Chapter 482: Old Cabin.

Damien.

The damp air of the subterranean tunnel felt like ice against my face, but sweat was dripping down my neck as I carried Maria in my arms. Her weight was nothing, but the sheer terror of how quiet she was—how shallow her breathing felt against my chest—made every step feel like walking through wet cement.

Adrein pushed open the heavy wooden door at the mouth of the tunnel exit, the rusted iron hinges letting out a faint, painful screech.

"Be careful and quiet," I hissed, pulling Maria tighter against my chest as the cold night wind rushed into the shaft. "We don’t know who’s watching this riverbank."

Adrein stepped out first, his hand resting on his weapon, his face pale and sunken. His frayed bond thread was tearing him apart from the inside, his breathing coming in short, ragged gasps. He scanned the dense treeline, his sharp eyes cutting through the dark before he motioned for me to follow.

"It’s clear," Adrein whispered, his voice trembling. "For now. Let’s move before—"

He froze mid-sentence, his boot catching on something heavy in the mud just a few feet from the hidden exit.

"What is it?" I asked, stepping up beside him, shielding Maria’s face from the biting wind with the edge of my fur cloak.

Adrein lowered his gaze, his jaw dropping open in utter disbelief. "Damien... look."

I stepped closer, tilting my head down into the shadows of the tall grass. Lying facedown in the freezing dirt, motionless and covered in dark mud and dried blood, was a man.

I sucked in a sharp breath as the scent hit me—the faint, unmistakable mark of our own pack, smothered under the bitter smell of dirt and poison.

"Noah?" I choked out.

Adrein dropped to his knees, grabbing the man’s shoulder and rolling him onto his back. Noah’s head fell limp, his face pale as death, his wrists torn up and caked in dark, crusty blood. His chest was barely rising, his breathing so faint it was almost non-existent.

"What the hell?" Adrein stammered, staring at Noah in complete shock. "How is he out here? How did he even get out of the Pack?"

"I don’t know," I rasped, my mind reeling as panic flared in my chest. "We had instructed, and given explicit orders to the guards to keep him chained deep underground, completely isolated from Anabel and Maria!"

"Did anyone let him out?" Adrein asked, his voice rising in desperate confusion as he checked Noah’s pulse point. "Or did he break out himself?"

"It doesn’t make any sense," I growled, looking back toward the dark silhouette of the estate towering over the trees behind us. "If he had broken out, the guards would have reported it to us!" I paused. " I mean, Noah was supposed to be completely neutralized down there. If he’s out here like this... bleeding out in the mud... something went horribly wrong inside those lower levels."

Adrein shook his head, looking up at me with wide, bloodshot eyes. "He’s unconscious, Damien, and his heart is beating, but barely... he’s completely out."

"We can’t leave him," I said immediately, my Alpha instincts fighting against the crushing weight of the situation. "If the Lycan prince’s mercenaries are patrolling this treeline like we overheard, then they’ll execute him where he lies."

"Look at us, Damien!" Adrein rasped, pointing a shaking hand at his own chest before gesturing to Maria in my arms. "You’re carrying Maria, who is dying from wolfsbane! I can barely keep myself upright because my bond thread is snapped! How are we supposed to carry a six-foot-two, two-hundred-pound Alpha across pack territory?!"

"We drag him!" I yelled back in a harsh whisper, my eyes flashing gold. "I am not leaving our bro... him to die in the dirt for Vincent’s dogs to find! We drag him until we find cover!"

Adrein swallowed hard, looking from Noah’s limp body back to Maria’s pale face, his chest heaving as he fought through his own physical exhaustion. He let out a ragged breath and nodded. "Fine. Fine. Grab his arms, I’ll take his legs."

"No," I corrected, shifting Maria’s weight carefully so she rested firmly against my left shoulder, supported by my chest and my left arm. "I’ve got Maria. You take one arm, I’ll use my free hand to drag him by his coat, and then we move together."

Adrein bent down, grabbing Noah’s left arm over his shoulder, while I crouched low, hooking my broad right hand firmly into the thick collar of Noah’s leather jacket.

"On three," I grunted, my muscles straining as I braced myself. "One... two... three!"

With a heavy heave, we hauled Noah’s limp weight out of the mud. His boots dragged uselessly along the damp forest floor, leaving a heavy trench in the earth behind us. Every step was pure torture. Maria was tucked tight against my side, her cold skin pressed against my neck, while my right arm burned with agony as I hauled Noah through the dense underbrush.

Adrein was wheezing beside me, his boots slipping on wet leaves, his teeth grinding together so hard I could hear them clicking.

"Where... where are we going?" Adrein gasped out, his face turning ghostly pale under the moonlit canopy. "We can’t... we can’t make it to the main river road like this."

"The old ranger cabin," I grunted through grit teeth, driving my boots into the incline. "It’s half a mile north, buried in the ridge. It’s built into the rock face—the warding stones there are ancient. It’ll hide our scent from Vincent’s scouts."

"That’s... that’s uphill," Adrein choked out, stumbling slightly as Noah’s weight shifted.

"Then keep digging your feet in!" I barked softly. "Do not look down, Adrein! Look at Maria! Keep moving!"

The forest grew thicker, the pine needles giving way to jagged rocks and heavy briars that tore at our clothes. Every few yards, Noah’s limp body would catch on a thick root, forcing us to stop, adjust our grip, and heave him forward again. My right shoulder felt like it was being pulled from its socket, and the agonizing throb in my bond with Maria was pulsing like a fever behind my eyes.

Maria let out a tiny, faint whimper against my neck, her body shivering violently under the heavy fur cloak.

"Hang on, sweetheart," I whispered down to her, my voice cracking with sheer desperation. I tightened my hold on her, my breath coming out unevenly as I struggled to keep moving. "Just hold on a little longer. We’re almost there."

My words came out strained, almost pleading, as I fought to keep the desperation from overtaking me. I could feel the weight of every movement, but I refused to loosen my grip.

"Damien..." Adrein rasped, his voice strained and breathless. His trembling hand lifted slowly, as his arm shook from exhaustion, but his finger remained fixed on the spot he had noticed...his finger pointing through the thick cluster of cedar trees ahead. He seemed to struggle just to get the words out, his breath shallow as he kept pointing toward what had caught his attention.

I followed the direction of his hand, narrowing my eyes as I searched through the dense branches and tangled foliage.

And then I saw it.

Rising out of the side of the rocky cliff face was the dark, dilapidated wooden roof of the abandoned hunting cabin. Thick ivy had swallowed much of its structure, crawling over the weathered roof and walls. Its small glass windows were dark and dusty, their surfaces almost completely obscured, making the cabin nearly invisible from the lower valley roads.

"Push through," I grunted, forcing the words past my labored breathing.

I tightened my grip on Noah, using the absolute last reserve of my strength to haul him up the final rocky slope. My muscles burned with every movement, but I kept pulling, refusing to stop until we reached the top.

We stumbled up to the rotting wooden porch. Adrein let go of Noah’s arm, collapsing against the cabin door and shoving it open with a heavy bang. Cold air rushed out of the abandoned cabin, smelling of old pine and dry dust.

I dragged Noah across the wooden threshold, dumping his unconscious body onto the dusty floorboards inside before carefully stepping into the room with Maria. Adrein slammed the heavy door shut behind us and threw the iron latch, sliding down the wood until he was sitting on the floor, clutching his chest and hyperventilating.

I crossed the small room, setting Maria down gently on a dusty leather cot against the far wall. I quickly pulled the heavy fur blanket over her, tucking it tight around her neck, before dropping to my knees beside her bed.

My lungs were burning, my hands covered in mud and Noah’s blood.

I looked over at Noah, lying motionless on the dusty floor, then back at Maria, whose face was so pale she looked like a ghost under the moonlight streaming through the shattered window.

We had made it to shelter, but as I listened to the quiet, terrifying silence of the surrounding woods, I knew we were completely trapped.