Chapter 55 The Beast Outside The Stone
RONAN
The last rock fell with a final, echoing thud.
And she was gone.
Her beautiful Amber eyes looking into mine were gon
Ope breath. That’s all it took for the world to cave in.
I stared at the sealed tunnel, frozen in place. My wolf was no different than me. The sunlight warmed my skin, but inside, I was ice. Shocked and suddenly feeling a strange feeling rising inside me.
She had been left inside. Not alone but with thousands of vampires.
My chest heaved, air scraping my lungs, but it did nothing–no air could reach the hole her absence tore open in me. What was this feeling? I wanted to rip something apart. Someone apart.
A sound ripped from my throat–half growl, half something else. Something darker.
“NO!!” I lunged at the blocked tunnel, falling to my knees as I clawed at the stones with bare hands, not caring that my fingers split open, that my nails cracked and bled.
I did not even bother to wonder where Dante and Finn had suddenly gone, that they basically disappeared a few moments after all three of us made it out of the tunnel.
I tore at the rock like a feral beast, ignoring the sting of pain, the warm slick of blood seeping into the earth.
“MOVE!” I roared at the wall, as if my voice alone could command the boulders to shift. “COME OUT!! COME OUT WHILE LASKING YOU NICELY!!!”
-But the tunnel remained shut, Cold Silent
My wolf snarled so loudly in my head it drowned out the world.
“Get to her”
“Tear it down.”
“Bring her back.
My vision tunneled. My body vibrated with rage I couldn’t name. Why did it feel like my soul had been sealed behind that wali with herr Why was this this feeling so unbearable?
She was an Alpha She could protect herself.
She was a liar. A betrayer.
she–well pretending to be something else.
And yet
Nour of that mattered now
It didn’t make it easier to breathe I kept digging and digging until a blur of movement caught my eye. My blood roared louder
“SERAPHINAIT” I roared.
SERAPHINA
dug to the cave floor. I couldn’s hear anything beyond the roar of panic in my blood.
second longer, the taste of dust thick on my tongue, the pounding in my chest louder than ever. My linger
11:51 AM p p.
Chapter 55 The Beast Outside The Stone
“Seth.” Asher touched my face and made me look into his beautiful eyes. “We have to go. They are coming!
+8 Pearls
When he said that sense knocked back into my brain. The air had shifted, and the vampires were coming our way since the sunlight was blocked.
“Where” I gasped, standing up and turning my head sharply toward the sound of distant, scraping claws.
“Follow me.”
He grabbed my hand. There was no time for grace. No time for anything except running.
He pulled me toward a narrow tunnel curving off the side, one that had been hidden in shadow while the main exit was close. Now it yawned like the throat of a beast, darker and wider than I expected.
We rău.
The ground was uneven, scattered with sharp rocks and old bones. My boots slipped in the slick mud. Water dripped from above, the walls wet and breathing, like the cave itself was alive and suffocating us slowly.
There is no other exit.” Asher said between gritted teeth. “This is clearly a fucking trap.”
I glanced at his hard expression and his wolf continuously communicating with him. His aura had grown so strong that even Phina realized that this Alpha would be anything but dead here. He had a higher level of survival skill than I had seen in
anyone. But….
I glanced over my shoulder as the shadow of the vampires following us fell on us. That vampire that had recognized me was desperately following us because of me. But Asher did not know.
“Asher, let’s separate,” I slowly let go of his hand.
“What?” he frowned, grabbing my hand again, “Stay with me. You will get caught easily.
I pursed my lips, unable to admit that was the reason I wanted to separate. He would get caught thanks to me and when that happened my secret would be revealed first. If I was going to die here, I wanted to go with my dignity and no guilt about dragging him to hell alongside me.
“I just want to distract them,” I pressed.
“Don’t lie,” he glanced at me as if he could see through me, “I will not let them catch us,” saying that he pulled me into another deeper darker path.
My throat closed up. I didn’t know what to say,how to respond to someone who meant it that deeply. I could not help but find myself trusting him.
But the sound of clawed feet scraping stone snapped us out of it.
A scream Inhuman Close by.
“Asher, do you have a plan?” I desperately asked.
ва
He looked ahead. We’d gone as far as we could, and the walls had widened into a cavernous opening again with no exit. wolf appeared in his eyes as a stubborn and absolutely crazy version of him.
“Hold me!” he said sharply, pulling me against his chest.
Before I could ask anything more, he threw us to the ground.
His
“Trust me he whispered, voice tight with urgency.
Tien–he grabbed a handful of the slick, bloody mud beneath us and smeared it over my skin.
1 gasped
He rolled, covering himself too, both of us pressed chest–to–chest is the thick mess. The coppery stench of old blood and
11.51 AM
Chapter 55 The Beast Outside The Stone
decayed flesh filled my nose.
“This is the only way,” he muttered. “Mask our scents.”
+8 Pearls
Then, still holding me close, he dragged us into a tight crevice between two collapsed stones where the wall caved just enough to hide us.
Barely.
Our bodies wedged close in the damp, suffocating gap. His heartbeat thudded against mine. I could hear the vampires now
Dozens of them.
Their snarls bounced off the stone. Their nails scraped the walls as they crawled, sniffing
Looking for us.
The scent of blood was everywhere–fresh, decaying, old. Asher had gambled that it would be enough to drown out the scent of ours.
I didn’t breathe.
He didn’t either.
Through the thin sliver of stone, I watched shadows flicker past. Pale figures twisted unnaturally, some crawling along the walls like insects.
And then, one stopped.
Just feet away.
I was tense. Every muscle locked.
The vampire sniffed the air.
My heart stopped.
It cocked its head.
Moved closer.
into mu
My fingers curled into my own sides.
“Don’t move. Don’t move. Don’t breathe, I reminded myself.
The vampire bent low, almost looking through the stone.
But then-
It hussed. Snarled. And darted away, chasing a different trail. The others followed, scattering deeper into the cave.
Cone.
For now
But I stayed fruzen in Asher’s arms, unable to believe we were still alive. For a moment, just one moment, I realized how close I was standing to him.
I slowly lifted my eyes to lok with his He looked deep into my eyes and confessed, “You are so beautiful that I might fall for
B
11:51 AM P P –
