Page 103 of Never Tamed
Hendrickson and the small team should be setting off the barrels any—
The explosion sends shockwaves through the trees. I stumble, glancing over my shoulder at the wall of flames behind us, the fireworks shooting high into the gloom and turning the clouds garish shades of red and green.
The barrels ignited with such force that it blows the roof off the damn place and sends the pieces crumbling to the snow drenched ground. Through it all are the circles and dives of those fireworks turning the entire explosion into a mockery of the fourth of July.
Then the screams start. Terrible, horrifying screams of people burning alive in the tunnels Not ours. They’re hopefullyout of the way because our guys know what they’re doing. They’re not fucking reckless idiots.
But if any of Andras’s men were left behind, they’re slowly crisping now.
Keep going.
Ren’s voice is in my head and I have to right myself quickly before I lose sight of her. The snow falls much heavier here.
Our path is obvious. Exactly the way we need it to be. The people on fire aren’t our business but the stampede of wolves behind us is. This time, there’s no more hiding.
We’re going to kill them all.
No matter how Ren has been forced to bend, she hasn’t broken. She never will. And I borrow some of that strength through the bond to keep pushing my body toward the stream.
We make our stand together, today, weather and fate be damned.
The goddess chose my girl for this. Now I’ve got to make sure she sees tomorrow’s sunrise.
Chapter 26
Ren
The snow comes down in sheets.
It starts small, a few flecks lighting the air and mingling with the ash of the charred barrels. The fireworks are long spent and the chill takes root in the base of my spine before spiraling higher.
Where is he?
I shiver and move from foot to foot, waiting for Andras to show himself. There is only silence, which feels more deafening now that the explosion has gone off.
Noble’s human body contorts. His limbs lengthen, muscle filling out, his face elongating into a wolf muzzle. The massive copper colored male shakes his head.He might be biding his time before showing himself.
I don’t like this.
And then the snow falls. The seething dark clouds above us belch out those first flakes like a warning before they open up and drop a blizzard on our heads.
It’s blinding and sharp, like a thousand tiny knives cutting into my face.
“Shit.” Noble lifts his face to the heavens.
“My thoughts exactly.”
I snap to attention when something thuds on the ground near us but this is the forest. This isn’t the Rochester I’m used to. There are a number of creatures out here, like a squirrel or something.
Do you see anything? I press.
Not yet. But then again, Andras is tricky.
There’s no way to disguise himself though. This whole thing reeks and now with the weather against us, it’s like fighting with our hands tied behind our back. The snow disguises any scents in the air my super sniffer might have picked up. I can’t tell what direction Andras would come from.
I spin in a useless circle and trample the snow now coloring the ground.This isn’t good.
It’s going to be okay, Noble soothes.
