We've got a very gorgeous, very depressing drawing of Rhodri by LittleLoneWriterGirl, just in case you're in need of some 'feels.' Praise her or curse her. Your call.

***

"This is more likely to kill him than save him," Seth warned me. "I'm going to give him an overdose. They'll take him out to the border, and the rest ... that's on you. If he survives the morphine and the existing injuries — and I seriously doubt that he will, you'll need to give him naloxone. And lots of it."

"I— What? How's that going to—"

"Are you done yet?" Micah demanded. "Jab him and get out. I want to lock up and go to breakfast."

"I'm doing the antibiotics now," Seth said, giving me a meaningful look. He was still struggling to find a vein, and that meant I had time to change my mind, if I wanted. "It'll only take a minute."

I closed my eyes, trying to think it over. I didn't understand Seth's plan, and that felt dangerous, but it was still better than my plan, which was non-existent. And yes, maybe I'd be gambling with Rhodri's life, but if anyone could survive this, it would be him.

So I stayed quiet, and I let Seth push a syringe full of morphine into Rhodri's arm. Micah had already lost interest in us again — distracted by a notification which made him grin from ear to ear.

It took a few minutes for the drug to work. At first, I didn't understand. I saw Rhodri's chest stop moving and I reached for him, terrified that he'd died right before my eyes. Seth caught my hand and shook his head ever so slightly.

"It's okay," he whispered. " It's the opioid. He'll have to survive like this for a little while."

I reckoned I understood now. His heart was beating so faintly and slowly that I couldn't even hear it, close as I was. And his breathing was swallow — I had to put my hand on his chest to know it was moving at all. It was convincing, I'd admit, but I didn't think it was going to work.

"Shit," Seth said loudly and convincingly. "Eva, I'll need the EpiPen. Quickly, please."

I didn't have to make a show of fumbling for it. I had no idea where it was. This was still my first week on the job. While I dug it out, Micah paced towards us, his phone forgotten. He reached the bars and gripped them so that his knuckles turned white. "What's wrong with him?"

"He's reacting to the antibiotics I gave him."

Micah swore under his breath and scrubbed at the back of his neck. If he'd had known the first thing about anaphylactic shock, it wouldn't have worked, but he was a dumbass and Seth had been counting on that. "Well ... do something."

Seth got out his stethoscope. He was quite the actor — the next few minutes were spent checking vitals, periodically cursing and then administering 'drugs' which were actually just copious amounts of saline. He got more and more frantic as time went on, until he finally set the stethoscope aside and looked up at Micah gravely.

"Why have you stopped?" he snapped.

"He's gone," Seth said. "Even a defibrillator isn't going to fix this."

"So you killed him?" Micah demanded. The anger in his voice made me glad there were bars between us. "I called you down here to give him one injection, and you've somehow killed him?"

Seth sighed. His fingers brushed over Rhodri's eyelids, closing them before anyone could notice those pinpoint pupils or the occasional blinks. "He's allergic. I'm sorry, Micah, but it does happen. Just thank the Goddess that it was a prisoner and not a pack member."

"He wasn't just any prisoner, you idiot. Mason's going to flip, I swear to—"

Footsteps behind him. He fell silent, and Seth and I exchanged a wary glance. It was Mason who came around the corner. He looked somewhat ruffled, like he hadn't got any sleep, but those dark eyes were just as sharp and piercing as usual. And more worryingly, there was a satisfied smile plastered onto his lips.

"Back already?" Micah asked, running a nervous hand through his hair. "What was all the fuss about?"

Mason shrugged. "Nothing, really. Someone has taken it upon themselves to leak the group-chats to the entire pack, and a few sensitive individuals are kicking off. Felix is making sure everything is taken down. It won't be a problem."

"Right. Okay. Do you know who did it?"

"Not yet," Mason said. He came up to the bars. "Seth, forget whatever Micah's told you. He's having a transfusion, stitches — the whole works. I want him awake and healed by this afternoon. Zach Lloyd is coming over to have a look. He's met half of the Llewellyns, so he'll know for sure."

Micah's eyes were fixed on the ground. He ducked his head, took a deep breath and shoved his shaking hands in his pockets. He was six-foot-five and built like a truck, but the stench of his fear filled the air, all the same. "Actually, Mase, he's ... um, it turns out he's... Well, I think he might be—"

"Dead," Seth said shortly. "He's dead."

Mason went very still. I could feel his wolf surfacing. Slowly at first, but then came a rush which sent ripples crashing into all of us. There was anger reverberating across the link the likes of which I'd never felt before — strong and vicious enough to make my ears pop and my stomach churn.

"For your sakes,'" he said slowly, "I hope this is some kind of joke."

Silence from all of us. Mason pushed past his brother and came into the cell with us. I didn't want to let him near Rhodri, but I edged backwards all the same. My left hand slipped into my pocket and curled around my knife hilt.

Mason crouched down. I could feel his mind knocking against mine as he fumbled around, looking for any spark of life, but Rhodri was so deep into unconsciousness that he found only darkness. My heart was in my throat as he felt for a pulse. Impatient as he was, he didn't wait more than a few seconds. He swore, kicked out at Rhodri and then swore again when he got no response.

Seth looked at the ground, his eternal calm faltering for a second. It took some guts to lie to an Alpha. Micah seemed to have remembered how to breathe now that his brother's attention was elsewhere, but I could still see the tension in his shoulders pulling those massive muscles tight.

With both of them standing there so quiet and meek, refusing to meet his eyes, I wasn't surprised when Mason's gaze landed on me. I saw the edge of his lip curl. "What the hell are you doing in here?"

"I was just—"

He made a grab for my arm. I moved quicker than he did, snatching it away, and then I darted for the entrance. I got out into the corridor before I realised he wasn't chasing me. He didn't need to. There was nowhere for me to go, not with a wall behind me and a giant blocking the way out.

Micah took a threatening step towards me, probably intending to grab hold of me and redeem himself. Mason stilled him with a single look. And that easily, he'd won back his brother's attention, and I could breathe again.

"She tried to shank a prisoner yesterday and you let her stroll right past you?" he snapped.

Micah turned to scowl at me. "I didn't know, alright? And I'm sorry, or whatever, but I don't see what she could have done..."

"She didn't even touch him," Seth said. "I was with her the whole time."

Mason made a disgusted sound in the back of his throat, but he did seem to believe it. The truth was, it didn't matter if they thought I'd done something. As long as Rhodri got out of here, I didn't care if Mason decided to lock me up.

He seemed to be considering it. He looked from me to Rhodri and back again, and then he kicked him again. This time hard enough that I heard a wet crunch. I dug my fingernails into my palms and tried to resist the urge to shift on the spot.

"We barely had him for a day!" Mason groaned. "What am I supposed to tell the other Alphas now? Half of them wanted to come over and take a turn."

Silence. From all of us. No one wanted to risk saying anything that might push him over the edge.

Mason crouched down again. I took an involuntary step forwards, but all he did was unlock the manacles around Rhodri's wrists. When he was done, he looked up at Seth expectantly. "Make him shift. I want his pelt hanging next to Rhodric's."

His eyes widened. "I ... I can't make him shift."

"Why not?"

"Well ... mostly because ... he's dead..."

Mason swore again. "Surely you can still—"

Seth shook his head firmly.

More swearing from Mason. He seemed to be getting a handle on himself now, enough at least to ask, "He was fine when I left. What happened?"

We had very different definitions of the word 'fine.' The beating they'd given him would have been enough to kill most people. And Goddess only knew — maybe it would yet.

Seth shrugged at him. "He was allergic to the antibiotics I gave him, and he was missing half of his blood, so we'll put it down to double shock. And ... I don't mean to alarm you, Mason, but he does have fleas. I'd strongly advise you to hang his body out before they abandon ship. Do the other boy while you're at it. We can't have them rotting down here — not with the children so close."

Oh, he was clever. Much cleverer than I was, that was for sure. I bit down hard on my lip and tried not to hope. I didn't want to believe this could work, because I knew exactly how I would feel if it didn't.

"I couldn't give a shit about the kids," Mason laughed. "If they catch something, fine. Less mouths to feed."

Seth just stared.

Eventually, he rubbed the back of his neck and threw a wary look at Rhodri. "But ... fleas? Are you sure?"

Seth nodded gravely. It was a flawless act — creased brow, stern doctory eyes and folded arms. "I'm sure. And perhaps lice too. If they get into the packhouse, you know we'll never get rid of them."

"Shit," he muttered, and if I didn't know better, I'd say his cheeks were flushed. "I've been in here with him all night. You'll have to give me something, just in case."

"And me," Micah piped up. "And probably Felix."

"That's fine. We just need to get him out of here," Seth said. It was a subtle push, yes, but a push all the same, and I wanted to hug him. All of my own ideas had been along the lines of 'stab and run,' and that would never have worked.

"Right," Mason said. He vacated the cell with a few brisk steps and whistled down the corridor. A pair of fighters came trotting towards us from seemingly nowhere. "Put him on the bone fence, boys. Main entrance — or close enough. Chop a few bits off and decorate the trees."

This time, I jumped in before Seth could open his mouth, so quickly did I start to feel the panic rising. "Or maybe you could leave him in one piece? He's mutilated enough as it is, and it'd be better if the rogues could recognise him..."

Mason's entire face soured. He looked surprised that I'd opened my mouth, but he mulled it over anyway, torn between hatred and logic. Eventually, he waved a hand at his men. "Fine. Whatever. Just make sure you triple the guard at the gate and remind them to keep their eyes open. I don't want his friends taking him down in the night for a burial."

Like that would stop me. We could throw a whole raiding team at the guards if we had to. They were vulnerable on the border, and Rhodri was worth it. Seth had done the hard part. If they strung him up without noticing he was still alive, we were home free, as far as I was concerned.

"Shall we do the other guy while we're at it?" one of them asked, his eyes fixed firmly on the ground. He must have sensed, as I did, that Mason's anger hadn't gone anywhere. It was just waiting to find a new target.

"Yes, take both of them."

The two fighters waited for both of them to leave the cell before they entered. They dragged Rhodri clear of the wall and then picked him up like a sack of potatoes — one at his shoulder and one at his ankles. Mason hadn't seen fit to warn them about the fleas, but neither of them looked too keen to get blood all over their nice, clean clothes, so hopefully they would keep their distance.

I moved to follow them down the hallway because I wasn't going to let Rhodri out of my sight. Mason had other ideas. He braced an arm against the wall, blocking my path. I came to an uneasy halt and stood there, fidgeting and staring and waiting for him to do whatever unpleasant thing he had planned.

"Not so fast. You ran off yesterday, didn't you?" he asked softly.

I could feel Seth's eyes on me. He was worried, and rightly so. I lifted my chin a fraction higher and set my jaw. I didn't reply because I couldn't think of anything that wouldn't come out dripping with sarcasm.

"Mm. You did. And don't think I'm going to forget that," Mason said, leaning in even closer. "So how's this? Go and fetch my brother or I swear to the Goddess I will kill you both."

He couldn't be that angry. His wolf was nagging at mine, yes, but there was no sign of the oppressive, suffocating dominance that he was capable of. It gave me the courage to look him in the eye and wrinkle up my nose and say, "Yeah, I don't think you will. Is there actually room for two more bodies in the quarry, or it is getting a little crowded?"

I knew he was going to hit me long before he did it. He made sure I saw it coming so I could avoid it. I didn't move, because I knew it was what he wanted me to do — he wanted me running away, and he wanted an excuse to do worse.

His hand caught me across the cheek. It was hard enough to turn my head sideways and split my lip — if the blood in my mouth was any indication. I could have spat it out, but I swallowed instead. The hatred was coming off me in simmering waves, hot enough that Liam felt it across the link and sent me a questioning nudge. I ignored him.

"There's plenty of room," he told me in a dangerously quiet voice. "And if you ever speak to me like that again, that's where I'll put your body. I don't give a shit whose mate you are."

I could feel his wolf properly now, powerful enough that I had to focus on just getting air in and out of my lungs. My eyes had fallen to the floor and stuck there. No smartass reply this time, then. Probably for the best.

"Look at me, sweetheart," Mason said. "Good. Now go and find him. I'm not asking you again."

I stared at him, blank and dead-eyed. He was getting right in my face, and I got the impression that he wasn't going anywhere until he got what he wanted. He must have realised by now that I hadn't gone running to Liam last time he'd put his hands on me. As far as he was concerned, that was permission to do it again. And to escalate, apparently.

"Where shall I bring him?" I asked quietly. Let him think he'd won. As soon as he let me go, I was going straight to Rhodri, and screw the consequences. This ... it was a problem for another day. And yes, I knew I'd decided that yesterday too. It could wait until a calm, collected, properly-caffeinated version of Eva materialised.

Mason blinked, taken aback at the change in me. My eyes had dropped to the floor and stuck there. He watched me for a moment, perhaps suspecting that it was all play-acting, but it didn't take long for his satisfaction to win out. "The back office. He knows where it is."

I nodded as meekly as I could. And the young Alpha dropped his arm to let me pass. All of this could have been said down a mind-link to Liam himself without any of the fuss. But Mason wasn't pushing. He'd realised that if he gave Liam an order, it would be ignored. And then they'd probably have to fight, because that was the only way this could end. He was using me as a buffer until he was sure that wouldn't happen.

I scooted past him and headed for the exit. Sure enough, the fighters had taken Finn's body. I walked as quickly as I could without arousing suspicion, knowing that the Vaughan boys weren't far behind me.

Joel was exactly where I'd left him. He looked up sharply as I came in, and his eyes followed me down the corridor. I tried not to look at him, if only because it was making me feel worse. We were trying to save Rhodri — but not him. I couldn't even slip him a needle like I'd done for Mortimer.

"We'll keep him in here," Mason said as they reached his cell. I stopped in my tracks and turned cautiously. It sounded a lot like they were going to start on Joel now they'd lost their favourite toy. "Watch yourself — he's strong and he's grumpy."

Micah looked him over and snorted. "He's chained up. I think I'll be okay."

But all the same, he picked up a truncheon before he went into the cell, and he gripped it with white knuckles as he approached Joel, who had finally torn his eyes away from me. The chains didn't let him move far. He could kick, and he could thrash, and that was all.

Micah brought the truncheon down with bone-breaking force across his ribs and shoulders. The muffled thump of metal against flesh brought bile flooding into my mouth. He didn't stop the blows until Joel was lying still.

He was dragged into the middle of the room. The chains were looped over a hook on the ceiling, so that his arms were high above his head and he couldn't move an inch, let alone shift. And then Joel had to stand there, panting and dazed, with Micah Vaughan breathing down his neck.

"Your friend's dead," Micah said cheerfully. "So I guess it's your turn now. And it's real easy — honest. We stop when you start talking."

Joel looked skywards. He had to wheeze for a minute before he found the breath to say, "Go screw yourself, flockie. The only things I'm talking about are gay rights and the Pine Forest conspiracy."

He was such a rogue. It was only now that I was spending all my time around flockies that I realised how obnoxious we could be. He was about to be tortured and he was still finding the energy to piss them off. And I'd really missed that.

Mason leaned against the bars and grinned at him. "We'll see about that."

"Nah," Joel said. I wondered if he was doing it for my benefit. I certainly wouldn't put it past him. He even snuck a glance at me, and it was unlucky that Micah was watching him so closely, because that drew his attention to me — hovering suspiciously in the corridor.

"What're you looking at?" Micah demanded.

I jumped half out of my skin and turned away. I couldn't help Joel. Not right now, anyway. That didn't make it any easier to walk away. I got halfway to the exit before the urge to look back became too strong. Joel was staring again. Only now he was breathing too fast, and his muscles were tight, and there was a sickly-sweet smell in the air.

Yes, he was scared. He'd seen them carry Rhodri past. He'd seen the mutilation and the hatred carved into his skin. And he knew enough about pain to fear what was about to happen. There was a point when it didn't matter how tough you were — a point when it was too much and you just needed it to stop.

I didn't think he wanted me to leave. Because then he'd be alone, and there would be no one to be brave for, and that made it harder. I wondered if this would be the last time I saw him alive. I wondered why I even cared. He'd been horrible to me. He'd been horrible to Liam. 

Besides, this wasn't my fault. I hadn't got him caught, and I'd already tried to help him and paid for it. Right now, Rhodri needed me more, and that was something I could actually do that didn't involve standing around and watching someone get hurt. I swallowed hard, tore my eyes away and forced myself to keep walking.

Seth caught up with me on the stairs. He was quiet — quieter than usual, anyway, and his eyes kept snagging on my split lip. I wondered if he felt guilty that he hadn't stepped in. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," I said, much too quickly. "Thank you — for what you did back there. That was quick thinking."

"It was desperate thinking," Seth said. "And I can't help you more than I already have. I'll give you the naloxone now, and getting him across the border ... well, that's your problem."

I turned sharply to look at him. "Hang on. No. You're as much a part of this as we are. I'm going to talk to Alex now, and you're not going anywhere until I find out what the plan is."

He didn't agree, not exactly, but he didn't disagree either, so I took that as permission to close my eyes and find my link with Liam. He was waiting for me, so he must have finished talking to our family.

"They're taking Rhodri to the border," I said. "He's alive, but we need to move fast. How long before the cavalry arrives?"

I felt Liam wince. "That's the thing, Eva. No one's picking up the phone. I tried your mother and Sam, and it's just ringing. The emergency line isn't connecting. I remembered the number for Anglesey, but they're just as clueless as we are. Something must have happened."

I absorbed that in silence and then swallowed. "Well ... we need them. There'll be guards. There's no time to wait, and— Shit. Look, I'm going to think of something else. For now ... just run to the border and don't do anything stupid until I get there."

Liam went quiet for a moment. I could feel his agreement, but there was concern for me twisting the link tight. "You will be careful, won't you?

"I doubt it," I said and cut the link before he could tell me off.

So ... we were screwed. It wasn't just that we needed the extra sets of teeth. We also needed a car and someone to drive it or we wouldn't stand a chance of getting Rhodri somewhere safe. The problem was, Liam got nervous in cars because they were so cramped, and I was chronically lazy, so neither of us had learnt yet.

Seth had been trying to sneak off while I'd been mind-linking. I caught his arm, not very gently, and I held him still. "Can you drive?"

"Eva, you understand that I—"

"Cool. Drive to the border. Bring the drug with you."

He shook me off. "I can't—"

"Yes, you can, and you will," I snapped. "Because if I get caught, I'll tell them how you helped me smuggle a Llewellyn out of their prison. I don't want to blackmail you, Seth, but he's my brother, and I'm not going to let him die."

I was at breaking point. Really. I could feel it all coming apart now, and I was a heartbeat away from doing something which couldn't be undone. And that was pulling my knife and stopping those two fighters and taking Rhodri away from them by any means necessary. I knew it would get both of us killed. But somehow I was getting to the point where it still felt like the best option.

Seth must have seen that desperation in my eyes. He could probably smell it on my breath, too. "I'll... I suppose I'll need permission to leave."

"Then get it. If you can keep the guards at the border talking for a minute, we can get him down. That's all you need to do. Okay? Talk to them, and then drive us somewhere safe, and I promise that Mason will never find out."

"You can't promise that, Eva."

I shrugged my agreement. "Well, worst comes to worst, you could always turn rogue, couldn't you?"

And with that, I left him. Seth went back to find Mason. I could hear them talking — faint voices tickling my ears — but I didn't wait to see if he would agree. No, I was opening the prison door before Seth could even form the question. I was wondering how many seconds Rhodri had until his heart stopped beating. It had been so faint, so slow.

I came out of the pack house at the western entrance and walked towards the trees as fast as I dared. It was still raining, like it had been for days, and that meant we stood a chance. Someone called my name. It sounded like Lin, so I ducked my head and walked faster. The shadows of the trees crawled their way up my body. With them came a chill which seemed to freeze the raindrops where they fell on my skin.

I didn't wait as long as I should have before I started jogging. I faltered at first, thinking too hard about where I was putting my feet. It felt unnatural and awkward because it had been days since I'd been running and weeks since I'd gone in human form. The more I picked up speed, the more muscle memory took over.

The rain had been falling for so long that the ground was boggy and sucked at my feet. I knew I was kicking mud up the back of my legs, and I could feel the rain soaking through every item of clothing I had. When I'd got dressed this morning, I hadn't anticipated a wild dash through the woods.

I knew it wasn't far to the border from here. A mile or two at most, so I'd get there before Seth had managed to extract his car from the garages. Maybe even before the fighters arrived. And if they did decide to string him up by his neck, I'd be there to stop it.

I had to slow down considerably before I reached the bone fence. I crept from tree to tree, watching to make sure there wasn't a patrol in sight before I went any further. They'd get suspicious of me hanging around the border in the pouring rain. I ended up crouched behind a holly bush, peering through the leaves to glimpse Silver Lake's main entrance.

The two fighters had parked their car haphazardly on a verge. They were dragging Finn's body across the grass towards the trees. They were already decorated with two corpses — one so decayed that the flesh was blackened and falling away, and one that looked like Mortimer Morris.

It was true that they didn't usually hang them by their necks. Those with spinal injuries tended to fall down after a few days. Instead, the flockies tended to use harnesses and nails to keep them in place. I got to see that entire gruesome process up close. They did Finn first. It took a lot of self-control to sit there and watch.

For Rhodri ... it was much, much worse. Because he was still alive, and for all I knew, he could feel it. They were joking around and talking about last night's rugby game as they hoisted him high and then nailed his wrists and ankles to a tree trunk to keep him in place.

A hand brushed against my shoulder, and it took everything in me not to scream. I turned my head fast enough to strain my neck. The swearwords tumbled out across the link, loud and colourful, because it was only Liam.

Sorry, he mouthed with big, apologetic eyes. He knelt behind me, his hair soaked from the rain and his jeans splattered with mud. One of his fingers came up to brush my swollen, bloodied lip, and I saw a frown creep across his lips. And then he looked past me, and he saw the state of Rhodri, and he looked like he wanted to throw up.

"Shit," Liam breathed. "Is he—"

I put a finger over his lips and gave him a pointed look.

"I told you," I said through the link. "He's alive. Or ... he was, anyway. We just need to wait for Seth to get here."

For some reason, that didn't seem to reassure him. He stared past me and swallowed hard. "What did they do?"

"It would be quicker to ask what they didn't do," I muttered. "Yeah, he's a mess, but it's nothing his healing won't fix. We need to get closer, alright?"

Bullshit. I knew it. Liam certainly knew it. But we had to believe it, because if we stopped and really thought about what we were doing, everything was going to fall apart. There were too many cuts and too many broken bones, and I did wonder if Rhodri would actually want us to save him.

Slowly, Liam and I began to creep closer. One of us would move while the other watched, and if any of the pricks looked our way, a tug on the mind-link would stop us in our tracks. We kept to the cover of the trees as much as we could, and that cover ran out behind an alder that was barely three paces from Rhodri.

A rover pulled up at the barrier. I could see the guards gathering around, and Seth called the rest of them closer. I couldn't hear what he was saying, but I could hear that calm, authoritative tone which kept them all listening raptly while Liam and I stepped into the open.

They'd nailed Rhodri to a yew tree. I was sure he would have found that funny if he'd been awake and slightly less mutilated. Liam supported his weight while I stood on my tiptoes and cut through the ropes with my penknife. In my panic, I forgot about the nails and fumbled to correct that. They needed to be pried out of the wood — a job that was neither easy nor quick.

We were running out of time.

The first two I managed fine, but we had to swap places when it came to the wrists because I couldn't reach. Liam pried one out, but the second was at an angle. The knife kept slipping, and my arms started to shake under the weight.

"Hurry up," I whispered. "Shit, Liam, I'm serious. They'll see—"

He shook his head, and I could hear an edge of panic in his voice now. "It won't come loose. I'll have to try ... instead ... but it might..."

He took hold of Rhodri's hand and yanked. It came off the nail, but there was a hole through his wrist that quickly filled with blood. That would be a problem for later, I decided, because he was free and we needed to get him out of sight. Liam took his shoulders, and I took his ankles, and with no small amount of effort, we carried him into the trees.

Seth's car revved and drove onwards. He'd bought us all the time he could. The flockies stood for a moment to watch him go, and then they dispersed all at once. I was walking backwards, and I could see them through the trees as shapes with voices attached.

It took them a while to realise. One glanced back without noticing that anything was wrong. The second stared for a dozen heartbeats before it occurred to him to count his corpses. And then I suppose he saw the cut straps blowing in the breeze and the blood on the tree trunk, and he shouted something frantic.

We weren't far enough away. Even without a scent trail, there was enough of them to spread out and find us within a minute. I hadn't thought much beyond cutting Rhodri down, in all honesty.

"Can you carry him alone?" I asked Liam in a low voice.

"Yeah, of course, but—"

"Go on then."

Liam knelt down to put Rhodri over his shoulders and then straightened up again with some difficulty. He took a few slow, careful steps to make sure he could manage the weight. I could tell he was struggling, because Rhodri weighed a tonne and carrying another person was never an easy thing to do. But he'd manage. He'd get him to the bend in the road, and that was all we needed.

"I'll catch up with you," I said. The look he gave me then — it was desperate and horrified in equal measures. I offered him a flashing grin that probably did absolutely nothing to reassure him. "Hey, it's okay. There ain't a flockie born that can outrun me."

"I know that," he murmured. "It don't make me feel any better. Be careful, yeah? They might have guns in that shed of theirs."

They probably did. I'd just have to make sure they didn't have time to grab them. I answered him with another grin, and then I unzipped my jeans. Liam didn't stick around to watch the show. He gave me one last unhappy look and then set off through the brambles with new urgency. I had to take off my top as well before I could shift — because damn the tight flockie clothes.

My wolf form felt strange, too. It had been too long. I shook the raindrops out of my fur and then padded towards the flockies. It didn't take them long to spot me. They'd been starting to search, and half of them were shifted already. I gave them time to charge towards me. I waited until I could see the whites of their eyes. And then I turned tail and broke into a dead sprint, heading deeper into the territory to make sure they gave chase.

They were so slow. At my full speed, the trees were just blurs and my paws moved so quickly that it didn't feel like they were touching the ground. For a few blissful minutes, I wasn't a flockie anymore. They saw the dark pelt and the shit-eating grin and nothing else. I was a rogue, and I was a threat, and they were taking me seriously.

I had seven or eight of them following me. I could hear their paws squelching in the mud, and I could count the howls that would summon the rest of the pack. It didn't matter how many there were. Not really. The rain was washing my scent away before it could stick. They wouldn't be able to track me, so I was safe the second I was out of sight.

Or so I thought.

A heavy body crashed into me. I tumbled over and over, my legs tangled with someone else's. We were only knocked apart when my shoulder collided with a sapling. And that hurt, of course, but I'd landed with my legs underneath me, and that was all that mattered. I didn't wait for my attacker to pick themselves up. I just lurched to my feet and bolted.

That could have been bad. Really, really bad. And I wasn't out of the woods yet because the wolves chasing had got close. One of them snapped at me and I could feel the air whistling past my tail. Another was coming up fast on my left shoulder, hoping to cut me off. I knew better than to turn the other way. He'd have a partner waiting in the shelter of the trees. I knew all the flockie tricks.

One of my legs felt weird. It had gone dead from the collision, and it was keeping me from reaching full speed. The flockies weren't gaining on me, but they were managing to keep up, and that was almost as bad.

There were twelve on my tail now, all jostling for position and snapping at my hindlegs. I must have run straight into a patrol. Unlucky. It wouldn't matter. I just needed to run off the dead leg, and then everything would be okay. That's what I kept telling myself, anyway.

The leftmost wolves were pulling even further forwards, while their friends on the right were starting to lag behind as if they were getting winded. Once again, I knew what they were doing. They wanted me to angle to the right, because that course would take me right into the middle of Silver Lake, where they could trap me and kill me in a matter of minutes.

I wasn't falling for it. There were howls ahead of me now, too, and time was running out. It was unfortunate that I'd chosen today to run the gauntlet, because every single fighter was on duty and it was safe to assume most of them were converging on my location at that very moment.

Liam was tugging at the link. Not enough to distract me, but enough that I knew he'd reached the car and it was safe for me to come back. As far as I was concerned, it was about bloody time. I liked running, yes, but I liked it less when a whole bunch of lives depended on it.

My leg was still stiff, but it was working, so I began to pick up the speed. That meant stretching out my legs that little bit further before my claws bit into the mud. It meant letting my hindlegs do all the work while my forelegs worried about steering. It meant letting my body think for me. When I was going that fast, it really did feel like flying.

And that was the part that I loved. The flockies had to eat the mud I kicked up, and soon they had fallen behind altogether. I couldn't even hear them panting anymore. Now I lurched to the right, like they'd wanted me to, but I kept turning and kept turning until I'd crossed myself.

They'd have a fun time trying to find a scent trail in this weather. It was more than a mile back to the border. The sun had been scattering little slivers of rainbows into the drizzle, but now it slipped behind a cloud, and I just had to hope I wasn't drifting too far left or right. I didn't know the territory very well.

I found the road very suddenly and without warning, and it was all I could do to veer away from the barrier. A spray of grit flew up as I skidded and stumbled on the surface, and then I was sprinting again in an entirely new direction. Seth would have parked around the corner. I knew that, and it was only seconds before I saw the rover and the tall young man standing beside it.

Liam let out a long breath when he saw me, the relief and exhaustion plain on his face. He was waiting beside the car with my knife in his hand, no doubt intending to gut the pack wolves who'd managed to follow me. He didn't look very surprised that there weren't any.

The road was slick and slippery, and it didn't afford much purchase. When I realised I didn't have enough time to slow down, I decided that crashing into his legs would be a softer landing than crashing into the car.

Liam did very well not to fall over. He caught hold of my scruff to steady me. If his jeans hadn't been soaked and mud-splattered before, they certainly were now. I rubbed my head against his shin and sneezed on him in an attempt to calm myself down.

"Oi," Liam said. There was more affection than annoyance in his voice. He used the scruff of my neck to guide me towards the open car door. "Less of that, please. Get in and try not to touch anything."

I jumped in obediently and dropped to my belly. Liam slammed the door behind me. My tail was wagging back and forth, but there was nothing happy about that gesture. It was concern for Rhodri, who was stretched out across the back seat.

Seth was putting a needle in his arm. I hoped to the Goddess that was the antidote for the morphine because even in wolf form, I was struggling to hear his heartbeat. We'd cut it close. So bloody close.

He was also cold. I licked under his chin with a rough, wet tongue and whined at him, for all the good it did. He couldn't shiver while he was unconscious, and he was soaked to the skin.

"There are blankets in the back," Seth said. He was talking to Liam, who was now in the passenger seat. "And he'll need more naloxone in a few minutes. Can you manage that?"

Liam nodded. "I've got it. Start the car."

I found the blankets after only a moment of nosing. I dragged them out from under a med kit and then struggled to spread them out with only my teeth and claws. Liam reached back to help me. He got one over Rhodri and the second over both of us, and I lay pressed up against him, hoping the heat from my body would be enough to get him warm again.

Seth had started the car. He kept glancing at the rear-view mirror as he drove, probably watching for any signs of pursuit. "Where am I going?"

Liam was dialling a number on his mobile, too distracted even to look up. "Doesn't matter. Just drive."

It didn't matter because we didn't have a clue where they were camped. And until we could get hold of someone, we would have to drive around aimlessly. Seth gave him a funny look, but he didn't complain.

We could go to Haven. That was an option, I supposed, but it wasn't a particularly good one. I knew our family wouldn't be there, because they couldn't risk having Hayden and Hannah so close to New Dawn. But there was medical equipment, and we had a doctor with us, so it would be better than nothing.

Liam had the phone to his ear now. I could hear it ringing ... and ringing ... and ringing. He didn't get through to anyone, and that was still the case five minutes later, when it was time for Rhodri's next dose. He was breathing properly by then — I could hear the soft rush of each breath beside my ear.

"Do you reckon they're still up north?" I asked Liam through the link.

"I don't think so. It's been weeks."

Hard to argue with that. These days, we couldn't risk staying in one place for too long. I licked my lips and put my head on my paws, mulling it over. "Maybe if we get across the Silverstones, we'll be able to link them."

"Worth a try," Liam said. Aloud, he added, "Next right. Then take the B road towards Bangor."

Seth put his indicator on. I could smell the tension on him — he wasn't exactly enjoying this little excursion. Perhaps because he knew that he was heading straight for a camp full of rogues.

Rhodri moved. It was only the slightest of twitches, but it was enough to worry me. If he woke up, he was going to feel the pain. All of the pain. And looking at the state of his body, I did wonder if that would be enough to kill him.

The phone rang. It was sudden, and it was loud, and Liam scrambled to answer it. I watched him with my ears pricked, trying to work out who was on the other end, but the car was too loud.

"Hey," he said. "Yeah, I did. We're on the road to Bangor, and we need to know where you guys are. Yeah. Is that the site from last summer? The one with the— Okay, we'll be twenty minutes. We've got Rhodri in the back, and he's hurt really bad. Yeah, get them ready. No, Eva's fine — she's with me. I tried her already. She's not answering. Yes, please."

He put the phone down and scratched at his jaw. "That was Sam. They're north of Ember — you'll need to turn around, Seth. I don't know the roads down there, but this can't be the right way."

"It's not," Seth agreed. "Ember is a long drive. I'm not sure he'll survive it..."

"He'll have to," Liam said.