Page 49 of Ruined Wolf
“Don’t try to make a run for it. We could chase you down in minutes.”
I nodded, curling into myself in the back seat, though I questioned whether it would be quicker if I made them hunt and kill me instead of waiting for whatever horrors my father had in store for me.
The drive to the harbour didn’t take long, and it didn’t seem like five minutes before I was being pulled out of the car and escorted down to the dock.
Several people on the front stopped to watch as I was forced onto one of the smaller boats. I could hear the whispers and caught a glimpse of Eleanor in the crowd. I’d thought she’d be worried about me, but her expression was strangely calm. I wondered if Ethan had already gotten to her and told her his twisted version of the truth. I felt sad at the thought. I had never had many female friends, and I thought we’d grown close during my time working there.
I sat down on the plastic seat, the action reminding me of the night before. It seemed so long ago now. I had my mates to rescue me then though, and now I was in the same position, except this time, I was being banished publicly and no one was coming. I was alone again.
Despite that, I raised my eyes to the small crowd forming on the seafront, scanning the faces and desperately hoping that one of my mates might have come, but they weren’t there, and as the boat started up and pulled away from the dock, I had the crushing sensation that it was all over.
I watched the faces fade away, and numbness spread through me as we sped away from the harbour and towards the open sea. Eventually, we rounded the headland, and the town disappeared from view. I wondered dimly if the men would try to attack me like the others had. I knew not all men were like that, but in my experience, a good number were, so I was surprised when they showed me no attention whatsoever, except the odd glance back to make sure I was still there and behaving.
I didn’t know what they thought I could do back here. It wasn’t like I had anywhere to go, even if I overpowered them. The water was getting rough, and as we followed the line of the coast around to where we could break for the mainland, I watched the surf crash against the rocks. For some reason, the memory of Devil’s Chimney came to my mind, and with a small start, I realised this was the day the tide was lowest. This was the day I’d planned to go back to the cave. I no longer had the map, since it was tucked inside Jaxon’s journal, but Lucas had said that Jaxon was sure as a kid that there was buried treasure inside that cave, so Lucas had gone back to find out.
The numbness began to fade as the fight inside me slowly started to return. I felt my wolf prick up her ears as I stared hard at the men at the helm, running through a plan in my mind. If I could take control of the boat, I could get to the cave, find the treasure, and get out of here. I could take the boat up the coast, find somewhere remote to land, and make my way from there to somewhere safe. Ethan had said a storm was coming. It might even cover my tracks and explain the missing boat.
I tightened my grip on the side of the boat as it rocked on the choppy waves and glanced around me. There wasn’t much—a bundle of old fishing nets, some kind of heavy plastic storage box, and a loop on the end of a pole. I looked from the pole to the guys, who shifted their positions repeatedly to keep their balance on the unsteady deck. I stretched out my leg slowly, trying not to attract their attention with any sudden movement, and tangled the tip of my foot into the edge of the net before dragging it carefully towards me where I could reach it quickly.
Taking a deep breath, I screamed loudly. The two men whipped around, and the one who wasn’t driving came towards me.
“What the hell was that? No one can hear you out here.”
“I saw something in the water!” I exclaimed, trying to look afraid and shifting away from the side of the boat. “I think it was a shark...”
The guy who was driving rolled his eyes and went back to steering, but the closer guy shrugged. “We do get sharks around here, but I doubt it’s any threat.”
He leaned over to look into the water, and I launched myself up, placed my hands on his back, and gave him a hard shove. He went straight over the side with a yell and hit the water with a splash. The other guy turned around in surprise, but I was ready for him. Grabbing the heavy fishing net, I stepped forward and threw it over him. The weight of it caused him to stagger as he released his grip on the helm and stumbled towards me. I dived forward and grabbed the pole, then drove it into his chest. Already unsteady because of the motion of the boat and with the added weight of the nets, the blow caught him off guard, and he staggered backwards.
His legs bashed against the side of the boat, and I brought the pole round in a wide arc, catching him across the upper chest. He overbalanced and went backwards over the side with a scream. I heard a loud thud as he hit the underside of the boat, but I didn’t stop to think. Instead, I ran to the helm, grabbed the wheel, and pushed the throttle handle forward. The boat sped up with a roar, and I pulled her around in a wide arc, leaving my two captors behind.
I didn’t look back as I headed to the island. I wasn’t exactly trained to drive a boat, and I had no firsthand knowledge of navigating these waters, but I figured if I stuck fairly close to the coast, I’d eventually find what I was looking for.
The light was fading by the time I spotted the small beach that Lucas and I had landed on only a week or so ago. I slowed the boat, studying the rocky shore, until I saw the cave that led to Devil’s Chimney. The entrance was tall and narrow, and hard to spot unless you were looking for it, but I turned the boat towards it. A small beach ran up to it, cut off from everything else by towering walls of rock that stretched ominously above my head. I pulled the boat up as close as I dared and then threw the anchor over the side. A rope ladder hung over the end of the boat, and I climbed over, slowly lowering myself into the cold water until my feet touched the bottom.
I shivered as the water lapped around my thighs, chilling me, and waded to shore. I had no way of telling how much time I had, but I knew the low tide would certainly be rising and that by dark, it would be high enough to trap me inside. I moved quickly, splashing out of the waves and heading up the beach to the cave entrance.
I’d searched the boat and managed to find a small flashlight, so I switched it on and stepped into the shadow of Devil’s Chimney. It felt odd in the pitch black, and the torch was only powerful enough to show the first few feet around me. It was also quieter, as the thick rock walls blocked the rising wind, but the crashing surf echoed through the emptiness in an eerie way, and I shivered again, remembering that this was where the guys’ father had died. I prayed ghosts weren’t real. I doubted this one would have any love for me, and I had been through enough without having to deal with malevolent spirits on top of it. I was starting to shiver for real now, my wet trousers clinging to me and the dampness of the cave seeping into the rest of my clothes.
The walls were dark and wet, and my torch reflected back off the wetness, revealing slivers of green moss and brown seaweed. I pulled the flashlight off the wall and guided the narrow beam through the gloom. My racing heartbeat slowed as I studied the walls, wondering if the treasure was still here after all these years, but I couldn’t see any sign of it or any trace that anyone had even been here.
I kept going, making my way through the narrow passage until, to my surprise, it opened out into a bigger chamber. Towards the other end, the uneven floor rose in a peak of broken rocks and driftwood, and a single shaft of grey light pierced the darkness. I pointed my torch up, revealing the hole in the ceiling that travelled up to the surface.
“The Devil’s Chimney,” said a cold voice behind me. “What a fitting place to find you, Nova.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
NOVA
I turned around slowly, my torchlight travelling up over black boots, fatigues, and a dark fleece jacket, then up to eyes that seemed darker than the cave itself.
“Lucas,” I started, but he didn’t let me speak.
“Maverick was in the room when Ethan got the call notifying him that the boat carrying you to the mainland had never arrived,” he said casually, moving slowly towards me, trailing his fingers over the cold, wet cave wall. “Of course, we called around and even sent out boats to find you. I imagine you wouldn’t be surprised that we found our two betas clinging to a buoy not too far from the harbour.”
“I couldn’t go back, Lucas,” I said, backing away from him. “I couldn’t go back there. Whatever else I’ve lied about, I didn’t lie about what my father would do to me if I returned home, and I never worked for him. Never.”
Lucas shrugged. “Your words mean nothing anymore, Nova.” His emotionless tone hurt more than if he’d raged at me, and I swallowed. I deserved it. I deserved everything I got.