Page 97 of Shadow City: Silver Wolf

Of course, they were. At least I’d found Dad's stash, even though it would've been nice to figure out the riddle earlier; we could've bypassed this encounter. Thankfully, we weren't leaving empty-handed. "I think I've found what we were looking for." It'd be nice to confirm it by looking through the stuff, but we didn't have time. I had to trust my instinct. Dad wouldn't have hidden something if he didn't think it was valuable.

"Why am I not surprised?" Griffin kissed my cheek, as he glanced around the room. "You're kind of amazing. Let's find something to put it in."

"Let's not go overboard with the compliments." I was definitely not amazing—if I were, we wouldn't be in our current situation. I stood and picked up the drawer. "And we don't have time to pack it. We're taking it as is." I rushed out the door and headed down the hallway. Thankfully, the vehicles were already loaded, so we just needed to get in and go.

Griffin followed me, and I heard the jangle of the keys as he pulled them from his pocket.

As I entered the living room, the front door opened, and Killian's strained face appeared. He glanced at the drawer and then at Griffin and me. "Come on. They're pulling into the neighborhood now."

"Do we know how many there are?" I jogged past him and stepped outside.

I glanced at his truck, finding Sierra in the driver's seat. Her hands clutched the wheel, and her chest heaved with each breath. She looked petrified, and I kind of hated that Killian had included her in our mess.

They'd lump her in with me now, which meant there was no telling what the enemy would do to her family. It was clear that they weren't above hurting or abusing innocent people to get what they wanted.

Enough people had been hurt or threatened because of me, and I hated to add another person to the ever-growing list.

"I have no clue," Killian answered as Griffin ran outside.

Griffin pressed the unlock button on his key fob and the car doors clicked. I rushed to open the passenger door and set the drawer on the floorboard. Fortunately, the vehicles hadn't turned down the dead-end road yet and hadn't seen that we’d carried something out, and they probably wouldn’t be looking for anything in the car.

"Let's go," Griffin commanded as he hurried to the driver’s side door and opened it. He leaned over the seat like he was searching for something.

The sounds of engines rumbled, and the vehicles took the turn and rushed toward us. One of the windows rolled down, and the barrel of a gun poked out, aiming in our direction.

Shit. We would be huge targets in the vehicles.

"We need to go into the woods." Everything inside me screamed to get into the car and go, but the protector side knew it was a horrible idea. If we tried, they would blow out our tires, and then we'd be even more at their mercy. I couldn't let panic take over. "Otherwise, we're sitting ducks. The trees will offer some protection."

As if reinforcing my words, the gun fired, and a bullet hit the back tire of Killian's truck. Air poured out as the vehicle drooped.

"Dammit." Killian opened the passenger door and yelled, "Sierra, crawl over here and get outnow."

Don't press the lock button on the fob, or they'll wonder why we cared enough to lock the vehicle.I pressed the lock button on the inside of the door panel so the horn wouldn't beep, and then slammed it shut.

Griffin shut the driver’s door and ran toward me. He took my hand and tugged me toward the trees. "We've got to move."

The tires squealed as the vehicles came to a harsh stop.

We were about to run out of time. Killian and Sierra ran past the Navigator, and Griffin and I ran hard behind them.

A few shots were fired and hit the ground beside us, breaking up dirt.

We ran at an angle, using our cars for coverage. Car doors opened as the enemies climbed out in hot pursuit.

At least I was on land that I knew all too well. Worst case—if we had to—we could run all the way back to Shadow Ridge, butthat would be hard with the four of us. When I had been alone, they'd almost caught me. With four of us, it would be a miracle if we all got away.

A loudcawsounded overhead, and I looked into the sky to find a black crow hovering there. It paused directly over me, flapping like it was taunting me. It held a branch in its talons and dropped it, making a faintcrack. The crow cawed again, mocking me.

Dammit, we hadn't been alone when we’d arrived here, after all. That branch I'd heard must have been the crow. I'd been so focused on a threat at ground level that I hadn't thought about looking in the damn trees. I should've known better, but the emotional strain of being here had gotten the better of me—that was why I hadn't sensed anything out of the ordinary. The bird had been God knew how high in the sky, so I couldn't smell it.

At least that told me that whoever it was didn’t live close by. Granted, they’d have to take time to group and get here, but if they lived in a city close by, they would’ve gotten here during the night.

Killing that dumbass bird jumped even higher on my priority list. He had flown under the radar way too many times, but I wouldn't make that mistake again. At least, Carter hadn't betrayed us again. That was the silver lining, if there was one.

"We all need to split up," one of the enemies commanded. "Remember, do not kill the girl, but stop her by any means necessary."

So in other words, shoot, but not to kill.

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