304- ANNA

304- ANNA
POV Anna:

“We’ve always been walking toward this moment,” I told him as I leaned against the brick wall and stroked the top of his head. “My parents. Evalina. The healer. My mate. Even Emerson. Everyone did what they could to stop this moment from happening, but I think the paths were always going to cross. We were always coming here.”

Swallowing hard to wet my dry mouth, I fought back tears. “I feel Jax. He always breaks through every barrier I put up. He made it to the coven, and he’s suffering so much right now. All I can think about is the second I don’t feel him anymore. When he dies because he tried to save me.”

Throwing my head back, I looked at the ceiling and frowned. Finn’s room had a window. It was so close to the ceiling that we were probably in some kind of basement area. The window was far too small for even my wolf to fit through, but I wanted to see what was on the other side.

Unfortunately, now wasn’t the time to see if I could levitate myself with magic, so I stood and examined the chains. Finn’s wolf turned his head to watch me, and I pointed to the window. There was a small table in the room, but it was bolted to the floor. The chains were mounted about two feet below the window. I could climb and try to reach the ledge.

In my weakened state, I wouldn’t be able to hold on for long, but it was worth the attempt.

Finn began to shift as I gripped the chains and started climbing. My muscles screamed as I pressed my feet against the stone wall and used them to push myself upward. By the time I reached the top, Finn had fully shifted, and I was breathless.

“One way to subvert Maeve would be to fall to your death before she can use you,” he said weakly. Clearly, I hadn’t been able to heal him completely, and I looked down at him.

“I don’t think the fall would kill me, but it’s an idea.”

Below me, he grimaced, and I took a few more steps, testing the placement of my feet. I had maybe one or two inches of foothold before the jump.

Not great, but the best I had. Thankfully, the ledge was deep. Gritting my teeth, I pushed upward and grunted. I couldn’t get my forearms onto the sill, but I caught the edge with my hands. Quickly, I gripped tight and dragged myself upward until I could pull my elbows in and brace my weight against the wall.

“Shit,” Finn hissed. “Are you okay?”

Panting, I cleared my throat. “Perfect.”

The window was caked with dirt. Carefully, I used my hand to wipe it clean. “We’re definitely in a basement, and there’s a lot of activity outside. Looks like we’re sitting in a huge field before the edge of a forested area. They… they’re building a ritual circle.”

Witches. When I focused, I could see their magical auras. There had to be dozens of them.

Movement at the forest’s edge caught my eye, and I looked to see wolves emerging from the trees—dozens and dozens of them.

Horrified, I let out a muffled cry and scrambled back, forgetting how high up I was. Instantly, I fell.

“Anna!” Finn’s hands wrapped around my waist, and we both stumbled to the floor. I landed on top of him and quickly rolled off.

“Are you okay?”

“Well, I’m still better than I was ten minutes ago. What did you see?” He winced and sat up, groaning in pain.

“Wolves. Mutant wolves,” I whispered as terror spread through me again. “Maeve used the serum on her own pack.”

(...)
POV Jax:

There were at least fifteen dead wolves at our feet. Adrenaline was rushing through my veins, but I was losing too much blood. London could barely stand. A familiar alpha wolf approached us.

“Jax. London.”

He spoke with a hoarse voice that I immediately recognized as Dolan, Maeve’s second-in-command. We rarely interacted, because Dolan almost never left the territory. Normally, the third would travel with her, something most alphas practiced, but Dolan was a different kind of wolf. Apparently, he enjoyed disciplining. There were rumors that Maeve kept wolves confined with life sentences, and Dolan liked to make them bleed, wait for them to heal, and then tear them apart again.

“I see you left your torture station,” I rasped as I stood up. My legs trembled so badly I almost collapsed again. “How many wolves did you bring to capture us?”

“I have twenty more rogues on their way,” he said in a bored tone. “My alpha ordered me to give you a choice. Keep fighting and die quickly, or come with me and say goodbye to your mate.”

His eyes slid over London with disinterest, and my stomach clenched. It was highly likely that Maeve had ordered everyone around me to be killed, and that would include another alpha. She was about to take control of a mountain. Why would she care who she killed?

“He comes with me,” I said, pointing. “Alive.”

Dolan smiled, revealing a mouth with missing teeth. A wolf that fought too much. “I’ve always respected your intelligence. It would be a shame for you to die. If you knelt before my alpha, she might make you her third.”

“Third?” I raised a brow. “You think you can beat me in a challenge?”

“I think I can remove enough parts beforehand to ensure the challenge isn’t even necessary.”

“You’re really selling the position well.” I leaned forward and spat blood. “Take us to your leader.”

He turned, and I bent down to help London up. With five wolves watching us closely and more on the way, he didn’t care about our closeness as he turned his back. Slowly, we walked about half a kilometer until we reached the parked helicopter.

If we get out of this alive, I’m going to blow this thing up.

Half an hour later, we were in the air. London and I had already caught our breath a little, and our wounds had healed, but we had lost too much blood. There was no plan, but I wasn’t going to waste the chance to see Anna again, to grab any chance to pull her out of this nightmare.

Leaning out of the helicopter, Dolan grinned maliciously. Slowly, I leaned out and looked through the open window.

My heart stopped. Maeve had an entire pack of mutant wolves roaming out there. I looked at him. “Why didn’t you take the serum?” I shouted.

“I don’t need it.”