🦋 ALTHEA
East. That was where I was going. Even if it shattered to leave now, after I had felt even a sliver of a mont that I truly belonged among their ranks.
But I forced my head forward and sprinted on.
Straight into the dense wood where the nightmares retreated, where the shadows were thickest, where no one would expect to go. I hoped I would disappear before Thorne would notice that I was gone.
My wound scread with every step, fresh blood soaking through my clothes, but I didn’t stop.
Behind , a howl erupted.
Thorne.
The sound was fury and betrayal and anguish all wrapped into one devastating note that tore through the night like a blade.
He knew.
He’d seen run.
I pushed harder, branches whipping past my face, roots trying to catch my feet. My lungs burned. My side wept blood. But I could hear him now—not just his howl, but the impact of his pursuit.
The ground shook and trees splintered like dry wood.
He was coming, racing toward at unfathomable speed.
The truth settled into my bones; he would catch , and I would fail the mission that would have saved a few. I would have failed after sacrificing whatever hesitant respect Thorne had had for . After I had destroyed a place he held dear.
It would be all for nothing.
What the hell had I been thinking?
The helplessness that crashed over knocked the adrenaline right out of , while my mind reeled with the grim reality of my situation. In response to my lungs burning and muscles aching, while fear seeped like venom into , I scread—raw terror clawing up my throat as I felt him close the distance. Felt the air shift as his shadow-form bore down on , impossibly quick, impossibly relentless.
His claws reached for —and the... impact.
Sothing massive slamd into Thorne from the side, sending him crashing into the undergrowth with a roar of rage.
I stumbled, turned.
A bear. Massive, scarred, eyes gleaming with intelligence I recognized. One that I knew as well as my heartbeat.
The one from before. The one who’d charged at Thorne and scarred him.
It stood between Thorne and , growling low, blocking his path.
Go, it seed to say. Run.
Despite the desperation in Thorne’s eyes when they t mine—anger, confusion, and sothing I dared to call hurt that could have been my delusion—I caught myself just as Thorne began to rise, and I did what the letter had ordered.
I ran toward the east. I dared not stop.
Thorne’s howl split the air again, closer than it should have been. He’d already gotten past the bear.
But then—
A stag burst from the trees, antlers lowered, charging straight at him. Then ravens and crows descended in a shrieking cloud, talons and beaks striking.
Then wolves joined in the mayhem, erging from the shadows, forming a living barrier. Every ti Thorne got close, another animal I knew intervened.
The forest itself was helping escape.
Helping betray him.
My chest heaved, tears mixing with blood and sweat as I broke through the tree line and saw it—
The red mist, and standing before it, a brigade. Draven at the front, his expression unreadable. Morgana beside him, her eyes following my movents.
She did not look the least bit surprised.
And kneeling in chains—
Yana. Thal.
And others. More Vargans than I could count, in predicant. I didn’t know them but recognized all of them, all bound, all broken, all staring at with hollow eyes.
My heart stalled, then it soared.
The exchange.
They would keep their word. I had to make sure they did.
I ran straight toward them, pulling the dagger from my belt and pressing it to my own throat.
"RELEASE THEM!" I scread, my voice ragged, desperate. "Release them or I slit my throat right here!"
Morgana’s eyes narrowed.
Behind , Thorne’s howl grew closer, the sound of him crashing through the forest like an avalanche.
"RELEASE THEM!" I scread again, pressing the blade harder, feeling it slit my tender flesh, my sweat worsening the sting. "Or I let him catch ! I won’t make this easy for ANY of you! No one gets unless they go free!"
My lungs burned. My vision swam.
"I an it!" I choked out. "Let them go or I end this right fucking now!"
Morgana stared down, calculating, weighing.
I ran toward them, closing the distance, the dagger shaking at my throat. Draven’s eyes t mine, and sothing in them softened.
He nodded. The gammas that made up the brigade began to unlock the chains.
One by one, the Vargans were released, shoved forward, stumbling toward freedom.
"GO!" I scread at them. "RUN!"
They hesitated, staring at .
"GO, GODSDAMN IT!"
Yana looked at , for a mont her skin pale, before she grabbed Thal, pulling him back toward the trees. The others followed, scrambling away from the brigade, away from Morgana’s reach.
I watched them disappear into the forest—
And then Thorne broke through the tree line.
He was within a yard of , his shadow-form massive and terrible and broken, his eyes locked on mine with sothing that looked like devastation.
I opened my mouth to say sothing—anything—
Hands grabbed from behind. I was whipped backward, yanked off my feet, the dagger flying from my grip.
And then—
Arms caught . A solid mass of corded muscle wrapped around .
Thorne.
He’d caught .
His shadow-form dissolved in an instant, reforming into flesh and blood and fury as he held against his chest, his breath ragged, his heart hamring against my back.
"No," he snarled, his voice raw. "You don’t get to—"
But Morgana was already moving, and Draven with her, and the brigade closed in—
And I realized, too late, that I’d been caught between them.
Between Thorne’s desperate, hurting grip.
And my mother’s reaching hands.
And I had no idea who would win.
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