Page 23 of Stormbinder King (Stormbinder Pack #1)

I stumbled outside, my head aching.

It felt like there was a storm approaching, the distant night sky greenish, while dry lightning flashed over the mountains.

Strange. It didn’t feel like rain.

And as I stretched my arms, someone put a bag over my head and I was thrown unceremoniously over a hard shoulder.

I smelled sharp, acrid sweat and wet dog and I knew.

Stonebrewer Pack

There were other muffled yelps and, shit, who else were they taking?

Then the Pack began to run.

Thunder rumbled as they pounded across the forest floor.

How could they possibly hope to outrun the Stormbinder Pack? I wondered, but we ran up to a pile of sticks that abut a sharp green hill, and through the patchy fabric of the hood over my face I saw one of the shifters reach in and yank open a nearly-invisible door.

Underground

The shifter carrying me shoved me back farther so he could duck inside, my ass scraping by the damp, dripping ceiling.

Then they ran, in the dank smelly tunnels deep underground, until my thighs ached from being carried and my throat ached from uselessly screaming.

Finally, after what felt like many hours, I was set down unceremoniously on the hard ground.

Someone picked me up by the back of my torn dress and threw me into an enclosed, squalid space, and I heard the clang of a door shut behind me.

Wriggling madly, I managed to work the hood on my head off and I blinked as my eyes adjusted to the light.

The Stonebrewer village was ill-maintained and fetid, the tree houses sitting like squat, hardback beetles in the scraggly trees..

The Stonebrewer territory was small and leaky, situated in rocky land that seemed to be doing its best to sink into a nearby stream.

How far were we from the meeting area?

I had no clue, could never have found my way back.

The cage smelled strongly like old meat and rusty blood and I hastily retreated from the bars when I saw a skinny-looking vampire pacing back and forth in front of our cave.

“Shit. Silver bars,” I heard a voice from behind me say.

Aurelia

“Can you break us out?” I hissed.

There seemed to be other women in cages too, the unlucky few shifters who’d managed to get caught up in their insane plan.

“Not with silver bars,” Aurelia said. “Prevents shifting. Shit shit shit.”

“They’ll come get us,” I said flatly.

“What makes you so sure?” she spat.

“The King loves me,” I said, and instantly I felt the weight of truth in my words.

“He doesn’t love you,” she said.

“You’re thinking of Jack,” I retorted, putting a hand over my belly as it gurgled with hunger. “Jack definitely doesn’t love me. But the King does. He hates it, but it’s true. He’ll come for me.”

Aurelia said nothing, but I felt her darting restless little glances over at me.

“Water, please!” I called out, trying to ignore the way the vampire made a jerky, frenetic guard course around the cages.

We were given a bowls of thin soup and dense bread and ate in uneasy silence.

“Maybe you won’t survive this,” Aurelia said. “I’ll be there to comfort Jack.”

“You can have Jack,” I said absently, trying to dig at the bars with the spoon from my acidic soup, but it wasn’t working.

I didn’t notice when she rose to her feet, when she stalked up behind me.

“Maybe you won’t be here by the time the King comes to get you.”

With a rush of air, she lunged at me.

Even without weapons, she was very powerful, and I scrambled awkwardly to my feet to dodge her charge.

“There’ll be nothing left for him to find but your corpse,” she taunted, and I pulled at the earth.

For a moment nothing happened, and I pulled again. This time I knew what I could do, and I knew silver couldn’t hold me.

There was a snapping and rending sound and suddenly a huge stalk burst from the ground, spiraling higher and higher until it reached the top of the cage.

“What is that?” Aurelia shrieked. “Did you? Did you do that?”

I didn’t bother to answer her, because the stalk was turning, with each rotation getting more deadly and gnarled, as barbs began to burst out onto the surface.

I curled my fingers inward and thorns shot from the stalk and began to pierce Aurelia’s flesh, bury themselves in her body.

Screaming in terror, she tried to dodge them, but they were impossible to avoid.

She ran headlong from one side of the cage to the other, throwing herself at the bars to avoid the thorns as the stalk grew, bigger, deadlier, expanding like a huge protective barrier between us as she fell to the ground writhing in agony.

Then I heard a wolf howl in the distance.