Torn Between Enemy Alphas

Chapter 23- Escape

A/N- This is a couple days late, but I'll make it a double update. Enjoy! 

"We're just lucky that the creek is still this low. If it had already rained we'd be screwed." The water was only ankle deep as Alice led the way through the dark, thankful that when the sun finally set, all that would be left of the waning moon in the clear night sky was a sliver of light that would leave the forest in almost complete darkness. It would be cold once the sun slipped down behind the western horizon, but they'd been pushing on steadily since they'd made their escape across the pack lines earlier in the day. Progress was slow, much slower than it would have been if Fin hadn't been injured, but they were making their way steadily towards the place Alice had in mind.

Alice strongly suspected that if they did escape, the only reason they would be able to make it out, would be because the main search would be focused on tracking Alpha Cadman. Lane simply had to be the prime suspect. All evidence pointed towards him. If anyone was chasing after them, and now that it was nearly dusk Alice was becoming hopeful that anyone who had been after them would have given up and gone home, then it would likely only be the small band of warriors who had taken it upon themselves to interrogate her mate.

Still, Alice wasn't going to risk the possibility that the two other Alphas might decide to come for Fin when they heard he'd gone missing out of the holding cells. That could potentially bring down a massive search on their heads which, Alice thought, would be doubly unfortunate, because the search needed to be aimed at the person who she was certain had Emery.

"Here. I think we've covered our tracks well enough." She crossed to the far side of the creek bed and waited for her mate to make his way beside her. He was pale, but the swelling and bruises on his face looked better than they had. Little by little he was healing. But it would do him a great deal of good to get somewhere where he could lay down and rest, even if it wasn't in a proper bed. As they had walked Alice had already explained that she knew these woods better than almost anyone else in the pack and that she knew a place where they could hide, although she hadn't elaborated much beyond that.

Fin had been nearly silent as they'd hiked along, but after asking twice if there was any way that she could help him and seeing the reaction on his face at her offer, Alice wasn't about to ask again. And so instead she offered information when she had information to give, but otherwise she had plodded along, leading the way towards what she hoped was safety.

The sun had set, but it wasn't fully dark when they came to the place that she had once made her home. The brush was even thicker than it had been the last time she'd been there, and blackberries had grown up over the hidden entrance, but she finally managed to create a large door through the brush that had come to block the way, being careful to make sure that they would be able to hide the entrance again once they were through.

She felt Fin's eyes on her as she worked, although she had basically forced him to sit and rest. He'd wanted to help but she'd given him a look that had silenced him, which she thought said a great deal about how much pain he was in after walking for half a day and well into the night.

Tilting her head back she looked up at the sliver of the moon making its way across the Milky Way. They were only days away from the new moon. The forest was at its darkest. And just as she had thought, the entire way here, they hadn't met a bit of trouble. In fact, she hadn't even scented a single rogue, on their entire journey. She nodded trying to piece together questions she'd had in the past with information that she now had.

"I think you should be able to fit through. I just have one last thing to do." Alice got up and walked back over to her mate, crouching down beside him before pulling her cellphone out of her pocket. "Let's see if I still remember how to do this." She held up the phone and quickly dismantled the pink case that she kept it in, before slipping the case back into her pocket. "You probably don't have a pin on you?" He raised an eyebrow, his eyes focused on her. "And you don't have your phone right?" Closing his eyes he shook his head, letting out a long breath through his nose. She knew she needed to get him inside the cave, and fast before he collapsed right here, out in the open, but this last thing that she needed to do was important.