Harvey sauntered through the door. He kicked it shut behind himself before descending the stairs with a devious grin. The urge to put my foot through his teeth overwhelmed me, but I couldn’t do that until I got the key to the cuffs off him.
I hated what that meant.
“How did you like your stay in our fine hotel?” Harvey asked.
“Man, the continental breakfast sucked. It was like eating nothing but air.”
His smile never slipped. He laughed and shook his head. I knew when he laughed that this wasn’t going to end well. I wrapped my hand around the mallet handle behind the cot.
“Your white knights aren’t here,” Harvey said as he braced one hand against the wall behind the cot and leaned over me.
My heart thumped. Harvey blocked my exit. I would have to fight my way out if I was going to escape. Without my hound, I didn’t like those odds. Not even the weight of the mallet could temper my shaking hands.
Harvey looked me up and down with hungry eyes. “I don’t get why Connor wants to put a ring on you. If I were him, I’d take what I want and put you down.”
My lip curled. Harvey’s smile widened menacingly. Before I could react, he grabbed me by the throat. He shoved me back. My teeth rattled in my head. He laughed as he straddled me. His hand tightened around my throat.
Like hell would I die like this. I brought the mallet up, but it caught on the cot’s mattress. Harvey noticed me struggling. He peered to the side and noticed the wooden handle half sticking out from behind the bed. His gaze tracked to the pipe.
“Crafty mutt,” he growled.
He ripped the mallet from my hand and tossed it across the room. My hopes sank. I’d exposed all the cards up my sleeve only to have them fail.
I growled. Like hell would I give in. I tossed my arm. The loose cuff slapped Harvey across the face. Blood arched in the air as he reeled back. When he took his hand off my throat, I sat up and shoved him. Harvey tumbled back off the cot, his limbs akimbo.
Scrambling off the mattress, I ran for the mallet and snatched it off the floor. My feet tangled beneath me, but I caught myself and darted for the stairs. I doubted anyone had locked it from the outside.
Harvey’s laugh taunted me.
I hesitated. When I glanced back, I didn’t look at him. Instead, my gaze fell on the windows. Dusk had set in. The hunt would begin shortly.
Harvey hadn’t come down here to kill me. He’d come down to bring me to the hunt. I fired off a quick curse and flung the door open and surged out onto the first floor. The house was suspiciously empty. I looked towards the back of the house, as if I could see the pack through the walls.
“Not today,” I whispered to myself as I hefted the mallet.
I made a break for the front door and kept running. A wolf broke from the bushes to my right. I swung the mallet. The impact made a meaty sound when it connected with the wolf’s muzzle. The wolf crumpled with a whine.
I didn’t bother to see who I’d maimed. My guess was Jackson or Marcus. Either one deserved it.
The free cuff slapped against my arm as I ran. I turned my attention to the sky, half hoping that Ryder would descend from above. If I could shift, then my storm would have marked my location. Instead, I was alone.
Nothing new, I thought to myself. I’d survived this long on my own. I would keep kicking so that I could reveal Alvin’s skeletons once and for all.
Howls filled the air behind me. I stumbled, my heart stuttering. There were more howls than I expected. Had Alvin threatened them into hunting me? Had he lied to them about me?
I didn’t stop. So long as I kept to the road, the wolves might not give chase. I doubted the pack wanted all of Lakesedge to turn against them for disrupting the peace. If I could stay on public property, I might be safe.
A wolf leapt out of the trees to my right. I swung the mallet, but the wolf feinted and snapped at my leg. The wolf caught my pantleg and tugged me off balance. I let out a cry as the earth came out from under my feet. The sky shuddered when I hit the ground.
Now would have been a good time for a storm. I tried to will a lightning bolt to strike the wolf dragging me away from the road, but nothing happened. Now wasn’t the time to lean on my unknown arcana. Instead, I sat up and swung the mallet again. The wolf leapt out of the way, but that meant it had to let go of my pantleg.
Thunder rolled overhead. I stilled and cast a wary glance at the sky. I couldn’t tell if I’d summoned that or not. It didn’t seem like it. If I had, then my arcana had an annoying delay.
A car peeled out behind me. Before it could even stop, a figure rose out of the driver’s seat. I glimpsed Cerri’s alarmed face as she frantically reached for the steering wheel. Ryder, however, had set his sight on the wolf in front of me.
Ryder’s face was dark with shadows that I’d never seen before. His anger had taken on the darkness of storm clouds long coming, the kind of storm that raged across the seaboard. When he cracked his knuckles, lightning danced within the gathering clouds above.
“I don’t need you to save me,” I shouted back at him even though I’d hoped he would show up.