Chapter 152

Matt

It took a few hours to get to the first location by car, and we spent most of it in tense silence. Jack drummed his fingers against his knee, and I stared hard at the road. The trees passed by in a blur, and the further we traveled, the less we saw other cars. Eventually, it was just us, twisting along a dirt road between the towering trees.

“Are we close?” Jack asked, breaking the silence for the first time in hours.

I cleared my throat. “Yes. We’ll have to hike the last bit.”

He scowled. “Obviously.”

I rolled my eyes but didn’t respond. I couldn’t exactly blame him for being angry with me, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t be pissed, too. If he’d just been honest with us, none of this would be happening. Now they had Celeste, and I had no idea what they were doing to her, or if she was even safe.

My grip tightened on the steering wheel, and Jack gave me a sideways look.

“Your eyes are gold,” he said, sounding the most cautious I’d ever heard him.

I forced myself to take a few deep breaths. He relaxed again, leaning as far away from me as he could get in the compact car.

“What do they want with her?” I asked once I’d gotten myself under control. Usually, I didn’t have such a hard time, but I was losing it a little. I couldn’t stop thinking about Celeste. Alone and scared.

He just shook his head.

I gritted my teeth but left it. I’d get answers out of him later. I needed to focus on the road and finding Celeste. But I knew him better than anyone. There was something going on, and I was going to get the truth out of him one way or another.

When we got as close as I felt comfortable, I pulled the car over and turned off the engine. I got out and surveyed the surrounding area. We were on a narrow dirt road, parked on the shoulder in the tall grass. Towering pines and oak trees rose above us, the air wet with mist and the promise of rain. Heavy clouds drifted across the sky.

“It’s going to rain,” I said.

“No shit,” Jack answered, coming to stand beside me. He had his head tilted to the sky.

“You should stay here.”

He snorted. “Funny. Let’s go.”

“Seriously. They’re wolves, Jack, and well-trained ones. Who knows what’s waiting for us out there?”

“I don’t care. They have my sister.”

We glared at each other, standing inches apart. “Don’t be an idiot,” I growled. “You won’t be able to outrun them. You won’t be able to fight.”

He gave me a sideways grin and pulled two knives from his belt. The silver gleamed even in the gray light.

“That won’t save you,” I said, snarling slightly. The sight of the silver automatically had me on edge.

He shrugged and put them away. “It’ll help.”

“I don’t want to have to explain to Celeste that I got you killed.”

Jack opened his mouth to argue, or say some sort of cutting remark, but I cut him off before he could.

“If we go in there together, I have to know you’re going to listen to me. The last thing we need…the last thing Celeste needs, is for you to get us killed because you’re a stubborn asshole. Unlike you, I actually fought in the war against the Crescent wolves. We can’t afford to die here.”

He frowned. “I’m not going to stand by and do nothing.”

“If we’re going to get Celeste back, we need to be smart about it. You have to trust that I’m going to do whatever it takes to save her. Getting torn to shreds at the perimeter isn’t doing anything to help her.”

He stared hard at me, so I stared back. We weren’t going anywhere until he agreed. We didn’t have to be friends. We didn’t even have to like each other. But we did need to find a way to work together if we had any hopes of getting Celeste back.

Mist gathered in my hair, wetting my face and hands.

“Fine,” Jack said. “I’ll follow your lead.” I could tell it pained him to say it, but I believed him.

“Alright. Let’s go. Keep low. Keep quiet.”

He nodded. I shrugged off my leather jacket and put it in the car. I handed my keys to him. “I may have to shift unexpectedly,” I said. “Just in case. Don’t forget where the car is.”

He gave me a two-fingered salute.

I sighed. “Come on.”

We marched into the forest. Both of us knew how to travel in the woods without making a sound, and we tracked deeper into the trees. I kept my ears pricked, but we walked for a long time before I heard something. I put out my hand and Jack and I crouched.

I looked sideways around a tree. There it was. The walls of the compound rose, concrete and nearly impossible to scale. A single gate stood at the front of the property, though I couldn’t see it from where we were.

The house itself was several stories tall, and even bigger than Nina’s cabin. It looked abandoned, but I didn’t trust that for a moment. A few minutes later, my suspicions were confirmed. Two wolves rounded the corner, running shoulder-to-shoulder. One was a small brown wolf with black ears, the other was the color of timber.

The second wolf was bigger, but not by much. Standing side-by-side I’d tower over them, but that didn’t mean everything in a fight. There was a reason they were the ones prowling the border.

“Two wolves,” I murmured. “Eleven-o’clock.”

Jack moved slowly, peering up over the undergrowth. He cursed under his breath. “How the fuck do we get over that wall?” he hissed.

“We don’t. It’s impossible to climb, and it’s inlaid with silver.”

He frowned.

“It burns for wolves to touch.”

“Fuck.”

He watched the wolves as they moved closer. One of them nipped at the other, and they tumbled together for a moment, snapping at each other.

Jack unsheathed his knife before I could stop him. The wolves froze, their ears pricking in our direction.

“Fuck, go back to the car, Jack.”

“No,” he snarled.

I gripped his collar, the shift already coming over me. “Go back to the car. I’ll lead them away. We need to get supplies.”

He nodded, his eyes wide. A few seconds later, I was already done with the shift. I jumped out from between the trees. The wolves looked at me, and one of them snarled low in its throat. The other snapped its jaws. God, they had to be young.

I growled in response and leaped for them. The bigger one moved forward to intercept me, but I turned at the last moment, taking off into the trees. They both followed, their heavy paws slamming against the forest floor. I just prayed Jack was smart enough to run while he had the chance.

They chased me deeper into the forest, nipping at my heels. I didn’t run as fast as I could, though I still had to push myself. Conserving my strength for as long as possible was important. I needed to make sure Jack had time to get to the car.

I felt their hot breath on my heels, and I kicked into higher gear. They were fast, I’d give them that, but they weren’t as fast as me. Very few wolves were. It had saved me in many situations, and I knew it would save me again. It was possible I could take them in a fight, but I didn’t want to chance it.

We’d already made a mistake by altering them to our presence. We never should have gotten that close to the wall.

I ran further and further into the forest, leading them away from the compound, away from the car. Eventually, they started to fall behind.

I didn’t know how long I ran for, but after a while, I realized I wasn’t being followed anymore. I slowed into a jog, panting hard. My lungs strained, and my paws ached, but I didn’t stop until I was certain I was alone.

I came to a halt, ears pricked. I waited, but nothing appeared. Eventually, I made my way toward the road. Jack was waiting by the car, his eyes darting along the trees behind me. I shifted back and he handed me a pile of clothes.

“We need to get out of here,” I said, getting into the front seat.

Jack got in beside me without a word. I turned the car around and drove, my muscles aching.

“This won’t be simple,” I murmured.

“Yeah,” he answered, voice low. “You were right.”

I never thought I’d hear him say that. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as satisfying as it might have been. We were so screwed.