The guy nodded. “I’m trying to help. I was hoping I’d find you here because I fear there would be no hope for you if you were behind us.”
Gripp looked at April, who had taken a few steps away. Gripp asked the guy to give him a rundown of the escape route. Gripp felt his blood turning to ice as the man explained it to him.
It’s worse than I thought. It’s going to be a challenge for me. How will April make it through?
“All right,” Gripp said, his voice harsh. “Go. Thank you for warning us but go now and see to the kids. Best of luck.”
“And you, friend,” the man said, turning to run from the cave. Gripp paused to listen, stretching his shifter senses as far as he could. The man’s footsteps ran lightly through the forest, barely making any sound.
In harsh contrast, Gripp could hear combat boots stomping heavily through the underbrush, coming right for them. They had only minutes before the miner’s soldiers came upon them.
They’ve been tracking us. Fuck!
Gripp realized that the men believed him to be trapped. They were just going to burst in here and fire on them, expecting them to be trapped like rats.
Then they are probably planning to get their slaves back and maybe punish the civilians for letting this happen in the first place.
The footsteps were getting closer.
“We have to go, now!” Gripp said, grabbing April’s hand. “Do you trust me?”
She nodded. Her eyes were full of fear, but her heartbeat was strong and steady.
“I trust you,” she said, her bottom lip trembling. “Where to?”
Gripp squeezed her hand and kissed her hard on the lips. “You’re not going to like it.”
TWENTY
APRIL
The world around her had gone into slow motion. She heard the men at the front of the cave now. She didn’t need shifter senses to know there were at least a dozen, and they were well armed.
She looked at her small hand, almost swallowed by Gripp’s. She brought her eyes up to his, seeing the urgency in his expression but still not being able to move.
They are just going to walk in here and blow us away.
The world stayed in stasis for a few seconds more until April began to feel dizzy. Then Gripp turned and ran, tugging on her arm. She fell forward and caught herself clumsily, stumbling to the floor. Gripp bent down and wrapped an arm around her waist, half carrying her toward the back of the cave.
She hadn’t heard what the man said about the escape route. As they ran through the narrow, rocky corridor, April hoped there wasn’t going to be a jagged path through the mountain or a chasm to jump.
When she heard the gurgling of water, she almost sobbed in fear. April was sure of what they’d find once they reached the end, and she was so frightened that she almost turned to meet the firing squad instead.
Please just let it be a stream we have to step over.
The rushing sound got louder, the roaring almost an expression of violence itself expressed in nature. They rounded a corner, and April saw the foaming, thrashing rapids of the subterranean river that flowed along the back of the cave wall.
Only a small part of it was visible. It flowed out from one wall, made a sharp curve, then disappeared against an opening on the opposite side. The force of the water implied it moved swiftly and was trapped as it rushed through the confined spaces.
She stared at the white-tipped waves with such intense focus that Gripp had to shake her to get her attention. She realized he’d been speaking to her, and she’d been totally out of it.
“We have to go in there?” she asked, her voice high. She expected Gripp to get impatient with her, but instead, she saw his face fall as if his heart had taken a blow.
“I’m sorry,” he said gently. “We have no choice. The guy explained the escape route to me. We have to follow the direction of the river through this wall.”
Gripp pointed at the downstream side where water splashed against the top and sides of the cave. It looked unpredictable and powerful, strong enough to tear her apart before it drowned her.
“How?” she asked, shaking her head. “The current looks too strong. The water is acting like it’s pinned here. There can’t be much of a gap.”