A gust of wind rocked her on her feet. Lightning flared nearby, charging the atmosphere.
Though Munro had sounded so sure of her death, she sped on to meet her destiny. What was the alternative? Leaving everyone she loved to their doom?
Never. She would get back to the circus and protect them.
Especially Jacob.
All of her hunters had chosen to journey to the front line of the Night War, pledging their lives to the cause, but Jake had been brought here as a boy. Over the years, she had sensed that this wasn’t his calling, and feared he’d stayed because of her.
She would do anything to keep him safe.
As she ran, she spied more ghoul tracks. All of a sudden, she was thirteen, right back in that harrowing search party for her overdue parents. . . .
Shaking herself from the memory, she inhaled the smell of the stone pines. Even that scent didn’t settle her. She would forever associate it with the Lykae now.
Her thoughts spun from past tragedies to her actions this night. She’d lost herself with the enemy, had never felt so much addictive passion. What if we were fated—
Two viper shifters leapt from the bushes in front of her, fangs bared. Their venom paralyzed victims while the creatures fed—and this pair looked hungry.
Fear tightened her throat, but Ren brazenly raised her weapon. “Reconsider,” she commanded them.
They crouched, coiled to attack.
She forced herself to take a threatening step forward. “You know of this knife. You know of me. Reconsider.”
The pair shared an unnerved look with their sliver-pupil eyes, but remained poised to strike.
“Scent the blade,” she told them. “You’ll detect Lykae blood from the ancient one I just beheaded.”
They raised their faces, flicking the air with forked tongues—then shot into the brush, hissing over their shoulders.
Relief weakened her knees, but she pressed on toward the outpost’s small cabin. When it came into view, the interior was silent and dark. By the flares of lightning bolts, she saw that the ground all around the structure was torn up.
The newlings had already been here.
Ren clenched her blade. Did any linger nearby? Though more might attack at any second, she had to check for survivors and radio a warning to the circus.
She skirted the scouts’ truck, approaching the cabin. The front door was missing, the hinges twisted. Knife at the ready, she entered.
The earthen floor glistened with blood. Two rifles had been snapped in half, and body parts lay strewn across the space. A severed hand clutched the shredded radio receiver.
Even after all her years hunting, the carnage shocked her. These had been good, brave men.
Warmth hit her face. Blood? She craned her head up . . .
Gasped at the sight. Bits of ragged flesh were stuck to the rafters. She whirled around and sprinted for the truck, her pulse pounding in her ears.
The pack’s tracks led west, which meant they would have to scale that high ridge to reach the circus. If she took the shortcut between the mountains, she might beat them there.
But the battle would happen tonight. The safety of her people depended on her outrunning the newlings.
She hastened to the front of the truck, gripping the crank handle. Would the combustion draw the pack? She held her breath and turned the crank. The engine rumbled to life! And died. “Damn it.” She spun the crank handle again.
Rumble. Rumble.
She snatched open the door and hopped behind the wheel. Mind in turmoil, she shifted into gear and jerked down on the accelerator lever. The road was a muddy track, and rain came down in bursts. Driving as fast as she dared, she gripped the steering wheel with one hand, operating the windshield wiper with her other.
For what felt like hours, she powered along, fighting the wheel, working the wiper. All the while, her mind kept returning to those poor men.
This is why we hunt monsters. Yet she’d nearly been seduced away from Jacob by one? Her gaze flicked to her wedding ring. Passion wasn’t everything. She could live without it, but she couldn’t live without trust.
At last the fairgrounds came into view. She yanked the brake lever, ditching the truck before it’d skidded to a stop. As she ran for the big top, anxious voices sounded from within.
“Jacob, we cannot go back out there like this,” Puideleu said. “We must get into position!”
Björn added, “And we don’t know where it took Ren.”
Jacob snapped, “Then I’ll scour the entire bloody forest for her!”
Puideleu said, “The Lykae won’t hurt her, son. She will want us to meet this foe and save the villagers.”
Ren ran inside, found all of her hunters gathered. “Jacob!” A makeshift sling supported his right arm. Mud covered his suit, and bruises marred his dear face. “What happened to you?”
“Ren!” Brows drawn, he limped over to her. “I got tangled up with two ghouls. They barreled over me and sank me into a patch of mud.”