275

FREE CHAPTER!

JULIAN

The rough fabric of the black blindfold pressed tight against my eyes.

I couldn't see a single thing. But I didn't care. Inside my head, a smug smile was already spreading across my face.

The motor hummed continuously under my boots. Sitting right beside me on the seat were two guards.

I leaned my head back against the cold steel wall of the van.

They thought they were punishing me. They thought sending me back to my native land was my death sentence.

Idiots, . Absolute fools.

The Delta Pack judges didn't have the courage to execute me on their own ground. So they followed the old laws. They put me in chains and ordered these guards to drive me across the border to my homeland.

They didn't understand how my people worked.

In my home territory, I had connections. Over the yeara I have made money.

I wasn't a fool without plans.

And to the judges in my land?

. The death penalty was just a fancy law written on old paper to scare the poor. The moment this van crossed the border, my people would be waiting. The execution would turn into a few months of light house arrest in a luxury manor.

Can you eat your cake and have it?

Of course. Yesss and that's exactly what's happening with me. I'm eating my cake and I'm having it back!

A small, quiet laugh nearly bubbled up from my throat, but I caught it just in time. I kept my face quiet, playing the part of a defeated prisoner.

Suddenly, the van jolted violently.

The tires screeched against the gravel, bringing the large vehicle to a sudden, harsh stop. My body pitched forward, the iron chains rattling loudly as I struggled to keep my balance in the dark.

"What's going on?" the guard on my left barked, his voice sharp and tense.

t. A long silence in the inside of the van.

Then,

"The road is blocked," the driver called back through the metal partition window. "There's a bunch of fallen trees across the dirt path."

"Fallen trees?" the second guard beside me muttered, his seat shifting as he reached for his sword handle. "Ride over them.."

"I can't," the driver said, his voice sounding confused.

"Wait... look up ahead."

I tilted my head, although I couldn't see a thing behind the black blindfold, but I could hear every tiny sound.

"Do you see something out there?" the first guard asked, leaning closer to the front partition.

"No... wait," the driver replied, his tone dropping low. "What are those people in front?"

"I don't know," the second guard said, his hand sliding his blade half an inch out of its leather sheath. "They look like… just bikers. Maybelline just some local guys hanging around the road."

"They're blocking the whole passage," the driver grumbled.

"I need to go tell them to move."

Before the driver could even open his door, a soft, weird sound cut through the air outside.

THWIP! THWIP! THWIP!

It sounded like sharp air blowing through small wooden pipes.

"Ow!" the driver suddenly yelled.

"What happened?!" the guard beside me shouted, standing up so fast his knee slammed into mine.

"My neck..." the driver gasped, his voice instantly turning thick, , and slow. "Something... something hit my..."

THUD.

The sound of a body slumping lifelessly against the steering wheel echoed through the partition.

"Fassy! Hey!" the first guard yelled, reaching for the small sliding window.

THWIP! THWIP!

"Ow!" the guard on my right cried out, grabbing his own throat. "What the hell—"

"It's darts!" the second guard screamed, drawing his sword out. "Tranquilizer darts! Get your shields up—"

THWIP!

"Ow..." the second guard groaned. His sword slipped out of his hand, clattering loudly against the metal floor of the van.

My heart gave a sudden, violent thud against my ribs.

"Hey!" I shouted into the dark, my hands pulling wildly against the iron chains. "What's happening out there?! What is going on?!"

Nobody answered me.

Beside me, I heard the sound of both guards slumping sideways. Their breathing turned into slow, deep, unconscious snores.

The entire van went dead silent.

I froze. Cold sweat broke out across my forehead, soaking into the top edge of my blindfold.

No. This isn't right. The pack guards wouldn't attack their own transport.

footsteps slowly approached the back of the van. The gravel crunched loudly under leather boots.

CLACK.

The iron latch on the back doors turned.

The doors swung open wide. A rush of hot, dusty afternoon air flooded into the back of the van, carrying the strong smell of gasoline and leather.

Strong, violent hands reached into the vehicle.

They grabbed the iron chain wrapped around my neck, yanking me forward with terrible, merciless force.

"AAGH!" I choked out, slipping off the bench.

They dragged me backward across the metal floor. My boots scraped uselessly against the steel. I tumbled out of the back of the van, slamming hard onto the rough road.

"Ouch! Stop!" I screamed, rolling onto my side. My elbow scraped against sharp rocks, tearing the skin. "What are you doing?! Who the fuck are you?!"