Page 54 of Wolf Marked

He was leaving a trail for Jerrick to follow. And they had brought the bastard right into Svanna Rock. Through the hidden entrance!

“Erec, what’s going on?” Astrid’s rising panic was because of his own, he knew. But they weren’t as safe as they had been led to believe.

His chest was painfully tight. “Jerrick knows where we are,” he gasped. “He knows how to get into Svanna Rock.”

Terror flashed across her face. “What? How?”

“Claus.” He was still laughing at them. Even after death.

“Jerrick knows where we are, but that doesn’t mean we can’t beat him,” Astrid said. Her words were meant to be comforting, but her voice wavered, revealing her trepidation. “We’ve been training. And Rohan’s messenger said he’d supply us with more men and more weapons—”

Another arctic chill darted down Erec’s spine. “Rohan?” He couldn’t control the volume of his voice now. It boomed in the silence of the forest. “Did you say Rohan sent a messenger? When?”

“This morning,” she rushed, her fear radiating out of every pore now. “Why?”

Erec was off running in the next second. That hadn’t been Rohan’s messenger. That had been one of Jerrick’s scouts.

And that meant Jerrick knew everything. He knew how many were in the west-side pack, knew the layout of the camp, their weaknesses, and strengths. He had gotten in and right under their noses, too.

Erec remembered overhearing Filip and Astrid mention a messenger being sent. Had this been what they’d meant? Why hadn’t he questioned them about it then? He scolded himself for being so stupid. Now his mistake may have cost them all their lives.

Astrid’s footsteps thundered behind him as she followed. “Erec! What’s going on?”

“Rohan is dead!” he called over his shoulder. He couldn’t slow. Not even for a second. “There is no north pack! Jerrick wiped them out months ago!”

Astrid was at his side sprinting beside him then, her hair a red flag in the wind. The list of curses she rattled off were the same ones he was thinking. If Jerrick knew everything Erec had a feeling he did, they were all in a lot of trouble.

When they reached Svanna Rock, the night was still peacefully quiet in the early morning hour. Erec and Astrid rushed through the weaving crystal entrance so fast, one of the stones nicked Erec’s shoulder, but the slice of pain was nothing compared to the stabbing in his lungs from the panicked run. Once they reached the other side, Erec was relieved to see everything was as it should be. Some of the men and women were even beginning to emerge from the tents and begin their morning chores. Filip and Mila were among them, walking together around the camp, little Finn crying in his mother’s arms.

Thank Vallor nothing had happened while he and Astrid had been away. They still had time.

“Erec? Ash?” Concern rang in Filip’s voice once he’d spotted them. He stepped away from his mate as they approached. “Are you both all right? What’s wrong?”

“Jerrick knows where we are. He knows everything,” Erec blurted. Even though they had made it before an attack, anxiety continued to weave through him like a serpent. “We have to leave. Right now. We have to—”

“Leave?” Filip repeated. His thick brows rose. “Wait, Jerrick knows? How?”

“Rohan’s dead, Filip,” Astrid added in, breathless. “Jerrick took out his pack months ago.”

“But then who…” Filip took a step back as the realization came crashing down. “Oh no…”

“Exactly.” Erec wiped a hand across his sweaty forehead. “We need to act fast. There’s no time now that he knows—”

A piercing whistle made the words die on his tongue. Then there was another scream of air. And another. And another. Until the silence was replaced by the terrifying song of hundreds of strange shrilling things.

Warning prickled across the back of Erec’s neck, and when Filip peered upward, his look of utter horror confirmed Erec’s suspicions. He spun around just in time to see a flock of arrows soaring over the crystal-stone wall of Svanna Rock.

Chapter Seventeen

“Astrid!”

Everything happened too fast for her to comprehend. Hands grabbed her and roughly yanked. Her back smacked against something hard, and it wasn’t until the scents of cedar and smoke filled her nose that she knew it was Erec who held her. Then, she was moving backward. The distance between her and the tents grew as screams of horror sliced the air. She watched Filip rush at Mila and shove her into a nearby cabin, his barked orders silenced by a chorus of sharp whistling sounds and frantic shouts.

That’s when Astrid looked up. The sky had darkened as a cloud passed over the wall at her back. People scattered, covering their heads, and ran for cover. All her breath froze in her lungs as the realization hit. That wasn’t just an innocent drifting cloud.

Arrows.

They were being ambushed!

---