Land of Wolves

Chapter 51

My head fucking pounds.

I drop my chin to my chest and slide my bare feet along the slippery ground. I'm sitting on some hard surface, faintly aware that my hands are tied above my head. The sharp bite of the metal digs into the skin of my wrists, and my body jerks to the left as the room around me spins. It smells in here, a bit like sweat but mostly like stale air.

There's a slight whirring, too, but I can't tell if the sound is being produced externally or inside my head. It feels like my skull has been split open—it probably has—but I push past the pain and force my eyes open.

My attention immediately lands on Adam, the man chained up across from me.

Is he dead? He's slumped over, his arms the only thing keeping his body upright, and he sure as fuck doesn't look alive.

I gulp, my throat burning, as I take in the small dark room. The walls are made of metal, steel maybe, and as my body jerks to the right, I realize we're in the back of a vehicle. The whirring is from the outside air hitting the frame.

It looks like some sort of 18-wheeler.

That must be how HPAW got so far into the pack lands. They must have intercepted a delivery and hidden in the back.

My head lulls forward, and I wince as something drips into my eye. It hurts, and I attempt to turn and wipe the liquid off on my shoulder. I can't reach, naturally, and I instead settle for shutting that eye so no more drips in.

It's probably blood.

I'm sure my head is fucked up.

Adam and I are the only ones here, and I wonder if that means we were also the only ones captured. I hope so. The wolves seemed to be handling the surprise attack pretty well, even with the disadvantage of being unable to hear. If Adam and I hadn't run for that back door, I doubt we would've been caught.

I'm sure HPAW was on us the minute the wall went down.

Where was Caleb when it happened? I faintly remember seeing him fighting with his wolves, his bright brown eyes locked in on me, but then Adam took off running and I lost sight of him. Did he see us getting taken?

How the fuck did HPAW even know where we were?

Adam groans, and I lazily turn my head in his direction.

The pounding in my head makes it hard to focus, and I'm sure it's only a matter of time before I pass out. Blood continues steadily pouring down my face, and I can tell that's not my only injury. There's a pain in my shoulder that's too great to be a strain, probably a dislocation, and there's a pulsing in my chest right where my nipple lives.

Fuck.

I hope my nipple hasn't been cut open or torn off.

There's a breeze on the skin of my breast, so I know my shirt is torn. I drop my head to try and see the damage, but it hurts my eyes too much to pull them that far down.

"Evelyn?"

I meet Adam's gaze. He licks his lips and tugs at the chains pinning his wrists to the wall above his head. They don't budge.

"I believe we've been captured," I say, letting out a dry laugh.

It ends in a pitiful cough, and for a brief moment, I fear I'm going to choke. It's already hard to breathe, and the coughing only exasperates my pain.

Adam tugs his arms again, but this attempt is met with the same success as his last.

"I can't feel my body," he quietly admits.