“We can wait until you’ve healed some more,” Declan said after a few seconds.
“That will only give those things time to regroup, and we have to get out of here before the sun sets,” Lucien said.
Saxon agreed but kept his mouth shut. If Lucien wasn’t up for the journey, then they would wait until he was.
“Let’s go,” Lucien said.
* * *
Saxon keptthe flashlight tucked into his pocket as they made their way through the tunnel. With no light in the smoke-clogged passageway, he refused to turn the beam on as it would alert anyone nearby to their presence.
Keeping his hand on the wall, he let it guide him while he walked. Behind him, the only sound he heard from Declan and Lucien was their occasional exhalations. Lucien walked between them so they could offer him more protection should something come at them. The stench of blood and burnt flesh permeated the air, and in the beginning, they came across a few dead bodies, but the tunnel was clearer through here.
Behind him, small bangs and rattles sounded as parts of the tunnel continued to crumble. A distant boom rocked the shaft, and the ground lurched beneath his feet as he staggered to the side.
“What the…?” Lucien’s question trailed off as he must have realized what it was.
“They blew the other exit door,” Declan said.
“Hopefully they didn’t block our way out,” Saxon said.
He wouldnotdie in this place, or worse, be captured and turned into one of these bastards. His hand tightened on his crossbow as his thoughts turned to Elyse. She’d already endured so much because of Savages; he refused to become one. He would die first.
A rattle to his left caused him to turn in that direction. The air was cleaner here, but no light penetrated this deep into the tunnel, so it was impossible for him to see. He reached for the flashlight and gripped it in his fingers as he waited to hear anything more.
The tunnel remained silent, but he got the sensation something was standing before him, watching him. He felt it hovering before his face, scented the rot of a Savage, but then, the whole place smelled like rotten Savage.
Warm breath tickled his cheek, and though he couldn’t see it, he knew the thing was nearly nose to nose with him. And it was no normal Savage, it would have attacked by now if it was, but this thing was toying with him.
Saxon kept his fingers steady as he clicked on the flashlight. He’d expected to find something standing before him, but there was nothing there. He flashed the beam over the tunnel as he tried to get his heart rate under control. The revelation that nothing stood before him did little to ease his body’s impulse to fight something.
“What is it?” Lucien asked.
“There was something….” His voice trailed off. He’d never had a big imagination, never been one to exaggerate or lose control of his emotions, butdidhe imagine it? He touched his cheek where he’d felt the breath; he hadn’t imagined that.
Then where was it?
He shone the flashlight around the tunnel again; there was a lot less smoke and dust here, but the light only revealed ten feet in either direction. The hair on his nape rose, and with a sinking sensation in his stomach, he tipped his head back and lifted the light to the ceiling.
He didn’t know what he expected to find there, but he discovered nothing.
Anger churned in his stomach as he pulled the light away from the ceiling and focused on the tunnel once more. He hadnotimagined it. Something was playing with them, but where had it gone?
Chapter Forty-Seven
“Saxon?”Declan asked.
“There’s something here,” he stated. “And it’s fucking with us.”
“Let it keep fucking with us,” Lucien said. “If it’s too scared to reveal itself, then it’s not a problem. Now let’s get out of here.”
Saxon didn’t agree with Lucien’s assessment; whatever lurked in the shadows had put every one of his predatory instincts on high alert. However, they couldn’t stay here until it returned.
He turned the light off but kept it in hand as he started down the cavern again. Something brushed past him, and his hand shot out to grasp whatever it was as he turned on the flashlight. His hand came up with only air, but the light caught a flash of black before it vanished.
Where had it gone? He flashed the light over the tunnel, but it revealed no side tunnels where the thing could hide. He rechecked the ceiling and found nothing there. Whatever it was, it was the fastest thing he’d ever encountered.
“Shit,” Lucien said and stepped after it.
