Chapter Thirty-Three

We kept moving through the woods, hoping to find a point where the fog thinned so we could get our bearings, but all we found was a thick wall of gray in every direction. I supposed it had been too much to hope that Astor might resist the temptation to dump us into the middle of a real-life horror movie, complete with cliché giant bugs. I shuddered and pushed the thought aside. At least I'd be able to shift now if I needed.

"Here," Alina said, yanking down a vine from one of the trees. "We should gather more of these."

"For what?" I asked, brow furrowing as I watched her pull down a second. She started weaving them together and my mouth popped open.

"For carrying our clothes next time we shift," she explained with a shrug. "So we don't have to try to fight and carry them at the same time."

She took in Cole and Jax's equally shocked faces and frowned. "Your pack never taught you this?"

Jax shook his head mutely, and Cole pressed his lips together. "I guess my father was too busy trying to beat everyone into the ground to worry about teaching us anything."

"Show me how," I said, reaching up into the trees and pulling down a couple of vines.

"We're in the middle of our final assessment and you want to play arts and crafts?" Jax said.

"Yes," I said. "Unless you want to carry your pants in your mouth next time we're fighting for our lives?"

Jax considered for a moment, and then yanked a vine down from a tree. "Fine. Show me."

The three of us watched closely as Alina demonstrated how to weave the vines into a more helpful shape, and we took turns working our own vines and keeping watch in the heavy mist. It was trickier than it looked, but luckily Alina was a patient teacher. Eventually, all four of us had a sack of sorts with one large vine looping from the top that would allow them to slip around our necks in shifted form.

"We shouldn't stay in one spot for too long," Cole said, his eyes scanning the fog restlessly.

Jax grunted his agreement. "No sense in giving anything the chance to get the drop on us."

"Which way?" I asked, turning in a circle and trying to see anything that would give me some kind of idea where we were. I'd spent two years in this academy, and I couldn't have said which spot I was standing in to save my life. Which was bad news, because knowing where we were was the one thing that might give us an edge right now. And we needed one.

"I vote away from that," Alina said, backing up a half step as she stared out into the trees. I followed her gaze as Cole cursed.

"Is that…?

"Fire," Cole said grimly. "Time to go. All of you. Come on, move. That way. Into the wind."

Move away from the fire in the middle of the woods? Yeah, he didn't need to tell me twice. I pivoted on my heel, made it two steps, and realized Alina was frozen where we'd left her.

"Alina!"

"I…"

"We've got to go," I said, grabbing her arm and tugging her. She snapped out of her daze and tore her eyes from the distant inferno.

"Four legs or two?" I asked Cole over my shoulder.

"Can you shift?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I think so."

"Then four. We'll be faster wolf. But shift quickly, and everyone stay in formation. We can't risk getting separated. Alina, are you okay?"

"Y—Yeah. I just…fire." She shook her head. "It freaks me out."

"All the more reason to run fast from it," Jax said, kicking off his pants and stuffing them into his bag.

"Yeah," Alina agreed, tearing her eyes away from the approaching flames again with what looked like a lot of effort. I stripped off my clothes quickly and stashed them in my bag, then helped Alina do the same with hers. She hesitated with the necklace, then quickly tied it to the handle of her sack.

"Protect Alina's bag at all costs," Cole said, as he bundled his clothes into his own bag. "I'll find us a path. Alina, stay on my flank, then Cali, and Jax, bring up the rear."

We all nodded, and Cole held our eyes for a moment, then crouched and shifted into his wolf form.

I drew in a deep breath, crouched, and focused on my own wolf form. A scream burst from my lips and I clamped them together, trying to mute the sounds of my agony. A pained growl slipped from my maw as it reshaped itself, and my shoulders busted and reformed. Seconds later, I was on four paws, shaking out my fur and shoving the memory of my pain aside. I ducked my head through the strap of my sack, and it slid down my neck, settling the bag in place just behind my shoulder. Thank you, Alina. At least I wouldn't be finishing this trial naked. Now to make sure I actually finished it.

Cole took off at a steady, controlled lope, and the rest of us fell in behind him. Alina ran right on his flank, edging forward and then falling back, only her ingrained respect of pack hierarchy keeping her from breaking formation and darting into the fog, risking getting separated from the pack and worse. I guess we all had our fears. And in truth, I wasn't so keen on the fire catching up with us, either. I could already smell the smoke, even though we were running into the wind, and I threw a glance back over my shoulder without breaking my stride.

Shit.

The fire was gaining on us, and fast. How the hell was it moving that quickly into the wind? I let out an urgent whine and Cole flung a glance behind us and then broke into a run.

Faster now, we raced through the foggy woods, paws pounding against the forest floor. The acrid smell of smoke grew stronger, mingling with the tang of fear-scent as we ran.

Cole led the way, dodging around trees and leaping fallen logs, Alina right on his tail. My lungs burned as I held my position in the formation, but I didn't slow. A wall of flame gaining at our backs was all the motivation I needed.

A tree crashed to the ground just ahead, bursting into flame. Fuck! How had the fire gotten in front of us? Cole veered sharply, and we followed. The detour cost us precious seconds. Hot air buffeted my fur as the fire's heat grew more intense.

We had to go faster. Our lives depended on it. But the trees were thick here, and the fog made everything a blur. One wrong step could break a leg or send us crashing into a tree.

I risked a glance back. The fire loomed closer, licking hungrily at the trees and undergrowth. We weren't going to outrun it. Panic clawed at my chest but I shoved it down. I had to keep going. I had to.

Cole put on a burst of speed, zig-zagging dangerously between trunks. I pushed my aching body harder, barely avoiding the trees that seemed to jump into my path. If one of us went down, it was over.

The orange glow was too close, the smoke too thick. I coughed raggedly without slowing my headlong flight. Sweat and blood mingled in my fur. Still the inferno gained.

Suddenly Cole swerved, bursting from the trees onto a rocky slope. It was less choked with trees and undergrowth. We raced up it, lungs burning, legs screaming. The fire surged from the woods behind us, devouring everything in its path.

We crested the ridge at last. Below us the trees thinned to scrubland. If we could make it there, we'd be clear. I fixed my eyes on the open ground and ran for my life.

My paws slipped on loose shale. I slid a few terrifying steps before regaining my balance. No time to slow. The others were depending on me.

Cole and Alina reached the scrubland first. I was just behind, Jax close on my heels. The fire raged mere yards behind, the heat scorching my fur. I sucked in ragged breaths, smoke searing my lungs.

With a final burst of speed I broke free of the trees. The fire surged against the stony ridge, devouring all it touched, but it could not follow where there was nothing left to burn. We were through.

I staggered to a halt, sides heaving, and collapsed to the ground. Around me the others did the same, all of us exhausted from the flight. That had been close. Too close. But we'd made it. We were alive.

As my breathing slowed, I lifted my head warily. The fire burned at the edge of the trees, but already the flames were dying down. We were safe, at least for now. I let my head sink down again and just focused on breathing clean air.

Cole was the first to shift back. "Is everyone okay?" he asked, and I nodded, raking my eyes over him to check that he was unharmed, too, without bothering to shift back. I was pretty sure I didn't have the energy for that right now. But at least Cole seemed okay, Jax too. Alina looked shaken, but unhurt, and right now, that was the best any of us could hope for. I lifted my head to follow Cole's movements as he crossed to Alina and checked her pack, gently releasing the necklace and looping it over his own neck. I felt a little surge of relief as I saw the small gem intact. Because if we'd gone through all of that just to fail the assessment, I'd have been really pissed.

"We'll rest here a while," Cole announced, pulling on his pants. "But stay sharp. Just because we beat the fire doesn't mean we're out of danger yet."

He settled down on the ground and the rest of us stayed where we had thrown ourselves down, still in wolf form. No point in squandering energy that we couldn't afford.

As the minutes ticked by, I felt myself growing stronger again, far faster than I could ever have recovered from a headlong sprint like that before. I guess feeding twice in such a short space of time had some advantages.

I shifted back into my human form and left the other two resting, because there was something bothering me, and I wanted to run it past my mate.

"How are you holding up, princess?" he asked, wrapping an arm around me and pulling me close. For a moment I just basked in his presence, savoring the fact that we were here, together, because I couldn't imagine trying to do this without him by my side.

"Better than Alina, I think," I murmured, glancing over at where she was crouched, nostrils and ears still twitching as she stared out at the dying embers of the fire. "Actually, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. Don't you think it's weird?"

"There are stranger things to be afraid of than fire. I think her packlands burned when she was a kid. A lot of lives were lost."

"That's awful," I said, sending a sympathetic glance Alina's way. I guess I knew why she got so freaked out by it now. "But that's not what I meant. I'm scared of bugs, we get chased by giant bugs. Alina's scared of fire, and we get chased by some kind of supernatural fire."

Cole's brow furrowed. "You think it's part of the assessment?"

"I think it's one hell of a coincidence if it's not."

"I agree."

"And not just that. Both of us were carrying the necklace when our fears came after us."

Cole glanced down. "This necklace?"

"Mm-hm."

"Well, that's fun."

"Think we should tell the others?"

"We already heard," Jax said from behind me, and I turned to see him fully human and halfway through pulling on his pants. "Shifter hearing, remember?"

"Ugh. You couldn't have finished pulling your pants on before you shared that with us?"

"Nothing you haven't seen before," he said with a grin. I felt a possessive rumble in Cole's chest, and Jax's grin quickly fell away.

"From shifting lessons," he emphasized. "Chill. Anyway, what are we going to do about the necklace?"

Alina, still wolf, got up and came to sit with us. I guess she felt safer in that form, and I couldn't blame her. Plus, it was nice to know one of us was still in wolf form, complete with heightened senses, because if we were right about the necklace, things were going to get a lot worse before the end of this assessment.

"We stay alert," Cole said curtly.

"That's it? Stay alert?"

Cole shrugged. "The rules of the test dictate we have to carry it with us, and we can't destroy it. I'll keep hold of it until the assessment is over."

I shook my head as his meaning sunk in. "That's not fair. You shouldn't have to spend the rest of the assessment facing your worst fears."

Jax nodded. "It's a long time until dawn. We should take turns."

"I'm the alpha. I'll carry it."

"But—"

"I'll carry it," Cole said flatly, in a tone that brooked no argument.

"You're the alpha," Jax agreed. "I'll follow whatever rules you lay down, you know that. But think about this one, okay?"

"Decision's made, Jax," he said. Jax nodded uneasily.

"If everyone's rested, we should get moving," Cole said, looking around our small group. "We'll look for somewhere secure to set up camp, and we'll need to find a source of water. Food, too—shifting and fighting is going to burn through our energy reserves quickly, and I want us all strong and ready to face whatever this necklace throws at us."

"Any clues on what that might be?" I asked tentatively.

He shook his head. "My father did his best to beat all my fears out of me when I was a pup, but I'm not na?ve enough to think I don't have any."

I ground my teeth together at the thought of Cain—a full-grown, powerful alpha—hurting Cole when he was a defenseless kid. If he wasn't already dead, I'd want to kill him for that. Instead, I nodded.

"We'll just have to be on our guard for anything out of the ordinary, then."

Jax snorted. "Other than a thick, supernatural fog covering the entire academy?"

"Fair point."

"One person stays wolf at all times. Alina, since you're already wolf, you can go first. We'll rotate every half-hour to stay sharp while we're on the move. Let's go."

Cole slung Alina's sack over his shoulder, leaving her free to move without risking it snagging on any low hanging branches, and I tied my own empty sack around my waist, out of the way until I needed it.

Cole nodded in the opposite direction to where the fire had come from, and the four of us set off.