Page 45 of Wolf's Fate

“Freaking out?” I admitted.

“I bet. You’re unharmed though?”

“We left Ned behind!” I blurted in panic.

“He’ll be fine. Worry about yourself, Willow.” Such a simple request that wouldn’t be that simple to carry out. “The sketchbook?”

“Not much in it. It’s smaller, maybe A5 in size. It was a quick sketch. We’d been talking about Caleb, and he must have been in my mind. It says nothing,” I added defensively. “It’s very generic.”

“It’s a sketch of a man you shouldn’t know,” Cannon reminded me gruffly. “I’ve sent Ned back to see if they found it. Hopefully, the way you got out confused them.”

My stomach roiled with anxiety. “Them?”

I heard his slight hesitation, and then he spoke with the same authority I was used to from him. “Yes, them. I’m sure you were aware there was more than one of them. It looks like we’re dealing with a pack.” Cannon let that sink in. “You’re on their radar, and I think it’s safe to say that it’s no longer an accident.”

The heavy realization of his words weighed on me, making me feel so much smaller than I was. Weaker. Hearing it said made all my attempts at denial futile. “Is it the same pack that trashed my store and my home?”

“Likely.”

Breathing was difficult. My breath was too shallow. “Right. Likely,” I repeated stupidly.

“She’s having a panic attack,” Doc said, sounding very far away. I felt a shudder, and when a cool hand rested against my forehead, I jolted with surprise. “Okay, Willow, it’s just me,” Doc said soothingly. I was being maneuvered, and the fresh night air made me take a deep breath. “Head between yourlegs, girlie.” His hand was on my head, gently pushing me down. “Just keep breathing steadily until the world stops moving, okay?”

I nodded, because he was right. The world was spinning. But I also knew we didn’t have time for me to be freaking out. I felt him move away from me, his voice low as he spoke to Cannon. When he came back, I was sitting straight, my knees drawn to my chest.

“Seat belt on?” Doc asked, getting back in the truck.

“Yes.”

“We’ve got a few miles to go until the next stop. Will you manage?”

“I’m literally in the back of a truck,” I said, hating how emotionless my voice sounded. “What can I not manage about that?”

“You’d be surprised.” The roar of the truck starting cut off my reply.

We didn’t speak. The only sound was the truck as it drove along the quiet road. The night outside was a seemingly black void, broken only by the truck’s headlights as it cut its way through the darkness. Staring out of the window, I hated the eerie silence.

It was too quiet. Too still.

A deafening thud caused the truck to jerk violently, just as the truck was lit up with lights from the vehicle behind us that seemed to come from nowhere. Twisting in my seat, I saw the black shadow of a truck behind us, dropping back and then speeding up to ram us again.

“Doc!” I screamed just as the truck hit us again, and I heard the screech of metal as they drove into us, pushing us along,suddenly dropping back. I heard Doc yell, and then I heard the hiss all around us as the truck’s tyres blew, and then we were spinning in circles. My body slammed into the door, my seat belt constricting my movement as my hands clutched at the empty air.

“Hold on!” Doc shouted above the noise, and I knew he was fighting to control the vehicle, but between the impact of the hit and the tyres blowing, I knew he was as useless as I was in the back seat. The truck hit something hard, making us lurch off the road, and then the windows exploded, glass raining all around as the world flipped.

My head banged against the roof as we rolled, gravity pulling at everything all at once. My screams were lost in the mix of metal crunching as we tumbled down a ravine.

As suddenly as it started, the truck came to a sudden staggering stop. My body tried to jerk forward, but the seat belt held tightly on, and I felt it burn against my neck from the force of the jolt.

My hair hung around me, my body felt broken, and I felt a wetness running down my face, knowing it was blood as it dripped onto the roof.

I was upside down. There was nothing to be heard except my own strangled breathing, and I was being strangled by the seat belt that had saved me from being thrown from the truck.

“Doc?” I didn’t recognize the hoarse whisper that came from me. Dizziness swamped me. “Doc?”

Silence answered.

FIFTEEN