Page 21 of To Cage a Wild Bird (Divided Fates #1)

I froze, suddenly feeling like I was back in that Lower Sector alley with Vale, after shattering a bottle and alerting the

patrol guards to our presence.

“What was that?” a deep voice asked, and the footsteps in the woods stopped.

“I don’t know,” another voice responded. “But if it’s a target, I want the kill.”

I held my breath. My heart hammered against my ribs, so loud I was sure it would give me away.

The thudding boots grew closer.

“There’s a target over there!” the first voice called, and all strategy went out the window as I took off into the woods at

a full sprint.

“Quick! She’s getting away!”

I picked up the pace, clearing the line of trees and hopping over roots and fallen logs, zigzagging through the forest in

case they had their rifles trained on me.

Heavy boots pounded the ground behind me, accompanied by laughter. I didn’t dare turn to see how close they were as I raced

up a hill.

Don’t stop.

I cleared the hill, and the ground began to slope downward. I lengthened my strides, looking for a place to hide before the

hunters crested the hill behind me and had a good vantage point to shoot at me.

This couldn’t be how it ended. Not before Jed was safe.

My wristband began to vibrate, startling me. I narrowed my eyes but kept running, only for the vibrations to intensify.

I nearly stopped in my tracks when I realized what it must mean—I was almost to the boundary of the force field.

With nowhere to go.

I inhaled a deep, shuddering breath and pivoted to the right—

A hand clamped over my mouth and a strong arm banded around my waist from behind, yanking me against an unyielding chest.

My scream was muffled behind the hand, and the scent of mint and soap filled my nose as my captor pressed their back against

the bark of a tall pine, still holding me tight.

I didn’t think as I opened my mouth and bit down on their finger.

“ Fuck ,” a voice hissed in my ear, though their hand stayed pressed to my lips. “It’s me , Little Bird. Is that the thanks I get for helping you?”

I froze, going limp in his grip.

Vale.

The hunters’ footsteps pounded closer, coming dangerously near to the tree we stood behind and then pausing.

My heart stopped and I tensed, feeling all the places where my body was pressed against Vale’s. I didn’t dare breathe, and

his hand stayed firm against my lips.

Another step toward us and then—

In one smooth motion, Vale released my waist and drew his arm back. I tracked the movement and realized he’d been holding

something. A rock .

He threw the rock, hard, in the opposite direction from us, and it landed a few dozen yards away, thudding among the pine

needles.

And then Vale’s arm was back around my waist, pulling me tightly against him and into the shadow of the tree.

“Over there!” one of the hunters cried out, running toward the rock.

Their footsteps faded into the distance, and I shut my eyes, taking a long inhale through my nose.

“I’m going to remove my hand from your mouth before I bleed to death,” Vale whispered. His lips brushed my hair as he spoke and his breath tickled the shell of my ear, raising goose bumps along my skin. “If you scream, those hunters will turn around and kill you.”

He lifted his injured hand from my mouth, though his arm stayed around my waist, his long fingers splaying over my hip.

“You’ll need stitches,” I murmured, not fighting my smirk, even as my thoughts raced, trying to wrap my mind around what had

just happened and figure out how to extricate myself safely and get back to Jed. “Let’s call it payback for the brand, shall

we?” I said, twisting until we were face-to-face, a breath apart. There was a loud tearing sound as I ripped the flimsy cuff

from the sleeve of my uniform and handed it to him.

He arched a brow at me.

“For the blood,” I explained, rolling my eyes.

His eyes roamed over my face and then narrowed. He shook his head, pressing the fabric to his wound.

“What?” The question I really wanted to ask was why . Why keep the hunters from killing me?

“Most inmates are consumed by fear when they’re sent out here. They hunker down and hide and then beg to be spared once they’re

found. The hunters get off on it. But you... you still have some fight left in you. I can tell you’re afraid, but you’re

using the fear to your advantage somehow.”

“Ah.” I let out a low laugh. “The world has been trying to kill me for years. I won’t cower and scream for those rich fucks

just because it entertains them.”

“I suppose anyone foolish enough to cage a wild bird shouldn’t expect them to sing for their captor,” he mused. “But even

now with your bravado, you’re just biding your time, aren’t you? You pretend you have nothing to lose out here, but I can

see right through your act. You’re planning something. I see how you weigh every word before you set it free. How you hold

yourself back from acting on your impulses and letting us see you for what you really are.”

“And what am I?”

“For starters?” Vale leaned in until his lips brushed my ear. “Deadly.”

I shivered. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Hmm,” he mused, crumpling the scrap of fabric from my torn uniform. He slid his hand between us, his knuckles brushing against

my thigh. My breath caught, but he only reached for my pocket, tucking the soiled fabric inside. His molten eyes met mine.

“The hunters are gone. You should go.”

He was right, the force field would be closing in at any moment, and I had to find Jed before it did.

I took a step backward but paused, finally working up the nerve to ask the burning question out loud. “Why are you helping

me?”

Vale held my eyes for another moment, seeming to weigh something. “You didn’t tell the warden about Eris and me. Now we’re

even.”

His veiled eyes scanned the forest, and then his gaze flicked to his wristband. His eyes widened. “Go. Head toward the center

of the grounds. The force field will be moving in soon.”

I didn’t have time to question him further.

I darted into the forest.

Without knowing which way the hunters had gone, I risked running right into them if I wasn’t careful. While part of me itched

to confront one of them—tear their weapon from their hands and see how mighty they felt when facing me with nothing but their

fists—I knew it would be foolish. This was about more than my pride. Jed was counting on me.

My pulse thrummed in my ears, making it difficult to differentiate between the forest’s natural sounds and any potential threat.

When I was certain I was alone, I moved forward, keeping the fence in my line of sight to retrace my steps back to Jed.

Eventually, the towering tree came into view.

“Jed!” I cringed at the sound of my voice, hoping everyone else had already moved closer to the Blood Tree and wouldn’t be

around to hear me.

Jed poked his head between the branches, a strand of hair flopping over his forehead, and some of the tension left my body.

He was okay. Still alive.

“The force field is moving,” I told him, swallowing the lump in my throat. “We need to go. Now.”

He worked his way down the tree far more quickly than I’d thought him capable of, then landed on the leaf-covered forest floor beside me.

Without another word, we set off at a jog toward what seemed like the center of the grounds. It was hard to know for sure—the trees all looked the same to me, not like the buildings

and street corners in Dividium that I was so accustomed to.

Jed’s long legs put distance between us until he was several steps ahead. I was about to tell him to slow down, thinking that

we were safely within the new border, when my wristband started vibrating again. Only this time, I knew it was because the

boundary was behind me, creeping closer, pushing us into the next segment of the grounds. I picked up the pace, but it was

too late. I felt a searing pain from beneath my wristband as if someone had stabbed a needle into my skin.

But what felt like one needle morphed into hundreds as the sensation traveled up my arm and into my body. There was a buzzing

in my ears, and suddenly, I didn’t feel as if I were in control of my movements.

I took a staggering step forward, fighting through the metallic taste in my mouth and the spots of light dotting my vision.

I cried out, and Jed stopped, looking back at me.

I tried to tell him to run, to keep going, but I couldn’t form the words. My chest grew tight as I stumbled toward Jed, taking

step after agonizing step on shaky legs until, as suddenly as the pain had started, it vanished. I fell to my knees.

“The force field,” Jed whispered.

Though the pain was no longer an active presence, my skin was flushed red, and my breaths came in short gasps as my heart

tried to return to a normal rhythm. “So that’s what Vale meant when he said we’d feel it.”

I’d thought he’d meant the vibration, but it was clear now that he’d been referencing the pain.

“Vale?”

“The guard. The one who told us what to expect out here.”

“What did it feel like?” Jed asked.

I shivered. “Like electricity coursing through me. I think the force of it could’ve killed me if I hadn’t gotten out fast enough.”

Jed rolled his shoulders back and then reached a hand out to me. “Then we have to keep going. Before it closes in again.”

I nodded, clasping his hand and letting him pull me back up, ready to move toward the Blood Tree.

But then a low whistle came from the trees ahead of us, beyond our sight.