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“Shit!” I hissed, tugging her out of the beam of light. With every step we took, it felt like they gained ten, a rogue wave about to crash down on us.

“Watch out!” Scarlet tugged me to the side, narrowly missing a low barbed wire trap, ready to wrap around ankles and dig in until you went down. I hadn’t seen it at all.

Fae had far superior vision than humans, but nature fairies weren’t especially known for having exceptional eyesight, especially at night. We were more in tune with what people would call our third eye, not the two in our head.

Scarlet moved with confidence, as if she could see as clearly in the night as in the day.

POP! POP!Gunfire reverberated against the cloudy sky like a bomb, vibrating my bones as the bullets zinged by us. Trucks sped over the terrain, the glow from the headlights bouncing, trying to laser in on us, the howl of dogs chilling my blood.

Leaping over more barbed wire traps, I grabbed Scarlet’s hand, stopping her, my gaze going to what was right next to us. “There.” I tugged her toward a muddy trench. Climbing down, I sank into the muck. Reaching up, I grabbed her hips, lowering her next to me, hearing a small cry grunt from her lips, her arm cradling her side.

“Come on.” Hunching low, we scurried quickly, following the ditch, heading east. Shrieks boomed around us like shrapnel, their voices getting closer, fire torches glowing in the night air.

A beam came down on us, reflecting my shadow across the dirt.

“They’re here,” a guard screamed. “I found them.”

Fuckfuckfuck.

Pop! Pop! Pop!

Bullets spit off the earth near our heads, cascading clods of grass, brush, and dirt on us. Panic filled me, forcing my legs faster. Scarlet tried to keep pace, her strength amazing me as she trudged through the mud. But I could sense her energy waning, her cracked ribs draining her, her feet stumbling through the sludge.

“No.” I lanced my fingers in hers, gripping so tight, dragging her along, willing my energy to transfer to her somehow. “Don’t stop!”

Losing them as the trench cut right, I knew this was our only chance to escape. Or hide.

War trenches were crudely designed within the land. The walls were full of holes and overhangs, with parts of them crumbling in.

Dropping onto my back, I rolled in the thick, freezing sludge.

“What the fuck are you do—?”

Before she could finish, I jumped up, wrapping my arms around her, slamming her up against the muddy wall, right under an overhang of roots and bushes. I pressed my body so hard into hers that a gasp huffed from her, probably from pain.

I knew I didn’t have to tell her not to make a sound. Our hearts slammed in sync together, my face buried in her hair, feeling her pulse against my lips. I kept still, hoping my muddy back blended us into the side like we were part of it.

A squeal of tires stopped overhead, a car door slamming.

“Where are they?” A thick Romanian accent pitched overhead. “Where did they go?”

“I don’t know. They were just there, Captain Dumitru,” another answered, his timbre younger and faster.

“You useless fuck,” the older man, Captain Dumitru, snapped. “Get the dogs. We will find them. Search the fields and out toward the road. They are probably heading that way.”

“Yes, sir.” The younger one rushed out; the only sound was his feet running off.

My hand went to Scarlet’s mouth, nodding up, telling her not to move or speak. She nodded, not looking at me.

Stillness surrounded us, the shouts and dog barks now in the distance. The silence stretched on. I knew what Captain Dumitru was doing. Watching. Waiting. For us to feel we were safe with all soldiers turned away and try to run.

Scarlet’s heartbeat wailed against mine, nails digging into me, her body starting to shake and twitch. I drew my head back to see her face. Her lids were closed, her pale skin dripping with sweat like she had the flu. Fae didn’t get sick, but we did get metal poisoning.

Like iron to high fairies, goblin metal tore through all fae, consuming our magic similar to a Strighoul.

Watching her, I realized it was more. Tiny, almost insignificant changes were fluttering across her face, her nails growing sharp, her bones popping.

Her body was trying to change, fighting against the goblin magic, which was painful and making it useless. Like crashing against jagged rocks over and over. She was a shifter, but I still couldn’t figure out what kind. Her aura wasn’t anything I’d felt before.