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“What made your brows furrow, my love?” He bends down and kisses me between my eyebrows, making me smile. I swear he’s developed a sixth sense to know just when I need him.
A soft laugh escapes my lips, and I snuggle into his side closer. “I hate to admit it, but Hollis was right.”
“What was he right about?” Egon tilts his head to the side, waiting for my answer.
“He was concerned that if I had come here first, even before Kaedyn’s kingdom, I wouldn’t have even bothered to continue on my quest.” A knowing smile crosses Egon’s lips.
“And what did you ascertain about that?” He presses his lips against my temple, and I just sigh contentedly.
“I probably wouldn’t have gone any further if I’m being honest with myself. This…” I lightly tap his chest right over his heart, “is all I’ve ever dreamed of. I feel complete finally.” I put emphasis on the word finally. Egon nods his head and then looks out across the room at all the other wolves gathered and then back down at me.
“I know that feeling all too well. It didn’t matter who I dated up to this point, they are just a blurred memory that’s fading faster every moment that I’m in your presence. It doesn’t matter how long I dated them or what I had done. No one holds a candle to you.” He emphasizes his statement by kissing me passionately on the lips and drawing me flush to his chest. He practically lifts me off the ground and holds me to him. The hall erupts in cheers and hoots and, of course, the ever-famous catcall. Blushing furiously, I bury my face against his neck, trying to hide my embarrassment.
“There’s nothing to be ashamed of. Our love is pure and true, you fuckers!” he exclaims as he looks up from me, staring down everybody around us. “You are a bunch of jealous motherfuckers. But I love you all, anyway.” His joking manner put the crowd at ease after his first false bravado feeds the laughter.
He slowly slides me down his body and I just look up at him, trying not to laugh. “Well, my king, we need to think about getting this show on the road sooner than later, don’t you think?” Looking out the window, we can see the sky is painted in various shades of purples and blues. The sun has just about set and I’m almost at my full power. I kind of understand why I am paired with him. Why a Fire Wolf would be my perfect match. He is the most powerful during the day, as I am the most powerful at night. It makes sense to match us that way.
Lost in my own thoughts, I watch the remaining colors drain from the sky, then turn back to look at the legion that has been assembled before me. “If your loved ones are here, kiss them goodbye. It’s time that we get going.” My voice carries and fills the hall, stopping everyone in their tracks immediately.
Once everyone is focused on me as I motion to my four mates to join me over in the back corner. I have shut half the lights in the hall off, allowing the darkness to reign supreme. Once the hall has been blackened, I open a rift to pull everyone through. It’s been a recent addition to my arsenal. Until I took Egon, I wasn’t able to do this. I guess now that I’m at my full power, just about anything is possible.
The portal slowly opens, and we see the catacombs on the other side. The lanterns barely illuminating the area and the bones of unnamed wolves line the walls in almost a Halloweenish style. The troops march through two by two into the catacombs below the central cemetery. It’s interesting how the cemetery is shaped. It’s almost like a star where there’s a point near each of the kingdoms.
I get lost in my own thoughts for several moments as I watch the troops walk through. There’s something off about the catacombs. The hairs on the back of my neck slowly rise, warning me that something is being missed. I charge ahead of some troops and stop them from going through. Puzzled, my mates look at me and then glance around the interior. It’s then beyond the candlelight we see the glow of red eyes illuminate the shadows. Two by two, pairs of eyes light up and glow. The guttural growl of the troops that are with me echoes off the bone walls. It’s now the first of the denizens to step forward.
Vampires. Hundreds of vampires fill the catacombs. Egon immediately commands his troops to take the front line. He grabs my hand and pulls me forward with him. His normal soft smile is gone, replaced by a stone-cold exterior. During times of war, there is no time for any form of gentleness. It’s survival of the fittest and if we hope to survive, we shall show no mercy.
Egon makes a noise at the back of his throat that I had never heard before. As soon as the noise escapes his lips, his soldiers amass flames in their hands. The second time we hear the noise, waves of fire stretch out before the Fire Wolves igniting everything in front of them. High-pitched screeches and screams fill the air, as well as the smell of charred flesh. The Earth and the Water Wolves step forward, prepared to do whatever is necessary to back up Egon’s troops. After several moments, the screaming stops but that feeling of foreboding still hasn’t gone away yet.
Keeping one hand on Egon’s bicep, I scan the surrounding area, looking beyond the charred remains of the Vampires that were just slain. There are more corpses than what I originally noticed. By the looks of it, they have passed some citizens from my homeland around like juice pouches for the Vampires.
Shaking my head, I walk side by side with my mate. My redheaded Viking is leading the charge through the catacombs, eradicating anything not part of our envoy. We make it to a fork in the catacombs; and by scent, we know that the Vampires are headed toward Mateo’s Kingdom.
“The bastards are in league with Mateo!” Sebastian growls out.
Reaching out, I rest my hand on Sebastian’s scapula and lightly scratch the skin there. His growl slowly fades, and he looks down at me sadly. His eyes scream how deeply he’s wounded by how his king has turned against me. His homeland and its inhabitants can no longer be trusted. I release Egon and close the distance to Sebastian without a second thought. Impacting his chest and an oof escapes his lips as I wrap my arms tightly around his rib cage; holding myself to him, trying to offer him comfort over the evidence of his king’s betrayal. “At least it’s not your father that’s in league with the Vampires,” I tell him.
A weak smile creeps across his lips as he tries to be strong for me. “Yeah, I guess that is the only highlight of this entire situation. Maybe, just maybe, we can take our revenge against him when this is all over.”
“Maybe?” Egon says. “I plan to burn his entire kingdom to the ground and eradicate his bloodline for what he’s done.” If I wasn’t feeling the same way, I would almost question Egon. Kaedyn, being the diplomatic one out of all of us, nods along with the Egon’s assessment.
I look over toward Hollis to see what he’s thinking. He’s tapping his finger on the tip of his chin before looking at me with a smile. “Egon, maybe we can get quite creative with this.”
“Oh?” Egon fires back with a smile.
“Oh definitely, I can make the kingdom sink into the earth and then you can set it on fire.” Everyone’s eyebrows shoot up when Hollis finishes his sentence.
Egon bounces a ball of fire in his hand, thinking about Hollis’s proposal. He tosses it up one last time and then closes his hand around it, tightly extinguishing it in his fist. “Sounds like a plan. Sebastian, write that down don’t let us forget that plan.”
Shaking his head, Sebastian just jots down on his phone exactly what Egon and Hollis proposed. I can’t believe they’re planning this. We move further into the catacombs, away from the fork leading to Mateo’s Kingdom, torching every open entryway and any recess that could hold a vampire in it. More times than not, we find a vampire and they are burned asunder. We come to the end of the main tunnel and there’s a runic wall there.
“Well, this is great!” Kaedyn’s sarcasm doesn’t escape me.
Rolling my eyes, I move forward and stare at the stones. Cutting the tip of my finger, I touch three stones in specific places. Soon, the grinding and rumble of the moving stones catches everyone’s attention. The wall slides out of the way, revealing a staircase leading up. “This entryway was long forgotten.” I touch the edge as I move forward.
“It’s not on any map, nor is it on any of the castle schematics. This was created by the first Shadow Wolf to inhabit the castle. It’s blood-borne knowledge for those of us that are grave touched to know how to open the passageway.” Once the stone staircase is revealed; Egon steps forward, lighting a ball of fire in his hand to illuminate our pathway up.
It’s a sad homecoming really if you think about it. My father is dead by my hand for his betrayal of not only me, but of our people as well. My mother and brother are dead because they aligned themselves with the vampires, hoping to regain their part of the family’s power.
