Page 168 of The Wolves of Forest Grove

“We’ll gather some food,” Charity supplied. “And water. They have a bit here, but Seth, Viv, and me, we’re stronger than the others. We haven’t been here as long. Fifteen minutes to gather some supplies and get everyone fed and then we move? Yeah?”

“Yeah,” I replied, finding the keys in the pocket of the one lying limp by the wall and tossing them to Charity. “Go. Hurry.”

“Then where will we go?” Archer asked, coughing and wincing in a way that had me worried he might have a few displaced ribs. I hoped not. I didn’t have the skill to set them without help. At least not here without the proper supplies.

I knew he was likely eager to get back to his mate. To know where he was. “Callum is fine,” I assured him, praying that I was right. “And we’re going back to camp...or...to wherever the rest of the pack went.”

I had to admit I had no idea if they would have returned back to camp. Not knowing that Devin knew exactly where it was and could strike at any time.

“Did any of them have a cellphone?” I asked, already rifling through the dead shifter’s other pocket.

“The tall one,” Luke said, barely able to stand on his own as Charity cut him loose from his chains. “He’s usually outside.”

One of the smokers then. I raced for the door and found the phone buried deep in a side pocket of the guy’s cargo shorts. It was wet from the rain, but still worked as I tapped the screen.

Shit. Facial recognition.

I knelt down and pried back the guy’s head with a fist in his hair and opened the screen a second time, hoping the moonlight would be enough for the phone to pick up his face.

It took two more tries, but it unlocked, and I heaved a sigh, thumbing Jared’s cell number into the illuminated keypad as I stepped back inside.

I began to pace when he didn’t answer on the second ring or the third. I ended the call as it went to voicemail and tried Clay’s phone instead, convincing myself that his not answering didn’t mean anything.

But Clay didn’t answer, either. Or Layla.

“Fuck,” I cursed, my fingers hovering over the keypad, trying to think of another phone number I could try, but theirs were the only three I knew by heart aside from Vivian’s, and she was already here.

Deep breaths, Allie.

I scrolled through the call log on the phone, checking the numbers there. Then the text messages. Other than a raunchy sexting convo with a girl named Candy, there was nothing of note.

And if this was the only phone and no one had called yet to sound the alarm, then that had to mean we were still in the clear. It wasn’t a lot to go on, but it was something.

I pocketed the cell for now, resolving to keep it just until we left, at which point I’d smash it to pieces and leave it behind. If someone called or sent a message, then we’d at least have a heads up.

Vivian held Destiny close as Charity and Seth limbered up to go collect some water and whatever they could find for food. “You coming?” Charity asked her, and she turned to whisper something to Destiny.

“Leave her,” Archer said, rising with a slight limp. “I’ll go with you.”

Vivian sent him a grateful half smile and went back to picking debris out of her mate’s hair.

Piper shifted out of the way as they passed, each of the three giving both her and me curious looks. “She helped me,” I explained. “She’s with us now.”

That was all that needed to be said. They gave Piper thankful nods and tight smiles before departing.

“Want to fill us in?” Viv asked, settling a weak- looking Destiny into her lap.

Her head rolled back onto Viv’s shoulder, and her chapped lips parted as though she hadn’t the strength to keep them shut.

My stomach twisted at the sight, and I searched the space for anything that might help, gaze settling on a half-full water bottle discarded in a corner of the room.

I brought it to her, using my palm to tip up her chin as I poured small mouthfuls of water in, slowly so she could swallow and catch her breath.

“Thank you,” Vivian mouthed, and I sighed, falling onto my backside on the cement floor. I did my best to fill her and the rest of them in, feeling guilt like a ten- ton weight on my chest with each word.

It was odd, though, how not a single one of them looked angry or seemed to hold any hostility toward me. They all looked...grateful. Relieved. Like I was their savior and not the one who got them all into this damned mess in the first place.

“So we find the others then?” Destiny croaked, the water doing its work to moisten her throat and allow her body to begin to heal from everything it’d endured here.

“That’s the plan. We’ll head west toward our territory. If they’re there, I’ll sense them. If not, then if we can just get close enough to wherever they are, then the mate bond should guide me.”

“Or we’ll be able to pick up their scents and track them,” Vivian supplied, and I agreed.

Her eyes hardened, sparking with the fire she always harbored deep within. I knew what she was thinking. “And then?”

“Then the bastard pays for his sins.”

There would be no white flag. No deals struck or trades made. Not this time.

It was him or me. Live or die.