Page 82 of Ruthless Moon

“Bast!” Liam protests, and Bast shoves me into Liam’s arms.

His touch ignites a surge of adrenaline, yet I’m frozen. A dreadful sound echoes around the basement, one that reverberates in the hollows of my chest. The sickening snap of bones.

My heart skips a beat, and then another.

My steps falter, but Liam’s hands at my waist force me forward. I know we’ve lost her before I hear the muted sound of her body falling to the concrete.

The enormity of Meredith’s sacrifice collides into me like a freight train, leaving behind a twisted wreckage of shock, grief, and guilt. The pain is visceral, a wound seeping with the raw agony of loss. The echoes of her heartbeat fade away, a ghostly rhythm drowned by a stark silence.It should have been me. It should have been me...

As the emptiness swallows us, Liam’s hands tighten around my waist again, propelling me forward. We plunge into a chaos of shadows and blind turns, following Bast’s lead.

We erupt into the kitchen, strangely silent and empty. But the thunderous pursuit behind us intensifies. I can almost feel the seething rage of my father and his men hot on our trail.

Bast rushes us through the kitchen, back up the same hallway we’d passed only minutes ago, past where we’d seen Finn and Emma. Up more stairs. Past my familiar bedroom door.

I dig deep, mentally urging my legs to push faster and match Bast’s unrelenting pace.

My heart is hollow inside my chest, a cavity where only despair thrives. Tears burn in my eyes, leaving hot trails down my cheeks, but there’s no time for grief. Not while we’re still hunted, while Meredith’s sacrifice could still be in vain. We have to get out.

I won’t let her death be for nothing. Or Jackson’s.

This is a race against time. We have to survive. For Meredith. For each other. And I have to live with the weight of knowing the woman who saved us all could not be saved herself.

I look up, light pouring down the hallway. The scent of pine floods my nostrils.

Bast has the window open. He’s already through it, waiting on the other side.

I run, leaping; he catches me and sets me down on the ground beside him.

Liam is through a moment later.

Taking one extra second, Bast swings the window closed. He’s smart. Their confusion should give us a few extra moments to disappear into the trees.

Unfamiliar men surround the house. I smell wolves, and feel so much magick it’s like walking into a fog. A large figure to my right is bellowing in Welsh. The hood on his long robe hides his face from view. Dozens of figures stand in the shadows of the trees with him.

“Liam?”

“I don’t know.” He squeezes me tight to his body and half carries me away from the house.

“Bast,” I call out. He’s not with us. He’s still standing rooted to the spot, staring at the group of cloaked figures.

Liam turns back and shouts, “Bast! Now! We have to go.”

That seems to snap Bast out of his trance. He runs to catch up with us. The figures don’t follow us. Their attention is on the house. Completely.

We run.

And run.

And run.

A wave of heat barrels at us from behind. I can feel it licking at my heels. The blast knocks us all to the ground. When I look back, the house is gone. Nothing but rubble and flames.

Everything’s gone.

No one could’ve survived that.

Liam grabs me around the waist and lifts me into his arms.