Chapter 47

She unlocked the window and worked to slide it up. For a moment she thought it might be stuck, but eventually, the paint along the seam gave way and she was able to push it open without too much trouble.

She let out a soft sigh of relief and grabbed her hiking bag and tossed it carefully out the window and then crawled out after it. She tugged the window closed, grabbed her bag and hurried off into the woods back toward town.

Amanda moved as quietly as she could through the woods. They’d driven for at least an hour while she was awake and she had no idea how long she’d slept. She could be fifty miles away or a hundred.  She didn’t need a map to guide her way; her sense of where to go was stronger now than it ever had been before. 

As she ran, her senses began to overload. The morning sunlight was too bright, even in the shadows created by the trees overhead she felt nearly blinded by the brilliance of the day. The cheerful birdsongs and animal sounds of the morning made her ears pound. She could hear her feet on the ground and each and every twig that snapped under her feet grew louder and louder until it reminded her of a gunshot echoing through the woods each time it happened.

Her neck throbbed and her veins felt like they were on fire. She came to a stop and her nose twitched as she scratched at the spot where her neck met her shoulder.  There was a scent that reminded her of something metallic. Snake. The word somehow fit the scent. Why did it smell that way? How could she tell what it was? What the hell was happening to her? She sniffed again. Safe snake. If you don’t mind the fangs. The words were in her mind but they were not her own.

The sound of footsteps behind her drew her attention away from the snake and the thoughts. They were not as loud as her own footsteps and they came from far away, but they were coming and they were coming in her direction.

Amanda let loose a soft curse and began to run once again, though she altered her path slightly to take her further into the woods. The running would be harder for her but it would also be harder for them and she hoped it might slow them down enough to give her the upper hand.

She felt disoriented by the brilliance of the day and the loudness of every little sound. She worked hard to watch where she stepped as she ran not only to ease her own ears from the noises her feet made on the ground but also to try to minimize the chances of Sara and Daniel hearing her as she ran.

Amanda was sure she was making good time regardless of the fact that the wolf couple was coming up fast. Her inner compass seemed to be a living thing, drawing her back toward the little town with the clubhouse full of murderers.

She leaped over bushes and shrubbery like she was some kind of high school track star. The urgency to get away from Sara and Daniel began to take a back seat to the pleasure of the wind whipping her hair around her face and the feeling that filled her as she leaped over obstacles in her path. It felt almost like flying and it filled her with a sense of rightness and belonging that she’d never felt before.