Page 25 of Mated By the Pack
“Should we bring the gun?” Brenna asks, discarding the broken glass and picking up a sharp stick.
“Too heavy, and we need to move quick,” I mutter. “I’m not sure I know how to use it, anyway, do you?”
“Point and shoot?” Brenna says, then she glances at the rifle. “But I have no idea how to reload it after that.”
“We don’t have time to figure it out. Come on.” I motion for her to follow me.
Nara starts to regain consciousness once we slip away from Haggard’s residence. I have no idea what danger could be lurking in the dark streets of The Outpost. Staying away from people seems like the best option, so I lead the rag-tag group to the wall.
“Nara, do you think you can climb if we help?” I whisper. “I know it’ll hurt, but this could be the only option we have.”
“I-I’ll manage,” she gasps.
The Outpost’s wall seems to be designed to slow down anything that tries to get in. Probably so the men in the watchtowers can deal with them. It’s fairly easy to find a spot to climb, and I go first, grimacing when I get to the barbed wire along the top.
“We’ll hurt ourselves too much if we try to go over this,” I whisper to Tansy, who is behind me.
“Look over there.” Fiona points, trying to support Nara. “There’s a hole.”
“Good eye,” I remark, carefully finding my footing on a piece of concrete as I cross over. “Yeah, we can get through here. Let’s get Nara up.”
There are no patrols in the streets. Nobody to keep order, except the men in the watchtowers, and they don’t seem concerned about anything on this side of the wall. It takes some effort to hoist Nara up, and we probably injure her further in the process, but we get her through the barbed wire. I help Fiona, Tansy, and Brenna through, and then they help me. Getting down the other side is easier, mainly because we jump once we’re close enough. Brenna and Tansy lower Nara to me. Fiona gives some assistance, but I shoulder most of the weight.
“Go left, where there are no watchtowers,” I say. “Then we’ll cut around to the road and try to follow the same path we took here.”
Back into The Tangle.
But it’s the only option we have.
CHAPTER 7
Vance
Idon’t feel what Gideon feels. Don’t have her scent in my blood like I’m ready to go feral. But there’ssomethingabout her. Something that leaves me feeling on edge, and considering what I’ve seen in The Tangle, that’s saying a lot. There’s not much out here that scares me.
I’ve wanted Gideon to step up and become our leader. I initially agreed it made sense for us to make our decisions as a group, but all we’ve done is argue. It wasn’t like that when Silas was alive. We bickered, but Silas was a true leader—an Alpha, even though most of my brothers don’t believe we’re more than just some genetic experiment gone right, then horribly wrong.
After Gideon and Jace got hurt, we were supposed to go back to the den. Well, I was pretty damn sure Gideon wasn’t going to agree when he woke up, and I would have put money on it, if we still used it. Luckily, my injured brothers don’t have fatal wounds. I healed them the best I could with redwort. We’vediscovered it not only heals but also speeds up our enhanced regeneration.
Once Gideon was conscious, he argued with Knox until Jace woke up, and surprisingly sided with Gideon. He’s acting strange now, too, and I’m starting to believe this may be fate. True fate. She could save our pack.
But what is she? Because I’ve met enough humans to know there’s something else simmering below those pretty, pretty blue eyes.
I got close enough to see them. Close enough to inhale her aroma, even if her scent isn’t doing anything to me—yet. I even got close enough to find out her name.
Calla. Or Nurse Calla as the runt of the litter calls her.
I didn’t mean to get that close, but the pull wasn’t just curiosity. It was… deeper.
I told myself I was scouting. That Gideon and Jace needed time to recover, and someone had to keep an eye on the ones they were bleeding for. But the truth is I couldn’t stop watching her.
And good thing I didn’t. Because just as the sun started to fade, I saw it—the cage door opening. Not by key. Not by force. Byvine. A piece of The Tangle.
She didn’t use her hands. She didn’t say a word.
She just touched the lock… and The Tangle responded.
That could be the scariest and most fascinating thing I’ve ever seen.
