CHAPTER 187 Countdown – Part 1

　　SOUNDTRACK: “I Guess I’m in Love” by Clinton Kane.

　　*****

　　~ MACK ~

　　It took us hours to get back to the cabin, circling and testing, making certain we weren’t followed. A part of me had been pissed that Rig would even think he needed to warn us, but then I realized I would have done the same thing.

　　This whole situation was fucked.

　　Natalie was next to me in the car, her hands tight in her lap, her face pale.

　　She was blaming herself.

　　We’d opened a door with this rogue pack, and now she felt like it was her fault that it wasn’t going down the way we wanted it to.

　　“I really thought—” she said for the sixth time.

　　“Nat, we all did. They’re stronger than we thought. That sucks—but it’ll also help Rig when he beats this guy.”

　　I took her hand, but she turned her face to stare out into the night-dark forest around us. “What if he doesn’t?”