Page 109 of The Girl in the Forest

That wouldn’t do. Not when this had been my idea to rescue Brin, and my responsibility to get everyone home safely. They had willingly accepted the risk, but what they expected was nothing like being caught in a vampire’s den where people ended up nailed to the wall.

I didn’t want them to know how weak I was, how far out of my depth. I stroked the ruined black rune on my wrist, knowing Grayson would understand the terror gripping me. He’d also tell me some strength was only discovered when you dug for it.

“I’ll get a brace for Levi’s leg,” Cybelle said. “A sling for his arm. His mobility should improve with the wounds supported.”

Laura whispered, “Thank you.”

I stared silently, glancing from Levi to Julien. His color had improved, not that vampires looked overly robust, but he looked more normal. Exhausted. I walked toward him, sank to my knees, and gripped his hand.

“Julien.”

His fingers tightened against mine. “Don’t puke on my shoes.”

“I wasn’t—never.”

His mouth quirked upward. “But you certainly thought about it.”

“Maybe just a little.” I smiled in return. “How about you? Into self-sacrifice, or interested in a hike?”

“I’ve hung around this place long enough. I’d like some fresh air.”

“Hanging being the operative word.” The words popped from me, but they broke the tension.

Julien tossed aside the blood bag and grinned. “My lady, the wolf deserves you. He’ll be happy to have you home.”

CHAPTER 33

Noa

Set insisted we drink water to flush any lingering wolfbane from our systems. The water made me nauseated, but I sipped it anyway. A vampire named Njal brought backpacks. He handed me a bow and quiver of arrows. The weapon was a welcome weight in my hand. Julien looked pale, but recovered enough to move. A third vampire, Kazamir, joined Njal and Cybelle. They’d be guiding us from High Citadel through a maze of warded tunnels beneath the fortress, protected with magic that made even the vampires uneasy.

Njal was shorter than Kazamir. Both men had brown hair, brown eyes. They ushered us down stone corridors, flights of steps, until we were below High Citadel. Cybelle led the way. We went slowly because of Julien and Levi. Silently, because of what had happened in the great hall. The vampires were outraged. Anger simmered everywhere, and, according to Set, as long as we were in the High Citadel, we were in danger.

Barend was an enemy forced into the open, and everything I’d done played into his hands.

“He won’t stop,” she’d added. “And if he finds you again…”

The weight of the backpack on my shoulders was familiar, flashing me back to a day months ago, when Grayson led me into the high mountains. I’d gone with him, believing he would protect me, that I’d be too hard to find if the Alpha of Sentinel Falls wanted it that way.

My throat tightened. I missed him. I knew he was fighting to find me, but that was because of his sigil. His promise. He’d never answered the question I’d asked, if what he felt with the mate bond was lust. Or love.

How could anyone love after so short a time? I’d run through my emotions, night after night, dissecting my racing pulse. The dewing of my skin. I wanted to understand why I reacted to this man and no other, and why, when he dragged his hands down my sides to cup my hips, I surrendered to him. Lost myself in touching him, worshiping every scar and ridge on his body, the proof of what he’d given of himself to protect the wolves.

But he refused to take my sigil, my promise to protect him, and it was a wall between us, strengthened, brick by brick, each time I offered and he refused.

We reached a grate set into the stone floor, round like the dry well in the dungeon. I shuddered as Kazamir bent to move the grate aside. Light caught on the edge of a metal ladder. Cybelle was the first one through the opening, disappearing into the shadows, followed by Brin, who hesitated only a moment.

When I stood at the lip of the hole, I studied the first three steps on the ladder; dark shadows swallowed the remaining rungs. Then the beam from a flashlight waggled, reflecting eerily on Brin’s face as she looked up.

“The smell’s not too bad,” she said.

Cool air wafted up with the dank earthiness I’d smelled in the smuggler passage into Alpen. I handed down the bow and quiver Set provided, then my backpack, and tested the first rung. Dry after Cybelle and Brin. I scrambled down the eight rungs, reaching up to help Laura as she guided Levi over the edge. His foot slipped off one rung. I gripped his ankle while he grunted. Laura clung to his arm until he’d steadied his weight. His leg was stiff, but he reached the last rung and stumbled out of Laura’s way.

Then Njal and Kazamir helped Julien. He was far more unsteady than I wanted to admit.

When Njal scrambled back up to pull the grate into place, I looked around. The tunnel was narrow, hewn through black rock with a paved floor. No bioluminescence from any living thing, not even the rocks. Goose bumps pebbled my skin. The beam from Brin’s flashlight threw disorienting shadows along the walls.

I resettled my weapons and pack. We walked for ten minutes in silence, relying on the flashlights. Then Cybelle was stepping around something illuminated from above. I realized the faint light came through another grated entrance, an opening to a corridor above us. We were still beneath High Citadel, but Brin had halted with her flashlight angled down, unmoving.

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