“Nothing ever goes as smoothly,” I admit. In truth, that’s where my head is at, unable to see a clear path to end this quickly.
Meira takes my response as doom and gloom, and she looks ahead, shadows gathering under her worried gaze.
“Hey,” I say, turning her to face me. “You will get out of this if I have anything to do with it.”
“Just me?” She’s quick to catch my mistake.
“I’m not going to mince my words, angel legs. I fear for your safety, and I would feel a damn lot more comfortable if I knew you were somewhere safe while the three of us went in for Mad.”
She stares at me blankly, and I expect an explosion, but having her say nothing is worse. I can handle a verbal spar, but what do I do with silence? I know she’ll keep her vow if I can get her to agree, but she’s so stubborn.
“Say something,” I prod.
She shrugs. “There’s nothing to say. That’s your opinion. It’s not going to happen in this lifetime, but nice wish.”
Her mocking tone… is more of what I expect. Still, I find myself grinding my teeth at her headstrong determination. The fault is mine in telling her about my thoughts, and now she’ll suspect any plans I put into place will leave her behind.
“We’ll see,” I respond, guiding her back to the exit of the tunnel. Her hand tightens against mine, and she may infuriate me, but I don’t expect anything less from her.
What I want is to claim her in every possible way right here, remind her I’m her Alpha, that she is staying behind. I want to protect her so nothing ever touches her again. I pray the moon goddess helps me, and I want to lock her up to know with confidence she will remain away from danger.
“What is the plan?” she asks.
“We need to work it out,” I reply truthfully. “A big distraction might do the trick, though the hard part is how to get close enough to Mad without being attacked by his guards.”
Her brows pull together, like she’s pondering the answer. “Maybe we need to lure him out of the compound somehow?”
“Possibly.” I squeeze out of the gap between the rocks blocking the entrance with a bit of grunting force. Surveying the forest for movement and sniff the air, I come back with the morning dew on the grass in my nostrils. It’s clear.
When I turn to notify Meira, I practically step on her as she stands right behind me.
“All safe?” She arches an eyebrow.
“Let’s make this quick,” I say, my muscles clenching at how she puts herself in danger without thought.
Outside, the orange sun peeks over the horizon in the distance, tinting the woodlands in strokes of fiery colors. Meira hurries near the trees to my right, and I take the chance to relieve myself too on a huge shrub located in a spot that still lets me keep an eye on her.
A sudden snap of a twig has me stiffening, my feet glued to the ground. I jerk my head up in the direction of the sound from deeper in the woods.
The stale wind brings no scents. Panic rises through me, and I quickly tuck my cock in, retreating.
I give a thin whistle and glance over at Meira, who’s standing, looking at me. She heard it too.
I point into the woods, in the direction the sound came from, then cock my head for her to join me.
Fast steps bring her to me just as the scent of death finds me, floods my nostrils, and stirs sickness in my gut. Undead have tracked us.
Before I step back into the cave, four shapes stumble out of the woods farther to my left, exactly where Meira stood barely moments ago.
She pauses, staring at them, while I snatch her arm to drag her inside. Once these fuckers get a whiff of me, they’ll be crawling all over these woods.
“Wait.” She bats my hand away and turns back toward the zombies.
“Meira, this isn’t the time—” But my words flatline when I sweep my gaze over the deathly monsters.
Familiar faces I’ve seen before. “Hang on. Are they—”
“Yes. They followed us before and never attacked.” She suddenly heads toward them and unease curls in my gut. I don’t want to be anywhere near those filthy things.
They roam around her like she’s a magnet and completely disregard the fact that I’m even standing here. She takes steps toward me, and the creatures lurch after her.
I back up, standing in the cave’s entrance, as I’m too damn close to these things. One twitch, and they’ll come at me.
“That’s close enough,” I command.
Meira stops about five feet away, and again, the zombies pause as well.
“Sit,” she orders them.
Instantly, all four fall to the ground, sitting.
My mouth drops open with utter shock. “How the fuck are you doing that?”
Meira twists her head in my direction, smiling like she’s just discovered a treasure chest. “I think I have an idea for how to take down Mad.”
Chapter 19
Meira
I burst into the bunker, Bardhyl on my heels. “Wake up! I have incredible news!”
Just as the words leave my mouth, I notice they aren’t needed. Both Lucien and Dušan are up and about, dressed and staring my way. Lucien lowers the bottle of water from his lips, while Dušan takes a bite from a large cracker.
“What’s going on?” he asks, crumbs dusting down his top, a black sweater with a few tears around the neckline.
Bardhyl shuts the door behind us. “What I just saw outside might hold the answer to everything we need,” he says, excitement teeming through his voice. “It seems our girl is a lot more special than we first thought.”
“Out with it,” Lucien insists, his attention completely on us.
“I think I can control those undead that have been following me around,” I say in a strong voice. “I probably need to try again to make sure, but I just told them to sit and they obeyed me.” Adrenaline zips through my veins, and I’m bouncing on my toes at what this means for us. “It just never occurred to me until now to understand why those four zombies followed me.”
Dušan and Lucien blink at me like I’ve gone mad.
“She’s telling the truth,” Bardhyl adds. “If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I’d be as bug-eyed as you two are right now.”
“You can control the four undead that were following you around?” Dušan repeats my words as though shocked, scratching his head. “What makes them so special? What about other zombies?”
I pinch my lips together, running through all my encounters with these specific Shadow Monsters, all the way back to when I first saw them. Then it hits me like a lightning bolt.
“I might know why. I don’t understand the reason, but—”
“What is it?” Lucien asks, his voice taut and impatient.
“When I was helping Jae escape from Mad’s attack in the woods, I fought several undead to stop them from reaching her. And the four outside, I think I bit during our scuffle.”
Bardhyl’s gasp draws my attention. “You infected them?”
“I think… maybe I did.” My voice comes out unsure. “Whatever makes me still immune to the undead seems to have the opposite effect on them.”