I’m plastered to the wall, petrified he’ll turn around, but he never does as he vanishes around the building.
Gunshots ring in the air, popping, one after another. Someone’s shouting; others are yelling. Must be from the guards.
A dinging bell rings from the direction of the back fence. I cringe. The guard must have discovered my branch. Well, that didn’t take long.
Quickly, I slide into the building and pray with everything I have that I don’t bump into anyone. I recall someone mentioning prisons in this building, and from what I’ve read, cells are always in the basement of castles.
No time to waste, I hurry down a quiet corridor with dark stone walls and the torches on the walls flickering. The wind howls savagely in here, my skin suddenly icy cold. I’m heading to the large set of stairs I remember in this fortress going underground. My head swims with so many doubts that every move I make might be wrong and my undoing.
Voices come from up ahead, and I shudder. Terrified, I lash out toward the first door I find and shove it open. I dart inside, my pulse banging in my ears. It’s someone’s chamber, judging by the messy bed and table with a jug and cups. I also spot a blade inside a sheath on a belt, so I sprint over and snatch the weapon, just in case.
Back at the entrance, I press my ear against the wooden door and listen as I wrap the belt around my waist, the blade at my hip. It’s super large and even in the final belt hole, there’s a bit of wiggle room, but it will have to do. For those few moments, I try to calm my raging pulse. I’ve been going non-stop and I might pass out. I remind myself I can’t afford to make any mistakes.
Loud footfalls pass like whoever’s out there is running, and I don’t leave the room until I’m certain they are definitely gone.
Stepping into the corridor, I swing my gaze left and right, and with no one there, I move with haste to the stairwell farther ahead. The hairs on my nape shift, and my brain is on overdrive.
I rush downstairs and arrive at a door. The stairs curve around and lead farther down. Is this the basement? Because it smells rank enough that it could be? Then what is on the next floor down. I’m chewing on my lower lip over what to do but find myself drifting to the door and listening for any sounds.
Quietly, I open it and in front of me are a set of prison cells. Both are empty, so I stick my head inside to check out the rest of the room.
“What are you doing here?!” a male’s voice snaps behind me.
I flinch around, my nerves shot.
A huge guard with wet hair and clothes clinging to him like he’s just run in from outside is thundering down the steps toward me. He has a hooked nose, and I’ve seen him amid the wolves fighting alongside Mad in the woods. Fuck, why did it have to be him of all people coming down here?
His eyes grow as he really sees me… recognizes me.
Shaking, I stumble backward into the nearest cell and trip over my feet, falling over. I recoil on my ass as he marches right up to me, hands curling into fists, his jawline clenching.
“Meira!” a familiar voice calls me from within the room, and I swing my head to the left and lay eyes on Lucien and Bardhyl inside the cell at the end of the row. They’re gripping the metal bars, appearing just as shocked as I feel. Sweet hell, they were in here!
I hurry to get up when the back of the guard’s hand collides with my face. Pain explodes down my cheek, and I’m reeling, my back smacking the floor. I’m crying out with excruciating pain, clasping the side of my face.
“Got you, you little bitch!” he snarls.
Chapter 5
Dušan
I close my eyes, my back against the ice-cold wall, and I’m drowning in fury. Spiraling, falling so damn fast, I’m losing control.
Meira.
She floats in my mind as I slip in and out of panicked thoughts and fucking blind anger at Mad.
I always gave him everything, made him my second-in-command, permitted him free rein in my pack. But it wasn’t enough for the greedy sonofabitch.
I assumed I’d handled his demands and outbursts well but still gave him enough leniency so he didn’t feel any less important. The Ash Wolves’ pack came from his father, and I claimed it by fighting almost to my death to stake my claim from other Alphas. Mad never helped and always ran from danger.
He’s gutless, a terrified asshole who would rather sit back than battle in the way of the wolves. Instead, he manipulates and steals.
A nerve pulses in my neck each time I think of incident after incident where the clues were right in my damn face, but I overlooked it again and again because I considered him family.
I pitied the fool, remembered the shit we both went through as kids, how I covered for him so I got the beatings from my step-father, not him.
Maybe that’s the problem. I’ve protected him for so long, he’s become complacent, arrogant, entitled.
No fucking respect for anything I’ve done for him, or for the pack, and he only sees his own selfish desires.
My foolish oversight will never happen again.
A groan sounds from up ahead, and I slide open my eyes to the guard leaning against the wall outside my cell, ordered to watch over me. Most likely in case Meira finds her way to me, which I want to laugh at. She doesn’t even know we have dungeons in the basement, and I’m hoping she’s smart enough to keep her distance from this place.
I climb to my feet, stretching my back, gaining his attention.
Nico watches me, and I know him well, so to see him betray me like this sits like barbed wire in my gut.
“I saved you years ago.” I groan, then clear my throat.
“That you did,” he answers, his voice strong, as though ready for this conversation.
“And yet you so easily break your loyalty and change allegiance.”
His mouth thins and he folds his arms over his chest. “It’s about survival, Dušan, you know this best. It’s why you created our pack home. But times change, and there is no shame in admitting your ways are not going to ensure we remain safe. We live surrounded by fucking zombies.” His voice climbs, his arms falling by his side.
“What has Mad promised you? Immunity from the undead? He’s wrong. There is no such thing. We all carry the virus in our veins already. We die and we become one of them. We get bitten by a zombie and we’re the undead. He’s making empty promises. The serum he stole from our partnered packs is made for the X-Clan race of wolves, and it won’t work for us.” I suck in a sharp breath. “His action could bring that pack to our doorstep to annihilate us. So now you have two enemies outside your home.” I’m partially lying, as I promised Ander the serum Mad stole back, and I intend to keep my promise, even if I have to pry it out of Mad’s cold, dead hands.
Nostrils flaring, he growls under his breath. “The bitch is immune. Everyone saw her walk right through the mass of zombies unscathed. She isn’t X-clan. Mad told us how you intended to keep her for yourself, to protect yourself while letting us live in fear so we followed you.”
I’m seething. “A fucking lie.”
“He promised everyone who showed him loyalty that they will receive the antidote once he caught her. We all live in fear, especially after they broke into the compound through the fence so easily. If you were smart, you’d stop fighting against your brother and help him find the cure for us all.”