Aria's POV
"Hold on!" Kai shouted as our truck flew around another sharp curve.
I grabbed the door handle so tight my knuckles hurt. Behind us, the black car was getting closer. Much closer.
"They're gaining on us," I said, my voice shaking.
Kai pressed the gas pedal all the way to the floor. Our truck roared louder, but the mountain road was too twisty for real speed. Every turn made my stomach flip, and not just from the baby.
"The cabin's still twenty miles away," Kai said through gritted teeth. "We're not going to make it."
The car behind us suddenly lurched forward. It was trying to ram into our bumper.
"Kai!"
He jerked the wheel to the right just in time. Our truck skidded toward the guardrail, but Kai pulled us back onto the road. My heart was beating so fast I thought it might explode.
"They're trying to kill us!" I gasped.
"No," Kai said grimly. "They're trying to stop us. Isabella wants you alive, remember? But she doesn't care if we get hurt in the process."
The black car tried to ram us again. This time it connected. Our truck jerked forward hard, and I screamed as my seatbelt cut into my chest.
"The baby," I whispered, pressing both hands to my stomach.
Kai's face went white. "Are you hurt?"
"I don't know. I don't think so."
But fear was clawing at my throat. What if the impact had hurt the baby? What if all this bouncing and terror was too much?
The car behind us revved its engine. It was getting ready for another attack.
"Kai, do something!"
"I'm trying!" He yanked the wheel left, then right, trying to stay ahead of them. But our truck was older and slower. They were going to catch us.
That's when I saw it. Up ahead, the road split into two paths. One went left toward the main highway. The other went right up a steep hill covered with trees.
"There," I pointed. "Go right."
"That road leads to nowhere," Kai said. "Just forest and cliffs."
"Exactly. They won't expect it."
Kai looked in the mirror at our pursuers, then at the split road ahead. He made his choice.
At the last second, he jerked the wheel hard to the right. Our truck shot up the narrow forest road, tires squealing. The black car tried to follow, but it was going too fast. It sailed past the turn and had to stop and back up.
"Yes!" I shouted. "We did it!"
But my celebration was short-lived. The forest road was even worse than the mountain highway. It was full of potholes and loose rocks. Tree branches scraped against our windows like claws.
"This road is terrible," I said, bouncing in my seat.
"It gets worse," Kai warned. "I remember this place from when I was a kid. It leads to an old mining area. Dead end."
My heart sank. "Dead end?"
"Unless we can find somewhere to hide until they give up looking."
Behind us, I could see headlights again. The black car had found our trail.
"They're back," I said.
Kai cursed under his breath. "Hold on. This is going to get bumpy."
He was right. The road got steeper and rockier. Our truck bounced like a ball. I had to clench my teeth to keep from biting my tongue.
Then I heard a sound that made my blood freeze. A loud CRACK from somewhere under our truck.
"What was that?" I asked.
"Nothing good," Kai said. But his voice was too calm. Too controlled. He was hiding something.
The steering wheel started shaking in his hands. Our truck began pulling to the left, like it wanted to drive into the trees.
"Kai, what's wrong?"
"The axle's damaged," he said quietly. "We're not going to make it much further."
I looked behind us. The black car was catching up fast. Soon they would be close enough to ram us again.
"There," Kai said suddenly, pointing ahead. "See that old building?"
Through the trees, I could see a broken-down structure that might have been a mining office once. It was falling apart, but it had walls.
"Can we hide there?"
"Maybe. If we can reach it."
Our truck was shaking worse now. Every few seconds, it would lurch to one side or the other. Kai had to fight the wheel just to keep us on the road.
We were almost to the old building when our front tire exploded.
The truck spun sideways and slammed into a tree. The impact threw me against the door so hard I saw stars. My ears were ringing, and something warm was running down my face.
"Aria!" Kai's voice sounded far away. "Are you okay?"
I tried to answer, but my head was spinning. When I touched my forehead, my fingers came away bloody.
"The baby," I whispered.
"You're going to be fine," Kai said, but I could hear panic in his voice. "Both of you are going to be fine."
He tried to start the truck, but it just made grinding noises. We weren't going anywhere.
"They're here," I said, seeing headlights through the cracked windshield.
The black car pulled up next to our wrecked truck. Four men got out, all carrying guns. I recognized them as Sterling Pack guards from the night in the forest.
"Out of the truck!" one of them shouted. "Now!"
Kai looked at me with pain in his eyes. "I'm sorry, Aria. I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you."
"You tried," I said. "You did everything you could."
"It wasn't enough."
The guards were getting closer. One of them started walking around to my side of the truck.
"We have to get out," I said. "If we don't, they'll drag us out."
Kai nodded. "Stay behind me. No matter what happens, stay behind me."
We climbed out of the wrecked truck slowly. My legs were shaky, and my head still hurt, but I could walk. That had to be a good sign for the baby.
"Well, well," said the lead guard. "The little omega thought she could run away."
"Let her go," Kai said, stepping in front of me. "She's done nothing wrong."
"She's carrying the Alpha's bastard," the guard replied. "That makes her very valuable. Or very dangerous, depending on how you look at it."
"The child is innocent," Kai said fiercely.
"No child of Damon Blackwood is innocent," said a new voice.
My heart stopped.
Isabella Sterling stepped out from behind the black car. She was holding a silver gun, and it was pointed straight at my stomach.
"Hello, little omega," she said with that cold smile I'd learned to hate. "Did you really think you could escape from me?"
"Isabella," I whispered. "Please."
"Please what? Please let you run away and raise the future Alpha of the Blackwood Pack in secret? Please let you come back in eighteen years with an army to claim what's yours?"
She took a step closer, never lowering the gun.
"I don't think so."
"The baby has nothing to do with pack politics," Kai said desperately. "It's just a child."
"It's Damon's child," Isabella snarled. "Which means it's a threat to everything I've worked for. Everything I've sacrificed."
"You don't have to do this," I said, tears streaming down my face. "I'll disappear. Forever. You'll never see me or the baby again."
"Oh, I know I'll never see you again," Isabella said, raising the gun higher. "The Alpha's bastard dies tonight."