The iron door clanged, but it wasn’t the Beastmaster this time. Mia’s cage rattled, her green eyes glinting with something reckless. She’d loosened a bar, her fingers bloodied from scraping metal. “Now,” she hissed, slipping out, her movements swift despite her battered body. Lily’s heart pounded as Mia crept to her cage, prying at the lock with a shard of iron. “We’re getting out,” Mia whispered, her voice low but fierce. The lock gave, and Lily stumbled free, her legs shaking. The barn was quiet, the clients gone, Vixen and the Beastmaster elsewhere. It was a chance, maybe their only one.
Mia grabbed Lily’s hand, pulling her toward a side door, its hinges rusted but ajar. The night air hit them like a slap, cold and sharp, the woods beyond the farmstead a black wall under the moon. Barbed wire glinted in the distance, but Mia’s eyes were locked on a gap in the fence, barely visible. “Run,” she said, her voice a blade. They sprinted, barefoot, the gravel cutting their feet, their breaths ragged. Lily’s collar bounced, a cruel reminder, but freedom was so close, a dream she could almost taste. The woods loomed, their branches clawing the sky, and for a moment, Lily believed they’d make it.
A howl shattered the night, low and guttural, followed by another. Wolves, not wild but trained, their eyes glinting in the dark. The Beastmaster’s whistle cut through the air, sharp and commanding. Lily’s stomach dropped as shapes moved in the shadows, lean and snarling. Mia cursed, dragging Lily behind a rusted tractor, but the wolves were faster, their paws silent on the dirt. “Keep going,” Mia hissed, shoving Lily toward the fence. But the first wolf lunged, its gray fur a blur, its teeth snapping inches from Lily’s leg. She screamed, stumbling, and Mia swung the iron shard, catching the beast’s flank. It yelped, but more came, a pack of six, their eyes glowing with hunger.