Page 6 of Fated Exile

Lance slides to a stop in front of me, whipping his head up to stare at the distant boulders. His voice is proud in my head.You did it.

I did. To all the wolves I warn,Get across to the other side quickly! I don't know how long I can hold them up.

Stunned as they are by the sight of dozens of boulders held up in the air by invisible magic, it takes the warriors a moment to respond. By the time they do, I can sense their growing admiration. As they run past me, to the other side of the booby trap, I get more than one nod of appreciation.

The guys follow as well, at my nudging. Holding the boulders up for several seconds more, I get out of their way—then lead all of us a good fifty feet past them before letting them down onto the ground.

As they hit, the weight of so much heavy rock makes the earth around us tremble. They roll down the incline behind us, curving around the path and falling off the distant cliff. A shudder goes through me at the thought of what it would've been like to be crushed beneath their weight.

The others are thinking it too, because they follow me as a sedate pace as I hang a left towards the black cliff face Ambrosia disappeared into. I don't sense another booby trap, but it feels good to have the pack crowded at my heels, their faith in my power growing.

Once we're standing a few feet in front of the sheer rock wall, it's clear where Ambrosia went.

There's a cave entrance here,I point out, pushing my muzzle into the stream of air slipping out of it, wet and dank.She must've gone inside. No doubt she knew there was a booby trap—the dead bitch was probably hoping we'd get caught in it.

In an appreciative voice, Ian says,Thanks to you, we didn't.

That was amazing,Wally says gruffly.We would've been toast without you.

Agreement ripples out at this, and Kieran nudges my shoulder with his muzzle, his golden eyes dancing with pride. I lift my chin up, letting the moment suffuse me.

Lance even says, privately just to me,You've just strengthened the pack. Accepting your leadership is the best thing for them—and for you.

You really think so?

I do. Accepting your role among them, as their savior and their leader, will change things forever. For the best.

Thank you.

Shaking off the moment, I turn towards the task at hand. Slipping into the cave entrance reveals multiple paths, all of them branching off a large, circular space. They feel deliberately carved into the mountain, the entrance like a receiving hall, each curving tunnel leading towards some distant destination.

My skin prickles at the knowledge that this cave entrance, or one like it, is what my father slipped through when he met my biological mother.

Assessing each tunnel, I look for signs of Ambrosia. But my nose isn't strong enough to sift through all the scents. It takes Finn to find her path: towards the left. Heading that way, we lope on our fast, wolf legs down the winding tunnel, running two abreast and keeping our senses alert at all times.

Several minutes in, I feel Finn's mind brush against mine, and I don't need to guess at what he's about to say.

Delilah...He trails off for a moment, his ears flat on his head.Do you smell that?

I do.

Ahead of us, I spot a silhouette, and I know that it's the vampire, a few hundred feet ahead, dimly lit by an unseen light source.

But it isn't what I see that worries me. It's what I smell.

Blood.

Lots of it.

Enough that someone must be dead.

Four

Kieran

The scent of death is overpowering. It throws me back to my dark nights, when I stumbled out into the woods searching to forget. I'd let vampires feast on me—much to my shame—and give into the vampire venom as the scent of blood hit the air.

Those memories feel distant now, separate from the new, stronger wolf I inhabit, whose muscles are strong and whose mind needs no venom to escape. The old Kieran, who would've frozen or hesitated in the face of danger, is gone.

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