Chapter 34 SURVIVAL INSTINCT
AVRIELLE'S POV
The trees blurred into a messy streak of grey and skeletal brown as we neared the edge of the North’s territory.
I stared out the window, my eyes burning from the wind and the lack of sleep, trying to drown out the frantic buzzing in my skull.
Every mile we covered was a mile further away from the law, away from safety, and closer to a world where our titles meant absolutely nothing.
The car slowed to a heavy crawl, the tires crunching over gravel until we came to a complete halt at the final checkpoint.
The driver didn’t look back; his eyes were fixed on the men standing at the gate—warriors with hard faces and silver-tipped spears.
"I’m going to talk to the border guards," he said, his voice clipped. "Stay inside. Keep the doors locked."
I only gave a stiff nod, watching through the glass as he stepped out into the biting wind.
Beside me, Ivana was a ghost. She hadn’t uttered a single word since we left the house. Her usual arrogance had evaporated, replaced by a hollow, wide-eyed terror that made her look small.
We weren't friends; we weren't even allies. I knew that if it weren't for the threat of Xavier’s wrath, she would have pushed me out of the moving car miles ago.
I watched the driver through the windshield. He was conversing with the head guard, his gestures sharp and authoritative.
At one point, the guard tilted his head, his gaze piercing through the tinted glass and landing directly on me. His eyes were cold, predatory—the look of a man who saw the world in terms of prey and predator.
A chill raced down my spine, a primal warning that made my skin crawl. I swallowed hard, my throat feeling like it was lined with sandpaper, and I immediately looked away, suddenly finding the gnarled bark of the nearby trees fascinating.
After what felt like hours, but was likely only minutes, the guard gave a curt nod and signaled his men to lower the heavy iron barrier.
The driver climbed back in, followed by one of the guards who slid into the passenger seat without a word.
I wanted to ask why he was joining us—if it was for protection or to ensure we didn't turn back—but the words died in my throat. I just kept my mouth shut.
The engine roared to life, and we rolled past the barrier. I couldn't help but glance back one last time, watching the heavy iron bars slide shut behind us, sealing us into the rogue lands.
The atmosphere changed instantly. The air felt heavier, charged with a jagged, lawless energy.
My senses were screaming, standing on high alert as the paved road gave way to a dirt track swallowed by dense, suffocating foliage. A chill settled deep in my marrow, a premonition that something was about to go horribly wrong.
I was right.
"Watch out!" the guard in the passenger seat barked.
A figure suddenly materialized from the shadows of the trees, standing dead center in the path. The driver hissed a curse, his hands flying as he yanked the steering wheel.
The car skidded violently, the tires screaming as we narrowly missed the person and slammed toward a massive oak. He stomped on the brakes just in time, the force throwing us forward against our seatbelts.
My heart felt like it had stopped. My breath caught in my throat, and for a terrifying second, I wasn't on a dirt road in the rogue lands.
I was back in the carriage with Xavier, the smell of smoke and the sting of cold steel in my side. The flashback and the memory of the blade, the blood on my hands, the feeling of my life leaking out onto the floor, just kept replaying in my head.
"Avrielle!"
The driver’s voice jolted me back, but I was frozen, my eyes wide as I stared out the rear window.
Out of the darkness, shapes were emerging, definitely rogues, but... dozens of them. They didn't move like pack wolves; they moved like starving shadows, closing in on the car from all sides.
The driver snarled, his eyes flashing a dangerous amber in the rearview mirror. "Can you drive?"
I was too stunned to answer. In my head, the world was a blur of growls and the sound of claws scraping against the metal of the car. I could hear his question, but my mind was trapped in the trauma of the past.
BEEP! BEEP!
He slammed his hand onto the horn, the piercing siren echoing through the woods. The sound acted like a bucket of ice water.
"CAN YOU DRIVE?!" he yelled, turning his head to glare at me.
"Yes!" I stammered, my voice high and brittle. "Yes, I can drive!"
"Good. Take over the wheel from here," he commanded, his movements frantic but precise. "Me and Liam are getting off to hold them back. You need to get out of here."
He turned to Ivana, who was hyperventilating beside me, her face buried in her hands. "The vendor! Give me the direction! Now!"
Ivana let out a strangled sob. "It's... it's two miles north! The clearing with the burnt-out cabin! Turn right at the fork with the hanging bones!"
The driver gave a grim nod. The rogues were mere feet away now, their faces twisted in feral hunger, their hands reaching for the door handles.
"I'm getting off," the driver said, his voice dropping to a low, lethal growl. "The second I clear the door, hit the gas and don't look back. Don't stop for anything, Avrielle. Not for us, not for them."
Before I could protest, before I could tell him I wasn't ready, the doors flew open. The driver and the guard, Liam, leaped into the fray.
Right in front of my eyes, they shifted.
The sound of snapping bones and tearing fabric filled the air and two massive, powerful wolves—one charcoal grey, one sandy brown—erupted into the crowd of rogues and immediately lunged at them.
My heart was racing, a frantic drumbeat in my ears, but a strange, icy calm was beginning to settle over my nerves.
Survival.
It was the only thing that mattered. I scrambled over the center console, my limbs tangling with the gear shift as I forced myself into the driver’s seat.
I didn't waste a second.
I slammed the car into reverse, the engine screaming as I backed into a group of rogues, feeling the sickening thud as the bumper hit flesh.
I wrenched the wheel, shifting into drive, and floored it. I hit the ones in front, the heavy sedan acting like a battering ram as I cleared a path through the snarling mass.
I swung the car onto the main dirt track, the tires throwing up a cloud of dust and debris. I drove off at high speed, the wind whistling through the open door that hadn't quite latched.
"AHHHHHHH!" Ivana let out a piercing, glass-shattering scream as the car flew over a dip in the road, momentarily catching air.
"Shut up, Ivana!" I yelled, my knuckles white as I gripped the steering wheel. My arms were shaking, and my side was throbbing where the wound had been, but I didn't care.
"Calm down and start giving me directions, or we’re both going to be dead before the sun goes down!"
I was damn terrified and even that of Ivana couldn't compare. Every shadow looked like a wolf, and every rustle of the trees sounded like a death knell, but I still find myself hiting the accelerator.
The car drove faster, weaving through the treacherous terrain. I was the one behind the wheel now and I knew damn right, I was the one who was going to decide who lived and who died.
"The fork!" Ivana shrieked, pointing a trembling finger. "Turn right at the fork!"
I gritted my teeth and pulled the wheel, the car fishtailing as we dove deeper into the heart of the rogue lands.
Survival...
No matter what? I had to survive