Chapter 29: Kiara

Chapter 29: Kiara

The entire situation unfolded like a nightmare. I was barely conscious anymore and couldn’t even find my feet when the Mythguard burst onto the scene. The fighting bewildered me, and then suddenly, Colt was by my side, helping to set me free. For a fleeting few seconds, I thought I would finally be safe. My fated mate had come back for me as he promised. He was going to save me. I barely managed to smile—then I was stolen right out of his arms.

But not before grabbing any part of Colt I could, hooking my finger into his pocket, somehow managing to snag a dart and hold onto it.

The monster clutching me was the very same that had tortured me in the hours before. I had watched David’s body change into unfamiliar construction. Halfway between human and wolf, he stood on two legs and hunched over, fur rippling down his spine, his gangly arms tipped in long, razor-sharp nails. He hoisted me over his shoulder and ran, alternating between a two-legged gallop and a three-footed amble, gracelessly clearing the foliage ahead of us. Branches scraped against me, cutting my arms. The sight of the manor swiftly diminished as we disappeared into the woods, leaving me alone with the grunting, snarling fiend of David. Even as the sound of the battle faded away, the unnerving silence of the forest was flush with breaking bark and heavy pants.

I clutched a handful of his fur, trying to keep myself from launching off his shoulder. Even if he dropped me, I knew he would turn right back around for me—or worse, assail me with his merciless teeth. So I just focused on staying attached to him. “David,” I called, fighting to stay conscious. “Where are we going? Please don’t go into town. Those innocent people did nothing to deserve this!”

But David ignored me, or maybe he heard me and didn’t register what I was saying. The madness of the Lycan form overwrote any sense of cognizance he had. He was a mindless creature now, operating off of bloodlust and hunger, destroying everything in his path as we ran through the night. I had no idea what direction we were going. Only the full moon passing in and out of the canopy above could guide me, but I couldn’t see it.

In the distance, a voice echoed my name. Colt called for me unseen. My lungs stuttered with fear, but David only continued to run.

For thirty minutes, the Lycan Alpha barreled through the forest until the trees thinned out and we reached sloping mountainsides. The forest fell away, and as the sky opened up and revealed twinkling stars and the distant light pollution of Eastpeak, I realized that we were heading south. The barren mountainside approaching the edge of the pit told me exactly where we had gone. David brought me all the way back to the mine.

Old bloodstains in the moonlight warned me of a fight that had happened earlier, but there were no bodies there. David entered the mine and traversed the tunnels, now empty of their previous inhabitants, carrying me all the way back into the furthest room where I was held prisoner before. The room was empty. He paused, assessing the room, and I took that opportunity to thrust myself forward in an attempt to get out of his arms.

I landed hard on the ground.

David simply let me fall, staring into the empty room. A lit lantern warned that somebody had been here earlier.

Rolling onto my hands and knees, I stood up and hid the dart in my pocket. “Why are we here?”

The Lycan grunted, sniffing around the room despite our impaired sense of smell. He didn’t bother giving me another glance while he searched for something or someone. While he was distracted, I backed away, hoping that maybe this would be my chance to sneak away—until my foot kicked a rock, and David straightened up, pinning me to the spot with his empty blue eyes. His lips curled in a snarl.

My body tensed, preparing for a fight. I grabbed the dart and clutched it tight, not knowing what was held inside. But if Colt had come armed with it, then it had to be useful for something.

David stepped closer, bristling. His clawed fingers flexed with anticipation. Then his eyes lifted past me.

“I thought you’d have brought an audience,” said someone behind me. “Instead, you’ve brought the person most useless to both of us.”

I whipped around, my stomach sinking at the sight of Lothair. The blond man looked ragged and tired, his body battered after some clash left him abandoned in this cave. I backed against the wall and looked between both of them. “If you think I’m going to transform for you, you’re kidding yourself. I’m not letting you use my horn for another ritual.”

“If I intended to use you for a ritual, I wouldn’t have thought you useless,” Lothair replied blandly.

David snarled, ignoring me to stalk closer to Lothair. Immediately conscious of the danger of the Lycan, Lothair backed away as well. “Where are the others?”

“It’s pointless,” I said. “He’s out of his mind.”

“No, he isn’t.” Lothair narrowed his eyes. “He knows exactly what he’s doing.”

I found that hard to believe. David hadn’t acknowledged anything I said. If he knew what he was doing, he would have gone straight to the nearest town to cause as much destruction as possible. Or he would have killed me the first chance he had. I shook my head and retreated further before David roared, leaping past Lothair and me and into the tunnel. He whipped around and faced us, blocking our only escape route with a flash of his teeth.

Cold sweat gathered on my skin. The only way I could see this ending now was by David slaughtering us both.

“You’re just waiting for someone to show up, aren’t you?” challenged Lothair.

David’s lips twisted from a snarl into a sick grin. He stood up straighter, shedding his deformed bestial posture for a more human stance. His maw parted, and strange, animal growling erupted into barely coherent words. “I… want them… to see it.”

The very cadence of his monstrous voice filled me with dread. The beast forms of shifters weren’t able to speak. Their physical anatomy didn’t allow for it. But a Lycan was still half human, and his voice reflected that, partly primal and partly intelligible. “See what?” I dared to ask.

“He wants someone to watch as he kills us. But he’s a fool. There are no dragons following you here. If you wanted to prove anything to anyone, you wouldn’t have left me in this mine!” Lothair shouted.

“This… is… the stage… of my… conquest!” David roared, erupting in jagged, thunderous laughter.

“You should have chained me up with the hybrid instead of wasting time coming back here, but you’ve always favored melodrama, haven’t you, David? You want to put on a show. You thought it would prove your power to the dragons, leading them back to this mine where I once ruled and where you left me chained up, so you could kill me in my own domain. But look. There’s nobody here to see it,” argued Lothair.

David lumbered closer. “Just… wait…”

“No.” Lothair grabbed my arm, maintaining eye contact with David. “I won’t give you the satisfaction of killing me and proving anything, David.” He lowered his voice for me. “You have balsam resin. I know you do. I can feel it. Use it.”

My head spun. I didn’t know what he was talking about until Lothair’s eyes flickered down to the dart in my hand. That must have been why Colt had the darts—they’d prepared weapons to use against the dragons! At the exact moment that David realized what Lothair was telling me, Lothair tilted his head and exposed his neck, and without thinking, I stabbed the dart into his jugular.

The dragon grunted in agony, stumbling away while David leaped in a latent attempt to stop me. But the damage was already done, and I dove out of the way while David crashed into Lothair. Now was my chance. I had to get out of here!

As David picked himself up off the ground, I bolted through the tunnel, running as fast as my feet could take me. I summoned the final vestige of my strength to flee, hearing David scrape through the mine after me. All I could think about was how Lothair had sacrificed himself to give me a chance to escape. I never would have expected that, but these Alphas were so petty they would give up their own lives to screw each other over.

“Get… back… here!” David snarled after me. He was so close I felt his hot breath on me and heard the rasping of his malformed lungs squeezing out of his throat.

Moonlight illuminated the entrance of the mine. I was so close to freedom. And then a body appeared at the entrance, and my fated bond magnetized me to it. “Colt!” He’d followed us all the way here—he made it!

“Kiara!”

An explosive cacophony rocked the mine, knocking me off my feet. David crashed into me, pinning me beneath his massive hands. All at once, a blinding fire ripped through the tunnel, and the world quaked.

I had no idea what had happened. All I knew was that everything was about to come crashing down.