Fight, Flight, Or Faint

“Jane, go.”

I glance back at Will, frowning at his wound. It’s healing rapidly, but he’s still in no condition to walk. I don’t want to leave him like this. Again.

“Are you sure?” I ask.

I need to check out what that was. I have to make sure Ash is okay. We closed the secret entrance to the medical wing in the library, but if Kade is awake…

“I’m fine. The worst part’s over. Just go, princess.”

I hesitate a heartbeat more before pulling myself up on my feet with a grunt. If something is coming after us, we’ll have better odds if we know exactly what we’re up against.

“Stay here. Don’t make a sound,” I tell Will, urgency creeping into my hushed voice.

He nods, and his eyes speak louder than any words either one of us could utter. I turn on my heel and walk out of the dining room, back through the hall to the main foyer. My steps are quick and quiet as I poke my head around the corner.

“Ash?” I call out in a hoarse whisper. “Ash, is that you? What’s going on?”

A moment of silence and then a guttural howl pierces the air.

The savage roar is followed by a familiar, feminine yelp. My hand flies to my gaping mouth, silencing my horrified cry as Ash flies across the balcony of the mezzanine. She’s shoved with such force that she topples over the railing with a scream.

Her yell is abruptly cut short as she hits the ground on the floor beneath. I’m awe-struck as I watch her tuck her legs in and roll into the fall, trying to soften the impact. She slides across the floor, the momentum sending her tumbling toward the center of the room.

“Ash!”

My hands clench into fists as she gasps and groans in an attempt to prop herself up on her arms and sit up. She’s so beaten and bruised from the fall she can scarcely hold her head up, but she whirls around to look at me as I step into the foyer towards her. Her pained, startled gaze lands on me, and I take another step toward her, ready to rush to her side.

But she shakes her head almost imperceptibly, and her expression freezes me in my tracks.

From the balcony above, the sound of slow, unhurried footsteps clashes against the frantic pounding of my heart.

Kade.

I don’t see him on the mezzanine from where I’m standing at the edge of the hall, but I can feel him. My wolf growls within me at his scent.

“Is that you down there, dear Jane? I thought I heard someone.”

His arrogant, taunting tone echoes in the large room, boiling the blood in my veins.

“Did you really think that bitch-pup could keep me locked up for long? Or were you hoping the poison from your nasty little knife would kill me?”

Too soon. The effects of the dagger wore off too soon. Ash is injured. Will can barely stand. My aunt is still unconscious. My mind races in search of a plan, an escape route, an idea, anything.

But then those footsteps come to a stop somewhere out of sight on the balcony. My blood turns cold at the sound of metal scraping softly against the marble floor, followed by the hauntingly soft click of the gun as Kade flicks off the safety.

“You didn’t fight fair, my dear. I’ll admit your little trick with the wolfsbane blade took me by surprise. I expected better from you,” Kade says, clicking his tongue in disapproval.

I recoil at the sound, my insides churning with revulsion. There would be no way to bait him out of using the gun again. As much as he wants me as his bride, I doubt he’ll pull his punches after I stabbed him.

“And don’t get any more devious ideas, my dear. In case you haven’t heard, I have a pack of my own. They have the Argent Pack running for the hills with their tails between their legs. What can I say? My soldiers didn’t come cheap, but they’re well-armed and marvelously effective. They’re worth every penny.”

Only a monster like him would believe that paying a bunch of trained killers to follow your orders can be considered having a pack. An Alpha earns the loyalty of his warriors; he does not buy it.

“Truly, my dear, you should see them in action. In fact, you’ll get to see them soon.”

What an arse. Kade must really love the sound of his own voice. But if what he’s saying is true, and his mercenaries are on the way, then we need to get out of Silver Manor.

Right. Frigging. Now.

I take another step towards Ash, but she shakes her head again, eyes frenzied and pleading. My heart sinks at the warning written all over her face.

‘Leave me. I’m not the one he’s after.’

She lowers her head, resting her cheek on the cold floor as her gaze remains intently trained on mine. There’s more noise above us as Kade makes his way to the edge of the balcony, towards the stairs. Ash mouths a single word before closing her eyes, playing dead in a desperate attempt to stay alive.

“Run.”

It takes me a split second to weigh my options. Stay here and help her, and risk engaging in another fight against Kade that neither Ash nor I are equipped to survive; or run and draw his attention away, assuming he won’t bother to finish off my friend if he thinks she’s dead or unconscious.

With one last look at Ash, I turn and run.

Kade will be coming after me, and once he realizes his brother is still alive, he’ll be going after Will as well. We’re all that stands between him and all the wealth and power of the Blackthorn and Silver legacies.

I lurch down the winding corridors and only stop once I’m back in the dining room, my breath quick as I hurry over to Will’s side once again.

He stares at me in surprise as I stumble across the room toward him. I barely have time to scan him quickly before I hook his arm over my shoulder without a moment of hesitation.

“What happened?”

“Shh. We have to be quiet. Ash is down. Kade is up. He has a gun, and his men are coming.”

Will grimaces from the effort of getting up. He tries his best not to lean on me, but he can hardly stand. His bare skin glistens with sweat. Mercifully, the wound doesn’t keep bleeding. But as the impressive muscles across his abdomen contract from the strain, silvery liquid oozes from the gash. He grasps his side with his other hand as the potion slowly mends the ravaged flesh.

He’s warm and heavy against me, but it’s comforting somehow. He feels solid. Alive.

He looks better. But better than dying is still not necessarily good; it’s just slightly less bad. Will is still in pain and far too weak from his injuries. Elder Hilda said he’d fully recover within the hour, but it’s barely been a few minutes. Even magic takes time.

But as Kade’s footsteps approach the dining room doorway, I realize that time…

... time is precisely what we don’t have.