We were close. We weresoclose.
Of coursethese damn collars would trigger some sort of electric pulse when we exited the main portion of the facility. It was like an invisible fence that people used to keep their dogs in their yards. The thought was revolting and enraging in equal parts;of coursethey’d view us like dogs. Like animals. Like we were less than human.
My wolf shuddered and moaned inside of me.Fuck. I can’t die like this. We haven’t survived this long just to be put down like wild animals.
I had no idea how long I’d been lying there, but I forced my jaw to unlock. When I took a deep breath, I could peel my eyes open. It took another moment or two to gather enough strength to push myself back onto my knees; my arms and legs felt like jelly. One of my elbows buckled, and I almost ate the tile floor. With a soft hiss, I forced myself back up, looking back over my shoulder towards the door. We’d managed to get a few lengths away, and nothing more. The second door still felt like it was a year away.
When I glanced back over at the woman, I realized she wasn’t moving much. Her sides were still rising and falling, at least. My last view of Cyn flashed before my eyes and I had to fight back the urge to gag. I could deal with the grief or regret or whatever the hell it was when I wasn’t running for my life.
Forcing myself to move, I crawled on all fours towards the other two shifters. The little girl was still pressed against her mother, her eyes red and watery as she stared up at me with terror. One of her tiny hands was wrapped up in the white fabric of mother’s shirt, her knuckles bloody from the fall. I winced sympathetically, trying to shush her gently when I paused next to her mother, reaching a hand out to gently shake the woman’s shoulder.
“Hey,” I said quietly, though I wasn’t entirely sure why. It wasn’t as if the entire facility didn’t know there’d been some sort of escape by now; maybe it was for the child’s sake. “Hey, can you hear me? You need to stand up.”
The woman still didn’t move and I shook her a little harder.Maybe she hasn’t been shocked before,I reasoned. It was a huge surprise the first time I'd gotten hit with the collar’s power. Hell, the only reason I didn’t scream this time was because all the muscles in my jaw and throat had seized up. That was the only thing that stopped me — not will or pain tolerance.
I gave her another little shake. “Hello?” I said a little more urgently. “I know that hurt, but we need to get out of here. Like…five minutes ago.”
I paused, glancing back over my shoulder. The door still hadn’t opened, but I was certain it would be any second, now that someone realized which exit we had used.
Turning back around, I tried to move the woman onto her back so I could give her a hand up. That was when I realized blood was all over her front.
Oh, shit. They got her.I reached out, tracing my fingers over her soaked shirt as I tried to find exactly where she’d been wounded, and the woman finally stirred, groaning quietly. She swatted at my hand weakly.
“Stop it,” she rasped, her eyes flickering open. Her gaze met mine and I swallowed, arrested by the look I found there.
She’s dying. She knows she’s dying.
I’d never seenthatlook before — not of someone who knew they had minutes left, if that.
The woman swatted at my hand again, using her other arm to push her daughter towards me instead. “Take her,” she said, gasping for air. I must have looked like a fish out of water, because she shoved the girl at me again, insistent. “Listen to me. Listen right now. You have to take my daughter and get her out of here.”
“Who—”
“Her name is Bella Nova, and she is the Crescent Moon Pack’s chosen one. I have no idea what happened to our pack since we were taken, but she—” the woman swallowed hard and coughed, clearly fighting just to speak. Blood speckled her lips. “She is just three, but she’s an alpha. A female alpha. You cannot let these people have her.”
I froze, my mouth working. My throat tightened. Not a single word came out.
Crescent Moon? Chosen one? A female alpha? How?I looked at the girl with wide eyes.Whoarethese people?
Of course, we couldn’t have an alpha fall into this project’s hands, much less a child, but…
“Take her,” the woman said again, hissing in pain. Her gaze never left mine, a certain fierceness in her eyes.
“She needs you!” I finally protested, some sense kicking in even as I allowed her to push Bella in my arms. “She needs her mother. Trust me.Trust me.She needs her mother.” My eyes prickled and I sucked in a sharp breath. My vision blurred. I felt like I was begging this woman to stay alive. If I stared at her for too long, she looked like…she looked like…
The woman shook her head, wiping at her lips with the back of one hand. There was even more blood there than before, and my heart sank lower still. I was surprised the earth hadn’t swallowed it up by now. “She needs to live,” she argued, her resolve only hardening.
“What’s your name?” I asked desperately.
She ignored my question, pointing towards the second door several yards away.
The woman snarled. “Keep going. That will get you outside. Run. Get my daughter out andrun.”
I stood slowly, wobbling with the weight of the child in my arms. Bella’s sniffles had become outright sobs as she reached for her mother, starting to squirm in my grip.
Her mother smiled up tearfully, trying to wipe the tears away from her face as she comforted her daughter. “Be a good girl, Bella,” she said, sniffing. “Mama and Papa love you, okay? We love you so much.”
Bella whimpered and grabbed at the air. I could hear something from inside the building, and knew if I was going to get out of here, I had to get out now. I turned and began to jog towards the second door. Bella wailed.