It could have been dangerous.”
“And we would have been an easy target,” I pointed out. “Driving slowly, they could have easily caught up to us.”
“Exactly. Or we would have driven off the road. As it is, we can get to the main road before night falls. Let’s go.” He slammed the hood shut and pointed for me to get in.
I opted for the back seat with the werewolf, keeping an eye on his breathing and pulse. He would survive as long as we didn’t seriously injure him before getting him to a hospital. He was dehydrated, malnourished, and probably low on blood he couldn’t replenish due to the other issues. My worry was organ failure.
“Why didn’t they drain him?” I asked softly, reaching out to move matted hair off the werewolf’s face.
“They probably wanted to feed come nightfall to fight us again,” Jabari answered. “I was also a little surprised, but they were healing well by the time we got there. They might have not wanted to kill an easy resource before they had to.”
I didn’t say anything to his explanation. All of it made sense.
The car got moving, and Heath was right. Much of the dash didn’t work at all, and I couldn’t turn on any of the lights in the car, so as night came, it grew very dark.
We reached the main road, and I jumped out to open the very gate I had seen John, one of the humans, open on our way in. Jabari was pointing to the right when I got back in.
“My vehicle will be that way. I took it to one of the stops where a hiking trail begins. It had some parking spots that didn’t require the local permit.”
Heath nodded. “That’s toward home. Let’s go.”
It wasn’t long before Jabari pointed us at the right turn, and we saw a nice SUV waiting.
“There it is. We must decide how to handle things further. Jacky and I can talk to the humans while you take the wolf back to the city. Does that work for everyone?” He looked between us.
“Be safe, Heath,” I whispered to my wolf before jumping out of the car. I grabbed the bag of heads out of the trunk and followed Jabari.
“I’m going to get pulled over!” Heath called out as we walked away.
“Good! That means a cop can help you get that wolf to safety!” I waved at him. He would figure it out. I didn’t want him waiting around for us to track down and deal with the humans. That wolf needed attention as soon as possible. “Or you can get to a station or something and call for help! Like a medical evac!”
I saw him nod, then he drove away. I jumped into the passenger’s seat of Jabari’s ride, amazed it hadn’t been broken into while he was running in the woods.
“Do you have a charger?” I asked, holding up my cell. He went into his glove box and pulled out his and turned it on.
“Use this one,” he said, holding it out to me.
“It has no service. We’ll have to get to the closest town…did you pass through Darrington?”
He smiled, and I could see his white teeth in the darkness.
“I did. Do you think we’ll find them there?”
“I think we might,” I said, smiling back. I let him drive and waited for even a single bar to show up on the cell phone. Once it did, I dialed the number I knew by heart for Haley. It was etched into my memory, it seemed. In a few weeks, I would forget it, but not now…definitely not now.
“Hello?” she answered. “This is Haley.”
“Haley! This Jacky. I’m calling from my brother’s phone. I wanted to let you know we handled everything, and we need to see you, Gina, and John as soon as possible.”
“Oh my god, you’re alive!” She sounded genuinely excited. “Oh, this is amazing! I was so worried when you never came down. John said he would wait for you when Gina and I were called to help some hikers. He said you never showed up, and we got so worried!”
I glanced at Jabari. John was left alone with our things.
“The first night, we ended up staying in the cabin you had shown us where Gaia and Titan met up. Jabari met us there, and we went further out to…fix what was going on. I’ll explain soon. Can you meet us in Darrington? Somewhere private?”
She quickly gave me an address I committed to memory.
“I’m so happy