Page 92 of The Last Sanctuary
“Luna is indeed an alpha,” she said with grim satisfaction. “Butheis a she.”
Vaughn was silent for a moment. When he spoke, his voice darkened. “What are you talking about?”
“Alpha doesn’t mean what you think it means.” She smiled in the dark, despite the pain in her split lip, her swollen eye socket, as she recalled yet another lecture from her father. “Wolf packs are families. The alphas are paired, male and female. They carefor the pack together. In some ways, the female makes more decisions than the male. She chooses who to hunt, she picks a specific prey animal out of the herd. She instructs the other wolves when and where to strike.”
Vaughn snorted dismissively. “Enough with the silly stories. You’re talking gibberish. The white one is the male. The leader, the alpha. I want the alpha. You are wasting my time with your pathetic lies.”
He rose to his feet, stuffed her map into his jacket pocket, and sheathed his hunting knife. His gaze raked over her, lingering on her face. “There is a place for you in the world that remains. You are quite the specimen. Beneath the dirt and rudeness and that ugly scowl, your delicate Asian features could serve you well. You could be taught to be a proper woman. A respectful, dutiful woman.Ifyou learn to hold that tongue and respect those empowered to rule over you.”
“Sounds like hell on earth.”
He laughed mirthlessly. “If you bring me to the wolves, to the white wolf, I will spare your life. You can join us, and one of the men will choose you. Dekker will accept it because I tell him to do so. He will have no other option. If you do not do as I’ve ordered, I’ll allow Dekker to do as he wishes with you. And that, my dear, will not be pretty.”
“You’re lying. I’m dead either way.”
His eyes flashed in the dark. He raised his voice over the crash of thunder. “I am a man of my word. If I say it’s going to happen, then it will. You’ve been watching us these last few days, I presume. Then you know my men respect me. They will obey me, whether they like it or not. It’s a generous offer. You should accept it.”
“You can shove that offer right up your ass.”
“The choice is yours. Do as I say, and live. Or don’t, and die in agony.”
A crushing sense of powerlessness pressed against her chest like a thousand bricks. Insurmountable, hopeless. Beneath her debilitating fear, there was a low thrum like a heartbeat. Insistent, urgent, that fierce, unfaltering will to live.
I will survive this.
That powerful instinct for survival as ingrained within her as in any wild animal. That primal drive for self-preservation above all else. Above honor and goodness and even love.
Damien was right, after all. Her father was right. Even Vaughn. Humans would do anything to survive. It was their nature. It was her nature, too, in the end.
Life or death.
Death or life.
His shadow loomed over her, blocking out everything else. “Decide now.”
The wolves would come to her. She knew they would. Vaughn wasn’t wrong when he said they trusted her. They’d made her pack.
It was her only choice. Her only chance. She stared bleakly at the darkness above her. A blackness that was all-consuming, absolute.
“Well? What say you, girl? I won’t ask you again.”
The words were barbed wire on her tongue. “I’ll do it.”
“I knew you were smart.” Vaughn bent and hefted her backpack over his shoulder, shoved her tranq gun into his waistband, and turned for the door as he stood to his full height. Before ducking out into the pouring rain, he glanced back at her. “We leave at dawn.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
The storm raged for hours. Early the next morning, the thunder dissipated, but the rain remained. The sky was gray as a bowl of ashes. The air was cold and wet as dawn broke over the horizon.
Raven ached all over. Exhausted, she could barely stand, let alone walk. But walk she did, because she had no other choice. Her hands were bound in front of her with zip ties. She hobbled between Damien and Vaughn, with Dekker right behind her.
Scorpio, Cobb, and a few others took up the rear as they entered the forest at the north end of the refuge. The men carried semi-automatic rifles slung over their shoulders.
They wore camouflaged pants and hunter green raincoats. A few carried packs on their backs. She recognized the familiar camo-green pack Damien wore strapped to his shoulders.
She was too exhausted to be angry at yet another thing they’d taken from her. The map in Vaughn’s possession might as well be on Mars, for how inaccessible it was now.
She’d never see it again. She’d never see the hunting cabin again, either.
