Page 48 of Happily Undead in Dark River

“Got it, Colton?”

I could hear him shifting from foot to foot. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Raine. It’s just Raine. Let’s go.”

I stepped out of the shade of the tree line and sucked back a scream as my body sizzled with third-degree burns. The sun was still up, cooking my already tender flesh like bacon. Dammit.

Clint snapped his fingers. “Wait, I’ve got an idea.” He raced away, and I had a moment of panic that he was just going to run off and leave me out here alone. That is what I’d do in his position. I’d run and hope the Enforcers slaughtered me before Brody got here and found out how I was involved. But Colton, bless his misguided little heart, returned to me almost instantly. I heard the slide of metal on metal, then he was thrusting something into my hand. “Umbrella!”

He sounded so proud of himself, I couldn’t help but smile back. “Good idea.” He led me towards a car, and then he hesitated. I could hear him shaking his head. “I don’t know what to do. If we drive, we could run across the Enforcers coming up the mountain and we’d both be dead. If we go down the mountain on foot, we’ll be slow and you’ll be exposed to the sun too much.”

He sounded so uncertain, so scared, I reached out and patted his back. “It’ll be all good, Colton. I haven’t survived this long to go down so easily. How well do you know the mountain?”

He hesitated, “I know it okay. We are about seven hours on foot from the Pack lands. About a two-hour drive, but most of that is down the mountain and there's only one road in and out and it heads in the opposite direction to Pack lands. I know I could eventually get us home on foot,” he said firmly, convincing himself more than me.

He sounded so young in that moment, I revised his age downward. “Colton. How old are you?”

“Fifteen.” He hesitated. “And a half. I’m big for my age,” he defended.

Shit. He was a baby. Now I was doubly glad I didn’t eat him. I wanted to go and kick all his co-conspirators sheepy asses for bringing a baby into their stupid plot. As if sensing the direction of my thoughts, Colton said quietly, “What about them?”

I scoffed. I hoped the Enforcers felt a little like lamb for dinner, but I didn’t say that. “We’ll get back to Pack lands, and Brody will send some Protectors to pick them up to face whatever the Pack considers justice. Unless you turn into a sheepdog?” Still, Colton hesitated. I remembered what he said about his Dad saying I was evil. “Is your Dad one of the sheep?” I asked softly.

“Yes,” he whispered.

“Go and get him. We can take him with us.”

Colton reached down and grabbed my hand as if to stop himself from doing just that. “No,” he said softly. “I hate him. I hope the Enforcers eat him. It would be better for Mama, and Lulu.” He didn’t say it would be better for him too, but I knew it would be. I heard the pain in his voice.

“Your Lulu’s brother?” I remembered what Brody said about Colton’s dad beating down his son until he never thought about going to the Protectors. I could scent the shame that wafted off him.

“Yes.” The sadness in that word spoke volumes.

I didn’t know what to say. I was barely a responsible adult. I didn’t know how to deal with someone else’s trauma. So, I took a leaf out of X’s book of social etiquette. “Want me to kill him for you? No one would ever know. We’ll just say I did it in self-defense?”

Colton let out a manic little laugh but he didn’t say no. Eventually, he heaved a sigh that was so full of torment I wanted to hug him. “No. The Alpha will take care of it. They’ll have a trial and everyone will know what a sociopathic piece of shit he really is and Lulu can grow up happy.”

I grabbed his hand and squeezed. “Okay. Now lead on, Lassie. I wanna get home as soon as possible because it feels like these mountains have eyes.”

I clutched the umbrella to my body, angling it so only my feet were getting burned. It wasn’t quite big enough, but luckily the woods were quite dense so only small patches of sun poked through.

We walked for hours in silence, worried that the Enforcers would be early, or my kidnappers would turn back to human and track me back down. Colton moved with purpose, and I found that oddly reassuring. He lifted me down over ravines, whispering directions to make up for my lack of vision, and I’d only fallen on my ass six times. I’d take that as a win.

We’d been walking for about four hours, and I was tired and hungry. Tired I’d deal with, but the hunger was going to be a problem for both me and Colton soon. I reached down into my chest and tugged at the Mate Bond. I’d done it periodically every so often, just so they knew I was alive, even if they couldn’t find me yet. The rush of love I always got back made me want to cry. My eyes welled up. Dammit. Enough. Hunger was making me emotional.

Colton tugged my hand. “Are you okay?”

My fangs punched out as I heard the whoosh of his blood now we’d stopped walking. Ugh. Not good. “I’m fine. Hungry. We should keep going, I can hold out.”

Colton hesitated. “You can, you know, bite me if you need to?”

I laughed, and it was a sharp, wild peal as the predator reared her head. No. We did not eat kids. “Thanks, Colton. But no. I have rules, and one of them is not to eat anyone who can’t legally drink. Thank you though. I know it had to be scary to offer.”

I kept walking before the blood-fuelled predator in me took the choice out of both our hands. Colton wanted to argue, I could sense it in the wild rush of his blood, but eventually, he followed along beside me. Then he stopped again. “What the… Oh shit.”

I crouched down, listening for predators, and instead the pressure in my chest built and built. My Mate Bond. My cavalry was here. Oh shit indeed. I ripped up my blindfold in time to see a giant snake launch itself off the back of a tiger and wrap around Colton. Shit, the kid wasn’t joking, he was big for his age, but he didn’t stand a chance against a pissed off mega-python.

Tears flowed down my cheeks as the dull light burned my eyes, but I made a grab for the snake that was my Mate. My Tex.

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