A Fox Among Wolves

Chapter Twenty-Seven

I feel like we have been walking forever, and my feet have never hurt so much. Having the extra weight of baby isn't helping either. We have slowed down over the last couple days, having to take more breaks since I am becoming tired more easily.

Braeden holds my hand while we walk, always becoming tense when he has to step away from me. I know he worries, especially now that we are out in the dangerous world we were never even taught about in school.

He has become even worse after our first encounter with a weird being out here. Quinn and I had insisted on a break, after walking for multiple hours without stopping. The others had wandered away, Link and Braeden arguing about something, while Alex picked over a bush of wild berries.

Things had been quiet, too quiet as it seems, but none of us had been aware, too wrapped up in ourselves to notice anything out of the ordinary.

Quinn and I had been talking, while sitting on a fallen log, him complaining about having to pee all the time and me rubbing out some of the aches in my lower back. I had only closed my eyes for a second, but when I had opened them, Quinn was gone.

Immediately, my heart started pounding, and I had struggled to push myself up, eyes flickering around the area to try and catch sight of my best friend. When I didn't spot anything in the first five seconds, I had begun fearfully yelling, not bothering to hold back my tears as I pushed myself through the brush.

Link had been by my side in a second, body tense. "What happened?" he had asked, joining me in the frantic search for Quinn.

"I-I don't know," I said, struggling to get my words out of my constricted throat. "We were just talking, and one moment he was there and the next he was gone."

Link looked like he was about to murder someone, and when he has turned those heated eyes on me, I couldn't stop myself from flinching away.

"Stay here," Link had said through gritted teeth, before running off in the direction of broken branches.

Braeden and Alex had joined me by then, my mate wrapping his arms tightly around me. There had been no noise in the forest for minutes. It felt like we were standing there for hours before a loud screech cut through the air.

All of us had cringed at the sound, my hands flying up to cover my ears. The sound became louder, causing my heart to pound. The creature must have been coming closer, and I had pulled at Braeden, trying to move us in the opposite direction of the approaching creature.

Before any of us had a chance to move, though, the trees had swayed heavily, parting for a body that looked like nothing I had ever seen before. Dark fur covered a beast that must have been at least eight feet tall, everything about it long. Its teeth couldn't even be covered by its mouth when closed, and they could obviously rip us to shred without any of us standing a chance.

The creature had cocked its head at us before letting out another loud screech, carrying itself on its long, slender legs over to us.

"Braeden," I had murmured, curling closer to my mate as my hands fell to my stomach, the last ditch effort to protect the baby growing inside me.

"Holy fuck," Braeden had whispered, eyes wide as he stared at the beast.

The creature prowled closer, the sound from before much lower in its throat.

Alex was the one who surprised us all at that moment. The entire time he has been with us, he has flinched at any slight show of violence, even if it was just a teasing shove between me and Quinn. So, when he picked up a jagged ended stick from the ground and ran towards the beast, I couldn't hold back my cry of fear.