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Wolf nodded.

It was something to keep us moving forward, to keep us from becoming paralyzed in this massive fucking forest with no idea as to what was going on.

If we stopped, we would die. And we sure as all hells were not about to return to the chaos we just ran from. That much we knew.

I bent over, holding myself up with my hands on my knees while I took three large breaths. I tried not to picture Ashlani’s burnt face as she called my name.

Fuck.

“Are you feeling okay?” Wolf asked.

Absolutely not. Not in the slightest.

“I’m fine,” I replied, pushing myself back up. I didn’t look at him. I couldn’t. “Let’s just keep moving.”

And we did. For hours, we walked forward, following the sound of the stream uphill. We didn’t know where we were, what would happen to us.

But we were together. That alone gave me a comfort that I was sure I would be paralyzed without. Ashlani was gone. Voiler was either alive or dead. Lanson had turned into a desperate killer.

I followed Wolf’s heels through the darkness as we continued. He slowed his pace when he noticed me falling behind, but otherwise, we didn’t speak.

Forward, forward, forward.

We would make it into that damn Golden City, or we would die trying to get there.

Chapter

Thirty-Two

Without a fire, the frosty night grew unbearable. Wolf and I eventually found a small clearing beneath a large, thick tree, which offered us enough coverage from any fae who might summon their wings and fly above.

I was too exhausted to fight the need for sleep that approached with every passing minute, too tired to worry about vampyres or predators or anything else that might wait for us out here.

We needed sleep, even if it was a mere hour.

I sat on the cold ground with my back against the tree bark. My leathers did what they could to keep my body heat around me, but with the crash from the adrenaline earlier and the lack of substantial food, I grew weary with every second.

Wolf busied himself building a small trap so we could catch something while we slept.

I cleared my throat. “Can I ask you something?”

He paused and looked back at me, his wings swinging out of the way. “Anything.”

“You’re half vampyre, so does that mean you crave blood?”

He tensed. Even his wings seemed to tuck tighter behind his shoulders. He dropped the trap he was working on and faced me fully, giving me every ounce of his attention. “I crave blood, yes, but not the same way the monsters you kill crave it.”

“But you drink it?”

Wolf rolled his head back, rubbing a hand at the back of his neck. He didn’t want to answer. Of course he didn’t. We both knew what the answer would be.

“Sometimes, yes.”

“Can you live without it?”

He stilled. His dark eyes met mine. “No. I can’t live without blood.”

That was everything I needed to know. I tucked my legs up to my chest and breathed in the freezing night air. “I figured.”