“And there’s only one thing I care about right now.” I rummaged through the drawer and pulled out what I was looking for. I turned to Astrid, holding a pair of handcuffs. The type designed to hold shifters even if they turned into a wolf.
She saw the handcuffs and froze, taking a half-step back as her eyes widened with horror.
“I have these in case of emergencies,” I said. “I’ll give you one last chance to put these on yourself, or I can put them on for you.”
Her eyes darted around the room, trying to gauge the distance between me and her, and whether or not she could get away in time. I growled, bristling.
“Don’t make this any harder than it has to be,” I warned.
“I’m not going with you,” she said. “I’m going to save my sister. But the only way I know Thea and I will both get out of this alive is if you’re there. Please, don’t do this.”
I lunged forward, moving fast enough to grab her wrist even as she tried to dart away. She snarled, her eyes blazing as her hand darted toward my face, her fingers lengthening to claws as they raked down my cheek. Her knee drove straight into my crotch.
I thought she would just come willingly; I hadn’t been expecting her to fight this much. I probably should have. But she caught me off-guard. I groaned and stumbled backward, loosening my grip on the cuffs. That was all it took.
She jerked them away, and one of the cuffs clicked around my wrist. Before I registered what was happening, the other had clacked around one of the banisters. She stumbled back, panting.
For a moment, I expected her to grab a knife from the kitchen and stab me with it. Instead, she stood still for a minute, as if surprised.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m not letting my sister die.”
She ran out of the house.
It didn’t take long for me to break the wooden banister and tear after her, but it was long enough. By the time I had raced outside, Thea was nowhere in sight. Only her scent lingered.
Snarling, I shifted, planning on going after her. Except, when I did, I realized I’d lost her trail almost immediately. She had covered her tracks.
I ran through the woods, trying to catch a whiff of her scent, but nothing.
She was gone.
Chapter 15 - Astrid
I raced through the trees, looking over my shoulder periodically to make sure Rand wasn’t chasing me. But all that lay behind me were the trees zipping past. The only smells were those of the forest. The only noise was the crunch of branches and leaves beneath my paws.
My mind spun, trying to get a grip on what happened as I panicked, unsure of the next steps. Telling Rand had been a last resort. I thought he would listen to me. I’d been wrong.
Eventually, I came to a halt by a large tree, one with distinctive claw marks around the base, scratches that would only be noticeable if you knew to look for them. I looked around, sniffing the air to make sure one last time that I was really alone. I’d done my best to hide my trail, knowing the handcuff on the banister wasn’t going to stop him for long, but I’d been hasty and panicking, and I was worried someone would be able to follow my trail.
After a long minute of hearing and smelling absolutely nothing suspicious, I shifted back, panting as I forced myself not to cry even as tears began to spill over. I leaned against the tree, feeling the rough bark against my back.
How could I have been so stupid? I should have known this would happen. I couldn’t blame him, but it still stung. Bile rose in my throat as I tried to figure out what to do. I’d risked Thea’s life by telling Rand, hoping that he would help me, or at the very least, help Thea, even if he never wanted to see me again. But I had gambled and might lose both of them now.
I should never have come here in the first place. It was my fault any of this had happened.
A cool wind blew through the trees, and goosebumps ran up my arms. I shivered, then forced myself to straighten. This was my fight, my mess. I had to fix it. I wasn’t going to let my sister die. And I couldn’t let Ansel and the others kill the Silver Wolves.
I took a deep breath, letting my wolf fill me with rage and energy as I plotted my next steps. Get Thea. That’s what I had to do first. Once I got her, I could get her safe, then figure out how to stop Ansel.
My first instinct would have been to ask someone for help. But who could I go to? Rand’s reaction told me there was no way in hell I could go to the Silver Wolves. For all I knew, they’d kill me the instant they saw me. They didn’t seem the type, but I’d clearly misjudged Rand and Ansel. It seemed as though I wasn’t the best judge of character.
No, I was on my own. And the clock was ticking. I needed to find out where he was keeping my sister.
Where would he keep Thea, though? At headquarters? Headquarters didn’t exactly have prison cells, at least none that I was aware of. Would he take her somewhere else? Did he have somewhere else? Knowing him, he probably did, though I had no idea where they might be.
I needed to think in basic terms to start. I knew his headquarters had small bedrooms there. Ansel slept there sometimes, as did some of the other higher-ups. I’d seen the bedrooms once before. They were pretty spartan—very cramped with no windows. They would work to keep someone prisoner in a pinch. And if Thea wasn’t there, I could try to sneak into Ansel’s office to look for any evidence of any other hideouts he might have.
I glanced up at the sky, the moon overhead. If I timed it right, I could get there around the time Ansel left to stage his attack on Brixton. Headquarters wouldn’t be as closely guarded. The only problem was that if I was wrong about where he was holding Thea and I had to search somewhere else, that would give Ansel all the time he needed to send the order to slit Thea’s throat. Then, everything I’d done, everything I’d put on the line, would have been for nothing.