Page 25 of Broken Fate
At least you are alive.
“So, what happens now?” I asked. “Where do I go from here? How do I get home?”
Clive shook his head. “You can’t go home, Jada.”
“But I have to,” I protested weakly. “My parents need to know I’m alive.”
“Jada,” Clive said, his voice hard but losing some of its sharpness. “Your parents might notbealive. Stop being so naïve andthink. Arcadus and the other Alphas will stop at nothing to destroy us. And he thinks you’re one of us …”
My hand flew to my mouth as I gasped. “My parents? Gone? No, Clive, they can’t be …”
First, Lanna … Now, this?
No. No, I wouldn’t stand by this time. Wouldn’t let something happen without doing anything about it.
I stood up from the table, shoving food into my mouth and my pockets.
“What are you doing?” Clive asked suspiciously.
Swallowing painfully as the lump of mostly unchewed food passed down my throat, I fixed him with a hard glare.
“I’m going to save my parents,” I said coldly. “And if you truly are my friend, you’ll help me.”
Chapter Thirteen
I’d hoped Clive would jump up and offer to come with me, but he still stood at the table when I left the room in search of a way out. I couldn’t let that distract me, though. My parents were in danger. Possibly already dead. They had to be my sole focus, nothing else.
Continuing to shove food in my mouth as fast as I could, I hurried through the manor house, trying to find the way out. I passed by several strange faces, shifters who had not been a part of the rescue team, but none of them tried to stop me. I almost asked for directions, but something warned me off that path. After all, Kiel had never really established any rules with me. Was I actually free to go?
Adrenaline still surging through me, I finally found the exit and hurried down the stairs into the cellar, two at a time. The wood stairs creaked warningly under me, but I didn’t slow. I slowed only to yank another piece of meat from a pocket, pick some lint off it, and shove it into my mouth. I couldn’t afford to be any pickier than that. I had to take any energy I could get. The run I was staring down would be long and taxing.
And I would have little time for rest.
The hatch opened smoothly on oiled hinges, and I slipped outside, orienting myself with the sun setting in the east, and started to strip. Kiel had never divulged where his secret hideout was, but I knew, given the direction we had traveled—mostly westward—that we were somewhere between Arcadia and Helisson.
If I traveled straight east, Ishouldeventually hit the Arcad River that divided the two territories from one another. From there, I could angle north and toward my parents’ home.Myhome. That was where I was needed, and it pained me to be so far away.
All of this wasmyfault. If anyone deserved to suffer, it was me. Not them.
Taking a deep breath and another mouthful of food, I emptied my pants pockets of all remaining food and set it on top of my sweater. Then I slipped the pants off and called out to my wolf as the cool evening air wrapped around my naked skin like an unwanted hug.
She responded somewhat sluggishly, which wasn’t surprising. We’d run long and hard just to get there, and neither had rested much since. But as she stirred, she became aware of the urgency rushing through me and, after that, knew what was required of her.
Hot anger burned away the last vestiges of exhaustion, and I tossed my head impatiently as the change came over me, eager to be off. But I stayed in place. Shifting on the run was possible but awkward. The danger of tripping and accidentally breaking a wolf leg was high. I didn’t want to risk it, not now.
The hairs on my arm and elsewhere on my body, all the tiny, ultra-fine hair rarely noticeable except on extremely close inspection, began to grow. It whitened and thickened, covering me in a layer of protective fur, a barrier against weather and minor attacks.
At the same time, my bones began to reshape themselves. The process wasn’tpainful, exactly, but it was certainly uncomfortable and disorienting. During the change, neither human nor wolf was in charge. The sense of the world was all wrong. Balance and coordination wereoff. Clenching my jaw tightly against the irritation, I waited it out.
Soon enough, I fell forward onto all fours, shaking myself out as the last bones and joints finished going through the shift, including my snout, which was always last. As my face jutted forward, my new senses came to life, flooding me with information.
It was impossible to honestly explain the difference. When I was in that form, my wolf form, it all just made sense. Everything was cataloged and sorted in ways my human self could never process. For instance, I could tangibly identify fourteen different wolves who had been nearby recently. All with a sniff. My eyes could pick out the tiniest details, like the mole hopping across the ground several hundred yards away or the owl sitting on a branch in the nearby trees, waiting for nightfall.
And my ears picked up sounds that would have just been background noise. Like the footsteps of people inside the house. Or the creaking of wood.
My head came around, twin orange eyes watching the cellar door as it opened and fingers wrapped around the handle. I heard the slight creak of metal that had escaped my human ears and the inhale of breath as the hand’s owner emerged.
Clive.
