In Her Heat - Ainsley's Story

In Her Heat - Chapter Thirty Eight!

Hey guys, I've got a longer chapter for you and I hope you enjoy it! I sure enjoyed writing it. READ. FAN. VOTE! :)

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Over the next few days Gabriel gave me information on the guard’s posts, dead ends and other tips to ensure our safe escape. Irina would be leaving with a hunting party soon to ask for allies and if refused, take them by force. She would be gone a maximum of four days. If we weren’t thousands of miles away from here by then, we’d be screwed. It was do or die. And we couldn’t afford to die.

Two weeks later, Gabriel came into the dungeon, relieving Sawyer. I didn’t know if Sawyer knew what we were planning, but if he did, he didn’t say anything to Irina. As long as she didn’t know what was going on, I didn’t care what he knew.

“It’s time. Irina will be leaving in an hour. You remember everything I told you?” I replied yes. Gabriel pulled a small glass vial out of his pockets and popped out the cork.  He walked over to Cade’s cage and, reaching through the bars, swiped his hand over Cade’s eyelids. He did the same to Kat and Declan before walking over to me.

“Take this,” he said, sliding me the knife Irina had given him. “Use it to break open the lock and to defend yourself if necessary.” It felt odd to be holding the same knife that had split open my face. Irrational as it was, I wanted to thrust it back at Gabriel Suck it up, buttercup. Do or die, remember?

Steeling myself mentally, I pushed back the memories of what this knife had done. It was just a knife. It could just have easily have been used to cut bread...or sever an arm. Oh gosh, I had to distract myself.

“What about them?” I gestured to my friends. “Are they going to be okay?”

“They'll wake up in a few hours. Irina will be gone by then. As soon as they wake up, you guys need to be on the move. After I leave, unlock all the cage doors and then close them and get back into yours, it’ll save you time. If anyone comes in, they shouldn’t suspect anything. I’m leaving with a second hunting party after Irina, so I can’t do anything else for you. As of now, you guys are on your own.”

I nodded. I couldn’t really ask him to do more for me – he had already done so much and risked even more.

Gabriel paused at the door. He seemed to hesitate for a moment before deciding to speak.

“I need to ask you a favour, Ainsley.”

“Anything, Gabriel.”

“As soon as you get out of here, I need you to get Harley.”

“Harley? Why, is she okay?”

“She won’t be once Irina finds out what I’ve done. Once the guards realize you guys are missing, the first thing they’ll do is send out a messenger to Irina. With the distance she’s going, the messenger will be there in three days, four at most. It won’t take Irina long to figure out how you guys escaped and then she will make a call and in less than three minutes, my baby girl will be dead. I can’t let that happen.”