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“I’ve been missing you for years, River.” I start to walk away but look over my shoulder one last time. “Take care of him better than you took care of me.”

He looks haunted, but mumbles, “Goodbye.”

I walk back to Dair, my heart even heavier. “Alright?” he asks softly.

“I’m ready to leave,” I plead. “I want to make good time today.”

He nods and begins strapping all of his things to his back. He hands me my smaller bag while Tore gears up, then we’re walking through the breach into the Wilds.

Before we even make it to the shoreline, a familiar voice is yelling behind us, “Wait! I’m coming!”

I turn sharply, wincing as the movement stretches my still-healing bite mark. “Vale?” I ask, stunned. But there she is, jogging after us with a backpack of her own and several weapons strapped to her body.

When she catches up, I ask, bewildered, “What are you doing?”

“I’m coming,” she says, resolute. “I have unfinished business in the west, and let’s face it, there’s nothing for me in Grand Prairie.”

“What about Clay?”

She shrugs sadly. “I asked him if he wanted to come, but he told me he can’t leave his scent-match.” Her eyes peer over my shoulder, and I slowly follow her gaze, finding Tore staring her down, something fervent illuminating his mismatched eyes.

“Right,” Dair laughs, gaze swinging between his best friend and mine. “We’ll have to adjust those supply lists for one more,” he says to Tore.

“Did it last night,” the freckled alpha replies.

“Good,” Vale says, face very serious.

Everyone discusses the path we’re going to take around the lake, but I just stare through the hole in the wall, feeling that tiny tether between Ferris and me stretch further and further. I close my eyes, feeling the breeze across my skin and the sun spreading my freckles like kisses across my cheeks. In the near distance there are birds singing to each other in the trees. My heart syncs with the lapping of the lake’s waves, and I just breathe.

Then, I open my eyes and use every ounce of heartbreak in my body to bury the hurting bond as deep down as it will go.

When I turn away from the wall, Dair is waiting, watching me with something like worship shining in his blue-gray eyes. He reaches out his hand, an offer, and I take it in mine, a choice.

As our journey begins, I don’t look back again. Not once.

PART TWO:

HOLD

[ 25 ]

FERRIS

Six Years Ago, Southern Lake Michigan

The howling cries of Biters echo through the concrete and metal graveyard. Acidic rain falls from the sky in sheets, soaking everything in monochromatic grays. In the hazy distance, the skeleton of a once great city cuts into the sky. The stinging water keeps running through my curls and into my eyes, blurring the world around me into an urban hellscape over which I slip and slide through puddles.

The horde caught my scent almost an hour ago, chasing me out of the barren sand dunes east of the Great Lake into the derelict city protected by miles of abandoned data centers. Everything has blended into a sea of indistinct shapes. Fear holds my heart in a squeezing grip as I scan over the blurred buildings, looking for an open door to slip through.

I need to hide because I cannot keep running.

Finally, a rectangle of empty black appears in the wall of gray, and I take a chance, running right through it. I keep running until I can no longer hear the rain splashing on the pavement, and the low light spilling through the open door fades into blessed darkness. Exhausted, I stop, nearly collapsing onto the cold, polished floor. For several long moments, I catch my breath while trying to blink the stinging rain from my eyes. Eventually my lungs stop heaving and my vision begins to clear.

All around me are towering stacks of computer servers, each connected by looping and twisting wires bigger than my wrists. Here in the near darkness, it looks like I’ve entered the body of some beast, the cords entwined like great, black veins or twisting entrails. The servers’ little plastic lights are no longer blinking; instead, they stare like black insect eyes. The towers reach high above me, yet they don’t touch the vaulted, metal ceiling. Each direction I look is cordoned out into mazelike rows of towers.

I’m trapped in the belly of this never-ending, mechanical monster.

Some distance away, a door slams like a gunshot, the echo reverberating against every single lick of metal and plastic. I plaster myself against the nearest tower of servers and cover my mouth with my hand to stifle the sounds of my breathing. Soon, the scuffling, grunting sounds of Biters begin scraping against my ears. I try not to panic. The chances of them being able to find me in this massive building is very small so long as I stay quiet and keep my scent neutral. If I’m lucky, the astringent metallic scent of tech will hide me.