Page 17 of The Red Moon

“Ten!” Alexey shouts with a snide chuckle.

Focus or I’m taking over, my wolf says. He’s right. There’s only three more soldiers standing between me and the front doors. I can’t afford any other distractions right now. They retrain their barrels in my direction and open fire in unison. Muzzle flashes blast in a spectacular shade of yellow and orange. I sprint away on all fours, praying they’ll have trouble with a moving target. The world around me slows second by torturous second. And just when I think I might outrun their silver points, an agonizing heat punches straight through my calf and sends me tumbling across the dirt.

“Nikolai!” Dimitri screams and does the one thing he swore he wouldn’t. What I made him promise not to do under any circumstance. He drops off the fence and lands inside the perimeter, rushing toward the soldiers taking aim. One. Two. Three soldiers drop in an instant, but the only thing I’m thinking now is getting him out. I try and stand fully, staggering to my feet and failing. Fire radiates from the bullet hole, silver burning something unbearable with each ragged breath. It’s in there. Poisoning me from the inside. If I don’t get it out and fast, there’s no telling how much damage it’ll do to us.

I reach for my leg, ready to dig my nails in if I must and pause. Not because the pain has subsided, but from the familiar stench overwhelming the front steps of my father’s home. Two piercing gray eyes meet mine but quickly glance behind me. Viktor emerges from the shadows, his large frame coming into view. His clothes begin to split and his features distort somewhere between pain and excitement. A wide, atrocious grin spreads on his bloody face, teeth replaced with sharp daggers.

But he isn’t looking at me anymore.

He's staring at the person behind me.

My brother, the monster my father always wanted, is shifting into his true form, and his eyes are set on Dimitri.

ELEVEN

NATALIE

He’s here. Nikolai is finally here. All of the wolves except Sergei rush out of the house to the explosion judging by the heavy footsteps shaking the ceiling. It isn’t until another blast rattles the foundation that Viktor stomps up the stairs as well. There was rage in his eyes. Not the same malicious gray, but something far worse. He didn’t say anything, he only listened. I think that’s what worries me most of all.

“You only have minutes,” Sergei says, his voice small and hoarse.

Minutes? I stare at him, my brow knitting in confusion. I take a step, leaving little room between me and a clear path up and out of this fucking house.

He stumbles and grabs the metal door for stability. “Left.”

My mouth opens and closes. Left? What does he mean left?

Sergei winces as he holds the door open fully, pain etched in every line of his face. “Once out of front door, run to the left. Fence is weak on that end. Enough room for rabbits to squeeze underneath and eat garden out back. Viktor was supposed to tell groundskeeper.”

He doesn’t move. Doesn’t lock the cage. No, Sergei only stares, his wide eyes pleading.

“How do you know this?” I ask, inching forward.

Sergei lowers his head. “Viktor ordered me to tell the groundskeeper so fence was fixed before the hunt.” One side of his face tilts up in a smirk. “It slipped my mind.”

“Thank you, Sergei,” I say, bringing my palm to his shoulder.

He nods. “Tell Nikolai some haven’t forgotten who real alpha is.”

I return his nod with one of my own. It’s now or never. If I’m going to escape before these monsters have a chance to kill me during the blood moon, it’s right now. I turn to face the crowd, noticing how all of them share the same rattled expressions.

“I’m not sticking around for this.” I pause and point to the woman lying in a puddle at the center of the cell. “To happen to me. We need to leave. Now.”

Noticeable hesitation works from one side of the room to the other, some even starting to stand and stop when no one else does.

“If you don’t leave now, you’re all going to die!” I plead.

A man stands up in the middle and pushes his way forward. The same one who accused me of working with the Vostiks before. “Go with you?” he says and spits. “She is dead because of you.”

Some shift their gazes from him to me, and back to him as he raises an accusatory finger in my direction. I swallow the bile churning in my stomach, biting back every single curse I wish to hurl at him. No one moves. No one else says anything. They all simply watch as my pleas go unanswered.

“She’s going to get us all killed!” the man yells this time, his voice loud and undeterred.

“That’s—that’s a lie,” I trail off. I didn’t bring these people here. I had nothing to do with this. But Nik did. A heavy guilt pangs in my ribs and settles somewhere near my esophagus. Every pair of eyes lands on me now, most holding a noticeable amount of contempt. Each glare intensifies while the silence lingers. Brows furrow. Some shake their heads. But no one moves.

“He killed her …” A small voice breaks the silence, cracking at each word. We all look around the cage and eventually land on someone a few rows back.

Veronica is sitting with the bulk of them, arms wrapped around her knees, and blond hair draping over her face. She won’t even look at me. Can’t, it seems. But judging from the harsh lines twisting her features and tears filling each blue eye, she’s having a hard time seeing anything clearly.