Series: Willow Winters
Total pages in book: 56
Estimated words: 51151 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 256(@200wpm)___ 205(@250wpm)___ 171(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51151 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 256(@200wpm)___ 205(@250wpm)___ 171(@300wpm)
They are literally running for their lives.
Through the darkness, I barely spot my mate as soon as I enter the tree line. She’s struggling to hold both pups and run. The sight of her cradling a child on each hip as she scrambles through the brush is terrifying. She wouldn’t get far on her own, I’ve already nearly caught up to her. As soon as I reach my mate, I hear the pack behind me. A loud howl is followed quickly with barks and growls of fury. Fuck, they found him.
They’re coming for us.
“This way.” I speak so my mate knows it’s me that’s coming up behind her, but she still let’s out a small scream as I reach for her and grab her. As if it couldn’t get any worse, the growl of knowing snarls echoes behind us.
“Hold onto them.” I hold her as tight as I can without squishing the now crying pups or her belly. It’s a fucking challenge. The bulkiness of all of us makes running through the trees much harder than it should be. My muscles scream as I push them faster and harder than I ever have. The quickest way back to my car leads us through a section of forest where the trees are far too close together for me to fit all of us at once. I have to scatter my approach and shuffle us around the trees, ducking through branches and jumping over fallen trunks. My arm scrapes against the bark, but I push forward. Better my arm than the pups. My lungs heave for air, but I push forward. I recognize the path I took earlier and feel slight relief that we’re close.
That reprieve doesn’t last as I hear the sound of several shifters barreling toward us through the forest. They must be in wolf form to be running so fast. Fuck, I wish I could hold onto my mate and the pups in wolf form. We would already be there. But we’re close. The pup on my mate’s left hip screams, no doubt realizing that we’re being chased. I push faster as a cold sweat breaks along my skin and my muscles ache.
Just as I see my car in the clearing ahead, a pup slips. I grab the little girl by the nape and keep running while struggling to keep my mate on my hip. I can’t hold onto them for much longer, but I can see the car and my mate is gripping onto me with everything she has. I nearly crash my body into the steel frame, only slowing the tiniest bit to save me from crushing my mate and the pups. I yank the passenger door open and push them in before climbing across the front of my car to get to the driver’s door. I shove the key in the ignition while the pups climb over the console and my mate furiously tries to get them in the back safely.
Their door is still open as I reverse through the small clearing and see the wolves sprinting toward us. My arm steadies my mate as I slam on the gas pedal. I fishtail the car, making the door swing open even farther and slam the pedal to the floor. My mate and the young pups scream from the sudden movement, but they hold on. The tires spin in the dirt before jolting forward, pushing our backs into the seats and slamming the door closed. They’re fast, but not fast enough. I don’t let up on the gas until I see the wolves halt, four in a line, howling and snarling in anger, and watching our car grow smaller as I increase the distance between us.
Lena
The massive shifter glances at me what seems like every five seconds. He keeps lifting his hands off the wheel as though he’s going to touch me too, but to my relief, he doesn’t. There’s a thick tension, a heat I can’t describe, but fear is what outweighs everything.
What have I done? If Shadow finds us…we’re dead.
The silence has stretched the entire drive, apart from me reassuring the pups that everything was fine and to sleep. I glance in the back seat, continuing to ignore the shifter who helped us, and watch my niece and nephew breathe easily in their sleep.
After an hour and a half of driving, I’ve only just now given up the fear that they’re following us. I kept looking back with a sick tension in the pit of my stomach and the instinct still hasn’t quite left me. The lump in my throat hasn’t diminished in the least, and I can’t stop thinking about what Shadow would do to me if he caught me this time. I swallow in an attempt to breathe and look back to Addy and Reece again; they’re still huddled together in the back under a blanket. Peacefully sleeping I hope. I’m far too aware nightmares could follow them, but I pray they don’t.