Page 5 of Shadow City: Silver Wolf

The voices grew louder as multiple footsteps rushed toward my dad.

"I smell her!" someone exclaimed. "She's in the woods!"

Breathing deep again to calm myself down, I focused on putting one foot in front of the other. I had to get out of here before they caught me. My pack's sacrifice couldn't be in vain.

CHAPTER TWO

"Her scent is strong,"one of the men yelled. "She can't be far."

Dammit, I didn't have even a quarter-mile lead on them. I had to get my head on straight or they'd capture me.

The urgency of my situation called for focus. At least, I had a reprieve from the overwhelming grief that wanted to suffocate me.

Wiping the moisture from my eyes and the snot from my nose, I increased my pace. They might have numbers on me, but I knew the land.

I veered left, staying deep enough in the woods that I couldn't be seen if they drove the roads. I ran a sporadic route, hoping they wouldn’t guess that I was heading to the closest town, about four or five miles away. Luckily, the road led southwest toward Shadow City and allowed me to stay close to civilization. That would force the people chasing me to keep their animal sides at bay.

After all, humans weren't supposed to know about supernaturals. If someone let it slip, the punishment was death.

Footsteps pounded behind me, pushing me to move faster. I ran often for training, so I should be able to lose their asses. As long as I kept ahead, I should be okay.

I'd figure out what to do once I got closer to the city.

My legs grew heavy,and it took twice as much energy to keep going, but I pushed through the fatigue. From what I could guess, I'd run about fifteen miles, which meant Shadow City wasn't far ahead. If I maintained my current speed, I would reach the city in the next thirty minutes.

I was making decent time, but the assholes after me hadn't fallen behind as I'd hoped. I had to lose them.

Scanning the area, I searched for something that would slow them down. Staying close to the road wasn't a viable option any longer.

I cut to the right, farther away from the road, hoping the switch in direction would disorient them for a short while, and examined my surroundings. I wasn't familiar with this part of the woods. Even though our pack lived somewhat close to Shadow City, we’d always kept a wide berth from it, purposely avoiding anyone who lived near there.

I tried to remember everything I knew about Shadow City. It was a refuge that had been created over a thousand years ago. Anyone who needed help or asylum could go there. All shifter races lived there together, plus angels, vampires, witches… almost every supernatural race in existence.

When the city was founded, the silver wolves had been its protectors until corruption took hold. Unable to fight the corrupt leaders and unwilling to die for them, the silver wolves had chosen to leave.

At the time, Shadow City's alpha wolf had promised to clean the place up and had asked for us to not go too far away. Then, shortly after the silver wolves left, the city went into lockdown, not letting anyone in or out until the past few years.

Dad had gone there about two years ago, to meet with the current alpha wolf, Atticus, but he’d left me behind, telling me he needed to vet the situation and that I was to stay with the pack in case things went awry. I’d been sixteen then, old enough to step into the alpha role if necessary.

Despite the alpha's promise that things had gotten better, Dad had been wary of some of the other leaders in the city, specifically the angel, Azbogah, and some of the witches. Atticus had said to give him time, that we'd see more change. However, Dad never heard from him again.

For him to tell me to go there meant the Shadow City pack was my only hope for safety. That didn't sit well with me, but that was a problem for another day.

Right now, I had to get these assholes off my trail.

The rushing of the river helped me form an idea. I probably should've done it a while ago, but I'd foolishly thought I could outrun them.

Mistakes were forgivable as long as you could do something about them. And fortunately, I was alive and still moving, which meant everything in my current situation. No one else in my pack could say that.

"She's changing course," someone huffed. "She’s heading for the river."

At least, they were showing signs of fatigue too. It would've sucked if they didn't sound as winded as I felt.

"Don't let her get there," another one yelled. "I’m calling for backup. We can't lose her."

The good thing about changing directions—it made their weight shift on their feet. I hadn't been able to get a good read onhow many were chasing me, but with them pivoting, it sounded like about ten were riding my ass.

That was more than I'd expected. I'd hoped for a handful. With that many, my odds of getting away were a whole lot slimmer.

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