widens. “What would he do if found out?”
“Make you pay. He’s rather fond of hanging people by their toes.” I shrug, and we begin our hike back around the building.
She stares at me as if I’m making crap up. If only I were.
The weight of her resisting me continues, but staying out here with her any longer will end up with me ripping her clothes off. And well, I’d prefer not to face Ragnar’s wrath and end up with broken ribs and slow torture by compromising our one ticket into the Poisonous Woods. No matter how delicious and fuckable she is.
I haul her through the woods alongside the inn just as movement catches my attention from up ahead. I raise my gaze to Stone dragging Jae toward the main road in town. The fighting spirit is high in these sisters.
Narah is off-limits for now, but that doesn’t mean I won’t show her the power of an Alpha. We may be holding back on claiming her for now, but that’s only a temporary arrangement.
A squeal comes from above, and for a split second, I swear it comes from Stone. Once I saw him freak out over a rat in his bed, so it wouldn’t surprise me. Except the way he and Jae retreat in our direction quickly, with him pushing Jae ahead of him, tells me something else has happened.
My grip tightens around Narah, my muscles taut as I bring us to a halt. For a change, she’s not trying to pull away from me. She is just as curious as me as to what the hell is going on.
I tilt my head to the side to see past the duo. Two figures are coming this way behind them, staggering, lurching through the woods. My stomach freezes up, which doesn’t happen often, but I know exactly what I’m looking at. I’ve seen them back home and in the Shadowlands Sector. Those abominations are everywhere, except for some reason they haven’t overrun the Savage Sector yet.
Part of me can’t help but wonder if that has anything to do with the witches also living here.
Fucking zombies!
“Shit, shit, shit.” Jae is freaking out, her expression falling, her shoulders curving forward. She instantly huddles up against her sister as she reaches us, while Stone snarls under his breath.
“You take care of the girls, and I’ll fix this,” Stone instructs.
Something about the way he says that irks me. Maybe it’s the competitive side of me, or that he says it with such cockiness in front of Narah, that it rubs me the wrong way.
“Don’t think so.” I shove Narah right into his arms. “She gets away and it’s all on you.”
Before he can even respond, I strip my shirt off and toss it behind me, kicking off my shoes and unzipping my pants. I’m rather fond of these clothes, and I don’t want them destroyed. The warm breeze rushes over my naked body, and just as fast, the change erupts through me like a tornado, tearing me to shreds as my wolf pours out of me like lava. The agony stings, my body shuddering. In seconds, my large, white paws hit the ground, and the surrounding smells intensify. Dew, the stench of earth, and the promise of rain in the distance flood my nostrils. But with it comes the putrid stink of death.
Two dead are lurching toward us, the tall guy sporting only one arm, both seemingly missing lips. Their yellow, broken teeth chatter with their desperate need to eat. Torn and filthy clothes hang off their frail forms. Pasty, gaunt faces make their eyes look bigger. They are ugly things.
I’ve fought so many of these filthy creatures on our retrieval mission to find Jae, it’s second nature to me now. Though I can’t deny that zombies are one of the few things that send shivers up my spine because where there’s one, there are others. And I don’t want them here if this sector will be my new home.
I lunge at the one on the right for the single reason that he has two arms... always take out the more powerful so when your back is turned, it’s only the weaker one you have left to contend with.
My teeth scrape into his neck, digging into flesh, and I rip off his bulbous head with ease. Zombies are barely held together when they haven’t fed, their bodies feeble and easily torn. No blood pours from his rotten body either, meaning it’s been a long time since