into fists, feet shoving against the ground, running like nothing else in the world matters.
And it doesn’t.
I curve around the corner of the fortress, my heart in my throat, but I skid to a stop as fear ices me all over.
Before me, hundreds of Ash pack members scramble toward the wall of the compound. Many are climbing the ladders, others hurrying to find a way to get up there and see what’s going on. Cheers come from a lofty pedestal where I spot Mad laughing. He’s drinking a glass of wine or something while enjoying staring out beyond the fence. He has guards surrounding him. They are everywhere. There is no way we can even try to attack him. We’re outnumbered, and my priority is finding Dušan first. I can only assume he’s what everyone is looking at over the wall.
More Ash Wolf members appear and join the others.
But I can’t see Dušan from down here.
Bardhyl and Lucien are at my side in moments, heaving for breath. “Don’t run off like that,” Lucien reprimands me.
“I-I c-can’t see him. Maybe it’s not him.” Tears roll down my face because even as I say the words, I know the truth.
This is exactly how Mad would dish out punishment. Make Dušan’s death a spectacle.
My stomach drops right through me and a scream surges through me at the injustice, at how fucking wrong this is.
“We need to get to him.” I scan the area when a group of pack members dart right alongside us. Five of them, but they don’t even pay us any attention when they’re running to witness the show.
Lucien shoves me between him and Bardhyl as more people move in a hurry. “We can’t be spotted.”
“There’s no way out that way,” Bardhyl whispers. “We go through the tunnels.”
“No. It’ll take too long. The back entry,” I say, pointing to the way I first entered the settlement. “If there are guards, we’ll deal with them and get over the fence. We have to get to Dušan quickly.”
They both nod in unison.
Checking the grounds, we make a break for it and sprint across the lawn toward the explosion of trees higher up on the rising landscape.
I keep glancing over to the spectators. No one pays attention to us, but the guards are definitely staying close to Mad. Some cheer, but many cry out from what I assume is fear at seeing their Alpha being offered up as a sacrifice.
My heart bleeds for all of us. For the devastation Mad is about to unleash once he gets rid of Dušan. He’ll treat everyone like a slave and punish anyone for not obeying him.
Please, let Dušan be alive by the time we arrive there. Don’t let there be too many guards at the rear door. I push myself to go faster to reach my Alpha.
Swift and silent
Swift and silent.
Swift and silent.
Dušan
The rope burns into my wrists and around my chest, my shoulders screaming as my arms remain pulled taut around the pole at my back. I thrash and wrestle against my restraints, attempting to find some movement in the pole. But Mad made sure his guards dug it deep into the ground, and any chance of me knocking it over or wrenching it out is impossible.
Fury lashes over me and I jerk my attention over to the asshole. He stands on a platform behind the wall within the safety of the compound, while I’m left outside. An offering to the starved zombies.
And the siren wails around us like a roaring demon. There is no zombie breach in the pack grounds, but a calling for them to come outside the settlement and find me.
This is his final gift to me after everything we’ve gone through together. Growing up with his abusive father, when I took most of the beatings so he wouldn’t have to. I guarded him in the pack, gave him a high ranking position. But nothing was good enough. I should have seen this coming, should have fucking seen it.
Dozens and dozens of faces are climbing up the fence to gawk at me, and I meet every one of their gazes. Dread twists in my chest, but I want them to watch me fight to the end against a tyrant.
Fear fills most of their eyes. All part of Mad’s plan… Show them what happens when someone crosses him, and no one will stand up against him. I ache for these Ash Wolves who are left behind under the control of a monster.
But the depth