Bronze

Chapter 17 pt.3

Leah

I was running.

I was running again, but this time to a safe place. A cabin. 

I had Wendy show me the way when Markus arrived. I snuck through the servants quarters, out to the garden, and straight into the woods. 

Except I didn't expect to find Markus's searchers out here, nor did I expect to find traps laid out for me. They were waiting for me to run. 

Luckily, I made it past them without getting caught. Now, it was just getting to the cabin. But was it really safe there? If searchers were out, wouldn't they be looking in places like that- abandoned buildings in the middle of nowhere. I'd be a sitting duck. 

No, I had to trust Kane. He told me to go there, so I trusted he knew what he was doing.

Far in the distance, behind large Douglas-fir trees and golden aspens, was a small one-room cabin. Only one window allowed access to light, though it was fogged over to disrupt sight. The outside resembled a normal, family cabin with a gated fence and pointed roof. A chimney stack climbed up the right side, going high and blocking the sun. 

Inside was much the same. It was bare other than the necessities. A dark green cot pressed against the far wall. The kitchen was directly to my right, and the bathroom, which was really just a bucket and toilet paper on a stick, was to my left. There was a medium-sized bookshelf with dictionaries lining it and an old radio on top.  

I waited on the cot, just sitting and breathing dust. I didn't dare turn the light on, fearing it would bring the searchers, and I didn't check the radio. 

I couldn't deny that I was terrified. I even let myself cry, not only because the anxiety of waiting was getting to me, and the light from the single window was fading, but because I was afraid Markus would hurt Kane. I was the only one who truly knew what he was capable of, and Kane was going to be with him, possibly alone, to protect me. 

It would be all my fault if Kane got hurt. 

He's fine, my wolf said. She, too, was scared for her mate's safety, but between the two of us, she had the most confidence in him. 

The floor and walls were creaking with the wind. Every so often, I would startle when I thought it was a person. Or a ghost. I wouldn't put it past me to assume ghosts were real and they haunted this tiny cabin in the middle of the woods. If my kind and other species existed, why couldn't ghosts and demons?

But a sound that wasn't the wind, a sound of leaves crunching beneath boots, frightened me into a motionless hush. I sat still, my knees curled to my chest, making myself as small as possible in hopes they wouldn't see me. 

Another crunch. More silence. The footsteps got closer to the door with each passing moment. By now, I held my breath, preparing myself to hide. Looking around, there was no place I could crawl under and wedge myself between. The kitchen cabinets maybe, but I was too big to fit. I'd have to run. 

Crouching, I positioned my body facing the only door. More steps outside, quicker, and a lot more of them. There had to be at least four searchers, if not countless more in the surrounding area.

One of them knocked, common curtsey not being the reason. It was a signal; signals I learned while living in Markus's home. Two knocks signaled the others that I was here. Three meant they were coming in. He did both.

With one jolt with his shoulder, the door came off its rusted hinges and collided with the ground. I stared up at three men wearing jackets, one having a trank gun, and the one behind him carrying handcuffs.