Chapter 368: The Decoy

The Tidebreakers did not move.

They simply watched.

Four massive bodies, muscles coiled beneath thick striped hides, breath steaming in the cold as they paced in a slow, deliberate circle around Joren, Bianca, and Uther. Their eyes were sharp and calculating, not the mindless hunger of lesser beasts, but something colder—something that waited.

Gale kept his stance low, weight balanced on all fours, instincts running sharp beneath his own.

His ears flicked as movement registered. But it wasn’t movement from the beasts. It was movement from the trees beyond and familiar scents.

*Sophia, Miles, and that annoying girl are here,* Gale informed Joren.

Joren’s heart jolted. Help had arrived.

*But I don’t think they are going to come out. It seems they are hiding. At least Sophia and Miles are. The other girl is still far behind, taking her sweet time too,* Gale told him.

Joren didn’t care about Holly. She could take her sweet time for all he cared. As long as Sophia and Miles were here, he was okay.

Hope surged so fast it almost made Joren reckless—but Gale steadied him instantly.

*Don’t move. The beasts are watching everything.*

Joren forced himself to stay still, though every instinct screamed to turn, to look, to confirm it with his own eyes. Instead, he let Gale subtly shift their posture, angling just enough that his peripheral vision caught movement between the trees.

A shadow.

Then another.

They were still and careful—Sophia and Miles.

Bianca noticed too.

Her ears flicked just once, but her eyes sharpened, glancing toward the same stretch of trees. Uther caught it a second later, his stance tightening, attention briefly splitting between the Korraths and the forest behind them.

The Tidebreakers followed their gaze.

Their heads turned in near-perfect unison.

And that was when Sophia moved.

She didn’t charge toward the beasts. No, she instead did something else that only Miles had expected—but even he was shocked at how fast she moved and how certain she was in her movements.

She slipped from behind the tree in a low crouch, moving in the opposite direction from where Miles was hiding, deliberately letting her boots crunch just enough against the snow.

One of the Tidebreakers’ heads snapped toward her.

Then another.

She reached into the pouch strapped at her waist, fingers already closing around something small and round.

Sophia lifted her arm and hurled the object as far as she could into the snow behind her.

It shattered on impact.

And the scent exploded, making the others cover their noses at how repulsive the smell was.

But while it was repulsive to them, it was a very appetizing scent to the Tidebreakers.

Every Tidebreaker froze.

Then all four snapped their heads toward the scent at once.

And that was when Sophia ran because she knew they would be coming toward her at that point.

She cut sharply to the left, boots slipping on snow as she darted between trees, deliberately making noise now, breaking branches, letting her presence be known.

Two of the Tidebreakers lunged after her instantly.

The other two hesitated—eyes flicking between the wolves still standing in the clearing and the fleeing prey.

Sophia threw another vial, this one hitting a tree trunk and bursting, the smell spreading wider, stronger, taunting.

That did it.

All four surged after her.

The pressure around Joren and the others vanished so suddenly he nearly staggered.

But now that the Tidebreakers were occupied, it was the exact time for Miles to act.

He burst from their hiding place the moment the beasts cleared the space.

"Move!" he snapped the instant he reached them.

Joren shifted, then barely had time to register him before Bianca and Uther were already turning, following Miles into the trees without hesitation.

But Joren spun, eyes wild, searching the direction Sophia had gone.

She’s alone with four Tidebreakers, panic roared through him.

She knows the way, even better than us, Miles said urgently, skidding to a stop beside him. She planned this. She told me to get you out now before more of them show up.

Joren didn’t want to listen.

But Gale was already calculating, already sensing the wider danger.

*More are nearby,* Gale warned. *She’s right. This is their territory.*

Joren clenched his jaw, then forced himself to turn.

"Where is she going?" he demanded.

Miles didn’t slow as they ran. "She’s looping around through the trails. Alpha Orion drilled her on memorizing the routes. She’ll circle back once they’re far enough."

"And if they catch her?" Uther asked tightly.

Miles’ voice went hard. "Then she’ll shift plans. But standing here guarantees more Korraths show up. We move. Now."

They moved.

Deep into the forest, weaving through thick snow and dense trees, keeping low, keeping silent. Miles led them with sharp, precise turns, choosing routes that hid their scent, doubling back when needed, pushing them farther from the river and deeper into cover.

Behind them, distant roars echoed through the woods.

But they did not follow.

Not yet.

---

Sophia’s lungs burned.

Her legs screamed.

Snow tore at her boots as she ran, heart pounding so hard she could feel it in her throat.

She didn’t look back.

She didn’t need to.

She could hear them following her after all, breathing heavily as they did.

Branches snapped. Heavy bodies crashed through undergrowth. Growls rumbled low and furious.

But even with how much danger this was, she was glad that the plan was working. That they had focused on her and left Joren and the others.

She cut sharply right, then left, following narrow paths barely visible beneath the snow. She remembered Orion’s voice drilling into her, telling her what signs to watch for to move.

She vaulted over a fallen tree, slid down a shallow slope, then threw another vial behind her, the scent flaring bright and hot in the cold air.

One of the beasts roared, speeding up.

She felt panic nip at the edges of her thoughts, and she slipped at one point—on literally nothing. But she didn’t let that hold her back. Her body ached from the fall, her lungs burned as she ran, but she didn’t stop.

She darted into a cluster of jagged rocks, weaving between them where the beasts had to slow, then burst out onto a narrow ridge overlooking a frozen ravine.

She didn’t stop, though, and leapt over the ravine.

Snow exploded as she hit the other side, pain shooting up her ankle, but she kept running, teeth clenched, refusing to slow.