AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You’re pathetic. You organized these trials but had no intention of abiding by the rules you put in place. Why bother with this shit show? What do you need to prove? That you’re a dick? I guarantee you have that covered.”
Maddock grabbed her arm, shaking her. “How dare you defy me? You are nothing.”
He glanced at the men in the ring. They had ceased their fight and were looking at Maddock’s hold on Dannika.
Dannika glanced at his hand, clutching her arm. “Whatever you’re planning, just do it.”
“It is your intention to make me look weak in front of my clan. To make me lose control of my emotions. I will not stoop to such tactics.” He released her, turning to the men. “A minor misunderstanding. Please continue.”
The men didn’t wait. They resumed their fight as growls vibrated around them.
Dannika leaned toward Maddock. “Raine said that shadow’s emotions dim as he ages. You don’t appear to be lacking in that department.”
Maddock’s eyes flickered with gold. “You have eradicated a thousand years of peace and prosperity. Raine is not the only shadow affected by your presence. Some look at you in disgust, others with interest, but the harmony we once enjoyed has been lost. The other leaders don’t see the threat you present.”
He turned as the fight intensified.
Roane growled before his thick claws slashed Luke’s shoulder. They grappled, twisting in and out of each other’s grasp, before Roane wrapped his muscled arm around Luke’s neck. The crunching sound was unmistakable before Luke tapped his arm and Roane released him.
Maddock stood up clapping. “Impressive, Roane. You are a credit to your clan. I may call you back for a secondary fight.”
Roane helped Luke to his feet before he approached Dannika. “Thank you for this opportunity. Please consider a home in the bear clan.”
Dannika shook his hand. It was sweaty and bloody, but he gave no impression he was interested in a mate. She frowned unsure of his motives.Was she a trophy? An excuse to fight an opposing clan?
She frowned. “Yeah sure.”
Maddock followed the men from the room and turned at the entrance. “Wait here, Dannika. I must confer with Ryder and Steele. I will return shortly with the next two combatants.”
He left with the men.
She sat alone, her wolf becoming more adversarial and angrier with every passing second. It’s instinct to run free as dominant as her desire to return to her home. A dingy apartment with mismatched pillows. The one thing that was hers.
The shadows reached from the walls like dark fingers, sliding across the stone as if she were one with the night. The dark pathways promising an escape from the chaos her life had become. She was up moving through the tunnels before she could second-guess herself.
She darted through one tunnel, then another, unsure where she was going. The instinct to flee was overpowering and scary. Her world had turned upside down and despite her best efforts, she found herself trapped, unsure if she was running toward Raine or away from him. She stopped and shrank back against the wall, taking a few minutes to orient herself in the stone maze.
A man she didn’t recognize approached her.
His face contorted in anger. “What are you doing here? You are supposed to be at the trials.”
“I’m not going back, and if you put your hands on me, I will fight you right here.”
The man’s face paled. “Wait here. I will get Maddock.”
He darted down the tunnel.
The shadows cast from the dim lit tunnel closed in on her. A dark embrace that soothed her raging emotions. The pull of the night was irresistible, and she had no intention of fighting. Her body dissolved to a weightless mist. She hung in nothingness before sensing the dark highways. She felt the tube within the tunnel, the dark pathway an escape from one prison to the next. She had no idea where she was going, only that she was moving at incredible speed, her body breaking apart with each passing second.
CHAPTER27
Dannika raced through the dark, interconnecting tubes. It wasn’t until she was inside the opaque tunnel that she understood the dark highway was a series of pathways. A superhighway running faster and faster the longer she traveled. She ducked and curved through the opaque maze, picturing her apartment in her mind. She struggled to keep her molecules together in the cylindrical slipstream.
She recalled the map Darren had showed her back at the caves. She had noticed the tiny lines on the map but had assumed they were fissures in the rock. Now she understood the importance of his maps. It wasn’t the tunnels the clan walked: it was the pathways the shadows used to travel to and from the cave undetected.
She fought the urge to allow her molecules to separate in the fast-flowing stream. When she feared she was losing a grip on her shadow form, she emerged from the dark tunnel.
Her body solidified in the alleyway, coalescing like water as it freezes. She found herself at the site of the reaper attack. The moment her entire world had changed.
