Page 25

CHAPTER 25

L ia

Pain pulled me from unconsciousness.

Not the sharp kind or the instant burn of a fresh wound, but a deep, aching throb that settled into my bones, making every breath feel like a struggle. My body was heavy, my muscles sore from the fight, from running, from shifting for the first time and pushing myself past limits I hadn’t even known I had.

The air was damp. Cold.

I blinked slowly, my vision swimming as I tried to push myself up. The world tilted, my head pounding, and for a terrifying second, I didn’t remember where I was.

Then it hit me.

The fight. The cave. The swarm.

Silas. Rowan. Varek.

All of them… captured.

Maybe even… dead.

I sucked in a breath, my lungs heavy, and forced myself to my feet. My legs wobbled, the edges of my vision going dark for a moment before the wave of dizziness passed. I took stock of my body and found everything intact at least.

I clenched my fists. I had no idea if Silas and the others were still alive, but I couldn’t afford to think otherwise. I wouldn’t. I had to get them back. I didn’t really have a plan, but I had to try.

I couldn’t lose Silas again. He was more than just my mate, more than just the stubborn, overbearing Alpha who had claimed me. He was the first person who had ever made me feel safe, the first person who had ever truly seen me—my fire, my strength, my defiance—and still wanted me.

I loved him.

The thought of a world without him, without his rough hands steadying me, without his golden eyes burning into mine with that fierce, unyielding devotion, was unbearable. If I lost him—if the Nyktos had already taken him from me—then I didn’t know if I’d ever feel whole again.

I took a deep, stabilizing breath and moved. I hiked slowly for a while, following my tracks back to the mouth of the cave. Before I could let myself feel the fear, I pulled back my shoulders and took that first step.

The cave swallowed me whole.

The moment I stepped inside, the world outside ceased to exist. The light, the open air, the sounds of the wind—they were all gone.

The cave was black, the kind of darkness that felt like a living thing, like it was pressing against my skin, trying to pull me deeper.

I moved carefully, placing my feet with cautious intent, my breaths slow and controlled. My wolf senses were much keener than before, the newness of them still foreign, but useful. The sounds around me were amplified: the soft drip of water from above, the distant, eerie chittering that echoed through the tunnels.

The scent of decomposition was suffocating.

I pressed onward, my hands lightly grazing the cave walls as I felt my way forward. The rock was cold and wet, slick beneath my fingertips. As I moved deeper, the faint glow of phosphorescent fungi illuminated the cavern walls, casting a creepy greenish hue along the rocky tunnels.

I didn’t rush though. If I was going to do this, I needed to be smart.

Moving like a shadow, I pressed myself against the cavern wall, listening. The tunnels breathed with movement, skittering, shifting, from things deeper inside. No doubt the creatures were here, and they weren’t sleeping. Not that I really expected them to be. Wishful thinking.

I followed the path downward, my body crouched, my movements slow and silent. Every step had to be perfect. One wrong sound, one misstep, and I was dead. That meant so was Silas and the rest of our men.

I reached the first chamber and peered around the uneven rock wall. The cavern opened into a wide, sprawling space. In the center, there were bodies.

Dozens of bodies.

Some were old, nothing more than husks, their skin shriveled, their eyes hollow. Others were fresh, their clothes torn from whatever attack had brought them here, their limbs twisted at unnatural angles. I refused to believe my wolves were here in this room.

The stench of death was suffocating.

I ignored it and kept going, until I encountered what could only be called a nest.

A tangled mass of sinewy, organic material stretched along the walls, woven into the rock like a nightmare spider’s web. Thick, pulsing strands of the stuff stretched from corpse to corpse, looping around limbs, binding them together, feeding deeper down inside the cave.

I swallowed a gag and moved forward, keeping my heartbeat steady, my hands gripping my blades tight.

I needed to find them. I needed to find Silas.

I needed to find my mate.

Another tunnel stretched ahead, leading further down. The sounds of the monsters were growing louder now, the cave walls vibrating with the sheer number of whatever was waiting there.

I kept moving forward.

I stayed pressed to the wall, avoiding the throbbing, organic structures that felt like they were watching me. My wolf instincts screamed at me to run, but I ignored them, forcing my breathing to slow and keeping my movements silent.

Ahead, another chamber opened up, and I saw them.

Ryan. Rowan. Varek.

Silas .

They were shackled, their bodies lined against the wall, their heads slumped forward. Their wrists were bound in thick, twisted sinew, something alive wrapping around their limbs, undulating with a slow, loathsome rhythm. Their bodies were bloodied and bruised, but they were breathing.

They were still alive.

A wave of relief crashed over me. I scanned the cavern, my muscles coiled, waiting for movement, waiting for the monsters in the dark, but there were no Nyktos that I could see or hear.

I hesitated. It felt wrong, too easy, but I didn’t have time to second-guess myself. I moved swiftly, slipping across the cavern floor, staying low, my body silent as I reached Silas first.

His eyelids flew open at my touch, hazy with exhaustion.

“Lia,” he rasped.

“Shh,” I whispered. “I’m getting you out.”

His body tensed, his gaze snapping toward the entrance, scanning the darkness.

“They’re coming,” he muttered, voice tight.

I inhaled sharply, but stayed focused on their restraints.

The material was slick and fibrous, woven together in layers like the strands of a spider’s web—but denser, thicker, and stronger. It clung to their skin, almost melding into it, and when they shifted even slightly, it tightened, reacting as if it could feel them struggling.

The edge gleaming in the dim light, I set one of my knives down, placed the other against a strand and set to work. I sawed through the pulsing restraints, panting as I worked as fast as I could. The second it snapped, Silas moved, his body shaking from exhaustion, but ready, immediately pushing himself upright.

I turned to Rowan next, then Varek, then Ryan, cutting through their bindings one by one. Just as Ryan hit the ground, rubbing his raw wrists, the clicking started again. It wasn’t coming from just one direction.

It was everywhere.

A strange hum echoed through the cavern, followed by the sound of something ticking against stone. The shadows along the walls shifted, and primal, bone-deep dread welled in the pit of my belly.

“They know,” Rowan growled, cracking his neck. “They must have felt her cutting through the restraints.”

“They were letting us get away with it,” Varek muttered darkly. The silver of his eyes reflected the dim light. “Letting us stew in our own hope and fear.”

The Nyktos poured in, an avalanche of abominations.

The walls came alive, the creatures rattling down from the ceiling, their stretched limbs snapping as they crawled unnaturally fast. Some dropped straight down from above, landing in a crouch, their too-wide mouths yawning as they gave off that awful clicking sound.

Shift!

The transformation was instant, my bones breaking and reforming as my wolf took over, my senses sharpening even further. I felt the moment my claws sank into the earth and my vision became clearer than it had ever been.

Then I lunged.

A heartbeat later, chaos reigned.

Silas, Rowan, Varek, and Ryan shifted beside me, their wolves barreling into the swarm, teeth snapping, claws ripping through flesh and exoskeleton alike.

I dodged one, its wings buzzing frantically as it tried to slash me with one of its curved claws. I whirled, sank my fangs into its throat, and ripped it out in one violent motion. Black blood sprayed against the cavern floor, the smell horrible, but there was no stopping.

Varek was a streak of silver, dancing between the creatures, his speed unmatched as he sliced through them. Rowan was pure destruction, his massive black wolf rampaging through the enemy. Silas was rage embodied as he took down one, two, three, four of them, his claws and fangs ripping through their bodies with savage fury.

There were just too many.

Then a huge shadow shifted in the back of the cavern.

Something bigger moved there. Something much worse.

The Nyktos stilled, their bodies pausing in unison, like an army awaiting a command.

A dark shadow stepped forward.

“The King.” Silas’s voice echoed in my head. I met his gaze and nodded.

“I love you,” I replied in return.

“I love you too, my sweet mate .”

The King cleared its throat.

It was vastly bigger than the others, its grotesque, hunched form unfurling as it entered the cavern. It moved laboriously, as if it had all the time in the world, its long-clawed fingers screeching along the cavern walls.

“You should not have come,” it rasped with amusement. “But I am pleased you did.”

Silas growled, his fur bristling.

The King smiled.

“Kill them,” it whispered.

The swarm rushed us.

I barely dodged the next attack, my wolf form twisting and turning as three of them lunged for me at once. I ripped through one, my fangs sinking into its throat, but another tackled me from the side, its claws raking across my shoulder. Pain flared, but it didn’t stop me. I rolled, knocking it back, snapping its neck like a twig.

Rowan and Silas were surrounded, their wolves fighting brutally, but their movements were slowed by exhaustion. Varek was bleeding heavily, his silver fur matted with blood. Ryan was barely keeping two of them off him, his back against the cavern wall.

The King was watching, waiting, smiling .

I darted toward it, my fangs sinking deep into its throat, expecting it to fall, expecting its body to go limp beneath me. Instead of dropping, it laughed, a sound that crawled up my spine, not just from its utter bizarreness, but in the way it vibrated through the cavern walls, sending a tremor through me.

Then its hands latched onto me.

Its claws curled into my fur, gripping me with foul strength. My instincts screamed at me to move, but it was too late. In one violent motion, it ripped me away from its body and threw me aside like a piece of trash.

The impact forced my breath from my lungs. My ribs cracked as I slammed into the cavern wall, stone splitting under the force of my body. Agonizing pain stabbed through my side. I crumpled to the ground, wheezing, my vision spinning, ears ringing.

Somewhere, far away, I heard my name. A roar.

Silas.

He charged, his huge wolf leaping over Nyktos and barreling toward the King, his massive jaws clamping onto its arm. Bones crunched between his fangs, black blood spurting from the wound, but the King didn’t even flinch.

Rowan was next. His black wolf was a darting shadow, a blur of speed as he leapt, going for the King’s throat, fangs piercing flesh, ripping, but then the King moved.

Its body shifted, its limbs splitting, like a snake shedding its skin, bones cracking as new arms formed, grabbing, clawing, ripping. Its twisted, long, skeletal fingers plunged into Silas’s side, digging into his flesh.

Silas howled, stumbling back, his own blood spilling onto the cavern floor.

Rowan went for the legs now, his fangs tearing into sinew and tendon, but the King didn’t fall. It struck out again, catching him with one clawed hand, slamming him into the ground with enough force that I swore I heard bones break even over the cacophony of the battle.

Varek was still standing, just barely, his fur slick with blood. He lunged, his claws tearing at the King’s ribcage, slicing deep, but the wound sealed itself almost instantly, the flesh knitting together as if nothing had happened.

The King grinned.

It was playing with us.

That realization sank into my bones, colder than the air around us, heavier than the ache in my ribs. It wasn’t worried or desperate. It was waiting for us to realize that we were going to lose.

Ryan lunged at it. His wolf was fast, his coat a deep, mottled brown, his eyes sharp and burning with vengeance as he charged, throwing himself onto the King’s back. His claws raked down its spine, his jaws locking onto its shoulder.

For the first time, the King staggered. Its too-many eyes glanced over its shoulder toward Ryan, and it grinned. Moving too fast, its elongated arm whipped behind it, claws slamming straight through Ryan’s chest, dragging the wolf to its front.

A revolting wet sound filled the cavern as the King’s fingers plundered inside him. Ryan choked, a harsh, appalling sound, and his body jerked.

Blood poured from his mouth, staining his fur, his legs scrabbling uselessly in the air. The King leaned in, inhaling deeply, as if savoring the scent. With no effort at all, it ripped its claws free, pulling Ryan’s beating heart right out of his chest.

Ryan was dead before he hit the floor.

A deafening silence filled the cavern.

Then Silas snapped.

His roar shook the ground beneath me, his massive wolf launching at the King with a force so violent that even the creatures lurking in the shadows cowered back. He collided with it, sending both of them crashing to the ground, his fangs tearing at the thing’s throat.

Rowan was next, frenzied as he tore into the creature’s side, ripping through muscle and bone.

Varek snarled as he joined his brothers, clawing and biting, forcing the King down.

But it wasn’t enough. The fucking monster was still healing itself.

I forced myself up, my ribs screaming in protest, my vision blurring. We couldn’t just kill it; it would keep coming back.

We had to destroy it utterly.

A violent snarl built in my throat as I ran.

My wolf leaped as high as she could, my fangs sinking into the King’s skull, clamping down hard. It let out a screech, its limbs flailing, but I held on, refusing to let go.

Silas ripped into its chest.

Rowan snapped its spine.

Varek tore its limbs from its body, blood spraying across the cavern floor.

The King screamed, its many eyes rolling, its body shuddering, but we kept up our concerted attack, tearing apart every bit of the hideous monster.

Its limbs twitched once—twice—and then it collapsed. Finally, finally , it stopped moving.

It was dead.

Truly, finally dead.

We stood over the remains for a brief second—panting, bloodied, wrecked body, mind, and soul from the whole experience. My every muscle shook, and my heart was pounding in my chest.

The cost was high, but we had won…