Chapter 136
Elara's POV
The bound man lay on the ground, blood seeping from the wounds on his shoulder and leg. Cole stood over him, rope tight around the man's wrists. The students clustered behind me, their breathing ragged and uneven.
I caught Cole's eye and jerked my head toward the cluster of boulders twenty feet away. He nodded once, grabbed the man by the shoulder, and started dragging him across the clearing.
"Wait!" Sass stepped forward, his voice cracking. "What are you going to do to him?"
I turned to face them. Six college students staring at me like I'd just sprouted wings. Tina's mascara ran in black streaks down her face. Linda had her arm around Tina's shoulders, but her own hands were shaking. Greg stood rigid, his usual analytical calm completely shattered.
"We need answers," I said. My voice came out flat. Cold. "That's all."
"Answers?" Greg pushed his glasses up with trembling fingers. "You just—we just saw—"
He couldn't finish the sentence. None of them could.
Luke moved to block my path, his athlete's build suddenly looking very small. "You can't just... torture him or whatever you're planning."
"I'm not planning anything." I met his eyes. "I'm going to ask questions. He's going to answer them."
"But—" Tina's voice broke on a sob. "That thing was a wolf. And then it was a person. And Cole—"
"Is also a person," I cut her off. "Who happens to be a werewolf. Like that man. Like most of the people in this town."
The words hung in the air. Sass made a choking sound.
"Werewolves," Linda whispered. "You're saying werewolves are real."
"Yes."
Greg's analytical brain was fighting to catch up. "But that's—the biology alone doesn't make sense. The mass conversion, the energy requirements—"
"I don't care about the physics," I said. "I care about what that man knows."
Kress had been silent through all of this, his hand resting on his holstered gun. Now he spoke, his voice careful. "Elara. How do you know that name? Wild Hunt?"
I'd been waiting for this question. "Does it matter right now?"
"That name isn't something you casually pick up." His eyes narrowed. "It's not in any books. It's not on any website. The only people who know it are—"
"People who've dealt with them before," I finished. "Yes."
Sass found his voice again, anger replacing fear. "So what, you're some kind of—of werewolf hunter? Is that it?"
"No." I turned away from them, toward where Cole waited by the boulders. "I'm just someone trying to keep my family safe."
"By doing what?" Sass moved between me and the boulders, his arms spread wide like he could physically block my path. "By torturing people? By—"
When he shifted his weight forward—maybe to push me back, maybe just a nervous movement—I reacted. Old reflexes. I caught his outstretched arm, twisted, applied pressure to the joint. He went down on one knee with a gasp of pain.
"Don't touch me," I said quietly.
Everyone froze.
I held Sass there for two seconds. Long enough for him to feel how easily I could break his wrist. Long enough for the others to see that I knew exactly what I was doing.
Then I let go and stepped back.
Sass scrambled away from me, cradling his wrist. His face had gone white.
"Jesus Christ," Zack breathed. "What the hell are you?"
"Someone who knows how to fight." I looked at each of them in turn. "And someone who's trying to protect you idiots from getting killed."
Tina let out a small whimper. Linda pulled her closer.
Greg stared at me like he was seeing me for the first time. "You're not just a student, are you?"
I didn't answer.
Kress cleared his throat. "Elara and Cole need to question the prisoner. We need to get you all back to base."
"No." Greg shook his head. "No, I want to know what's happening. We all do."
"What's happening," I said, my patience wearing thin, "is that there are dangerous people in this forest. People who kill for money. And that man—" I pointed toward the boulders, "—might know where they are."
"The Wild Hunt," Kress said. "You think he's one of them."
"I think he knows something." I turned to face him fully. "And I think you should get these students out of here. Now."
"What about you?"
"I still have work to do."
Kress studied me for a long moment. I could see him processing everything—the way I'd fought, the way I'd taken down Sass, the casual competence with which I'd handled the wolf attack.
"You're going to interrogate him," he said finally.
"Yes."
"And then?"
"Then I'm going to find out if there are more of them."
Tina made a frightened sound. "More? There are more of those things?"
"Probably," I said. "Which is why you need to leave."
"But—" Linda started.
"No buts." I cut her off. "Kress, get them out of here. Back to base, back to town, I don't care. Just away from this forest."
Sass climbed to his feet, still holding his wrist. "You can't just order us around."
I looked at him. Really looked at him. Let him see the calculation in my eyes, the cold assessment of exactly how much of a threat he posed. Which was none.
He took a step back.
"Kress," I said again. "Take them. Now."
Kress hesitated one more second. Then he nodded. "All right. Everyone, form up. We're heading back."
"What?" Greg protested. "We can't just—"
"We can and we will." Kress's voice had gone hard. "Move."
The students started to cluster together, their movements jerky with fear and confusion. Tina was crying openly now. Luke kept looking back at me like I might sprout fangs.
Only Kress remained behind for a moment. He stepped close, lowered his voice. "You sure about this?"
"No," I admitted. "But I'm doing it anyway."
"If you need backup—"
"I have Cole."
Kress glanced toward the boulders where Cole waited, patient and still. "Right. Your... associate."
"My friend," I corrected. "And someone I trust with my life."
"Okay." Kress backed away. "Be careful, Elara."
"Always am."
Kress hesitated, then reached into his pack. He pulled out a piece of folded paper—no, not paper. Leather. Old and worn at the creases.
"Here." He held it out to me. "I've been mapping this forest for years. Personal project."
I took it, unfolded it carefully. The leather was covered in detailed markings—trails, landmarks, elevation changes. The kind of map you only got from someone who'd actually walked every inch of ground.
"This section here." Kress pointed to the center of the map. A large blank space surrounded by careful notations. "I've never been able to get in. Too dangerous. But based on the terrain around it, there are three possible approaches."
His finger traced the routes. "North is the easiest but most exposed. East has better cover but the ground is unstable. West..." He paused. "West is where the Greyback family makes their supply runs."
I studied the map, committing the routes to memory. "You think that's where they are? Wild Hunt?"
"I think that's where something is." Kress pulled his hand back. "Something that wants to be left alone. Something powerful enough that even the Greybacks pay tribute."
"Thank you," I said quietly. "This helps."
"Just..." He looked at me, really looked at me. "Don't get yourself killed, okay? Whatever you're looking for out there, it's not worth dying for."
But he was wrong. It was worth dying for. Because somewhere in that blank space on his map, my sister was running for her life.
"I'll be careful," I said.
He gathered the students and started herding them back toward the trail.