Scarlet peered up at the wild contempt filling Wolf’s face. His green eyes were burning, staring at Ran’s prone body behind her.
“Good.”
The ferocity in her voice startled away some of his hatred and Wolf turned his attention back to her.
“You must know his weaknesses. You’ll know how best to question him.”
That sympathetic look again. “We’re trained to withstand questioning. He won’t help us.”
“But he already gave us some information.” Packing up the remains of the kit, she tossed it toward her bag. It missed the opening and slid down to the ground. “He obviously knew something when I asked about my grandma. And then this assignment that was canceled—what’s that about? Does it have something to do with her?”
Wolf shook his head, but she detected a clouding in his eyes. “He told us what he wanted us—me—to know. Or to believe. I wouldn’t put stock in any of it.”
“How can you be sure?”
His fingers started up again—clench, release, clench. “I know Ran. He would do anything to improve his standing. By tracking me down and forcing me to return—or even showing proof that he’d fought me and won—he hoped to do just that. As for the assignment I’d been a part of when I left … they wouldn’t cancel it. It was too important to them.”
“What about my grandmother?”
He shook off a troubled frown. “Right. We should keep moving.” He tested the strength in his injured arm before using it to push himself to his feet. The fire had burned down to smoldering coals and soon he had stamped them out, ignoring the duck breast that had shriveled up into a chunk of coal.
“That’s not what I meant,” said Scarlet, staying put on the shore. “Shouldn’t we at least try to question him?”
“Scarlet, listen to me. Does he know something that would help? Yes, probably. But he won’t give it to us. Unless you plan on torturing it out of him, and even then there’s nothing you could do that would frighten him more than what the pack will do if he talks. We already know where your grandmother is. Dealing with him is a waste of time.”
“What if we brought him with us and offered him as a trade?” she suggested, watching as Wolf reloaded their bag.
Wolf laughed. “A trade? For an omega?” He gestured at Ran. “He’s worth nothing.” Though his temper could be heard just beneath the surface, Scarlet was glad that the temporary insanity was gone from his eyes.
“He’ll go back to them,” she said, “and tell them you’re with me.”
“Doesn’t matter.” Slinging the pack over his shoulder, Wolf spared a final scornful look at his brother. “We’ll get there before he does.”
Twenty-Two
Night crept up fast. The forest leaned in toward them, a solid wall of shadows beneath the dim spotlight of a waning moon. They’d passed only one junction and continued wordlessly north. Seeing another set of tracks combining with theirs had given Scarlet a beat of hope—at least now there was a chance of crossing paths with a new train. But the maglev tracks remained silent. Scarlet’s portscreen light was enough to see by for a time, but she worried about killing the battery and knew they should probably stop soon.
Wolf was no longer looking back every few minutes and Scarlet suspected he’d known they were being followed all along.
Wolf stopped suddenly and Scarlet’s heart leaped, for a moment sure he’d heard wolves again. “Here. This will work.” He peered upward at a log that had fallen across the embankments on either side of them, creating a bridge over the tracks. “What do you think?”
Scarlet followed him through the waist-high brush. “I thought maybe you were kidding before. You really think you can jump onto a moving train from there?”
He nodded.
“Without breaking a leg?”
“Or anything else.”
He met her speculative look with a hint of arrogance.
She shrugged. “Anything to be out of these woods.”
The ledge was a few feet over her head, but she clambered up with little trouble, grasping onto roots and jutting rocks. She heard a hiss from below and turned to see a shot of pain cross Wolf’s face as he hauled himself up after her. She held her breath, feeling guilty, as he dusted off his hands.
“Let me see,” she said, grasping Wolf’s forearm and holding up her portscreen to shine a light on the bandage. No blood had leaked through yet. “I really am sorry about shooting you.”
“Are you?”