chapter422

[Sir, I'm with her. She's looking out for me. She said if you find this note, you should leave the mountain right away. She has her own way out.]

[If you really have to come up, stay hidden. She'll be fine.]

Blake could tell things had been tense. The handwriting was a mess, barely recognizable. If he didn't already know Jonas's chicken scratch, there was no way he could have made sense of it.

He was never the type to turn back, but reading that his sister was looking out for Jonas made him stop and think.

Had Jonas messed up the wording in his panic? But then the next line, She has her own way out, made it seem deliberate. Maybe Jonas hadn't made a mistake at all.

So, he'd sent his man to protect his sister, and somehow, now his sister was the one protecting his man? Blake couldn't shake the feeling she was running the show.

He wasn't wrong. Lydia had leaked her location on purpose, drawing their enemies to Blackbird Lake and the surrounding mountains.

Viper's people wanted her dead, but she wasn't about to show them any mercy. No one who came after her today would be leaving.

With Jonas by her side, Lydia led Viper's group on a wild chase through the rugged mountains, playing a deadly game of hide and seek.

By nightfall, Viper's numbers had been cut in half. Only a dozen or so were left. "Damn it, L! Get out here!" Rex shouted, voice echoing across the mountain. "What a coward. Too scared to fight face to face!"

"Lydia's trying to make us use up all our ammo, his right hand man warned.

They'd been chasing her for what felt like forever, but she was always a step ahead. Their ammo was almost gone, thanks to her ambushes and hit-and-run attacks.

Rex knew it all too well.

"So what? How many weapons can she possibly have? When she runs out of tricks, we'll take her down."

If she was so tough, why would she keep hiding?

But Lydia wasn't really hiding. She'd pop up out of nowhere, attack, t vanish before anyone could react. It was driving Rex and his men crazy

She hadn't planned for things to get so complicated. Facing them head-on didn't

scare her, but with Jonas there, she had to keep him safe.

He was supposed to protect her, after all.

Jonas was tough. He'd done two

years of military training and kept in shape ever since. Even so, right now, he was flat on his back in the grass completely wiped out.

He'd lost count of how many times he'd nearly died today. If it weren't for this girl, he'd be long gone.

"Maybe you should just leave me, Jonas said, feeling useless for the first time in his life.

He never expected Lydia to be Blake's long-lost sister. She was incredible. Strong, fearless, and honestly kind of terrifying.

And her stamina was unreal. She wasn't even breathing hard, while he was gasping for air.

"Just a little longer," Lydia told him. "It's almost over."

Their enemies were almost out of ammo.

She spotted a new vantage point and launched another ambush. Two more of

Viper's men went down before they even knew what hit them.

Rex's eyes were wild with fury. "Go after her. Take her out."

Lydia glanced at Jonas, who was struggling to his feet, steadying himself against a tree. "Let's get to the summit."

Moonlight washed over the

mountains, cold and pale, turning

the forest into a world of shifting shadows. The trees moved with the wind, silent and waterful, like

assassins waiting for the right

moment to strike.

Far off, the mountain peaks barely showed against the sky, hulking shapes that

looked like sleeping beasts, heavy with danger.