Feral Wolf by Caroline Peckham

We gathered at the bottom of the ladder which led up into the guards’ barracks, our group bottlenecking as Cain paused and turned a dark look on me.

“This is it,” he snarled. “You’re sure you can trust everyone here to keep away from the guards? I know they swore not to kill them but that doesn’t mean they wont hurt them.” His gaze moved to Sin and I raised my chin as I held his eye.

“I swear it. None of us will do anything to the guards beyond subduing them if they come at us. We’re focused on getting out of here. Not looking to hurt anybody.”

“Cross my heart and hope to pie,” Sin agreed solemnly.

“You mean die,” Ethan hissed.

“Why would I hope to die?” Sin shot back. “I hope for pie regularly but I’m not suicidal, kitten.”

Cain gritted his jaw, but he seemed to accept my word and he shot up the ladder ahead of us to open the hatch which led into the Warden’s office.

I grabbed the rungs and as I heaved myself up behind him, the others close on my heels and began to climb.

My heart pounded with a frantic energy as I tasted freedom on the tip of my tongue and every inch I climbed drew me closer to it.

When I made it to the top of the hatch, Mason was waiting inside the Warden’s office, his posture rigid as he stood beside the door and listened out for the rest of the guards.

I hopped out of the hidden hatch and landed on my feet, perspiration slipping down my spine in the warmth of the room. Darkmore was never warm like this, but I guessed the guards had it a lot better than the rest of us up here.

I shrugged my arms out of my jumpsuit and tied it around my waist, leaving my top half covered by my tank top. I strode towards Cain as the others began to climb out of the hatch behind me, nervous energy trickling into my veins.

I slipped my fingers between his as I reached him and he stilled, looking down at me in surprise and squeezing my fingers tightly

“I want you to come with me,” I said to him in a low voice, needing him to hear me because I wasn’t sure he fully grasped that yet. I wasn’t just asking him to help me break out of this place, I was asking him to run with me.

“And what exactly would I do once we were out there?” he asked dismissively, but his grip on me tightened and I was certain he wanted this even if he wouldn’t admit it to himself. “Once I help you escape, the curse should break and I’ll be free to go on living my life.”

“Without me?” I asked, wondering if he found that as hard to picture as I did.

Cain looked down at me with a frown furrowing his brow, his gaze slipping over my features like he was drinking in the sight of me before he nodded.

“Yeah. I don’t have a place with you,” he said, releasing my hand and moving to step away from me, but I caught his arm and growled at him.

“And what if I say you do?” We didn’t really have time for this, but I also had to say it now or I wasn’t going to get the chance at all. “What if I want you with me?”

“Then you’d be the first person who ever really had.”

I pushed up onto my tiptoes and kissed him, my fingers sliding into his hair and my pulse hammering at the thought of this being goodbye.

“Come with me,” I whispered against his lips.

“I can’t,” he replied roughly though the look in his eyes said he wanted to give me a different answer.

I nodded, my chest twisting with the sharp feeling of pain but I held myself there with him for a moment longer. “Remember what I told you about Mount Lupa then. So when you change your mind you can come find me.”

I made a move to step back, but Cain caught my arm and yanked me towards him again, pushing me up against the wall and kissing me hard as a growl of longing escaped him.

That kiss was like fire and danger and all the reasons we had to hate each other mixed into one. It was passion and heat and so much anger, but it was hungry and eager and aching too. It was goodbye in its sweetest form and the knowledge of that sent a tremble running through my limbs as I clung to him and my tongue met with his in a desperate plea not to be parted.

When we broke apart, my adrenaline was thumping and there was a thickness in my throat which held all of the unspoken words between us. But it was already too late for them and I could see the decision in his eyes. So I was just going to have to hold onto the hope that one day soon he’d realise that he still wanted me with or without the curse and he’d come meet me on that mountain. But until then, this was goodbye.

Roary cleared his throat and I turned away from Cain, staring him down as he scowled at me, clearly less than impressed with me kissing the enemy. But I didn’t have a shit to give and he could clearly tell because he dropped it.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Always,” I agreed.

Cain glanced at the group of inmates gathered behind us, his gaze lingering on Hastings who half fell out of the hatch with a relieved sob before he tugged the door open and moved out of my way.

A dark grin pulled at my lips and magic crackled in my hands as I led the way out into the corridor with Roary and Ethan flanking me.

The sound of the guards talking in their rec room led us towards them and I broke into a run as I burst through the door.

Yells of fright escaped the guards as they spotted the swarm of orange jumpsuits bursting into the room and I shot vines at them, immobilising two at once and binding them tightly to their chairs.

Roary and Ethan used ice to lock down three others, but the rest had a chance to stand and fight back before we could finish our work.

I ducked as a huge fireball came whizzing for my head, rolling across the carpet before a harsh wind slammed into me and knocked me even further from my pack.

Pudding bellowed a challenge as he lumbered into the room, taking a shot of earth magic to the chest and hardly even flinching before he cast his own magic right back at the guard who had attacked him and knocked her out.

Magic slammed into walls and the guards fought ferociously but we had the element of surprise, the determination of needing to escape this hell and pure strength of will on our side.

I shoved myself to my feet again, finding Officer Lyle waiting for me with his hands raised but as he shot a blast of water my way, I lurched aside and managed to snare his arms with vines which grabbed him from behind.

“OMS you guys,” Esme whispered as the fighting all came to a halt and I looked around to find her standing there with her shirt ripped open and her tits fully out. “I almost just had my nipple chopped off.”

A breath of laughter fell from my lips as I glanced around at the terrified looking guards but they didn’t have anything else to fear from us.

Hastings stood at the back of our group with wide, terrified eyes, but none of us paid him any attention as we turned to leave the room. He was tapped out anyway so he was no threat to us and he’d be safe in here now that the FIB were on their way.

“Addio per sempre, stronzi,” I said to them with a grin, whistling for the others to follow me back out into the corridor before using more vines to seal the door to the rec room, leaving the guards locked up nice and safe inside it for the FIB to find.

“Gah,” Ethan exclaimed as he rounded a corner and I winced as I stepped up behind him, finding Plunger butt naked and bent over as he stretched.

“Just limbering up for our burrowing,” he explained while looking at us from between his legs. I tried not to look at his asshole which was staring at us too, but I swear the damn thing winked at me.

“We need to find a room on the east side of the building as close to the surface as we can,” I said, turning away from Plunger because ew. But we still needed him, so for now I was just going to try and avoid looking at him.

Cain caught my eye from where he’d waited outside the rec room and he jerked his chin to gesture down the corridor beside him.

“That way,” I commanded, pointing the others in the direction Cain had indicated. “Plunger, you need to figure out a good place to start digging. I’ll make the call to Dante to bring down the forcefield and then we’re all gonna have to be ready to run like hell.”

The group all started jogging that way and I tugged a pudding pot from my pocket to speak to Leon. It was time to call in the Storm Dragon and the FIB weren’t going to know what hit them.