Page 68 of Claimed By Shadow and Blood (Of Fae and Wolf Trilogy #2)

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Briar

N ausea roiled through my stomach, and when I tried to open my eyes, I couldn’t, not even a little. My head pounded, and my entire body ached like I’d been in a horrible fight and knocked unconscious.

What the hell was going on?

My heartbeat quickened, and adrenaline pumped through my body. My arms and legs dangled, limp and useless, and my wrists were bound together by what felt like thick rope. Something pressed into my side.

Cold realization settled over me. What the fuck ? I was slung over a shoulder and being jostled with every step.

Breathing in, I realized the air was so strong that I could taste its dry, stale, salty flavor.

Where am I?

I shook my head, but the sensation made me feel worse. The world was a smeared, shadowy swirl I was struggling to bring into focus. The wedding dress rustled with each step, and my abductor kept an arm banded tightly over my thigh.

Move .

I had to move.

My eyelids slid shut again. I tried pulling on my wolf, but she didn’t respond. All I felt was heat and nausea.

“Come on. Pick up the pace. I hate this place,” a gruff voice ahead of me said. “Gives me the creeps. It’s like something’s waking up, and I don’t want to be here when it does.”

“Stop,” the man carrying me said sharply. “Bryn Lugh gave her enough to put out a male timber wolf on steroids. No way this little thing is waking up any time soon, and I’m not running. She’s thin but stout.”

Bastard. I’d show him.

Spite gave me an extra edge of energy. My limbs barely responded, but pins and needles stitched their way down to my fingertips. The heat burned hotter, allowing me to curl my hand into a half-fist.

I pried my eyes open and caught a glimpse of the floor—gray, coarse stone littered with dust. Boots. I was being carried over the shoulder of someone in a simple gray uniform without any insignia I could spot. His stride was methodical but urgent. A thick belt wrapped around his waist.

I listened, trying to orient myself, but it felt like a lost cause.

Ahead of us, more footsteps echoed.

I inhaled again, catching a whiff of old sweat and something sharper underneath—blood? My stomach clenched.

This time, I glimpsed the second person.

Based on the gold light following him, I guessed he was holding a torch.

Perhaps a weapon as well. With my luck, he had more than one.

The man carrying me also had a dagger in a black sheath hanging on his belt.

With my hands bound together, I could scrape my fingers on it.

I just needed to reach a little farther down, and I could grab it.

My wolf remained asleep. I nudged her, trying to rouse her as I blinked, fighting for my vision to clear. She started to stir, but not much.

Come on! Wake up.

We turned a corner, the torchlight flickering. I tried to take in my surroundings and noted we were in an unfinished corridor that looked as if it had been carved out of rock, most of the stone unfinished and rough.

A puff of fresh air reached me, smelling brighter and cleaner. I flexed both hands, clenching and unclenching until the pins and needles intensified, then dissolved into heat.

Finally, my vision cleared.

The corridor opened into a larger, finished stone chamber.

Charcoal black marble tiles covered most of the floor, though some were cracked and sat askew, probably due to the earthquake.

The dark marble tiles on the walls had cracked and chipped as well, some panels falling away entirely and revealing the same coarse stone as in the corridor.

It was hard to see clearly from my position, but there seemed to be several stone doorways standing in a line at the back of the room.

Pale light filtered through one, but I couldn’t see a door.

I sucked a few more breaths through my nose, the stench of sweat and blood almost grounding.

The longer I took to get free, the harder it would be to get back to Vad. I had to move. Time was running out.

Strange fire burned through me, heating my entire body as the world seemed to churn around me.

The man carrying me paused and grunted. “Check to make sure it’s going to the right place. He’ll kill us if we send her to the wrong realm.” His grip loosened as he adjusted the arm over my thighs.

As his grip loosened, I flexed my abdominal muscles and slipped forward just enough. My fingers wrapped around the hilt of the dagger before he noticed, and I yanked it up and jammed the blade into his lower back.

He roared and jerked. I slid off his shoulder, keeping the dagger in hand, and hit the ground hard on my side, the iridescent folds of the wedding gown tangling around my legs.

He crouched next to me, face twisted, and I shoved the dagger into him again—this time under his ribs.

He crashed forward as I twisted away and ripped out the blade.

Blood poured onto the marble, seeping into the cracks and pooling around the corpse.

I rolled out of the way, panting, the dagger still in my grip. My head was pounding, but I forced myself to stand up.

The second man stared, his hazel eyes wide with shock. He lifted his sword. “How in the void are you even standing?”

I bared my teeth at him as fiery rage poured through my veins. “You tried to take me from him !”

“You don’t—” The man’s eyes bugged out, and several small silver lines hissed through the air and into his chest, slicing clean through him. He pitched forward face first into the pool of his own blood with a sickening squelch.

I spun around, dagger lifted, ready to attack.

And stopped short.

Thalen?

He stood beneath the raw stone opening of the corridor. “What’re you thinking, Chaos? Taking all the fun for yourself?” He tsk ed and furrowed his brow in a mock pretense of annoyance.

“Thalen!” I staggered forward and hugged him. “I’m so glad to see you!”

“As you should be, Chaos. I’m pretty happy to see you too.” He hugged me fiercely, the strength of his grip belying his casual teasing tone.

He pulled back, his hands on my shoulders.

“We don’t have time to chitchat. If you still want to marry Vad, we’ve got to get you back to the Ceremonial Hall.

” He guided me back through the raw stone archway and back into the rough-hewn corridor.

“I’m assuming this wasn’t a consensual passage through the portal? ” He launched into a run.

“No!” I ran alongside him. Heated energy surged through me, burning through whatever it was Many-Greats had done to me.

Multiple paths branched off from the one we ran along, and our footsteps thundered and echoed off the stone walls and low ceiling.

“Many-Greats kidnapped me!” He’d warned me never to reveal our relationship, but fuck that.

He’d given up his right to any secrets. Now wasn’t the time to talk about it though.

“Not sure who in the void that is, but feck him.” Thalen pointed to a turn ahead and gripped my arm.

“Vad’s about to go out of his head. If you wanted to go home, he said he’d understand, but he wants you to be his queen, even if you do go back to Earth.

He’s never going to have another. Between you and me, I think he’s about half a thread short of snapping and wrecking the whole coronation and wedding. ”

My chest warmed. That was possibly one of the sweetest things I’d ever heard.

He was as crazy for me as I was for him.

I might have laughed if it weren’t for the intense energy surging through me and the deep, pressing need to get to him.

Panic worked inside me, along with a rage that didn’t quite feel like my own.

It twisted in my stomach and pounded in my skull. “Can we portal there?”

“Not until we’re past the sigils and spells,” he said grimly.

“No one’s supposed to be down here—period.

It was sealed off and enchanted. We won’t be able to portal at all until we’re past the first seal.

Keep your eyes peeled in case there’s anyone else down here.

The air smells too fresh. We might have company. ”

My body tensed. I needed to get to Vad, not fight more enemies.

Rage poured through me, vibrating in my veins as I stared at the wretched abomination who dared to stand in my bride’s place.

“You are not my bride!” I roared. My shadows exploded out as my fangs lengthened and my claws emerged. My wings flared out, striking the air and joining with my shadows. I cast a furious look over the shocked and terrified assembly.

Good. They should fear me. If I couldn't have Briar, then I’d wreck this all to the void and kill anyone who tried to replace my beloved.

I gestured, refusing to look at Kaylen again. "That vile and selfish creature is not my bride. She won none of the trials, and she is not Fate’s choice, but most of all, she is not my choice. Get that fecking wench out of my sight!”

Kaylen fell back, paling. The iridescent blue gown seemed dark against her pallor. “I-I was chosen,” she said, her hand lifting to her collarbone. A bright flush appeared on her cheeks and collarbone as she drew back.

“Get out!” I bellowed, slashing my arm out. My shadows lashed, some striking the railing and others knocking down the flowers that hung at intervals. The sweet scent of roses and lilies intensified. I craved Briar’s scent, my lungs filling with the desperate need to smell that warm cinnamon ginger.

Everyone fell deathly silent, staring with lined faces of worry, mouths open with shock, and expressions frozen in terror.

Blood dripped down the sides of my face. “You are not worthy of the crown. You are not worthy of my family. You are not worthy to be queen,” I snarled, stepping toward her.

Kaylen drew back, silver eyes shining with fear. “But?—”