Page 9 of Wolf Marked

A cage? Erec turned around and poked his head out from behind the shrub. Astrid was right. Through the skinny tree trunks, he could see a large cage with thick metal bars. Close to a dozen men and women stood inside, huddled together for warmth.

Erec’s heart sank as he scanned the many worn and dirty faces and spotted a couple familiar ones—a man and a young blonde girl he had seen dragged off by Jerrick’s wolves. Like the others, their clothes were torn and bloody and their thin bodies slumped against the side of the cage.

A frail-looking woman Erec didn’t recognize held a naked infant in her arms, cuddling it close to her chest. She tried to soothe it, but it continued to cry, its face as purple as a wild berry.

Wolves lay in the snow around the cage. At first, Erec thought they were guards to keep watch of the hostages, but then he noticed the spiked collars around their necks and the chains that bound them to nearby trunks. Blood matted their fur where the metal barbspoked into their skin.

Fury tore through Erec at what he was seeing. Jerrick was torturing these people. Were there more prisoners that he couldn’t see? Where was his camp? There was no smell of fire nearby, and only trees surrounded the prisoners. No tents or any other signs of Jerrick’s men. But they had to be close. He wouldn’t want to keep his captives far from him.

He had guessed Jerrick’s camp lay north of the valley, but it seemed they were traveling west now, closer to Boden’s territory. They were moving quick, had already crossed the river, and could be upon the pack by dawn. Astrid and her family were in more trouble than he’d thought.

He couldn’t leave these people here. If Jerrick didn’t kill them off, the winter cold and starvation would. His thoughts flew to Mikel and what he would do if faced with this situation. The answer was easy enough. He would help them, risk it all to protect these strangers, just like he had done for Erec all those years ago. Why? Because he believed everyone deserved a chance.

If he didn’t find a way to get these people out of the cage and the chains, they would die. He had to help.

“This is horrible.” Astrid’s warm breath against his ear startled him. “We have to do something.” When she went to jump to her feet and reveal their hiding place, Erec snatched her arm and pulled her back down. He admired her compassion, but this wasn’t as easy as running out there, opening the cage, and letting them all go free. They didn’t know how close Jerrick and his men were, if they were watching their captives from a place concealed from view.

He needed to search the area first and find out a little more about what they were up against before risking their lives. He and Astrid were no match against Jerrick and all his followers.

“Stay here,” he said in a hard whisper. What he really wanted to tell her was to go back to her pack and warn Boden about this, but it’d only be a wasted request. “I’m going to look around and come right back.” Her lips moved to protest, and he narrowed his gaze on her. “Five seconds. That’s all. Stay.”

He stayed low and crept away before she could argue. Sticking to the shadows and denser parts of the forest, Erec looped around the small clearing in a flash. While on the opposite side, he spotted two sets of footprints coming to and from the north, but they were shallow with a new coating of snow. By the speed in which the snowflakes were comingdown and their size, he’d predict their owners hadn’t been by for about twenty minutes or so.

Erec paused for only a moment when the breeze pushed past him. He inhaled deeply and smelled blood and wet fur, most likely from the injured wolves stuck in their animal forms by the collars. Wherever Jerrick’s pack was, they weren’t here now, but it did nothing to calm the uneasiness stirring inside him. He had a feeling there wasn’t much time before the two watching over the captured returned to check on them.

When he came back to his and Astrid’s hiding place, he was surprised to find her still there.

“Just so you know, that was almost a full minute,” she said, her tone more teasing than annoyed. “I counted.”

He found himself smiling at that. “There are tracks across the clearing, on the other side, leading north. They aren’t too fresh, so I’m expecting whoever they belong to will be back soon.”

Astrid hopped onto her feet. “So we don’t have much time.”

“Exactly,” he replied. “But we need to be smart about this. We can’t jump without thinking. If we’re caught, we’re dead.”

“I get it.”

Great.Erec moved around the bush with Astrid following close behind. As soon as they passed the trees, every wolf’s head whipped toward them; the sorrow and defeat reflecting in their big eyes stabbed at his chest. In the cage, the men and women shuffled back against the bars, frightened, while the baby fussed in its mother’s arms.

“We’re going to get you out of there,” he told them as he walked around the front of the cage. An iron lock was clamped around the bars, keeping the door sealed shut. With his senses on high alert, he reached into his boot and pulled out his knife. Maybe if he got the blade into the keyhole, he could work the gears inside enough to release the latch or pry it loose.

“Erec?”

He looked up to see a young man from Mikel’s pack, named Henrick, step forward.

“We thought you were dead. I-I saw Claus slam into you, and you go down,” he said.

Claus must have been the name of the brown wolf who’d hit him hard enough and left him unconscious. Jerrick’s pet. “Well, here I am.”

“Jerrick’s men make rounds every half hour,” he sputtered. His gaze shifted to Astrid. “You and the girl need to get away from here.”

Every half hour? Then they had less time than he’d thought.

“We’re getting you out first,” Astrid whispered and gave him a reassuring smile.

The baby continued to scream, setting Erec’s nerves even more on edge as he stuck his blade’s tip into the lock and twisted. But it didn’t give. He tried again, wrenching the latch hard as he turned the knife, but nothing. He glanced over his shoulder to see Astrid had walked to one of the wounded wolves lying on its side in the snow. She examined the contraption around its neck and stroked its gray fur. There was no way his small knife was going to cut their chains.

Then, a snarling voice exploded from across the clearing. “Enough! Shut that thing up, or I’ll come over and do it myself!”

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