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Liam threw a pair of pants at me, and I pulled them on as Cor inspected my injuries.
“I’ll be fine in a few hours,” I murmured as I felt her worry for me. “Let’s get moving and find this thing.”
It didn’t take us long to navigate around the edge of the collapsed tunnel floor and carry on our path towards the castle. Cor lit the way with a string of orbs, lining the passageway effortlessly now that she was back at full power. We walked in silence, our senses stretched to the limit as we waited for the creature to return.
“The lights,” I murmured a few long minutes into our hunt.
Cor smiled darkly and nodded. “I know.”
Understanding her plan, I winked at her and continued walking. Behind us, the orbs of light that she had left burning were slowly winking out. The creature was stalking us, following silently in the hope of catching us off guard. If Cordelia wanted to play along, I was game.
I tipped my head subtly and watched from the corner of my eye as the darkness behind us crept closer. Fifty feet of lit space became twenty, then ten, then five, and I tensed in anticipation of my mate’s command.
Spinning without warning, Cor threw up her hands and sent a bright arc of power shooting through the darkness. It formed a large loop around the space behind us, circling the closest twenty feet of shadow before settling into a blazing wall of light.
The ear-splitting screech of the creature inside the circle made me grimace in pain. Its claws flashed in the light as it writhed and ducked, trying to escape the pool of light it was now trapped in. Even coated in light now, it was impossible to see its features. It seemed to be made out of true darkness, absorbing the light around it and appearing as a spiteful stain in the air.
Cordy continued to feed the barrier her power as she smiled wickedly, pushing it even brighter as the thing screamed.
Liam walked over to press a kiss to her shoulder. “Do you know how to kill it?”
She tilted her head and gave me a knowing look, clearly remembering what I had told her earlier. I grinned in answer, pushing off my pants as I anticipated her next words and prepared to shift.
“It might look like shadow, but it’s not. Rip it apart.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Cordelia
Theguysgavemeas little space as possible as we walked through the dark tunnels, back to one main light above us now that I had watched their wolves tear that creature into pieces. There hadn’t been a second since we’d resumed our journey that at least one of them wasn’t touching me in some way, and as Liam wove his fingers through mine and Zeke brushed his fingers against my shoulder from directly behind me, I began to feel a little smothered.
“So…” I began, ignoring Liam’s warning glance as he anticipated what I was about to say. “I know I nearly died and all, but…”
I was cut off by the hand that wrapped around my mouth and tugged me to a stop.
“Nope, we will not give you space. Not when we came that close to losing it all. Deal with it.”
I frowned as Noah kissed my neck before removing his hand, giving me a gentle push to get moving again. With a sigh I gave in, knowing I would likely be the same if the situation had been reversed.
Liam smirked by my side. “See, you can do as you’re told.”
With a glare, I shot a spark of power down to our linked fingers, making him jolt and tug his hand away. I smiled innocently at him as he shook out his arm, amusement dancing in his gaze as he shook his head at me.
“Brat.”
“We must be close now,” Zeke murmured, scrutinising the paper map in his hands. “There’s nowhere else this tunnel could lead.”
“I am ready to get the hell out of here,” Noah said bitterly.
Worry threaded through me at his words. Whatever we were about to find at the end of this passage would likely be worse than what we had already faced down here.
“Will she know that we got past her guard dog?” Liam asked, keeping his voice low.
I shrugged but shook my head. “I doubt it. I don’t know what that thing was, but it was powerful. She probably trusted that it was strong enough to stop anyone getting through.”
“Through to where, exactly?” Zeke asked, tucking the map back into his bag.
We ground to a halt as a group when my light hit a solid wall ahead. I blew out a breath as I realised that we had finally reached the end of the road, but rather than a hidden rune gate like the other ways out of this maze, in front of us stood a simple, wooden door.
