rest, Narah. You will definitely need it tomorrow.”
4
Crius
I stride across the tavern, Stone at my side, leaving Nikos and Ragnar at the table. I’m used to them planning together—it’s what an Alpha and his second in command should do. Doesn’t mean Nikos still won’t piss me off. And it has nothing to do with who he is, but the way he carries himself. Since he arrived to live with us in the Ulv pack in Denmark, he’s never truly opened up and has always remained by the sidelines. I’m not one to believe he is against us; the bastard is just angry with the whole fucking world. I just wish he’d find a way to deal with that dark shit and move the fuck on already.
Stone stumbles on his next step and I snatch his arm, steadying him before he face-plants into the front door. “You trying to kiss the wall?” I chuckle as he finds his feet.
“What the fuck was that?” he glances back around to see what he tripped over.
“It’s called your feet.” I wrench open the door to the tavern, and a burst of cool air rushes inside and curls around us. “Let’s take you back to your room.”
Stone straightens and heads outside. We’ve both had too much beer and food, but after our recent trip down south, I’ve missed a decent feed. Not to mention, if I never see another zombie, it’ll be too soon.
“What do you think we’ll find in the Poisonous Woods?” Stone asks.
I briefly glance at him, the breeze blowing through his blond hair and tossing it over his face. “Fuck, man, are you freaking out about it?”
Sure, I’ve heard scary shit about the forest, but I don’t go into battle with fear. Whatever the hell comes at us, we’ll destroy it.
He snorts a partial laugh. “You know me, I want to go in prepared. I hate going into battle blind. I’m trying, but damn, I’ve heard too many stories about the place to not worry.”
I wish I could clue him in on something, anything, to put his mind at rest, but we’re all going into this completely blind and with the Cursed girl as our eyes. That means having our crap together and not being a damn pussy about being scared.
Stone suddenly jerks his head toward the woodland pressing up against the inn like he saw something. “For fuck’s sake,” he grumbles, staring at the darkness in disbelief.
I scan the area and spot two figures sprinting away from the building. They look mighty thin and small, like two females.
“Are you kidding me?” I lift my head to the window on the third floor, seeing a light flickering, which I assume is a decoy for us. “It’s them, isn’t it?”
“Narah’s good and sly. She may prove a problem for us on the mission,” Stone says. “But for now, feel like a round of hunting?”
“I’m always up for it. Narah is mine. You get Jae.”
He cuts me a side glance filled with bane. “Why do you get her?”
“I called it first. Now, are we darting after them or are you going to fuck around as they escape? Ragnar will hang us by our balls if they do.”
Stone cracks his neck, and he launches himself after his prize.
Adrenaline thumps through me at the chase, everything inside me demanding I rush after her and claim her.
I’m running in an instant, my feet pounding the earth as I burst into the woodland. The cold air is crisp with forest scents, but on the breeze, I catch her sugary scent tinted with a sprinkle of fresh meadow and wolf... a smell unique to her.
It shouldn’t excite me to pursue her, but fuck, it does. Stone is ahead of me, and even from a distance, I spot the girls looking back at us. Alarm tightens their expressions, and I smile.
In their panic, they abruptly spear outward in different directions. Yeah, fear confuses people in times of high tension. I swing left after Narah, while Stone bears right.
Narah sprints away, dodging around trees and under low-hanging branches. She’s small and nimble, but she won’t get away from me. My wolf is in my chest pounding for release, for escape, but then what? I already know I’m faster, more powerful than her, and a chase is only fun if there’s a challenge.
She darts out of my sight, bleeding into the darkness, but I have her scent, and that leads me dead ahead through the wilderness. My feet punch the ground with