Page 63 of Wolf Marked

Astrid’s gaze swept the whiteness around them, seeing similar piles everywhere. Were the wolves buried underneath the snow for protection from the storm? She didn’t know and didn’t want to be around to find out. Who knew how many of Jerrick’s men were sleeping by their feet at this very moment. Or how many they had passed along the way. The thought had her shivering.

They had been lucky they hadn’t accidently stepped on one coming here, but now, how were they ever going to get away?

“I’m going to shift.” Bec’s voice was nothing more than a rumble. She probably wouldn’t have heard it if she hadn’t been standing so close. He dropped his axe and stripped off his clothing. Without the curse, the change rippled through him faster than it did for Astrid; it took only seconds before a massive gray and tan wolf was in his place. It shook out its fur, pressed its snout into the snow, and then swung its massive head right, a silent command to follow.

Kalle took Bec’s weapon and clothes. Then Kalle and Astrid crept behind the creature as it inched forward. She glanced over her shoulder every couple of steps to ensure they weren’t being pursued and kept her movements slow and calculated, despite the growing sense of urgency.

After walking for some time, Bec stopped and lifted his head, ears pointed straight up. He’d heard something. Astrid’s first thought was that it was one of Jerrick’s men, but when Bec didn’t bare his fangs or run for it, she realized it had to be something else.

Then she heard it. The twittering of a lumibird floating on the wind.

No, not a bird. It couldn’t be. Lumibirds didn’t sing that loud, nor would they be out in this storm.

Hope flared in her chest. It was Erec!

Her legs dashed forward without thought. The wind whooshed past her ears as she ran, but the tweeting song was still there. Faint but still there. She reached out across the pack bond and found his aura. To her surprise, it was emitting explosive rage more than anything else. Dodging any piles of snow, just in case, she sprinted past trees until a shadowy square outline came into view. As she came closer, she could make out metal bars and a hunched figure behind them. It was a cage, very much like the one that had held Henrick, Dana, and the other prisoners. And Erec was inside.

He jerked his head in her direction, and his blue-tinted lips lifted into one of his heart-skipping smirks.

Astrid came to the bars. “Erec,” she gasped, “you’re okay.”

Something troubling hovered in his eyes at her words, but he didn’t speak on it.

“How did you find me?” he whispered, crawling over to her. He reached out for her hand, and she let him take it, desperate to feel his touch again. Her skin felt on fire compared to his.

“I heard your whistling.”

His entire body trembled as another gust of wind whirled by them, but his expression showed no sign of distress. He grinned, dark blue eyes locked on her face, taking her in. “I told you it comes in handy.”

The anger she’d experienced before through the pack tie had softened now to that same pulsing warm glow she had become accustomed to whenever she was with him, maybe even craved. It was strong enough to melt the chill from her bones, even in this arctic storm.

Erec frowned. “Please tell me you didn’t come alone, Astrid.”

“Bec and Kalle are with me,” she replied, tone low. Peering over her shoulder, she spotted their shadows hovering close by but near the coverage of a bush. “I’m going to get you out of here.” Orders be damned, there was no way she was leaving here without him. She couldn’t see any traces of Jerrick’s camp from the cage and the wind was still blowing against them, so their scents couldn’t be caught. It was the opportunity she had been hoping for, and she wasn’t going to just let it go.

“Smashing the lock like last time will be too loud,” Erec said. “Even with the storm, someone will hear it.”

True. And none of them had brought a hammer with them.

She looked at her new spear with the glowing pink stone arrow for a tip and a thought came to her. Just how sharp were Svanna’s rocks?

“Maybe I can cut through the lock or the bars with this?” She showed him the blade, and his eyes widened in surprise.

“Is that…?”

She nodded. “Henrick made it for me.”

“I should have known.” Erec stepped back and whispered, “Try it. But be quick.”

Astrid walked over to the lock holding the cage door closed and pressed the spear’s tip to the metal. She began to saw at the latch. It took some effort to get it started, but aftera while, the stone had made a notch in the latch. She smiled at him. It was working.

But the moment Astrid raised the spear again, the wind switched direction, tossing her hair over her shoulders and slamming against her back. She stumbled forward and almost smacked into the cage from the force of it.

Erec gripped the bars to keep himself steady, but there was panic in his eyes. “You have to go,” he blurted out.

Her breaths quickened. “What? Why?”

“The wind.” He glanced behind him, where Jerrick’s camp lay beyond the trees. “They’ll pick up your scent. You have to go.”

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