Page 35 of In Violent Waves

Images of mottled fur and elongated canines pelted his mind.

It hadn’t been a bird after all.

“Wilder,” she shrieked.

He was already on his feet, ripping her away from the window.

A bolt crashed through the glass and embedded in the opposite wall. He had clutched her to his chest as they had fallen onto the bed. Her body vibrated with fear, but she ripped herself out of his grip.

“I told you it wasn’t a bird!”

The door flew open. Maelys and Ridge were flanking Otto.

“We have company,” Otto said, drawing the steel blade at his side.

Ridge gripped his bow, already strung, in his hand, as his eyes darted around the room before landing on the arrow lodged in the wall.

Maelys gripped two daggers in her fists and scanned the hallway.

Wilder was already shoving his boots on and throwing Lyra’s at her.

“How many?”

Otto shook his head.

“Do we know which clan?”

“What is happening?” Lyra asked, struggling to get her boots back on.

Her fingers trembled so violently that he was surprised her voice had been steady.

Otto looked from Lyra to Wilder, gauging how much information to share.

Wilder took the boots from her and squatted down at her feet.

Shards of glass from the window crunched under his boots as he pushed hers onto her feet and then laced them up tight.

“Someone is after you.”

“Me!” She pointed to her chest. “How does anyone know where I am? You’ve kidnapped me!”

She moved to stand up, and he wrenched her back down in a crouch.

“Stay away from the window!”

Lyra covered her mouth with her hands to keep from screaming, and he could see the whites of her eyes swallow her emerald irises.

“They’ve got the building surrounded,” Otto muttered.

Maelys nodded and stalked to the end of the hall with quiet, sure steps.

“We’re gonna have to make a break for it,” Wilder said, looking from a frightened Lyra to a calm Otto.

“We’ll make it.”

“Well, that’s a relief,” Lyra muttered. “Why didn’t you lead with that?”

Sarcasm dripped from her every word, and if they weren’t in such a precarious position, Wilder might have admired her tenacity.