She had no other choice. Gripping her daggers, she planted her feet, raised her arms, and focused.
Breathe. Watch. Move fast.
Evelyne braced herself. The creature lunged first, claws slashing through the air, but she was faster. She pivoted to the side and struck, her dagger slicing across its chest in a clean arc. The wound barely slowed it.
“That’s it,” Kaldrek’s voice rang out from behind the rubble. “Keep moving!”
The beast charged again, and Evelyne ducked low, driving her blade toward its ribs. A brutal kick met her stomach and sent her crashing to the ground, the breath ripped from her lungs.
“No, no. Get up,” she whispered to herself, wheezing.
“You’ve got this,” Kaldrek called again.
“Remember to breathe. Assess, then react.”
She exhaled, and rolled just as claws tore into the dirt where her head had been. She forced herself upright. Then came a hot flash of pain across her cheek as the creature’s claw raked her face. She hissed loudly as blood trickled down her skin, but she got back into a defensive stance.
“You’re all right. Pain means you’re alive,” Kaldrek shouted. “Eyes up, Evelyne.”
She could just make out the frantic scrape of claws against stone as the wolves slashed through the rubble. Above it all, Kaldrek’s voice cut through, cursing and shouting for them to move faster.
The creature paused, its gaze drawn to the blood on her cheek. The moment passed in a blink before it lunged straight at her. Evelyne screamed as she drove her dagger upward, the blade sinking deep into itsabdomen. But the force of its body crashed into hers, slamming her to the ground. Her limbs trembled under its weight, every muscle straining as its rancid breath burned against her throat, fangs poised just inches from her skin.
“Don’t give it a chance,” Kaldrek growled from the other side. “Do not give up!”
Her vision swam, limbs shaking with effort, but his voice anchored her. It pulled her back to every morning on the training grounds, every bruise and blister earned beneath his unyielding guidance. She remembered the sting of failure, the heat of frustration, the helplessness she’d once felt within another man’s grasp. She had trained to take that power back.Hehad prepared her for this very moment.
Gritting her teeth, Evelyne drove the blade deeper.
The wall trapping her and Heidara shattered as stone exploded outward, and Kaldrek charged through, a storm of fury made flesh. With a snarl, he seized the creature and tore it off her with his bare hands, rage pouring from him in raw, lethal waves. He didn’t shift. He didn’t need to.
He tore into the creature with relentless savagery, ripping and breaking its limbs with brutal force. It screamed and writhed beneath him, but he didn’t stop. Not even when it stopped fighting, or when its body lay twitching in the dirt. Evelyne had never seen fury like this. This wasn’t just anger; it was something darker, a man completely unhinged.
Crouching low, he gripped his dagger and slit the creature’s throat before tearing its head clean from its body. Black blood splattered across his face, leaving him looking wild.
Panting, he turned to her. “You’re bleeding.” His voice shook with urgency as he scanned her from head to toe, desperate to find the source. And that was when she understood: it wasn’t just anger that pushed himpast the edge. It was fear… for her. Because that thing had laid its hands on her, pinned her, and hurt her. And that was enough to unmake him.
Evelyne reached out and gently touched his face, and he leaned into her palm and let out a long exhale. Her gaze shifted down the tunnel, where Holden knelt with Heidara in his arms, pressing against the wound as she clung to breath.
Alaric burst through the rubble, eyes wide with panic as he looked between Evelyne and Heidara, clearly torn between two people he cared for and unsure who needed him more.
“Holy hells,” he breathed. “What do I do?” He looked to Evelyne, who nodded over to Heidara. A silent command to help her friend, and he didn’t hesitate.
“Kaldrek, what was that?” Evelyne asked quietly.
His eyes began to warm to dark brown as he searched her face. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen something like that. It must have emerged from the bloodroot veins, or…” He shook his head. “I honestly don’t know, but it’s nothing natural. I can feel it. Those creatures were derived from blood magic and have probably been living within this tunnel for years. Growing. Feeding off of anything that dares enter this path.”
He returned to his alpha stance.
“We need to keep moving. We pack up now. And Holden?” Holden turned to look at Kaldrek, still holding his sister. “Get her to Lorena.”
Holden nodded and swiftly took off in search of the healer.
When the tunnel was finally cleared and declared safe, Kaldrek returned to Evelyne’s side, lowering himself beside her and pressing his forehead softly to hers. She’d never seen him so shaken.
“I’m fine,” she whispered.
His hands framed her face. “I thought I was going tolose you. I tried, but I couldn’t get to you fast enough.” He pulled her into a fierce kiss. When he finally broke away, his eyes searched hers, full of awe and something deeper.
