Page 48 of Demonic Affliction

Dagny plants herself at the mouth of the pit, her feathered wings snapping wide as Malice and Fenryr flank her on either side. Roark and Cyprien are there a beat later, followed by Kaebl and Lir at her back.

"Go!" Dagny shouts, not looking back. “We’ll hold them off! Take Willow and run!”

Rhune’s arm circles my waist, hauling me into his chest, and then we’re racing toward the mouth of the tunnel. I twist my head and see Nyx and Dravik lifting Cin between them, one arm slung over each shoulder to support his massive weight.

There’s another ear-shattering chorus of screams, and more creatures pour out of the pit. Their gray-black bodies scramble over the ledge in a wave of horror, their jaws snapping around nothing and everything.

Wind rushes past my face as Rhune enters the tunnel, and though I can’t see anything anymore, I’m haunted by the sounds that follow us up the passage—screams, snarls, crunching blows, and terrifying shrieks of agony. It’s almost too much.

“Don’t stop!” Dravik's voice booms from somewhere behind us. “Keep going! They’re right on us!”

Finally, the tunnel opens, and we stumble into the large chamber that leads to the surface. Kevin is there, bleating his poor little head off, and Rhune quickly scoops him up before passing his gangly body over to me. Kevin is a lot heavier than when I first met him, and my muscles ache from the added weight, but no way in hell am I letting my fluffy friend go.

Rhune's grip tightens on me as we cross the threshold, and behind us, Dagny's voice cuts through the chaos.

"Move, move, move!"

She and her mates spill into the chamber a half second later, followed closely by hundreds of screaming, horrifying abominations. The sound is deafening, filling the cavern and shuddering beneath my skin, filling me with its wrongness.

Not waiting for any further direction, Rhune flies into the tunnel, followed by my other three mates. Cin is still held firmly between Nyx and Dravik, his head lolling with every jolt. We shoot up toward the surface with Dagny and her mates close at our heels, all of us terrified and desperate to get away from those beasts.

As soon as we breach the surface, I notice the sky is bright red. Ominous. Wrong.

Still, we climb higher into the sky, because at least it’s safer than the horrors crawling out of the earth. Below us, the creatures spill out of the pit in a mass, clawing over each other to reach open ground.

When they can’t find the prey they’re searching for, they begin to turn on each other. One sinks its teeth into the back of another, tearing a chunk free before the wounded one even registers the pain. A third latches onto the first's leg mid-bite.

Within seconds, there's a knot of them thrashing together, teeth and claws working on whoever is closest. When there is nothing nearby, they turn those weapons on their own bodies.

My stomach twists as I witness one gnawing through the meat of its own arm, black blood oozing down its chin and covering the ice at its feet.

I can’t help but recall the words Cin said the other night. It’s hungry… so very, very hungry.

It makes me wonder… Is the world starving somehow?

I don’t have much time to think about it. Rhune’s arms tighten around me, and we bank sideways, heading toward the ocean cliffs.

“We’ll be safer there!” Rhune shouts over the roar of the wind. “We need to regroup and figure out what to do next!”

I nod, burying my face in his chest and holding tight, letting the comforting scent of my mate ease some of the anxiety tearing me up from the inside.

Rhune carries me to the far back of the cave and lowers us both onto the ice-rock floor, his arms locked around me and refusing to let go. Like he’s worried that if he does, those horrible creatures will show up and devour me whole.

Across the space, Dravik and Nyx set Cin down on one of the furs we left behind when we moved to Dagny's. His eyes are open now, but his body is completely limp, and he doesn’t do anything except stare blankly ahead.

“What’s wrong with him?” I ask, worry clenching my chest. “Why hasn’t he woken up?”

“I don’t know.” Rhune lays his chin on my shoulder. “I’ve never really seen him like this before.”

“Is it because of those creatures?”

“Maybe…” Rhune’s arms tighten around me. “He will wake up soon. He always does.”

I hope so…

Dagny straightens near the mouth of the cave, her wings folding tight against her back as she looks at her six mates. “We should catch our breath and head back out. Check the tunnel, check the land, see what's going on out there." Her voice is steady, but when her eyes meet mine, I catch a glimmer of unease. “It looked like they were chasing Willow, so we should make sure they didn’t follow us here.”

Her mates fall in line behind her without a word, spreading their wings in preparation for flight. Only Cyprien lingers, his bright yellow eyes still frozen on Cin's blank expression.