Page 56 of Winter's Edge
"The…bathroom?"
I pivoted, putting my body between the bathroom door, Sasha, and the woman, my arrow now aimed at the side of her face. She was pretty, maybe in her late twenties. "To the cage you go."
Gunshots boomed from the bathroom in quick succession. Lager, shooting himself out.
"Wh-what?" the woman—Louisa—asked.
"Now," I hissed and scratched the arrow tip across her cheek.
Scarlet welled and she whimpered as she crossed toward the cage. Grady rose slowly to his feet, his red eyes zeroed in on every movement the woman made.
"Open it and get inside," I ordered.
She unlatched it, her hands shaking.
Grady loped out, limping heavily like he did in human form, and as soon as he was clear of the door, he shifted back fully clothed. Bloodied and sporting fresh bruises all over his face, he looked like he could hardly stand. But then he swung around, snatched the poison jar out of her hands, and shoved her into the cage. She shifted into a snowy white wolf immediately, like the cage itself forced the change. As soon as the door clanged shut on her, she snarled and lunged, her fangs and claws reaching for us. The cage held though.
“It’syou,” Lager shouted.
I spun around, and he was glaring with murderous intensity out a hole he’d shot from the door. The power of his hatred wrapped around my spine and shook it.
Grady handed me the poison like it was about to explode all over him, which I corked and pocketed. "We need to… Archer. Now." Panting, he pointed toward another closed door opposite the bathroom and then leaned heavily against me like the effort had done him in.
"Get back here, you little bitch," Lager shouted, his hand wriggling through the hole in the door. "I'll kill you. I'll kill you, you fucking cunt."
"Is Archer in trouble?" I held to Grady to prop him up and practically dragged him across the room toward a door on the right wall.
Grady leaned harder against me. “Yes,” he ground out. “Faust caught him first while we set the fire, so I came after him.”
Lager's continued fury needled into my back, and I knew he'd carry out every single promise he was making. But he was still trapped for now, hopefully with no more bullets to shoot his way out, and we had to get to Archer.
Panic sealed up my chest. "Is Archer in here?" I asked, though it sounded more like begging.
"No," he said between pants. "But maps of the Crimson Forest are."
I wasn't sure why we needed a map, but I saved my breath and didn't ask. I was losing steam anyway from having to support Grady's weight. The next room was empty except a chair piled high with stinky blankets and a large map on the wall. I shut the door behind me and then we crossed over so Grady could tear the map off the wall.
"It has writing on it," he explained through labored breaths. "Drawings but I'm not sure what they mean."
I nodded as we started toward the hallway door, but what sounded like the bathroom door in the first room crashed open with a deafening bang.
"Go," Grady whispered.
We dashed into the hall as fast as possible. Which wasn't fast at all.
We shut the door behind us as Lager barreled into the room we'd just left.
Grady shoved me diagonally across the hallway toward another room.
Heavy footsteps thudded toward us from the other hallway, just seconds from turning into this one.
"Faust." Barely a whisper from Grady. He snicked the door shut seconds before Lager burst from the opposite room and Faust turned the corner.
"They're here," Lager cried. "That blind bitch and the Crimson Forest pack. Locked your wife up in a cage."
"Where?" Faust snapped, his voice so loud it cracked against the door.
I shriveled in on myself, wishing I could disappear.
