Free Red: Into the Dark by Sophie Stern Page A

place. Surely I can find a cave or a hole or a bush to hide under. There must be something. I’ve made it this far. I don’t want to let it be for nothing.
    I won’t let this all be for nothing.
    Grandmother might be dead, but that doesn’t give me a free pass to just give up. Just because I’ve lost the light of my life doesn’t mean I will stop fighting for my future.
    I won’t let her death be for nothing.
    Dirt and mud sticks beneath my nails as I slowly pull my way forward. I’m on my belly on the dirt, like a snake, and I slowly slither toward the trees.
    The sounds of battle fade away and soon it’s just me and the forest.
    I don’t stop to think about what that means until I hear a voice.
    “Red.”
    I keep pulling. I don’t know how this person knows my name or what he wants, but I can’t let him get me. I have to fight. I have to keep going.
    I might be bleeding, dying, left for dead, but I won’t give up.
    “Red.”
    The voice is firmer this time, and closer.
    I squeeze my eyes shut.
    “Go away,” I say to the voice. Go away, leave me alone, leave me here to die on my own. I reach forward, my fingers clawing at the dirt, trying to pull myself.
    Escape is close. I can almost touch it. I can taste it.
    So close.
    “Red,” the voice sounds urgent now, pained. “Red, look at me. Are you all right?”
    “No,” I shake my head. My eyes are closed. I won’t open them. Not for this stranger. Not for anyone.
    “Red. Open your eyes.”
    The gig is up. I sense someone in front of me. I can feel his shadow over me. I can’t crawl forward anymore. He reaches his hands on mine and to my surprise, his touch is soft, almost gentle.
    Maybe this one isn’t bad.
    I slowly relax my eyes, opening them. I can’t help but gasp. The man kneeling in front of me is covered in scratches and cuts. His skin is dirty and dark, but his eyes are gentle and filled with concern.
    Suddenly, without a word, I know that he saved me. I know he came to my rescue when I needed him most and I hesitate to admit it’s because we love each other. We couldn’t, could we? It’s too soon, isn’t it?
    “Wolfy,” I murmur quietly, because he doesn’t have to explain who he is.
    I know.
    I can see it in his eyes.
    “Wolfy, you saved me.”
    Then everything goes black.

10.
     
    Nash
     
    I carry Red back to the cabin and get her cleaned up. She seems so frail, so fragile. I lay her tiny body in the bed and just run my fingers through her hair. Finally, I’m touching her. After all this time, I can finally feel her skin against mine.
    I just wish it didn’t have to be like this.
    I wish my baby wasn’t afraid.
    Now I have to leave her. As much as it pains me, as much as it tears a whole in my freaking heart to have to go, there is work to be done. Red will be safe enough in bed for now. I lift the blankets to her chin and make sure she’s not too warm.
    There’s a pair of my jeans in the dresser and I yank them on, along with some sneakers. I haven’t worn them in ages. It’s a wonder Red never commented on them. Then again, her grandmother was an eclectic woman. The cabin is full of all sorts of strange things that I’m quite sure I don’t want to know about. I head out to the porch and lock the door, placing the key back in my new hiding spot: an abandoned bird’s nest in a nearby busy. I’ll show Red the spot later. That hide-a-key stone was just an all-around awful hiding spot.
    It’s a wonder no one found the cabin before.
    After one last long look at the cabin, I go take care of the bodies. Shifters are easy enough. Once a shifter dies, he or she usually turns back to their human form. Some species of shifters will disintegrate, but not all.
    Not wolves.
    The forest is isolated. No one is going to bother Red again, not so soon after the last attack. If I’m lucky, Jeffrey won’t even notice his men missing for hours, maybe even a day. I don’t know if he sent he men directly after her or if she just stumbled