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“I’ll kill them all,” she said simply.
“Of that, I have no doubt,” he kissed the top of her head. “But until that moment, we have things we need to do before the next full moon.”
ChapterFourteen
Adeline shot up, trying to calculate what day it was. “When’s the full moon?”
“In two days,” Rolf replied.
His countenance was far too relaxed for her liking. She knew that his turning would go one of two ways. Either she would end up killing him, or he would kill her unless she could figure out how to subdue him. Her coven had given her the night of the full moon as a deadline to find and kill the werewolf. They would come for her and the creature she was sworn to kill if she didn’t arrive by the deadline.
She didn’t know that the werewolf she was sent to find used to be Colin.
“Adeline.” His voice was warm and silky as he called her back to reality. “Let me show you something.”
Rolf climbed out of bed, holding his hand out for her. He pulled her from their bed and walked to the cabin’s center. He slid the chair by the fire out of the way and flipped over the corner of the rug, which hadn’t been a stretched-out lump. It had been covering a door made entirely out of silver with a small, inset circular handle.
“A cellar?”
Rolf nodded as he unlocked and lifted the heavy door. Scratch marks lined the lid on the inside. The silver wasn’t just on the door; it went down several feet into the tunnel, and two hooks made of silver protruded from the framing. “Sort of. It leads down to a cave and a series of tunnels. All of them sealed with solid silver doors or grates.”
Adeline must have looked confused as he grabbed a lantern next to the mantle and lit it. Next, he grabbed a long stick with a hook on the end that hung above the fireplace. He placed the lantern on the end, balancing it precipitously on the hook. Rolf set the stick with the lantern down beside the mouth of the tunnel and turned to the kitchen, but not before flashing her a smile.
Was he planning on taking her down into the tunnels? She looked down the dark hole skeptically as he bustled about behind her. Still naked, she crossed her arms over her chest, wondering how far down the tunnel went.
Rolf grunted. Looking over her shoulder, he hefted a large bundle of rope in his arms. She raised an eyebrow, watching his muscles flex under the weight. He bent down and placed two loops on the hooks. A rope ladder unraveled to the bottom of the tunnel.
She angled her head. “You want me to go down there?”
“Well, yes, but I think we should dress first.” He wore a goofy grin, like a kid ready to show off his favorite toy.
* * *
They descended the ladder quickly. Rolf led the way, his lantern on a stick illuminating the musty tunnel a few feet ahead of them. They were both quiet, lost in their thoughts as they moved down the winding corridor. Adeline could walk comfortably through the tunnel, but the ceiling wasn’t nearly as tall as he needed it to be for Rolf. But then, he had designed it that way. He wanted the tunnel to the cabin to be too narrow and tight for his werewolf to stay too long.
His heart beat in his ears. He hadn’t been down here in his fully human form in decades since he last finished digging out his monthly prison. The floor was slightly wet, and he was glad he insisted they both wear shoes.
“What is this place?” Adeline whispered as the tunnel opened up into a small chamber. Wooden beams framed the small space, and her hands drifted over deep claw marks that had slashed across the face of the cavern walls. Everywhere Rolf and Adeline looked, there was evidence of the werewolf, his deep gashes in the walls, tufts of hair caught in the joining of the beams. The animalistic fury of being trapped, unable to leave the underground jail.
“This is where I spend one night a month,” he said. Even though it was a cavern, and his voice should have reverberated off the walls, the atmosphere pressed down around him, choking off the volume.
Or maybe it was all in his head. He swallowed tightly.
Adeline’s hands touched the deep claw marks in the cave walls; her fingers were swallowed up by the depth of the gouges left behind.
“I have only ever known werewolves as our enemy, the only creature who can kill us without using silver. I never thought I’d be able to see things differently.” Adeline moved over to the beams and grabbed a tuft of the werewolf fur, rolling it between her fingers. He watched as her face was inquisitive, and she tucked the hair into her coat pocket. “Do you remember anything from your time during the full moon?”
“No, but it’s probably better that way.” Rolf shook his head, toeing a link in one of the several large chains scattered on the floor. Rolf swung his lantern over them, and they glistened in the soft golden light.
“Are those silver chains?” Adeline’s voice cut him off. It sounded pained as she stepped up next to him. He couldn’t bring himself to look at her for fear of the shame she would see written on his face and the pity he would see in her eyes. “Why, Rolf?”
“Because… I am a beast. A monster,” he said simply. It was something he had finally come to terms with. After, of course, he had figured out what had happened to him and what animal had bitten him on the shoulder.
During the first years he spent roaming the woods, he picked up the odd transient jobs, living in makeshift shelters and killing innocent people whenever he shifted. With his memory gone, he picked up as many tradesman skills as possible. He was best at fur trapping since he inhabited places where the other wild creatures of the forests lived. With the money he earned from fur trapping, he bought tools to learn the trade of the loggers in the area. He learned how to fell dead trees, chopping into the trunks like an artist sculpting marble. Rolf honed his skills quickly and soon became a master woodworker. And when winter blew in, he’d return to fur trapping to make ends meet during the colder months.
He was only several years into his life as a werewolf when he was terrified that he would keep waking up covered in blood. Rolf never knew if those he killed on his full moon rampages were people who deserved it or if they were innocent. The guilt of his blackout kills finally got the better of him. Which is when he decided to turn the abandoned cave he had been living in into his permanent jail.
Adeline’s hand touched his cheek as if she knew the shame he held. He leaned into her palm, his free hand reaching up to cover her hand with his.
