Chapter 46: Howls in the Dark

The moment it stepped out from behind the carriage, she made a mental note that breathing was no longer an option, and her breath seized completely as she stared at it, horrified.

Its fur hung in filthy, matted clumps, patches of flesh exposed beneath old scars that had never healed. Its dark blue eyes didn’t blink, and it simply stared at her.

Every story she’d ever heard about rogues came crashing back into her mind at once.

Mindless.

Merciless.

They didn’t negotiate, or chase for sport.

They were once wolves who had now completely lost their humanity, forcing their wolves to become completely animalistic and a weapon built for ripping things in its path to shreds.

She didn’t want to be ripped apart to shreds.

Her feet moved before her mind did, so she spun around and bolted. It was probably a bad idea to run, but it was better than standing there and waiting for the wolf to move first.

As expected, the rogue exploded after her and its speed absolutely made her want to pee in her pants. The sound of its paws hammering against the dirt grew louder almost instantly — too fast — as though it was about to take off flying.

Pain exploded across her shoulder as it covered the distance between them. Its claws had just ripped through her dress and skin in one brutal swipe, spinning her off her feet.

She crashed against the road so hard that stones tore open her palms, and a scream ripped from her throat.

At this point, she had completely forgotten about Mara’s strange disappearance.

The rogue lunged again, and Della barely rolled away before its jaws slammed into the dirt where her neck had been. Its teeth shattered stone, and its eyes snapped left in her direction once more.

Della scrambled to her feet without thinking, warm blood pouring down her arm.

Run.

Run!

She sprinted down the opposite direction where the rogue was, which was unfortunately the forest. Branches whipped against her face, and the sharpest thorns tore through her shirt and into her skin.

Her lungs burned too, breathless and suffocating as the wind whipped past her face.

When she managed to look back, she saw nothing.

That terrified her more.

She risked another glance over her shoulder, and yet there was no sign of the wolf. Was it...gone?

"No..." She staggered to a stop, then looked around the dense trees. Where is it?!

She forced her breath to slow down and carefully looked around her. Rogues might be mindless, but they still had the instincts of a predator.

The subtle rustle of leaves came from her side, and she instantly noticed the swift change in the direction of the air around her. She missed three heartbeats in that moment as every part of her body yelled at her to duck.

The moment she did, something crashed through the trees, and the rogue burst out from that same direction she had predicted.

It had actually circled ahead!!

"Oh, Goddess!"

She changed direction immediately too, running because her life depended on it right now.

The beast never slowed, slamming through trees and leaping over fallen trunks. Every obstacle that slowed Della barely existed to it.

She cried out as another branch whipped across her face, opening a cut above her eye. Blood dripped into her vision, but she didn’t stop moving as long since her other eye was still seeing clearly.

Then, the sound of several howls echoed through the forest. At first, she wanted to scream in joy that there might be regular wolves close by that could help, but the howls were...different. In fact, they sounded less like howls and more like snarls.

You’ve got to be kidding me!

More glowing blue eyes appeared between the trees, as more and more rogues leapt out from the darkness.

The first rogue gave another guttural growl the moment it sighted her, and every other pair of glowing eyes suddenly moved towards her.

She ran harder than she ever had in her life, so hard that the forest became nothing more than blurred shadows. She couldn’t feel her injured shoulder anymore.

Couldn’t feel the cuts covering her legs.

Couldn’t even feel herself breathing.

Only fear.

A root caught her foot, and she stumbled but quickly recovered. She couldn’t afford to fall now, not when she could hear several heavy paws thundering through the forest right behind her. Not when she could hear their murderous snarl every two seconds as they closed the distance between them.

A rogue lunged from the left, and its claws grazed her calf. Hot agony exploded through her leg, and she yelped.

It wasn’t enough to make her stop though, not if she wanted to live.

A part of her wanted to yell into the mate bond, try and reach into it and ask Malachi for help. Before she could even decide if she wanted to also handle Malachi’s dark presence, the ground beneath her feet suddenly disappeared.

"Ahhh!"

The earth collapsed as the leaves, rotten branches and old timber gave away completely.

She plunged into darkness, and the impact knocked every bit of air from her lungs. A sickening crack echoed through the tunnel as pain exploded through her ankle.

For several long seconds, she couldn’t breathe.

Couldn’t move.

Couldn’t scream.

Couldn’t think.

Only hurt.

And it did hurt like hell!!

She finally forced herself onto her elbows and looked around her. She could make out that she was somewhere in a tunnel, and above her was the small opening where the earth had given away.

Dust drifted lazily through thin shafts of moonlight filtering from the hole above.

Then, the rogues began gathering around above her.

Quickly, she attempted to stand up and move but her ankle screamed the moment she put weight on it.

The same ankle pain that had caused her great pain during her first few weeks at Eclipse Crown. The one Annelise and Malachi had helped heal. Now...she was back to square one!!

She bit down on her sleeve to stop herself from crying out. Twisted ankle be damned!

She had to move.

She had to!!

She managed to stand up and began dragging her ankle behind her, moving further into the tunnel. She didn’t care where the tunnel led her, as long as it wasn’t toward danger.

THUD!

Something heavy landed somewhere behind her. It didn’t sound close, but it didn’t sound so far either.

Dust rained from the ceiling a bit, and she stopped moving for a second and turned around, her heart pounding once again.

Silence carried for a second, then she heard that familiar, wet snarl that sent chills down her spine.

The rogue had followed her down!!

The snarl came again, closer this time. It wasn’t charging like before, probably hunting her through scent.

Della knew she was hurt, and couldn’t run like before. The disadvantage right now almost had her bursting into tears. She had just escaped from the pack she was sentenced to die, and would still end up dying.

The sound of claws scraping against ancient stone echoed through the tunnel, slow and deliberate with each step sending another wave of panic crashing through her chest.

She staggered backwards, instinctively pressing herself against the rough stone wall. The darkness swallowed everything beyond a few feet. She couldn’t see it.

She could only hear it.

It scraped and snarled again, then another deafening silence followed. Her heart hammered so violently she wondered if the creature could hear it.

Move.

Move!

She forced her injured ankle forward, and pain exploded through her leg so fiercely that stars burst across her vision. She bit down hard on her lip to stop herself from crying out.

One limp after another as fast as she could go, the tunnel stretched endlessly before her, twisting deeper beneath the ground.

Behind her, she still knew it was following her.

She still knew it was tracking her down.

Patiently.

Like it already knew she belonged to it.

She pushed herself faster, and the walls gradually widened.

Old carvings began appearing along the stone, along with half-buried symbols and deep claw marks.

There was something about this place, about the sight that was so familiar.

Then, it finally hit her.

She’d seen these symbols before.

Hadn’t she?

She limped onward, one hand dragging along the wall to steady herself. She could now feel herself closing the distance between herself and her destination.

She made another turn, and then saw the faint blue glow. It flickered and breathed just like before, and a bit of hope rose in her chest.

She finally arrived and walked into the enormous chamber. Just like the last time blue flames drifted through the air line glowing snow and there were barrels filled with Moonfire all around the large room. Ancient pillars reached toward a ceiling she couldn’t even see.

A snarl erupted behind her, and her heart lurched again.

The rogue had finally lost its patience.