Chapter 42 · Get out!

He looked back.

"Get out!" he shouted.

"Not without you!"

"You don't have a choice!"

"I always have a choice!"

"Then choose the pups!"

The words cut worse than they should have.

He reached the truck and climbed onto the side rail. The vehicle rolled faster now, dragging a broken line of crates behind it.

The ravine waited fifty yards ahead.

I climbed out from under the cart with both pups pressed to my chest.

The wolves nearest me turned.

Their red eyes locked on the children.

One growled.

Then another.

The sound spread through the valley.

Rayne lifted the flare gun.

"Sera!" he shouted. "Now!"

I didn't move.

The wolf closest to me lowered its head.

The pup in my left arm whimpered. A drop of blood slipped from its paw and struck the snow.

Every red-ringed wolf stopped.

The air pulled tight around us.

I felt Cole's signal press against my skull.

It wasn't a voice. It was a command with teeth.

Kill.

Take.

Bring them to me.

My knees hit the ice.

The pups cried against my chest.

"No," I whispered. "You don't get to take them.