Page 51 of The Last Sanctuary

She wouldn’t leave the animals behind to be slaughtered. Animals she’d known since childhood. Vlad, Kodiak and Sage, Suki and Aspen, Electra, Mo, Gizmo, and all the others. Animals she’d spent so much time resenting, she’d forgotten she also loved them dearly.

She never would have gone through with ending their lives, not even as a mercy. The animals might die anyway. Theywere half-tamed, zoo-raised captives unused to fending for themselves in the wild.

They deserved a chance.

She owed them that much.

It was dangerous. Maybe reckless. Certainly stupid.

Raven would free the animals.

All of them. Every last one.

Chapter Twenty-One

It was after midnight when the Headhunters’ cacophony died down to silence. Raven waited another hour, crouched at the foot of the wolves’ den. Every muscle tensed, her heart burning. Anger zapped through her like a live wire.

Fog drifted, snaking between the trees. Luna had finally succumbed to restless sleep inside the den. Shadow stretched out a few feet from Raven. He was awake, alert, though his head rested upon his paws. His ears flicked this way and that as he listened to the animals express their anxiety and confusion.

The bonobos screeched and hooted, pleading and begging for food. Kodiak bellowed hungrily. The remaining timber wolves howled in grief, their keening wail rising toward the sliver of the moon and the hard uncaring stars.

Raven could make out three distinct voices. Three still alive. That meant three of the timber wolves were dead.

She clenched one of the tranquilizer guns in one hand. The hunting rifle was slung over her shoulder. It was fully loaded. She was not completely weaponless.

She would do her best to make sure the rest of Haven’s creatures lived through the night. After that, she didn’t know.

With the world outside dead and dying, maybe there would be enough food for the animals. Without the humans encroaching on their habitats or hunting them to extinction, perhaps the captive zoo animals could survive out there, could finally live in freedom.

Of course, they might eat each other. Or go after the few surviving humans.

There were probably better plans. Smarter ideas. But she was out of time. And she was on her own.

Her dad would have known what to do. Whatever his flaws, he would’ve stood beside her and defended their home. He would’ve done a far better job than she could on her own.

The sudden ache in her chest stole her breath. She missed him with every beat of her heart. The pain of her loss felt like her soul being ripped out of her chest.

Only a few days ago, she couldn’t wait to get away from her father. Now she missed him with an urgent desperation she couldn’t put into adequate words.

She’d be thrilled to see her mother, too.I’ll forgive you.I’ll forgive you if you just come back. Please come back.

But neither of them would ever come back. She was completely alone.

Raven blinked hard and glanced at the big black wolf. No, not completely alone. Not anymore. Whatever the terms of this strange new relationship, the wolf gave a measure of comfort. She would take whatever scraps she could get.

With the wolves nearby, she felt stronger, more courageous.

It was time to be brave.

Raven unbuttoned her raincoat but didn’t remove it. Still crouched, she tugged the hood over her head and hoisted her backpack and the hunting rifle to her shoulders.

“Come with me, Shadow. I want you to live. I want you to be safe. If you stay here, you’ll die like the other wolves that I couldn’t save. Please, follow me and be free.”

His ears twitched, like he was listening. In some strange way, she felt like he could understand her, or at least that he realized she was attempting to help him, that they were on the same side in this battle.

She kept her voice calm and soothing, breathing deeply to settle her heart rate. “Come with me. I’m going to set you and Luna free. This is the only way I can think of to help you, the way you helped me when I needed to hide. Okay? Come with me.”

She rose to her feet and moved for the trees, headed for the gate. She didn’t hear Shadow move, but when she reached the gate, he was right behind her.