Page 47 of Pack Ruin
Someone or something had taken a shifter apart here, and created a strange tableau out of the remains. Bouquets, was what they’d called them, and that was exactly what they were. The pink entrails made the petals, with femurs, tibia, and fibulas as odd stems, helping to give the bouquet a three-dimensionalshape. Although the lack of scent or decay was a pretty clear indicator that magic was involved as well.
“Why haven’t they cleaned them up?” Flor wondered aloud. I couldn’t answer and tell her about the magical shields we’d heard speculation about, but seeing it made it clear that was exactly what was going on.
I felt slightly ill as I noticed the care that had gone into the placement of the teeth, ears, and other parts as details on the petals. When I looked at the bottom of the bouquet, I recognized four letters spelled out with fingers and thumbs—one of them scarred, just as the boy had promised.
“He spelled my name,” Flor whispered. “That’s so sweet.”
I whined and nuzzled her leg, but when she didn’t respond, I grabbed the pack in my teeth and carried it with me across the open ground to the dark cover of some trees, hoping she would follow.
The boys had made sure we knew that only Torran’s Enforcers were allowed to shift, so I needed to change back into my clothing before we headed any further. According to Bo, there were work squads of two to three shifters, whose job it was to check the fences. That’s how he and his friend had escaped. From a distance, we might be able to pass as workers on our way home after a long shift.
Flor had left all her own things back in the cavern, except for her steak knife, of course, which was in the bag I dropped on the ground. The sword had to be left behind, since it had been too bulky for the small pack. I could tell my mate had hated to leave her things, but we weren’t going to be inside the pack’s fence for long, and it would be hard to disguise, even from a distance. She had tucked the small, lethal “pen” that Brand’s grandmother had given her into her back pocket, though she’d seemed oddly conflicted about taking it with her. When she’d described how itworked, I’d been relieved and repulsed in equal measures. It was always good to have an extra weapon, though.
I’d brought my clothing and some packages of dry crackers and jerky, just in case it took longer than a day. But if we could hide out in the sewers that Flor knew about until dark, and sneak into the Lodge where the boys said Luke was being held, we hoped to get back out before daylight.
If Flor could hold it together, that was. She let out a string of nearly-silent curses from where she stood by the preserved entrails, and staggered, her hand plastered to the mate mark that was hidden under her shoulder-length red hair. I could feel the pain of whatever Finn was doing—or what was being done to him—leaking through the bond, and an increased sense of urgency filled me. She would need to be at her best to make it across the compound without being seen.
Of course, I’d no sooner thought that than someone did see her.
“Hey, you! What are you doing out here? On your knees!”
22
Caught
GLEN
Isnarled, my wolf ready to run back to our little mate’s defense, just as Flor sent a sharp wave down the bond that was almost a word.No.
She was still standing, in the same easy stance she adopted when she was ready to fight. I thought she might dart back through the hole in the fence, distract the guards, and get away. That would be fine.Shewould be fine. I could rescue Luke on my own, and stay the fuck away from the insane wizard who was courting her. I’d probably move faster alone, and knowing she was safe in the woods she knew like the back of her hand would help me focus on the mission.
Instead, her fingers flew to the tag on her ear as she dropped to her knees, her head bowed instantly and her neck tilted to one side so that her hair didn’t cover the tag. “Apologies, Enforcer.”
The man was on his own, but another Enforcer stood a few hundred yards away, watching. My blood went cold. The boys had told us that no one was supposed to be on their own, thatunranked shifters in particular weren’t even allowed out of the dorm without a guard, or a ranked partner.
The Enforcer who’d barked the command moved closer, leaning down to pull Flor’s ear by the tag. The scent of her blood carried on the breeze to me, and my wolf crouched, ready to spring. “What are you doing alone out here?”
“I w-wasn’t alone, sir. I had a partner, a ranked one, but he ran off. He had important work to do.” She was being careful not to lie, but she was also making sure I knew what she wanted me to do. Go on with our mission.
“As if any Southern dog knows what a day’s work looks like. Probably trying to sneak out the main gate. We’ve killed seven in the past three days alone, little bitch.”
“Please don’t kill me, sir. I promise I’m not plannin’ to head to the gate. I promise I wasn’t even thinking that. Please let me go—” Her accent got thicker the more she begged, until the male shook her harder.
Fuck!The damned tag was going to rip clean out if he did that again. It took everything I had not to react when she cried out. The man let her go, and she flopped to the ground, pretending weakness. He pulled his leg back to kick her, when something—no,someone—darted along the fence line. The other Enforcer who was watching from farther away saw it, too, and raised the alarm, running toward the gate that led to the hunting grounds. Other voices joined in, and howls.
Young-sounding ones. It had to be Bo or Leroy, distracting the guards.
“I think we found the asshole who left you alone. He a friend of yours? Because he’s about to be a dead one.”
Flor just whimpered, covering her head. “Please let me go back to my room. I swear I won’t do nothin’ but go. I won’t stop; I’ll run right there.” Her voice rang with truth.
But the man hesitated, squinting down at her face. “You think I trust you to go back on your own? Start running, girl.”
“Yessir.” Flor jogged ahead of him without even glancing in my direction, holding a hand over her neck. I used my nose to shove the pack into a ditch, then slunk behind them in the shadows. I moved silently under the clouded sky, keeping her faint scent in my nose as they moved into the section of the packlands where the dorms sat, dark and grim. My attention was on my mate, but I couldn’t help but notice the changes all around.
When I’d first arrived here for the Conclave, I’d thought Southern was shabby. But now, even if the paths and yards were clear—almost eerily quiet, as if everyone was hiding in their homes—there was a palpable sense of foreboding that lingered. A few curtains twitched in the houses we passed when the Enforcer was greeted by others. I fell behind as we neared the dorm where Flor had lived before.
My wolf growled low, not wanting our little mate to enter that building. It was well-guarded, with two alert Enforcers at each door, who were checking in some women, marking them off on a paper roster.Shit.If they kept track of the individual shifters, they’d know Flor didn’t belong. This was the most dangerous moment.
