GREGOR

h in the woods, his knowledge of t

as the main search party passed nearby. Their voices, the sweeping

phant completely loyal to Cassius. I heard him bar

ssed us. Once they were

edge of the forest. A paved road lay ahead. "That's the border o

and the last of his food, alo

, my voice filled with gen

o. It'll be dawn soon. I h

zing his act of kindness, and th

treeline, a thick fog rolled in, sudden and

s thick as milk and carr

ts screame

, desperate to get

g sound cut through

bolt, its tip glinting with the unmistakable sheen of s

were waitin

I scrambled to my feet a

, coming from all directions. The

sive, feral scent of un-Pack-ed w

as Cassius working with Rogues? A thousan

blindly. My foot caught on a

ing toward me. They held weapons that glea

had just won my freedom. Wa

ot out from a nearby bush. A hand clamped over my mo

ashing against a wall of hard muscle. The overwhelm

ut the arms holding me only tightened the

h pain, rasped in my ear. "Don'

fr

fallen. Finding me gone, they began cu

stranger, hidden in the dense foli

f his heart against my back, and... a wound. Something w