emery
The acrid smell of smoke wakes me up. I don't remember falling asleep, but now I wonder how long it's been. I roll over and try to stand, but the blankets tangle in my legs, sending me to my knees.
"Get off," I grunt, kicking them away.
Dani appears at the front of the den with a wild glaze on her face. "Get up!" She runs over and lifts me out of the blankets, even though she's about the same height as I am. "We have to go. Come on!"
When we step out of the den, all I see is a gray haze. The bolt of color from flames climbing up the surrounding trees barely peeks through the smoke. Dani grabs my hand.
"Squat down and don't let go," she orders.
Because I'm afraid of burning alive more than running away, I do as she says. She leads me through the haze. My lungs burn and I start coughing.
She curses but hurries her step. I try to keep up, but she jumps over a fallen trunk that I don't see and trip.
"Damn it!" Dani growls. She turns back to help me up but a blur shoots out of nowhere and tackles her to the ground.
I scream at the sight of a wolf on top of her. It bites her neck and tears it from her body. Blood sprays everywhere, including my legs. I'm still staring when the wolf turns on me. Scuttling up to my feet, I take off. I can't see and I have no idea where I'm going. I just know I have to get away from that beast or I'll be next.
Of course, I don't get far. I'm stumbling through the smoke like a blind idiot when the wolf slams its head into me and I go tumbling to the ground. Rather than feel its teeth around my throat, I hear the noise of shifting over the crackle of spreading fire. I flip onto my back with ragged, hoarse breaths. My head feels like it's floating, detaching from me, and each breath feels like a saw dragging up and down my throat.
When I blink, Denver's familiar face is there. He scoops me up without a word and starts running. I bobble in his arms like the deadweight I am. Although I feel myself steadily losing touch with consciousness, I fight to stay awake as long as possible. I almost don't let myself believe it's him. Maybe I'm just hallucinating.
I stay conscious enough to see us escape the reaching haze of the fire. The air becomes clearer and I can now see the trees around us. Denver looks around before setting me down. He holds my face up so that I have no choice but to listen to him speak.
"I'm shifting," he tells me. "You have to hang on to me. We won't get out of here unless you hang on. Okay?"
My head nods. It feels like a balloon glued to the base of my neck. It's going to pop off and float away at any moment.
Denver's ash-gray wolf licks my cheeks. He nudges me to my knees until I'm able to grab onto the thick fur covering his shoulders. He pushes me up by my ass and then I drop my leg on the other side of his body. My fingers clutch onto his coarse fur just as my head departs from the rest of me.
:: | ::
There's a fire. There was a fire. There was a fire.
I fly up into a sitting position, my eyes snapping open as a cough is expelled from my lungs. All I see are burning trees. Their limbs and leaves are devoured in orange flames, smoke billowing around them and everything. The smoke bites at my eyes and rubs my throat raw.
My ears seem to pop and suddenly I hear, "Luna! Luna! It's okay!"
The burning forest fades from my vision along with the smells. I blink and Caden's blue eyes are leering down at me. My gaze travels down to where he's gently but firmly holding my wrists.
My hands are splayed, fingers curled down. Streaks of blood trail my thighs. Picking up my hands, I see my skin and blood caked under the nails.
"Luna," he says again, softer now.
Wetting my paper lips, I lift my head. Tears spill down my cheeks. "Caden," I whimper. My voice sounds winded and harpy. He hugs me and I sob into his shirt.
I don't know how I got here. Was it all a dream? Did I make everything up in my head? My bloodied fingers clutch at his shirt while inhuman noises scrape out of me. I don't know how any of it is true, but I could die of relief right now.
"You're safe now," he promises me. "We're not going to let anybody hurt you, Luna."
He lets me cry until I'm numb again. Swallowing down a bundle of emotions I can't even begin to process, I pull back from him and wipe my cheeks.
"Caden, where's Lenora?" I say. "How did I get here?"
His eyes dart away. "I don't know where Alpha is. I'm sure she's okay."
I sit up more rigidly. "She's not here?"
"No, Luna. Beta Denver brought you home."
"Lenora wasn't with us?" I ask. I think about her still there, what Ara is doing to her because I escaped. I push my face into my hands and try not to fall apart again. "Fuck. Fuck." My hands fall away and I push the bedding off my lap, determined. "I have to go get her. I can't leave her there."
Caden's hands are there, guard rails pushing me back to safety. "Luna—"
Except I don't want to be safe if Lenora isn't with me.
"No!" I fight him, smacking his hands away. We both know he is so much stronger than me, but he backs off right away. "I have to go get her."
Just as I get off the bed, the bedroom door opens. I realize when I look up that we're in Lenora's bedroom. My stomach twists sickeningly. Denver steps inside and looks between me and Caden.
"What's going on?" he asks. "Why are you out of bed, Luna?"
"I have to find Lenora," I tell him. Pacing across the room, I stop at him. "You have to help me, Denver. We have to go get her."
Denver wraps me up in his arms when I move to bypass him. He holds me firmly to his chest. Somehow, it penetrates my shield and I collapse in his arms like a doll. The sobs roll over me in full force.
"We have to get her! We have to go back!" I keep saying, repeating myself over and over.
He picks me up and carries me back to the bed. Sitting me on the edge, he holds my wet face to his body.
"Go on," I hear him say. "I'll be with her."
The door closes behind someone, probably Caden. Denver holds me out and squeezes my arms assuringly.
"Emery," he says. "Emery, look at me."
Sniffling, I wipe my face and reluctantly meet his eyes.
"We're working on it," he tells me. "We're going to get Lenora back. She's okay. She can handle herself."
"You don't know what they'll do to her," I say, trying my damndest not to start crying again. It's not helping anything. I only feel more miserable now than before. "I can't just sit here and wait. I'll go and kick Ara's ass myself!"
"I can't let you leave."
My desperation is momentarily replaced with anger. "You can't stop me, Denver."
"Yes, I can. With all due respect, Luna, you'll only get in the way."
"You're a bastard, Denver."
He sighs. "I'm protecting you and Alpha. Don't hate me for it, please. I need your cooperation."
His patience settles me. Taking a long breath, even though it hurts, I force myself to abandon emotion. I can't let myself get upset or I'll do something idiotic.
"I'm sorry," I tell him. "I didn't mean it."
"Thank you. Now, I'm asking you to stay here. Don't leave the packhouse for anything or Arabella might find a way to capture you again." He squeezes me again. "I'm not locking you away. You're free to roam through the house. Just don't step outside."
"Fine. What are we doing to get Lenora back?"
Denver retreats to stand up. He folds his burly arms over his chest and turns away from me. "I set the fire to distract the rogues so I could get to you. Unfortunately, that part of the forest is now ash. The rogues fled and we don't know where they've relocated. I was there by myself so I could go undetected. We have scouts out looking for the rogues now, but it's dangerous. If the rogues know we're looking for them, they could attack the scouts." Turning back to me, he rakes a hand through his close-cropped hair. "I know Arabella and the others returned to the site and found it burned down. I'm sure Lenora is with them. They're probably also looking for the rogues who fled."
"So we have no idea where anyone is?" I ask. "We don't even know where to start?"
I pull my knees to my chest and rest my chin on my knees. This isn't good. The fire stunt worked to get me but it only made it harder for us to get Lenora back. I want to yell at Denver for starting that damn fire in the first place, but I know it won't do any good. This isn't his fault, anyway. He was just trying to save me.
No, this is all my fault. I should've never left the house that night I saw Lenora with those people in the basement. If those were rogues she was torturing, I partly understand. I understand now how terrible they can be. She was only trying to protect the pack, I'm sure.
"Emery."
I look at Denver again. I'm glad he used my real name. I can't handle being Luna to anyone right now. If I even am still Luna.
"You need to rest," he reminds me. "You've been out in the woods, naked, for days. You've been exposed to God knows what. Take a hot shower. I'll have someone make some food and send it up. You've got to be starving."
I haven't been thinking about my stomach, but as soon as he says it, I feel an empty hunger. I don't remember the last time I ate anything.
"Thank you," I say.
He nods and then leaves the room. I feel the aloneness in the room, being here without Lenora. Everything is decorated sparsely and in dark colors so that only makes me feel more isolated. Dragging myself off the bed, I shuffle to the bathroom. I can see Lenora there, washing herself under the spray. She gives me that seductive smile and turns so that her ass is to me.
Then I blink and she's gone. A lone tear falls down my face as I turn the shower on and peel off the large tee I was dressed in.
My body is covered in scratches and bruises. My feet look like I ran through the mud. I don't look in the mirror. I don't want to know how I look.
Dunking my head under the hot water, I let myself cry one more time.