Page 47 of Shadow Bonds

“Did anyone hear that?” she asks, and my stomach drops realizing it wasn’t something in my head after all.

“I did,” I tell her and glance over to share a worried look with her.

Another growl echoes out around us. But this time, it sounds much closer.

Arabella turns and runs without a backward glance, and a beast that looks like a huge black wolf reveals itself and heads straight for her.

Arabella glances over her shoulder and spots it, her eyes widening in fear as she lets out a loud scream. It’s so loud it’s probably woken up every beast and creature near us.

“That idiot,” Callie hisses as we head after her, running twice as hard just to try to get ahead of the beast.

I make it to the beast first, and Robin shouts over to me, raising something in her hand. A blade.

She throws it to me, and I catch it by the hilt before diving onto the beast’s back and slamming the blade into its side.

Before it gets a chance to turn on me, Robin is on the other side of me within seconds, slamming another blade into its other side.

It growls and then moans before collapsing.

“You fucking idiot,” Callie shouts as Arabella walks back toward us. “You could’ve got us all killed,” Callie says, panting while trying to catch her breath.

Arabella narrows her eyes on Callie. “What did you expect me to do? Get eaten?!”

Robin hisses, and we all look to her to see smoke curl from the material on her shoulders. Seconds later it sparks, with the edges starting to flame and burn off.

“Shit.” Callie opens her bottle and quickly pours it over Robin’s shoulders.

The burn from the sun intensifies, and all of our clothes start to smoke. Small embers start forming, forcing us to waste more water and strip off layers of clothing to cover our heads.

I share a worried look with the girls. “Let’s run.”

“Oh, now it’s okay to run,” Arabella huffs while patting a small flame on her top.

“Shut up, Arabella,” Callie grits out as we all get running.

“Fuck, fuck,fuck,” Skye hisses as the sun literally burns us.

It gets hotter within seconds and small fires start erupting across the ground.

“There,” Robins shouts, and I glance up to find the cave not too far away. Pushing my legs harder, I keep telling myself we can make it.

Ignoring the blistering pain all over my back and shoulders, I keep moving while glancing around at the others, hoping they’re all okay.

Nearly there.

I make it to the small cave first, but my stomach drops when I realize it’s not a normal cave. There’s a small entry but it’s not big enough to fit anyone. It’s more like an indented wall with the only shelter looking to be above in a small cove.

I shout over to the girls as they make it to the cave and tell them what I see before I start climbing. I reach the top and sigh in relief when I spot the small ledge and shade. It’s not much of a cave either. But hopefully it’s large enough to fit us all.

Turning around, I start helping the girls up when I hear a growl and freeze. Ice crawls down my back when I hear anotherand another growl just before over a dozen huge black wolf-like beasts appear.

The beasts start making their way toward us, and it snaps me out of my shock. I quickly grab Robin’s hand and pull her up and we work fast to get the rest of the girls into the small cove.

“It’s too tight, we won’t all fit,” Arabella moans beside me.

I ignore her and pull up Cora, feeling relieved that we’re all safe for now.

“What now?” Cora asks as we all try to stay inside the cove and out of the blistering sun.

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