Part 4 (1/2)
”Shalem is tracking the president right now. He has some incriminating pictures so far of him enjoying himself in several brothels, but not enough to make a move against him yet.”
I growled and sat down in the chair to my right. Manda didn't budge or turn her head. In fact, she was doing her best to avoid any eye contact at all. I didn't like it. She was hiding something.
Reaching out, I grabbed her with my magick and yanked her to her knees in front of me. ”What about the DNA masking trial?”
”There are no updates, Sir.”
”f.u.c.king scientists move slower than snail slime. You need to motivate them to move faster.” I glared at her until I could feel the fight leaving her muscles. ”Shalem better find something soon or I'll have to take my frustration out on him next. Do you want to watch your cousin bleed?”
”No, Sir.” The words were almost a whisper, but her gla.s.sy eyes gave away her emotion. Her compa.s.sion for her family. For her people. She would do anything for them.
That was her weakness.
It was also why I could never completely trust her.
Chapter Eight.
EIRA.
Charlie and I walked at the front of the group. We emerged from the tree line to stare at the fifty-foot electric fence that outlined the whole perimeter of the Texas Republic. A few places existed where we'd tunneled beneath the fence, but they were few and far between. We needed to cross the Mississippi now, before the sun rose. Time constraints didn't allow for us to head for one of the hidden tunnels. Traveling the roads of the SECR in daylight wasn't smart - at least not if you were what the humans called an Other. But to sneak in and out of the TR without being tracked by the soldiers at the official gates, you either had to jump the fence or go under it.
We didn't have time to go around. Jumping was our only option today. Wolves were strong and good for long distance running, but they couldn't leap buildings in a single bound. I, on the other hand, was a completely different kind of being. The fifty-foot leap wouldn't faze me by myself, but hauling Lycan after Lycan over it would drain me. I would need to feed soon afterward.
I turned to Chad, who'd emerged from the trees next to us. The other Lycans were right behind him, including Charlie's parents.
”Ready?”
Chad nodded.
I gripped him tightly around the waist and jumped. Air whipped against my face as we sailed high above the fence. As we started to come back down on the other side, I lifted him higher than me, so my legs would take the brunt of the landing. The impact on the other side was hard, and I grunted as I released him.
”Thanks, Eira,” he murmured, slinking off to watch for patrols while I moved the rest of the rescue party over the fence, one by one.
A strange sensation rippled through the air as I landed with Charlie on the SECR side of the fence. She'd waited to be the last. I turned my head toward the bridge our group was moving toward and focused my sight on the opposite bank. Vehicles were parked near the road, but they looked abandoned. Which was strange.
I couldn't hear any heartbeats. Smell anything other than our people. We were downwind. Everything on the other bank should be rolling across the river toward us, but all I could smell was the water. None of the pine scent from the trees on the other bank filtered toward us.
I hurried after Charlie, who was jogging to catch up with the rest of the group already making their way over the old highway bridge.
”Something's not right,” I whispered to her when I caught up.
”What do you mean? The scouts would have noticed people. Heard something.”
Our feet were silent on the bridge, but the lights illuminated us. We were plainly visible to anyone on either side of the river. Vulnerable but also the most direct, and Charlie's parents were determined to reach Savannah as fast as possible. From Manda's intel, we didn't have long before the execution of the two captured families.
”It's too quiet.”
Charlie scoffed. ”Now you're complaining that there's no one to fight? Manda and her cousin said there would be no patrols here tonight. That's why we left so quickly. Chad and Jaxon are running point. They would've alerted us if something seemed off.”
Not if they were hidden with magick. The air was thick with it, but I couldn't see any signs. Just a tingle on my skin and the years of battle experience telling me we were walking into an ambush.
”There are no animal sounds. No birds. Nothing moving but the wind.”
”It's the middle of the night, Eira,” Charlie replied, laying a hand on my shoulder.
I started shaking my head. ”Call them back. It feels like a tra-”
A howl carried from the forest ahead. We stepped off the bridge, and I suddenly heard heartbeats everywhere. The pack scattered. They saw them, too.
Then the shots rang out. Followed by screams.
Pain tore through my side, and I peered down at the gaping hole in my stomach. Blood poured from the wound, soaking my jeans.
”Eira!” Charlie screamed then collapsed to the ground. Three small, red darts protruded from her neck. Her body was limp in seconds, but I could hear her heart beating steadily. Tranquilizers.
The pack was dropping all around me. Soldiers advanced from the woods. Several women stood at the edge of the forest. Their hands were raised to the moon, and their lips moved. Latin flowed from their mouths, but my head swam from the blood loss. I couldn't focus. I needed to stay away from those witches, and I needed to feed so I could heal.
I swallowed down the blood seeping from my mouth and lunged at the nearest soldier. I was so much weaker than I realized. He threw me off of him and hit my cheek with the b.u.t.t of his gun.
Pain seared my head, and I groaned, squinting to focus through the stream of blood running down my forehead and into my eyes.
”I'll take this, b.i.t.c.h. You can burn in h.e.l.l like the demon you are.”
I bared my fangs and hissed, but he struck me again and again until everything faded to black.
I opened my eyes and moaned. Pain roared through my nerve endings. My face felt like it'd been bashed against a brick wall, and my side still had a gaping, b.l.o.o.d.y hole in it. I'd lost most of my blood volume. Hunger coursed through me, and the need to feed made my head hurt worse than any hangover. The b.l.o.o.d.y bodies of my friends called to the beast inside me. I could no more feed from their lifeless bodies than I could've killed them myself. It wasn't right. No matter what, I'd die before desecrating their bodies in that way. How would I ever explain a bite mark to their families?
Dragging myself to my feet, I surveyed the field and cried. Half of the pack was dead, littering the field. The other half was nowhere to be found. Charlie was gone. I remembered her falling near me. But her body was gone.
”Charlie!” I shouted. ”Chad!”
No one answered.
The smell of burning flesh hit my nostrils before the singe of pain registered in my brain. The sky was turning orange, and the coming sunrise burned. I held up my right hand. The ring was gone. f.u.c.king b.a.s.t.a.r.d. How did he know to take it?
It didn't matter. If I didn't move my a.s.s under some shelter fast, I could never avenge or rescue my friends.
I blurred across the bridge, but only made it a few miles before my weakened state caught up with me. My head swam, and I was seeing double if I didn't carefully focus. I slowed for a moment, trying to get my bearings, but the burning on the back of my neck and arms spurred me forward. Dying wasn't an option.
I had to feed.
And I had to make it to Sanctuary.