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Thehumanstabbedme.
The thought made me grin as I left her in the cavern, and the door sealed her inside.
No one had managed to wound me in over a hundred years, but somehow this human had pierced my shoulder with her simple blade. I thought of her confiscated dagger bobbing against my hip, and my pants grew tight.
I’d gone into her room blindly, I knew. None of the other humans had fought back, and I’d stupidly let my guard down. My brothers would have roared with laughter if I’d told them what had happened. Fuck, I’d been half-tempted to give the human her dagger back, just so they could experience a surprise of their own.
My lips quirked into a mischievous smile.Damned Halced, this human is refreshing.Gorgeous, too, but plenty of monsters were stunning. It was more than that. She was…different.
I thought of the strange pain I’d felt when I’d touched her, then the undeniable force that was pulling me toward her. That was urging me to get close to her, to protect her. This female was more than just a human and it was going to be fucking fun finding out what.
I was still grinning when I entered the room I was after. Locke, Kade and Darian stood before the magicked part of the wall that looked into the cavern I’d just been in, their gazes fixed on the human in white. The window was formed by magic, so the human wouldn’t be able to see us, but we had a clear view. And it didnotdisappoint.
“Something amusing you, Ash?” Darian drawled.
Clearing my throat, I took up my position near two wooden levers that jutted out of the wall. “Yeah, you three actin’ like monster pups fawning over that human.”
Kade growled and didn’t glance my way. “I’m not fawning. The human will turn soon.”
I peered at the human who was busy dodging rocks that were raining down on her at a steady rate. Her face was contorted into a determined expression that I was finding way too appealing. I admired the speed at which she jumped and twirled around the falling bits of stone, her gauzy white dress rippling as she moved as if she were dancing to music only she could hear. None of the other humans had moved like that.
“Did she search for the door?” I asked.
“Briefly. She was smart enough to move on quickly,” Locke said, his intense gaze tracking the human across the sand. Locke hadn’t been this interested in anyone for over a century, and his curiosity of the human further fueled my own.
“Looks like our lovely little human might have some secrets,” Darian mused. “She’s certainly more prepared than the other chosen.”
A rock the size of my head plummeted from the ceiling, and the human rolled out of the way just before it could crush her skull. Hysterical laughter spilled from her, unsettling me. Blood trickled down her lip, and sweat plastered her wild red hair to her scalp. She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand and sprang up in time to avoid another huge rock.Too close.Change already, I willed her.
I gripped one of the wooden levers that jutted from the wall.
“Be ready,” Locke said.
“Always am,” I said, then grinned at the memory of the human stabbing me.Mostly.
The human continued to dodge the rocks, but it was only a matter of time before one would hit her, her exhaustion slowing her pace. I pulled the first lever down, and the rocks stopped falling, but I didn’t give her a reprieve.
Moving my hand to the other lever, I pushed it up.
The human’s chest heaved, and she bent to rest her hands on her knees, but she looked up as a cracking sound vibrated down the cavern walls and dust plumed in the air.
“Seriously?” she yelled into the space, and Darian huffed a laugh.
The stone ceiling descended slowly but steadily toward her, the huge slab of rock reaching across the entire space, leaving no room for her to escape.
Time to show us your true face, Sharachi.
She raced around the cavern, running her hands along the walls, searching for the hidden door. When she found nothing, she dropped to her knees and thrust her hands downward, digging into the sand.
“No one’s done that before,” Darian commented, and Kade grunted in agreement.
The rocky ceiling was halfway down the cavern wall when she must have found it—the iron floor pocketed with trap doors that filtered away the falling rocks. It was specifically designed to sense the material of a rock and let it fall into the space below the cavern.
She cursed as she scraped her fingers along the iron.
I narrowed my eyes and found my usual smile falling as I watched her. My hand gripped the lever tighter.Just turn already.
But she remained the same. Her ears rounded, her skin lightly kissed by the sun, and her soft flesh as fragile as ever.
