62. Chapter 62

Chapter 62

I n the hours that they had been running, Layla had learned that the Hunters were relentless.

The magical barrier Jackson had told her about had only held them back for a little while. They had passed through it somehow. And they had not become disoriented or cursed in any way.

They had been hot on their tails for hours, even with the potions thrown to cover their tracks.

They were like machines.

The packs were tired. In that time, they had run into two other packs and joined forces. She had no idea how many wolves they were running with now. And all of them were tired.

As she drank the last of her water and then put the empty bottle back in the rucksack so there wouldn't be a rubbish trail for the Hunters to follow, she looked at the miserable faces of the kids who were stretching their legs and being given quick snacks. Even the food was running out.

They could not hunt because the carcasses would give them away even if they buried them. The Hunters had hounds that seemed to have powerful senses of smell. But even if they could hunt, they couldn't feed the kids raw meat. Fires would only give their position away quicker.

How would they stop an enemy that seemed unstoppable?

She looked over at Jackson, who was speaking to two huge men. She assumed they were the Alphas of the other packs. He had Hope in his arms, and the baby was sound asleep straight after a feed.

"We'll be heading back out again in a few minutes. Are you okay?"

She turned to watch Faith approaching her from the trees behind her.

"I'll be okay when we're all home safe," she answered.

"Hope has been sleeping through most of it," Faith said.

But for how long? The Hunters had gotten so close at one point that she had been so sure that if Hope had cried, they would have heard her. Her innocent, newborn child would be accused of sending everyone to their deaths.

If it wasn't Hope, it would be one of the other babies in the packs. She had seen Max with his baby sister strapped onto their mother's back, but even little Jade could have brought the Hunters to them at any time.

There had to be another way. If the Hunters got close enough, they would bring out their weapons, and people would start to die. So far, they had been lucky, but that was sure to run out sooner or later.

"If anything was to happen to me, would someone be able to feed Hope?" she asked.

"Nothing will happen to you."

"But let's say it does," she asked Faith.

The young wolf sighed and looked around. They had almost come full circle in the vast forest; she had heard the sounds of the city not too far away. If another party came from that direction, they would all be screwed. Already the Hunters had tried to surround them several times.

"There are other mothers here. They would never let a pup go hungry. Someone would feed Hope if anything happened to you," she confirmed.

She nodded and smiled at Faith. If they got out of this, the girl had to find the courage to go to university to fulfil her dreams.

"I'm just going to..." she started, gesturing to the biggest tree trunk where a quick hole had been dug.

It would be covered up when their short break was finished, and no one would stop again for another couple of hours.

Faith walked away to give her some privacy, and she walked around to the tree. She looked back at Jackson and Hope, her heart breaking to pieces at the thought of them not making it to the end of the day.

Jackson looked up as if he could tell she was looking at him, and then he gave her a little smile before one of the Alphas took his attention again.

She had no more time to lose.

She walked deeper into the forest, and when she was hidden, she started to run. Jackson had told her to focus on staying hidden, and that was what she did. She felt the surge of something inside her as the wolf side seemed to wake up. And she felt lighter on her feet as if she could fly if she wanted to.

‘You're being foolish,' the voice said in her head.

‘I'm being proactive.'

She ran faster than ever, heading closer to where the Hunters had stopped. They stopped often, and she presumed it was to find the right track, which they always did, and the chase began all over again.

‘Do you know how to growl?' she asked her wolf.

‘You're going to get everybody killed,' the wolf said instead of answering.

But she took that as a yes. If she could kill so many people, she had to know how to do basic wolf stuff.

When she was close enough to the Hunters that their hounds could hear her, she stopped and listened.

"They won't run forever. They're in here."

That was Amber's voice. Her fists clenched when she heard it. Amber knew better than she did what would happen to everyone, and still, she was trying to lead them right to all the packs. She was probably the reason they were staying on the pack's trail.

But she would deal with Amber another day. If she survived.

She looked down at her feet and wriggled her toes into the damp undergrowth. She focused her thoughts and hoped it would work. She was no longer trying to hide. Her body felt heavier as she took a few steps forward through the leaves on the ground, and those sounded noisy even to her ears.

"Did you hear that?" someone whispered.

Dogs growled in the background.

And then she took a deep breath. And she growled.

The sound was deep and drawn out and echoed through the trees.

"That way!"

Their footsteps were still as quiet as before, but she sensed them turning towards her, heading away from the packs.

And then she started to run. She shut off all her emotions so she wouldn't talk herself out of the dangerous mission she had embarked on to save the two most important people in her life. Focusing on staying hidden became easier. Maybe her mind started to play tricks on her because it looked like the shadows began to part for her, and then they started to swallow her up as if she became a part of them.

Still, she continued running, just fast enough that the hounds could still hear and smell her.

Her plan was working. The hunters had split into groups, but she could sense them all silently heading toward her. And she had never felt such darkness. It was as if they had nothing on their hearts and minds except to kill. Ice flowed down her spine at the thought of being caught by them.

Because she would have to be caught.

They had been tracking wolves all along, so she would give them a wolf.

All around her, she heard other animals scurrying away. Jackson had told her the forest was full of deadly animals, but she was sure the werewolves were still the most lethal, and all the other creatures could sense it. She zoomed past their dens and their nest until the canopy of the trees started to get thinner. Until the sun began to trickle through and light her way.

Only then did she realise she hadn't even thought of hiding the fact that she could see as well as any of them in the dark. But that didn't matter now. She was doing what she had to do to save them.

She blinked against the sun when she ran out of the dense forest and tried to get her bearings. She was still far into the woods, but the city was close. She could see the signs of it around her. Abandoned tents, litter. Graffiti from kids who dared each other to go into the creepy woods.

The hounds barked again, very close to her, and she started to jog. What would they do when they caught her? Would they kill her outright or take her and experiment on her? Her mother had been on the run all her life because of them, so that had to mean they—

Her thoughts were cut short when something burrowed into her from the side.

Pain shot up her back as she landed next to a tent, and then she rolled, ending up on top of...

"Jackson?"

She looked down at the fury in his eyes. He had been angry with her before but never like this.

"What the fuck are you doing?" he hissed.

No. No, no, no!

"You shouldn't be here," she said weakly.

The first hound burst through the trees. And then the second. Jackson's fury disappeared and was replaced by resignation.

And then he pulled her head down. His lips met hers in a gentle kiss that made her tears fall onto him.

It was a goodbye kiss.