Page 190 of Kingdoms of Night

He was all dominant male.

“Follow me,” he said, heading toward the door to unlatch it. Then he hopped out of the plane to the ground below—withouta ramp or stairs.

I gaped at him, noting the drop, and wondered exactly how he expected me tofollowhim.

“It’s only about eleven or twelve feet,” he said. “Jump, Riley.”

My wolf wanted to decline that command.

But the screeching sounds coming from the Infected had me obeying on impulse.

“Good girl,” Jonas said when my paws hit the concrete. “Now let’s see how fast you can run.”

CHAPTERTHREE

JONAS

Somewhere in North Carolina

Riley vibrated with anxiety beside me, her nose twitching as she picked up the scent of decayed flesh in the air.

Or I assumed that was the cause, anyway.

Because I could barely smell anything other than the acrid stench of zombie meat.

What a fucking mess.

The compound had been breached—something that had happened because a human had let a group inside without properly vetting them.

All it took was one infected mortal to spread the virus.

And it had.

As evidenced by the now dead pilot.

I’d picked up a hint of something wrong in his scent. But it’d been a few seconds too late, and we’d already been in the air by the time I’d realized the cause.

Fuck.

I ran a hand down my face and focused on our surroundings once more. Being off the jet allowed me to see more than I’d been able to from the cockpit.

A good thing because my nose was useless at the moment.

We’d landed just outside of Asheville. Thus, we were close to the mountains yet also near a former tourist hotspot.

Which meant there would be a lot of Infected humans.

But a myriad of trees to provide cover as well.

We just needed to cross through the barrier of zombielike mortals and head east toward Fort Bragg.

The base had a minimal operating crew, mostly there to protect military families and the few fortunate civilians who had managed to reach the protective barrier.

I’d told Kieran we would make our way there to wait for a new aircraft.

He’d agreed with the plan, as Asheville wasn’t easily accessible right now. And, as our jet had been one of the last to leave the CDC compound, it wouldn’t be easy for anyone to come to retrieve us now.

Therefore, we were on our own for the time being.

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