Every part of him screamed to return to her, but he took another step forward. He moved over the last three feet of rock before stepping onto the smooth surface of the cavern. Remaining low, his useless gaze swung back and forth, his ears straining to hear the slightest step. Keegan released a small breath from somewhere on his right. The wolf was still alive, but he had yet to move again.
Was Keegan hunting him? No, the wolf may not like him, but Keegan wouldn’t attack him unless he was threatening Braith. No matter how much the wolf growled at him, he had to know Jack was only trying to protect and help his brother. Besides, if Keegan wanted to attack him, he would have by now.
Jack changed his grip on his stakes, pointing them to the sides so he could swing them at anything coming at him. He was ten feet away from where he’d left Braith’s body when a hint of movement had him spinning to the right. Before he could attempt to defend himself, something smashed against his arm with the force of a battering ram, causing it to go numb instantly. Unwillingly, his hand opened and the stake fell from his grasp. The clattering of the wood against the rock floor battered his eardrums after the hush that had enveloped the cavern.
He swung his other arm up, but the stake was yanked from his grasp as if he were no stronger than a five-year-old human child who’d just had their lollipop ripped away. A part of him marveled over the power sizzling over his skin and the strength of his opponent even as a hand enveloped his throat. Lifted effortlessly from the ground, he was slammed into the cave wall with enough force to indent the wall and shatter the rock.
CHAPTER 29
Daniel
Daniel kept his gaze focused on the woods. Beside him, Max swung his bow in an angle, searching for any more movement. Timber lifted his staff and smacked the head of it against his palm in a skull-bashing gesture.
“Vampires?” Max inquired.
“Don’t know,” Daniel said. “But we can’t go on until we do know.” He felt exposed, but there would be no retreat from here until they’d flushed out whatever was stalking them. “Stay here and watch my back.”
He crept forward, keeping his bow and arrow raised as he went. With the clouds in the sky obscuring any light, he moved mostly on instinct as he slid around the trunk of a maple tree before resting against an oak. If vampires were here, it meant they wouldn’t be able to go for Jack right now.
The only problem was they had nowhere to fall back to. The caves in this area all led to the same thing, Jack and Braith. He blew out a breath as rain poured over his forehead and into his eyes. He didn’t dare wipe the water away now. A second of distraction could spell his death.
Turning, he surveyed the woods behind him. Nothing stirred there, but he felt someone watching him, felt eyes boring into the back of his head. He kept his gaze focused away from where his instincts were telling him the threat lay. If whoever was watching him believed he didn’t suspect where they were, they could grow careless and possibly reveal themselves.
Leaning around the tree, he caught Max’s gaze. He gave a subtle quirk of his left eyebrow. Max stood for a minute before speaking with Timber and slipping to the side. Daniel kept his gaze focused ahead, straining to hear anything over the pelting rain and the wind howling through the mountains and battering the trees.
A small squeak had him jerking around, his fingers prepared to release his arrow. Nothing stirred behind him, and then, through the rain, he saw Max stalking forward with a squirming bundle locked against his side. Daniel lowered his bow when he recognized the girl trapped against Max’s side.
Max set the girl on her feet before him. Her chin tilted up as she gazed defiantly between the two of them. The rain had soaked her hair to her face and her clothes to her body. He was astonished to find Max’s eyes running over her appreciatively. Anger didn’t shimmer in Max’s eyes; instead, he looked almost… relieved?
That made no sense. Why would Max be relieved? She’d put them all at risk by following them here. Timber gave the girl a scathing look when he walked over to join them. Max had told them her name, but Daniel couldn’t recall it right now. He was too pissed off, an emotion he was nowhere near as familiar with as Max, yet Max was starting to look… amused?
He contemplated smacking both of them with Timber’s staff.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Daniel demanded.
The girl didn’t look the least bit intimidated by the fact she was surrounded by three men all easily twice her size. Instead, her chin tilted higher up.
She and Aria would get along wonderfully, Daniel thought bitterly.
“It’s a free forest,” the girl replied, and Daniel resisted the impulse to shake her.
“Not for you, not anymore,” Daniel replied. “Max told you not to follow us, told you if you came with us you wouldn’t be able to leave. I don’t know what made you think this was acceptable, but you’ll be staying with us.”
“What are you going to do, imprison me?” she retorted.
“Yes. Timber, carry her.”
Max moved between her and Timber. “I’ll do it,” he said.
Timber stared at him for a minute before bowing his head and stepping back.