Her blood surges with adrenaline as devil-eyed wolves close in,
black phantoms unravelling into a whirlwind of shadows and smoke.
Her arms tighten around him, clinging to his warmth as the wind whips through her hair.
The earth rumbles beneath the convoy of SUVs raging at her back as her fiancé cuts through the blinding fog at reckless speed.
Headlights flare in the rearview mirror, tires screeching over the slick asphalt.
Her eyes shut tight as the Ducati roars, the speed knocking the breath from her.
He doesn't slow even as headlights blaze ahead.
She holds her breath in a muddled daze, faith and fear entwined within her, as shadows swell behind them.
Horns blare as a truck barrels toward them.
A sharp, metallic whoosh tears past her eardrums as Rhett veers past the truck with deadly precision.
The pungent smell of diesel still lingers in the fractured mist when she risks a glance back, a violent crash tearing through the road behind them. Headlights pierce the darkness, shadows rising, one after another.
Her throat closes as she turns forward, her pulse spiking at the wall of blinding fog, and whatever conceals beyond.
Her mind flashes back to the moment all hell broke loose.
Their cocoon of peace had been splintered beneath the low, distant growl of engines.
They were up at once, rushing toward the parking lot.
But when the bike roared to life, it was already too late to escape unnoticed.
A gunshot rips through the forest, sparks erupting from the asphalt.
The bike launches forward,
the force nearly tearing her away if she didn't hold on so tight.
They swerve through the streets as more shots ring out behind them, but none hit.
Tears blur her vision as the insanity of it all rattles through her.
Please, let this pass.
Let it be a nightmare.
God—no, not him.
A scream catches in her throat as a bullet rips past.
This can't be the end.
"Duck!"
She reacts instantly, ducking as a low, broken branch lashes past.
The Ducati veers, as the earth trembles beneath the bellow of engines.
Black shadows and dim headlights emerge through the fog as Rhett turns to face them.
A gun rests in his grip.
Her mind blanks out as she feels her ear drums burst at the loud crack of his bullet.
Her ears ring in a shrilling silence, the screaming tires a noise of a distant dream.
The gun bucks in his hand, shot after shot tearing through the air.
A deafening boom echoes, and crashes follow in its wake.
One monstrous machine on wheels swerves, and collides into a tree.
Rhett swivels the bike, surging forward.
Behind them, a clamor of destruction follows.
Petrol and gunpowder and blood linger thick in the air.
Her pulse thrums, wild and relentless.
When the remaining SUVs charges again, shadows still swelling,
threatening to consume.
Two paths converge ahead, and Rhett doesn't waste a second, taking the left.
Gunshots chase them as fog thickens, swallowing everything.
They break past the smothering forest, when hills rise on one side, open field on the other.
A landslide blocks the road, while engines thunder through her bones.
Rhett opens fire.
One SUV flips, another slams into it.
Metal erupts in booming cracks, splinters of glass rainining down before smoke chokes the airand another SUV surges in.
Gravel sprays as they swerve toward the field.
An explosion detonates behind them, heat bursting outward.
She glances back to a black Porsche ripping through billowing fire and smoke.
"Hold on," he says.
She does, the field rolling beneath them in a sickening tide of bumps and slush.
The sun rises in a deep orange haze, spilling across the blue peaks of snow-draped hills.
The violent rush of a river surges up to her ears.
Then the growl of an engine takes over, swallowing the wind and water as they come to a halt at the cliff's edge.
Her breath shakes at the crash of waves below.
The Porsche slows, before more SUVs flood in.
An endless ritual of predator and prey, tearing apart everything that gives her life.
Her frozen fingers clutch at Rhett's jacket.
They're trapped.
Death awaitson both sides.
Doors slam open, and voices cut through the air.
"Stop right there!"
"Drop your weapons!"
Guns snap toward them, guards swarming around them in a blur.
"What now?" shewhispers.
He doesn't answer.
"Step off the bike!" a guard barks.
Rhett stares at the grey, clouded sky.
The wind lashes through her hair as her gaze finds Ishmael's.
Awraith of night and danger, set apart from the wolves that hunt in vain.
Unarmed, he steps forward, ignoring one of his guard's order.
She shivers under the calm intensity of his gaze.
The roar of water, the howl of wind, the frantic rhythm of her fiancé's heart against her melts into a fever dream.
And then she feels it.
"Step down! Hands where we can see them!"
A heartbeat passes. Another.
Rhett grips the throttle. "Hold tight, Angel."
She leans into him, arms locking tightly around him.
The engine roars beneath them, its vibrations reverberating through her.
And their lives are already suspended between falling away and rising again when the Ducati surges.
A sharp rush of adrenaline ebbs into nothing as gravity vanishes, and a scream that sounds like her own rings in her ears.
The violent plunge makes it feel as though her soul is being ripped away from her.
"No!" Ishmael's voice tears through the air.
The world dissolves as rushing wind spirals around them.
Green water surges up to swallow them.
Oh God—oh God—
The water explodes, the sting of impactburning throughher.