouflage myself. Hopefully the earthy fragrance helps mask my scent. It’s possible I spilled blood on the way up, but if they can only smell me and not see me, I’ll have an advantage. I can keep them away with the branches. Try to knock them off if they get within reach.

I balance on a sturdy yet narrow branch, pressing my back into the tree trunk, facing the tree I managed to climb.

Hopelessness courses through me. I hate feeling trapped. I hate feeling as if I’m just waiting for my end. Because what if the dickhead Mike was right? What if I don’t turn into a lykoswulf?

Pushing the thought away, I concentrate on my breathing as I dig my nails into my palms. It doesn’t help with the pain, but it does distract me enough that I manage to keep my shit together.

The forest comes alive the longer I focus on it. Birds rattle the branches of the trees, and I swear I hear a snake hissing somewhere overhead. I stare up, searching for the animal, but it never comes into view. Only the moon does, the bright white orb illuminating through the leaves. It’s almost full, which means it’s supposed to call to those worthy. If it does, this will be it.

I’ll be one of these beasts, blessed by their lunar goddess yet cursed by this island. Dante said I’ll be able to transform into a wolf by my own freewill except for the one night a month that forces us to succumb to the nature of the wolf.

Fuck. I wonder if it hurts as much as it does now. Bending and breaking, contorting and changing into a completely different species sounds fucking unpleasant. It does nothing to keep me calm. Just when my body and mind start to relax, the idea sets me off all over again.

Or maybe it’s the wolves.

Low howls echo through the forest, bouncing around. I can’t distinguish where they come from and can only tell that they draw nearer. I inhale and exhale softly, clutching onto the branch. I pray that I’m well hidden from below. I can’t be certain, though.

A flash of white zooms across the ground beneath me, and I recognize the white wolf. It’s the one who bit me. Anger rushes over me, and I narrow my eyes, wishing for the universe to give me a break and do something useful on my behalf like send a tree crashing into the asshole to take care of him for me.

Bowing forward, the white wolf stretches its body with a low rumble. I can’t take my eyes off the naked man who now rests on his hands and knees in the wolf’s place. I don’t recognize him, yet I know he was the one who bit me. It’s as if my body buzzes with the knowledge.

“She came through here,” the man says, his voice husky and deep with annoyance. “You allowed her to get too far. I knew I shouldn’t have trusted you with someone so precious.”

My mouth trembles. It grows harder and harder to remain quiet. I know if I move even an inch, I’ll risk them realizing that I’m closer than they think.

Tedd strides into view below. “I’m sorry, Ravi. It shouldn’t have been possible. Gerry fucked up and let her take advantage of the situation, but I handled his stupidity.”

The man, Ravi, doesn’t look at Tedd. Instead, he draws a line through the dirt and brings a palmful of soil to his nose to sniff.

“You had better. Our pack was counting on this to push power into our territory. She’s the closest human we can get to creating a pure bloodline. Gary has already grown too weak.”

Creating a pure bloodline? Fuck. It sounds like they plan to breed me or some shit like an animal. No fucking way. I will destroy every damn cock in the pack if they think they can get away with that.

“We’ll find her, Ravi. She couldn’t have gone far. You bit her on her leg and arm. It’s going to be hard for her to do anything.” Tedd strides a couple of feet away and spins on his feet. He inhales a deep breath as if he can catch a whiff of my scent.

I tense and close my eyes, saying a silent prayer.

“It had better be before the moon calls. You know she needs me to support her through it. She might die otherwise. Or the pain could become too unbearable where she does something drastic to make it stop. This is why it was so fucking important that you watched her for me.” The concern lining his voice makes me open my eyes and shift. The leaves rustle, and I regret my gesture immediately. But I was just too nosy. I wanted to look down. And now Ravi looks up, his gray eyes light enough to look as if they capture the moon’s ethereal beams. Luckily, our eyes don’t meet. He searches the tree with the low branches instead of where I remain.

Pursing his full lips, he releases a light whistle. Tedd stops moving and listens beside him. Another whistle cuts through the air, coming from somewhere in the distance. This must be how they communicate when they aren’t in wolf form.

Ravi’s long, light brown hair hangs over his shoulders, and he gathers it in his palm, tying it out of the way. “Go help Mike. He should be able to track her better than you can since they share a bloodline.” Strolling next to the tree I hide in, he touches the bark and sniffs it.

My nerves get the best of me, and I release a small breath. Shit. It’s growing harder and harder to be quiet. Dante’s taking too long, and I’m getting anxious. This beast of a man is bound to find me up here.

“Dante?” I think, the thought hopefully reaching him wherever he is. “Please hurry.”

Silence greets me.

Ravi whistles again. “Sasha, I know you’re here. You don’t have to be afraid of me. You’re going to need me soon. Let’s make things easy for you.”

Fuck me. Did he hear my thoughts? Dustin mentioned that the voices in his head were getting to him. Is it possible that more than Dante will be able to hear me? I never thought to ask him how wolves communicate. Well, lykoswulves communicate.

“I’m sorry things had to be this way, but the Crystalrock pack and the Twilight Cove pack already have too much power. They don’t need you like we do.” Ravi takes a few steps away, returning to the tree that I climbed. He gets close, pressing his nose to the bark. “Your scent is all over. It ends here. Come on, Sasha. You don’t want to make me climb into the trees, do you? You might get hurt when I carry you down.”

I don’t respond.

The leaves rustle below, and I stretch my neck and catch sight of Ravi swinging his leg over the low branch. No. He knows I’m here. He’s going to try to snatch me from my hiding place.

I fist my hand, clutching one of the branches. I stretch it enough that it should ricochet and snap toward him if he gets near me, hopefully giving me a chance to fight him off. If I fall from this height, I know I’m going to break something. But he might also break something too. It’ll be either him going down or the two of us together. Regardless, he’s insane to think I’m going to accept this and make it easy.

“Dante?” I think his name as desperation grabs hold of me. Where is he? I did what he asked. I hid. But it wasn’t good enough. Now...

“Sasha, I can hear you breathing. You sound as if you’re about to hyperventilate. Just take a deep breath. Like I said, I’m not here to hurt you. I’m here to take you somewhere safe. I’ll take care of you, but you have to let me. My name is Ravi. I’m the betaborne to Gary of the Sunset Pointe pack.” Ravi lowers his voice, the words almost melodious as they caress my ears.

It takes everything in me not to yell at him for lying. For biting me in the first place. Had I not known what the hell was going on, I would’ve been so scared. Of course, I’m still terrified. I need to get away. I need to figure out how to jump from this tree without breaking my neck or something. I need to run. I know I’m supposed to stay away from the shore, but it might be the only way I’ll be able to find the others. The thought of getting taken and never seeing them again ignites panic in my heart.

“Sasha. It doesn’t have to be this way. If you just come out, we can act as civilized people. I won’t have to drag you away and treat you like an unruly she-wolf. You can have some dignity. Just show yourself, don’t try to fight, and we’ll be okay. How does that sound?” Ravi continues to talk as if it’s going to make a difference. He speaks to me, knowing that I listen even if I don’t talk back.

It takes everything in me not to respond. I know he’s trying to get me to say something so he can pinpoint my exact spot.

“You must be in pain. Hungry and cold. I’m used to it. I can stay here all night. It’s your choice, Sasha.” More branches snap and crack. Shit.

I finally break. “It’s not my choice. It hasn’t been my choice since the moment I fucking got here.”

A hot hand grabs the back of my arm, squeezing tightly.

I can’t do anything as Ravi yanks me from my spot.

I scream as I fall.