Page 26

Chapter 25

Rolf

R olf’s heart stopped at the thick smoke coming from up the hill, and try as he might, his wolf wouldn’t listen. The sight of the smoke only pushed his animal harder, even though the moon dipped and the sun climbed against the mountain peaks. Adeline told him what to expect, and he was still not prepared. A hundred years in hiding, fighting his baser instincts, had weakened him. The vampires were ruthless and some of the strongest adversaries he’d ever challenged, and he knew they would be since they came from the same maker as Adeline.

He screamed at his wolf to turn around and head back into the caves, but the craving for justice was so strong that he could not cut through the noise. His heart pulsed in his head like a deep bass drum in battle. He had never been this aware, watching his claws swipe through the Vampire with such ease and disgust.

The last vampire that had followed him out of the cave lay completely dismembered at his feet.He snapped a vampire’s arm in half, relishing the crunch of the bones in his maw as he thought of Adeline back in the caves fighting for their love.

And then he heard her scream.

Adeline .

His wolf crunched one final time, severing a head from a body, and tossed it into a ravine. He tilted his head to the east, knowing that his time as a were-shifter was running out, and bounded uphill in six feet of snow. He needed to make it as far as he could before the sun rose. He was mid-leap when the shift took over, and he roared. His frustration echoed down the small canyon at the base of the cave as his claws receded and his fur turned back into skin.

“Fuck!” he yelled, falling to his hands and knees. “No, no, no!”

His head swam, but he forced himself to stand and started running again.

Adeline screamed once more, his name traveling on the wind. It sounded like a goodbye, one last desperate way for her to sear herself into his consciousness.

When he reached the top of the mountain where the silver grate lay open, he was breathless but determined. Nothing would prevent him from getting to her.

Smoke filtered out of the cave, and he covered his mouth as he dipped inside. His eyes burned from the smoke and the heat; the scent of death and charred skin hung heavy in the air. He scanned the tunnel but could find no trace of Adeline or Juliette. A vampire was leaning against the tunnel wall, barely breathing, with a dagger in his eye. Rolf would have to come back and dispatch him properly after he searched for Adeline.

He turned and headed down the other tunnel, which was empty. The only creatures left were the dismembered vampire. As the sun filtered through the grate at the end, soft light filled the tunnels. A large puddle of blood shimmered toward the end of the cave. He knelt in the dirt and touched his finger to the liquid. Thick, but still warm. A recent spill. Adeline’s scent lingered in the air, and his heart sank as he realized it was hers. Scuff marks showed knee imprints around the frame of a body. A few strands of hair around the scene told him everything he needed to know. Someone had pinned Adeline and slit her throat.

Rage pummeled him, and his wolf roared inside his head.

Where is she?

He scanned the rest of the tunnel. With Adeline bleeding so much, she would have to be dragged out of there. The gate was unlocked, but nothing indicated that she and her attacker had left that way. So he retraced his steps to the start of the fire near the cabin entrance. No one could have gotten Adeline through the flames or up that ladder without help.

Rolf walked back to the vampire with the blade through his eye. Hewrapped his hand around the hilt and yanked backward. The vampire groaned, a garbled sound that was full of blood.

“Talk.”

The vampire said nothing as he stared out of his one good eye.Blood trickled out of the corner of his mouth.

“How does it feel?” Rolf spat out. “Knowing you’re at my mercy now?”

Silence.

“You must be in so much pain,” Rolf whispered. He slit the back of his hand, watching the blood well up. The vampire’s eyes widened, and his fangs grew; he started to salivate. “Would you like to feel a little better?”

The vampire was so focused on the fresh blood that he nodded.

“If I give you a little bit of my blood, will you tell me how they got out of here and where they went?”

The vampire only nodded, opening his mouth. Rolf squeezed his hand and let a few drops land on the vampire’s tongue. He watched as the vampire’s eyes rolled in the back of his head. A groan escaped his lips, and then he said, “I have never had wolf fae blood before.”

“Consider it your first and only time. Now, talk.”

“One more drop, please.”

“That wasn’t the deal. Talk.” Rolf took his hand and squeezed a few more drops out of his cut. He held the blood just out of reach.

“Why, when you’re just going to kill me anyway?”

Rolf smiled and squeezed his cut even more, letting the blood pool on the top of his hand. He had forgotten what it was like to talk with cunning killers. “True, but when I kill you, you can either go out feeling bliss, or I can make it as painful as possible for you.”

After a moment of deliberation, the vampire said, “A portal.”

He opened his mouth, waiting for the blood that didn’t come.Rolf sat back on his heels, just out of reach.

A portal?

That was something he had only ever heard about in ancient fairy tales. He had grown up reading the stories in his family’s library. But those powers belonged to ancient fae, who no longer roamed this earth.No one had that kind of magic anymore. At least, no one born in the last few centuries.Which meant that Erik was an older fae, if not the first vampire. And if Erik was that old, Adeline must be, too.

“You thought…” The vampire made a sound that he supposed was laughter. “You thought we walked here?” The vampire cackled so hard he started choking. Blood sputtered from his mouth, and he slumped forward in pain. But he didn’t stop laughing.

Rolf said nothing, just watched curiously as the vampire tried to sit back up.

“You have no idea who you are dealing with,” the vampire said through laughing fits.

The world swirled around him. He was up against some very old, very strong magic indeed.

Rolf hovered his hand over the vampire, letting a few drops of blood fall onto his lap. The vampire met Rolf’s gaze with his one eye, and his nostrils flared as he snapped his teeth. “More.”

Rolf shook his head. “Not until you tell me everything.”

His head spun with the new information the vampire told him. There was a rumor in the coven that Adeline was one of the first vampires to be turned by Erik. And how Erik had ways of knowing things, controlling things, but this young vampire snapped his mouth shut at the final admission. Rolf pressed him for more, but was met with stubborn resistance.

Erik must have more magic than the other vampires, and if Adeline was as old as Erik, did she have magic, too? She had healed the puncture wounds from her teeth and removed the glamour from his memories. But Rolf had assumed this was something that all vampires could do.

She was a ruthless, exacting killer, and her strength was one of the most impressive things he had ever seen. When she killed the Vampire, armed with nothing but a shaft, his wolf had beamed, knowing that she was worthy of being his mate. His wolf wouldn’t have settled for anyone less.

But magic? She had never exhibited any of that with him. Erik having portal magic meant that Rolf would need all of his cunning to get her back.

The vampire closed its one good eye and sighed.

“I will only ask you one more time how you wish to leave this mortal earth,” Rolf said.

He squeezed the wound on the back of his hand and held it up in front of the vampire. And when the vampire said nothing, he closed his eyes and sighed.Rolf palmed the dagger, and in one fluid motion, he grabbed the vampire’s hair and slit its throat.

Since he didn’t have his axe down here, Rolf grabbed a few more pieces of wood from a pile tucked way back in the corner and stacked them high in the center of the room. Then, he dragged all the bodies onto the stack and stoked the fire.

Orange-and-red flames licked at the dismembered and mangled vampires, burning them into a pile of ash. The stench filled the cavern, and he shuffled his way to the ladder. He pushed the trapdoor open and fell into his cabin. His blood and Adeline’s coated almost every surface, and he smiled wryly at the thought of Adeline strategically destroying his home. It looked like a tornado had torn through it, and the only evidence of them ever having a peaceful time together was the perfectly clean bedsheets. Almost as if Adeline hadn’t wanted to taint the memories that the bed held.

He walked over to the sink and grabbed the pitcher of water, drinking it and letting the water run down his face. Then he grabbed his ski shoes, stuffed his leather pack full of supplies, and walked out the door to save the woman he loved.