<b>Chapter </b><b>416 </b>


    <b>“</b><b>Girls</b><b>, </b>can either <b>of </b>you create a link with your dad<b>? </b>We need to let him <b>know </b>where <b>you </b><b>are</b><b>. </b><b>Maybe </b><b>he </b><b>can </be get us.‘


    <b>“</b><b>I </b><b>can</b>.<b>” </b>Volunteers Madilyn.


    “Why isn’t he trying to link with us?” Madisyn asks a question I can’t properly answer.


    All parents can link with a pup from birth. It’s the pup’s ability to create a link with their parents that takes time. At four years old I know that the girls‘ link will only be able to travel a maximum <b>of </b>five miles and that’s only if they are really good at it.


    I feel the gentle tug of Madilyn slowing down as she attempts to contact her father. I’m also lost in my own swirling thoughts of how much trouble I’m going to be in once I get back for causing this brawl.


    I reported what was going on in the shacks. If I had just waited for alpha and his men toe instead of doing it myself. How could I be so stupid to track them after they had broken my arm in the cabin?


    I shake my head softly, trying to get such crippling thoughts from my head as a sudden yelp, scream then tumble force me back to reality in time to scoop a falling Madilyn into my arms before she hits the ground.


    “Ow, ow, ow!” She screams before she bawls.


    “I’m sorry Lyn.” I apologize as I lift her and ce her on arge boulder bordering the path we’re on.


    “What happened, sweetpea?” I ask as her sister scrambles up onto the boulder next to her, wrapping her into a tight hug.


    “I stepped on something. My foot hurts. I can’t get daddy. I want daddy.<b>” </b>


    She blubbers through quickly before crying on her sister’s shoulder. Madisyn looks at me, worry in her eyes as she holds her sister.


    I pick her foot up in one hand and despite the thickyer of sand and dirt a thick dark line appears down the length of her tiny foot./


    “I’m sorry Lynnie but I have to touch.”


    She whimpers at the thought, tugging repeatedly until she understands that she can’t get away.


    “Easy there, Lynnie. You know me better than Maddie, you know I’ll be gentle<b>.</b>”


    <b>Chapter </b>416


    <b>Her </b><b>eyes </b>are <b>wide </b><b>with </b>fear <b>as </b>she buries her face back into her sister’s neck. <b>I </b>run <b>my </b><b>thumb </b>lighth <b>against </b>the cut. Only to find it’s not an open wound. I yelp slightly <b>as </b>the object <b>in </b><b>Madilyn’s </b>foot <b>slices </b><b>my </b>thumb open.


    “Damn.<b>” </b>I curse again<b>, </b>flicking my own blood into the dirt.


    “What is it?” Madisyn asks as she watches me flick more blood from my thumb.


    “<b>ss</b>. Real sharp too. I barely touched it.”


    I run my hand along the left side of my head<b>, </b>drawing a sharp breath as my fingers meet yet another open wound on the side of my head.


    “Well that’s not good.” I mutter under my breath but they hear me all the same.


    They look at me, huddled together on the boulder, eyes wide with fear waiting for me to form a n for getting us out of there.


    “Madilyn, I’m going to carry you. Madisyn, I need your help navigating. Do you think <b>you </b>can smell your way home?”


    I can hear the rain hammering the cave walls and the thunder rattling from above<b>. </b>I know we’re <b>near </b>the mouth of the cave that leads us outside, back into the torrential rain. My only relief is that my breathing has eased up since taking a break to look at Madilyn, unfortunately the double vision thates from a bad concussion has not.


    “It depends on how well daddy marked the trails leading back to the house. The rain <b>washes </b>it away.” Madisyn finally answers the question.


    “I thought daddy only marked the border.” Madilyn remarks.


    “The highest ranked warriors do that. Daddy makes paths in the woods so we don’t get lost. Once we’re out of the trees and I can see the buildings then I know which way to go.”


    “Problem is knowing which direction will lead us the quickest out of the trees.<b>” </b><b>I </b>think out loud. “First, I need to create a way to carry your sister on my back with my coat.”


    I’ve removed my coat from around my neck and arm by the time I’ve finished speaking. Iy my jacket out on the boulder beside Madilyn before fishing around in my pocket for the knife I tend to carry with me. Surprisingly it’s still there even though my inhaler disappeared.