Page 68 of Haunted By the Shadow of Death

We were supposed to leave tomorrow morning. Kicks still insisted we should go back to the pack, while I was steadfast that I was leaving him somewhere along the way. Maybe the place we’d stopped on our way to California? A place he knew. It would be a compromise of sorts.

I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that the thumping noise jarred me. I glanced over to where Kicks was working with Dirkin, expecting to see a piece of debris they’d tossed off the roof. Instead, Kicks was slumped on the ground.

I ran over, finding arrows littered all over his body. How had they even pierced his skin? I’d seen bullets bounce off him. Was it what they were made of?

“What happened?” I yelled, not even sure where Dirkin was as I knelt beside Kicks, who was barely conscious. “Dirkin!” I screamed.

Kicks mumbled something, but I couldn’t understand him.

I leaned closer. “What?”

His eyes opened a little wider. “Run.”

For a split second I did nothing, shock stealing my movements. Finally I got to my feet, grabbing his arms so I could drag him away with me, no plan other than getting out of the open.

I hadn’t made it a foot before a loop of rope fell over my head and was immediately tightened. I’d just grabbed on to that when it was followed by another, both leaving only the slightest slack for me to get air. There were rods attached to the ropes, the kind of things they’d use on wild animals.

My hands were at the ropes tightening around my neck, forcing me to my feet and pulling me away from Kicks.

I tried to look around, spotting Dirkin standing off to the side and two men I’d never seen before holding the rods. Groza was approaching in the distance.

“What did you do?” I yelled at Dirkin.

“What needs to be done to protect my people,” he said. “They told me about you.”

I couldn’t fault him for wanting me dead. But Kicks?

“He was your friend. How could you do this to him?” I pointed to Kicks’ body on the ground, so lifeless.

“He made his choice,” Dirkin said. “If you want to blame anyone, blame yourself.”

I already was. I should’ve left days ago, left the pack as soon as Zetti died, but in my heart, I hadn’t wanted to. Now Kicks was going to die because of me.

Groza appeared near me, Duncan beside her, along with some of the goons I remembered from her pack.

“No one believed I’d be able to catch you, but look at you now.”

“You better let me go.” Death was going to appear any minute, and she’d kill them. I wasn’t sure if it would be enough to save Kicks, though.

“Or what?” Groza said, laughing. “The only ally you have left is dead.”

I couldn’t get close enough to touch them, but that didn’t matter. Death would come. She’d kill my enemies.

Yet here I was, caught, and she wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

“Death,” I said, hoping it would prompt her arrival. She needed to get here before Kicks bled out.

“Yeah, I’m not so sure that’s going to work, considering you can’t move right now and your dog is lying on the ground.”

“Death!” I nearly screamed. They thought I was threatening them. I was, but not in the way they thought. Where the hell was she?

“How many times do you plan on yelling that?” Groza asked, laughing again. “No one is dying but you two. The packs are all against you. Nix is the one who told us you were going to California. He sent someone out and told old Dirkin here to keep you put any way he could.”

Had Kicks told Nix where we were heading? Had someone in that pack heard our plans? If that were true, why hadn’t Nix done this when he had us there? No. It had to have been spies in his pack—not that it mattered. We were caught, and I wasn’t expecting Nix to swoop in and save us, not after the slightly chilly reception we’d received.

I turned my attention to Duncan, hoping some of the man I thought I’d known was still in there. “Duncan, please, don’t do this.”

“I know you’ve killed again. I’m sorry, but you need to be put down.” His face was like stone as he stared at me.

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