Page 126 of The Alpha King's Curse: Part Two

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.

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