Chapter 63


    *Time sk ip 4 Months”


    -Angie-


    “Holy s hit.” I whispered it, and Fae who was crouched beside mejslowly shook her head in appalled


    disbelief.


    “There are way more of them than we suspected, she kept her voice low as she gazed through the


    foliage we were hiding in “But how? It doesn’t make any sense. How have they grown their numbers so


    quickly?”


    We were huddled together in the tall grass of a hilltop, gazing down at the most recent dwelling


    grounds of the Tally Pack.


    Things were looking grim. The Tally had grown from an enigmatic pack with no more than a dozen


    oddball shifters to an army that was over a thousand strang. But how?


    Surely there couldn’t have been that many shifters willing to turn their backs on their people to join the


    unpredictable Tally gathering.


    Gazing down into the valley where they had set up, I could spot dozens ofrge, bulky shifters


    lumbering about between the mismatched canvas tents that were set up all over the ce.


    They scurried around like ants, carrying variousrge pieces of wood and stone as well as what looked


    like the bodies of multiple deer. I could see the hundreds of broken antlers peeking from under arge


    tarp thaty near one of therger tents. The whole area reeked of rot and decay.


    “Something’s going on at that little tent.”


    I nodded towards an ominously lonely tent that stood close to the forest on the opposite side of the


    valley. A long line of shifters had formed some distance outside the dinky canvas enclosure and every


    one of them looked sickly and unusual.


    They were bedraggled and drawn, drooping in their formation as if merely standing was a chore. One


    by one, we watched each dismal-looking shifter enter the tent and then exit nearly ten minutester


    looking as good as new.


    “A super-skilled healer?” Fae suggested, but I shook my head, staring intently at a shifter that had just


    exited the tent.


    He stalked across the ground with a reckless gait and flexed his bicep, staring at his b*dy as if


    inspecting new wares,


    “It’s something more than that.”


    We both fell silent for a while, watching the enemy go about daily life from our hidden perch. It was


    clear they were preparing for something, a move perhaps? Certain tents were being packed up and


    thrown onto an ancient-looking cart.


    Shifters loped about, gathering belongings and flinging them into giant tarp bundles. Some just sat


    around the small fires that were dotted all over the area, staring nkly into the mes with slouched


    shoulders like wooden puppets waiting for their master to appear and tug on their strings.


    There was something particrly odd about those individuals. While the other shifters that moved


    around them all seemed oundish and impossiblyrge, these shifters seemed downright unnatural.


    From theirpletely still forms to the way their eyes never blinked, looking at them made me


    ufortable and my wolf growled low in my chest. Something was very wrong there, although I


    couldn’t put my finger on what it was exactly.


    “What are they doing down there?” Fae wondered out loud and followed her gaze to where a single


    ominous white van was parked. Somerge shifter approached the back of the vehicle and threw the


    doors open.


    I was surprised to see a wolf spring from inside the van with a how that we could hear clearly from our


    perch on the hill. The wolf snapped at the beely Tally shifter and made a break for the tree line on the


    other side of the valley before being detained by an onught of Tally members.


    The wolf howled its frustration and I itched to rush down there to answer such a dismal cry with help.


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    Far sensed my call for action and ced a cautioning hand on my knee. “Not a good idea. I know you


    want to help but there are two of us and hundreds of them. We don’t even know if that guy is on our


    side.”“


    She had a point but the protector in me yearned to rescue the thrashing wolf that continued to fight its


    captors long after it


    had been shackled in silver.


    “We have to do something” 1 hissed, lowering my voice as I noticed a single shifter turning to gaze up


    at the hillside where we were hiding. “We can’t just sit here.”


    “This is a recon mission, not a rescue mission.”


    We lowered ourselves even closer to the ground when the same shifter turned again to scan the hilltop.


    We would have to get moving soOIL.


    “When did you be so afraid of a fight?”


    “When Johan almost bit your head off.”


    There was nothing I could say to that. I hadn’t urred to me that the fight with Johan might have


    taken a toll on Fae


    “I’m sorry,” I said reproachfully, ncing at her from theer of my eye. “I never properly thanked you


    for saving me that


    day.


    Fae bumped her shoulder against mine. “You don’t need to apologize. And it was nothing, you’d have


    done the same for


    Her trust in me was a precious thing. Every one of our sessful missions, tight squeezes, and close


    calls had involved Far and her unrelenting loyalty.


    The shifter who had been examining the hill began to move towards us and I nudged Fae. “We should


    go. I think this guy suspects something.”


    We sidled away from our hideout and made a beeline for the forest shifting as we did so to move more


    carefully through the trees. A loud, anguished howl had me ncing back over my shoulder in the


    direction of the campout.


    The restrained wolf was begging for freedom, trapped in a pack filled with monsters. It went against


    everything I believed in, leaving the unidentified captive behind, but Fae was right. There was nothing


    the two of us could do to save him.


    “I’m sorry,” I whispered, hoping that somehow it would travel through the grass and reach the agitated


    shifter’s ears. “We’ll be back for you. Just hold out for a little bit longer. We’ll be back


    All of my efforts had not been enough. In the end, I had been overpowered by my attackers and


    All rights ? N?velDrama.Org.


    dumped into the back of the gruesome white van like a sack of potatoes. They didn’t kill me like I had


    expected them to


    Instead, they cuffed arge salver cor around my neck, trapping me in wolf form before they closed


    the doors and left me in the dark with dozens of corpses to keep mepany.


    Ren, who was at the forefront of my mind in my animal form, had us howling in frustration as the van


    rattled to life and we were driven to some unknown location. The rank odor of rot and death filled the


    small clunky space and was made worse tenfold by the brightened senses of my wolf form.


    I turned my heavy head away from the many nk eyes that gazed at me from the deepest part of the


    van. Sticky blood coated the floor of the vehicle and made it difficult to stand in the slick muck as the


    van swerved and rattled along what I assumed was a very rocky road.


    “What do we do now?” I asked Iten, aiding her in suppressing the urge to throw up what little food we


    had eaten as the swaying of the van and the nasty smell made our stomachis turi


    “F uck if I know,” Ren snapped and I felt hers nervousness at being trapped in such a confined space.


    Tin surprised they didri’t just kill us on the spot. Why aren’t we one of the


    the pile over there?


    10:58 Fri, Jan 26 G ) ·


    Chapter ti


    “They mentioned something about Johan. Apparently, he wants as alive for some reason.


    I used over the name as the van jolted and I fought to keep my bnce, sying all four legs out to


    keep from toppling. into the wall of corpses behind me..


    “Wasn’t that the name of her previous partner?”


    “Why?”


    Mavis I shuddered when the van turned a sharp corner and one of the lifeless bodies rolled across the


    blo ody floor. “My mate. Ex-mate, I guess.


    Ren was silent, it had pained us both to reject the person who was supposed to be our one true love. It


    had hurt Ren especially as Mavis inner woll was a partner that she had fought to be with for countless


    lifetimes.


    They had been devoted to each otter for cons. It seemed that in this life, however, Mavis herself was


    stronger than her inner wolf and she had be someone that we couldn’t possibly connect with.


    “Don’t speak of her now, Ren munered in my head. “We need to focus on getting out of here.”


    1 was thrown against the wall of the van’s interior as we jolted over another rocky bump in the road.


    “Think, Ren. J


    Johan was the guy she was with, wasn’t he? Maybe this has something to do with him.”


    Ren pulled us back onto our feet, irked by the silver cor around our neck. “Revenge maybe. He had


    seemed pretty unhinged when he arrived at her doorstep”


    “That’s insane. I had nothing to do with any of the drama between the two of them. I just happened to


    find my mate and she serined perfectly normal at first,


    “It doesn’t matter now. The van came to an abrupt stop and I froze as the engine cut out “Prepare to


    fight. The second they орен those doors, we’re out of here.


    1 could hear amotion outside. Dozens of gruff voices and heavy footsteps. The van rocked as


    whoever was driving climbed our and mmed the door shut. I braced myself for whatever was waiting


    outside, crouching low and preparing to


    pounce


    I should have known that we didn’t stand a chance.