Finding Elora

Chapter 25

ABBY

I hold my breath, waiting to see what happens next.

The silence from the ground stretches, and the unknown causes my heart to practically beat out of my chest.

What the fuck is happening down there? I stare down the tree trunk, waiting for a naked shifter to climb up and drag me down. He'll probably throw me straight to the ground, breaking my leg and leaving me exposed for the other shifters to lunge and rip me apart.

I hope they do it quickly.

"Abby?"

I release a breath I didn't realize I was holding.

"Climb down," Kie says, his voice low. "We need to get moving before more shifters show up."

More shifters are on the way? That haunting thought gets me moving, and I pray I don't lose my grip as I spin and begin climbing down. If I have to choose between Kie and the other shifters, I'll choose Kie.

At least he doesn't intend to tear and rip me apart into a million little pieces. He only intends to sell me to some unknown god—not that that's much of an improvement.

"Hurry up," Kie says after a few seconds. He sounds frustrated.

I groan. "I'm going as fast as I can."

Even though I can't see the ground, I know how far it is and I'm not trying to fall.

I wince, scraping my forearm against the bark of the branch I'm climbing down. It pales in comparison to my other injuries, and I take only a brief second to recover before continuing my descent.

My hands touch something wet as I climb onto the bottom branch, something wet that most definitely wasn't there on my way up. I bet it's blood, and I swallow past the lump in my throat as I ignore it and continue moving.

Kie grabs my waist, helping soften the transition between the last branch and the ground.

I'm so fucking glad it's dark out.

There are several large, furry lumps on the ground, probably dead shifters. Just a few days ago, being surrounded by dead bodies would have very likely thrown me into a panicked spiral, but now I feel only a mild disgust.

If I survive, I'll probably end up with nightmares of this entire clusterfuck, but I'm keeping it together pretty well for now.

Only a few tears have been shed, but I think most people would cry when they're being held down and stripped.

I was sure Kie and Mace were going to rape me, and I'm still not entirely convinced it's not what they had in mind. For all I know, the shifters' arrival is the only thing that stopped them.

The back of my neck is covered in a cold sweat, and I shove my hair out of my face as I look for Mace. The woods surrounding Kie and I are suspiciously still, not even the tiny critters and bugs that typically linger around able to be heard.

It's unnerving.

"Where's Mace?" I ask.

Kie takes his and Mace's bags from me, throwing one over his shoulder before ripping open the other. The two are identical, so I'm not sure whose is whose—not that it matters. Kie carries them both most of the time, anyway.

"Mason's hurt," Kie explains, over-enunciating Mace's full first name. I raise a brow.

It seems I'm not allowed to call him by the shortened version Kie uses. Too bad.

Kie clears his throat before continuing. "He's left to spread his scent and throw other shifters off our trail. He'll catch up with us later."

Is that so? I nod, trying to contain my excitement.