“Fucking bitch,” he screeched. She hurried into the tunnel and began making her way in the dark. She could hear him scrambling into the space behind her and tried to feel her way along in the darkness as fast as she could, quickly getting lost in the twists and curves of what she had hoped would be an escape.
Trevor taunted her as she edged along in the darkness. She expected a light at any moment, something that would expose her to him. Instead, she heard only the distant footsteps as he, too, tried to make his way along the corridor to find her. Thank God for small favors. Her phone was in her pocket, but she didn’t dare to use the light on it for fear that it would reveal her.
Instead, she slowly inched along the wall. Hoping she wasn’t just going in circles. His footsteps seemed closer, and her heart raced with fear at being found by him. These tunnels would either save her or she would die there, and he’d walk away from it all without so much as a scratch.
Turning a corner, she felt like she was in a larger opening. She stumbled forward, falling against someone in the darkness. Letting out an involuntary yelp, she tried to struggle free, but he wouldn’t let go. She was panicked, trying to wiggle free. He had sounded like he was behind her. How did he get ahead of her?CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHTMalcolm-12
“Shhhh, Autumn. Be quiet. It’s me. It’s Malcolm,” he whispered against her ear. “Get behind me.”
It was if all the air left her body at once, a momentous sigh of relief escaping as he held her there against him and stroked her hair.
“How many?” he asked.
“Just Trevor. One,” she replied.
There were a series of clicking sounds and then a metal clanging of some sort. Malcolm pushed her toward an opening behind him.
“Follow that straight out to the woods. Don’t wait for me. Get out and make your way to the road. I’ll find you. If I’m not there by nightfall, you’ll need to disappear. Find a bar called the Dirty Dugout and tell them you need to find David with the Red Fang MC. Tell them I sent you to look for him. Tell him what happened, and he will help you.”
“Malcolm. No. Just come with me.”
“No. I have to end this now or he will never leave you alone. I can get through this tunnel as a wolf. It’s too small as a bear, so I’ve got the advantage. Now, go. This isn’t the time to argue.”
Malcolm pushed her the rest of the way through what felt like metal bars closing off the tunnel and pulled the gate shut again. Suddenly, the corridor was flooded with light as Trevor stepped out of the darkness and sneered at Malcolm.
“You must be the boyfriend, huh? Well, today’s your lucky day. We can fight this out man to man instead of me just ripping you to shreds.”
“Alright, if you think so,” Malcolm told him, taking a step closer to him.
Behind him, Autumn stood, seeming to be frozen in space as she watched.
“Autumn, go!” Malcolm yelled at her.
“Yeah, Autumn. Go! You don’t want to see what I’m about to do to your pretty little boytoy.”
Malcolm smiled at him as the air shifted along the corridor, sending his scent toward the nose of his opponent. There was a certain recognition across his face as he stepped backward and then glanced toward the retreating figure of Autumn.
“A fucking wolf,” he muttered.
It might have well been his last thought as Malcolm grasped the phone in his hand and sent it clattering to the dirt floor beneath them. It bounced off a rock there, shattering its glass and extinguishing the light. Now, there was only the sound of crackling tendons and snapping bones as Malcolm’s body tore apart and reformed, his face elongating into a snout and his body contorting into that of the wolf that he was.
Screams filled the corridor as Trevor tried to shift. The area was too small, but he probably hoped it would protect him from the sharp teeth bearing down upon him. He was too late. Malcolm sank his teeth into Trevor’s neck, tearing the flesh and ripping open his carotid, sending blood spraying everywhere.
Malcolm lost all sense of himself, his instincts taking over as he destroyed his enemy. It had not been a fair fight. He knew that, but if they had been in an open space, it would hardly have been a fair fight pitting a bear against a wolf. A wolf could win, but only if he were quick and chose his attacks well.
He wanted to think it would end there, but it probably wouldn’t. If this guy were the son of an Alpha, then his clan would be looking for him. More of them would come, perhaps many more. He wouldn’t be able to keep her safe there, not by himself.