Page 105 of The Last Sanctuary

Damien shook his head. “It’s not that simple.”

“It is that simple. You know who they are. What they are.”

“Dekker and Rex are dead now. They were the worst.”

“They’re all bad.” She stared at him, at his anguished features. “You’re just afraid.”

He blinked, wiped the rain from his face. He sighed heavily. His shoulders slumped. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I am afraid. Maybe I’m terrified every second of every day. Maybe I know deep down I’d never make it on my own.”

“You can?—”

He shook his head again, resolute. “No. I know myself, I’m not like you.”

“Damien.” With every beat of her heart, she wanted him to come with her, to make the right choice, the right sacrifice.

She couldn’t force him. She couldn’t decide for him.

He dropped his gaze, ashamed. “I know what you think. You think I’m a coward for choosing to stay with people who keep me safe by killing other people.”

“That’s up to you.”

Another roar echoed from behind them. More gunshots in the distance. Raven scanned the woods over Damien’s shoulder, searching for danger, but there was nothing. The trees, the sodden bushes, the muddy ground. The rain blurred everything.

The violence had moved away from them, for the moment.

Damien took a step toward her. He stood less than a foot away. He looked at her intently, as if begging her to understand with his eyes, pleading for her absolution.

“They’ll come after you,” he said urgently. “Whoever survives this massacre. If Vaughn lives through this, he will hunt you. You’ll be caught unless I stay.”

She started to protest. “Come anyway. We’ll figure something out?—”

He cut her off. “There’s no time. You know it’s true. I can cover some of your tracks after you go. I can tell them I followed you in a different direction. With all the rain obscuring your footprints, it’ll work. It’ll give you the head start you need.”

Her heart sank into her stomach. She was shaking all over from adrenaline. Her belly churned, sick with fear and panic. The image of Luna’s dead body flashed through her brain. She didn’t want to be alone. She wanted to curl into a ball and weep forever.

Finally, she nodded mutely. She resented him for it, but he wasn’t wrong. By staying, he doomed himself. But it would help her and Shadow escape. “Fine.”

His eyes darkened with emotions she couldn’t quite read—doubt, regret, longing. “I’ll do everything I can to help you. I swear it.”

Another gunshot sounded in the distance.

Deeper in the woods, Shadow whined impatiently.

It wouldn’t be long before Vaughn turned his attention toward Raven, seeking revenge for the death of his men. He was a man of his word. She didn’t doubt he would hunt her down.

She had to make sure he didn’t find her. Or Shadow. Not ever.

“Vlad—the tiger—he’ll kill other people, after the Headhunters. He’s sick. He has the virus. He’s a danger now to every creature he comes across, human or otherwise.”

Grief threatened to strangle her. Her love for the tiger swelled in her chest, squeezed her bruised and tattered heart. All those years she’d hung out on the tiger house roof, chatting to Vlad, pretending he was listening, that he understood her like no one else in her life did.

“Will you make sure that—” She swallowed the lump in her throat and gazed at him imploringly. “Make sure he doesn’t suffer. Don’t let those monsters torture him. Please.”

His eyes widened. “How?”

“Deer jerky. He loves it. He can smell the venison a mile away. I have a couple of packages hidden in my room, in the bottom drawer of my dresser. Leave a trail and he’ll follow it. Just—make it fast.”

“I will,” Damien promised.