They swung open the cage door, cattle prods at full power, humming with electricity. The man lazily lifted his hands in surrender. "Now, now." He said softly. His voice was like velvet. "No need. I'll do as you please." The man in the cage said, his...
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Theo's hands were chapped and bleeding by the time her boat hit the shore. The ferocity with which she'd rowed to keep herself out of the prying gaze across that fierce sea was responsible.
She had heard them bearing down on her. The motors of their boats growled and grumbled as they caught up, so she had cut her own boat's engine and hunkered down, hoping the dark and the movement of the waves would hide her. By some miracle, they had.
Theo turned her attention inland, inhaling deeply to try and pick out the smell of the scouts that ringed grandmother's cabin. The air was blessedly, shockingly clear. She chose to believe that their absence was because Juniper was still running, even after so many hours, and not that she had been caught.
Theo thanked her under her breath and darted into the woods, using her internal compass and the flashes of the stars through the trees to find the familiar ramshackle cabin.
The door flew open before she even set foot on the porch, revealing a woman dark with anger. Candlelight lit up the underside of her face and turned her eyes into gaping black holes.
"Fool girl," Grandmother called out, reaching one crooked hand out to grasp the front of Theo's shirt as she approached. Her grip was like iron, and she heard the fabric of her top rip a little at the strength of her pull.
The hunched old woman straightened up, her face looming ever closer to Theo's own. A low growl rumbled from deep in the woman's cavernous chest. "What have you done?"
Theo bared her own teeth, for once in agreement with Dancer. "What you were too weak to do."
The old woman turned and slung Theo into the house where she bounced off a wall with a snarl. "We'll all be killed for this! Juniper might be dead already." The woman fisted her hands and stalked up to Theo. Dancer bristled, urging Theo to shift and take the elders' threats to a new level, but Theo restrained herself.
A discordant note played in her head, stuck on a loop as her vision distorted ever so slightly. She shook her head, but still it wouldn't disappear. Dancer was fracturing her.
"No. They've lost. Your wretched grandsons tucked tail and ran," Theo choked out through the lump in her throat, her voice sounding oddly raspy.
A board on the porch creaked, sending both women whirling with bared teeth to confront whoever had tried to take them by surprise.
Junipers lithe body dripped with sweat as she shrugged into the musty bearskin, but her face was alight with joy. "We've won then?"
Theo shook her head ever so slightly, watching the imperceptible shifts in the other young woman's face. Disappointment. Grief. Anger. Theo quickly spoke, "not yet. But we can..." Theo trailed off, her gaze slipping to her feet. "We have to act fast, though. We cannot wait on the other pack for liberation. I've been seen."
