Page 4 of Into the Fire: After

I dozed on and off. Even when I woke, though, I didn’t move. Neither of us did. For body warmth. For comfort. For being so sore and exhausted that the mere thought of standing up made me want to cry.

Taryn stirred once at dusk, turning to burrow her head beneath my chin, fists bent and clenched between our bodies. Ididn’t even realize she was awake until she whispered, “Are you okay?” against my throat.

My eyes burned with tears, and I kissed her temple. “Yes, Teacup. I’m okay.”

If only we had a fucking plan.

She slipped back into sleep. Her heat having passed was good. Necessary. A tiny part of me yearned for the warmth of her fevered skin, though. I wrapped myself around her as best I could, thinking warm thoughts.

All of our plans had ended here.

Run.

Hide.

Wait.

Which had been fine—or some version offine—when that meant moving into the apartment upstairs and driving to the Greysmoke Cabin.

Now, we sat starving and shivering in a secluded cave, hostile forces moving ever closer outside these jagged walls. Already a day had passed with no sign of the guys. Every heartbeat that passed without their appearance killed the hope that it would happen.

We were on our own.

Therainstartedagainthat night. Taryn slept through the whole thing. I didn’t. My mind and body, minimally rested, were now tuned to the goal of figuring out a plan.

No money, no IDs, not even enough clothing to keep us decent walking down the street. Which would be fine if we could go into a police station or hospital and ask for help. But we couldn’t.

The cabin was a lost cause. Surely the assholes who’d come for Taryn were still there, using their superior manpower and firepower to track us—two woefully unprepared women who’d fled on foot.

Bare fucking foot.

They had the high ground, metaphorically at least. They wouldn’t cede it.

Which meant we couldn’t juststay here.Healthy men, properly outfitted for the woods, expanding in circles around the cabin would make their way here eventually.

There was no forward. No backward. And no pause button.

So we had to go…downward?

The direction of hell. Assuming it was there, not here.

Focus, Brea.

We’d passed other cabins on the drive up here. Few and far between, but they existed. Ones that had been built, like Caine’s family’s, before the state established the national park. Maybe we could find one. Find food, clothes, a vehicle if we were lucky.

My heart settled, halfway satisfied now that a feasible plan had come to light. Taryn breathed deep and even, curled up in a tight ball against the chill of the cave. I curled myself around her, lending her my body heat.

When she woke, we’d head out.

EverythingachedasIfaded back to consciousness. My head, my hips, my arms. My stomach growled with hunger, and Taryn’s answered it like a call and response.

“When I sayguuuuuurrrrrr,you sayggglllleeeeeee,” Taryn murmured like she’d read my damn mind.

I chuckled, lips turning up for the first time in days, and hugged my omega close. “You’re my favorite,” I whispered against her neck before dropping a kiss there.

“Hey, now,” she grumbled as she looked up at me, “you can’t be saying stuff like that anymore. The boys will get jealous.”

A pang of grief stabbed through me to think of them.