Page 9 of Ruin

No matter if I thought I was prepared for seeing the werewolf, I wasn’t. The creature stood malformed and naked next to a set of double doors that led to what looked like a stairwell. It looked back and forth, never once faltering in its duty. I swallowed the nasty taste that coated my mouth. This had been one of my kind, a shifter forced into a half change by the warden, right before it had been killed. I peered at it again. There didn’t seem to be any injuries. Whatever magic Berith used to reanimate the dead Weres and shove his demon spawn inside, healed their bodies, too. I deliberately shut down any thoughts of D and Reed. I needed to find out what had happened to Connor before I worried about our pack brothers.

The werewolf, lifted his elongated nose and inhaled. Then snarled.

“Shit! Incoming,” I whispered harshly.

Blue lifted her gun. Quickly, I shook my head and holstered my weapon, pulling a hunting knife. It wasn’t huge, but it had a vicious serrated edge. Closing my eyes, I summoned Fire. She responded immediately, filling my veins and my flesh with power and warmth.

Counting the thing’s footsteps, I judged when it was no more than two feet away and spun out to meet it. The clash of weapons, and even the pop of silenced bullets would be heard by its creepy-assed friends; hand to hand, not so much. Before the Were could even growl, I moved, slashing its throat. Warm blood splashed down my arm, splattering my face. Darting sideways, I slammed a fist into its chest, Connor’s wolf lending me the strength I needed. With my hand in the monster’s chest cavity, I pushed Fire forwards and sent a wave of heat and flame through its organs. When its eyeballs started to burn, I let it drop to the ground.

“Damn! Remind me not to piss you off,” mumbled Alex as he jogged forward, followed by Blue and B’nar.

Through the doors, the staircase went downwards, further into the earth. I gulped, trying not to equate this with the feeling of descending into Hell. “It’s just a staircase.” My whisper echoed off the dark walls.

“Shh,” Blue answered, and tapped my back to indicate she’d go first. We’d worked well together tag teaming like this in the past. B’nar’s scowl was easy to see even in the darkness. He strode by me easily before gently but firmly grabbing Blue’s shoulder and pulling her back so he could take point. Blue rolled her eyes and flashed him a pissed look, but didn’t argue. Now wasn’t the time.

We crept down another flight of dark and silent steps. The deeper we went the colder it became, until we reached another set of double doors. These had no glass, so we had no idea what was on the other side.

“Are you ready for this?” I asked Alex quietly.

“Of course.” The shape shifter grinned. “I could change into a werewolf, you know?”

“Yeah, but you’d lose your clothes and I’m not sure my brain can handle that right now, and definitely not when you have to change back.”

He chuckled. “Fair enough. We’ll save that for emergencies then, yeah?”

“Absolutely.” I tapped B’nar on the arm to indicate I was ready. His eyes were glowing eerily and he moved his hand and his fingers indicating which direction we should cover, then counted down.Three. Two. One…

We burst out into the corridor beyond.

Never, for as long as I live, would I forget the sight that greeted us. Weres carried tiny babies, and not with care. They were held in any manner that was convenient for the monster—with teeth, claws, hands—it didn’t matter. The doors had blocked off the sound of desperation, the cries of pain and hunger, but now we were in the thick of it. The pitiful wailing of these poor babies froze my soul. Connor’s warning about the women being rounded up and sent to the science wing slammed back into my head.

“What the Hell?” I uttered.

For a moment we were all frozen in place, even the ice prince watched wide-eyed as a werewolf threw a naked woman to the ground, followed by the baby he grasped in one clawed hand. The naked woman hit the ground, crying out. But it wasn’t that sign of pain that galvanised me into action, it was the way she desperately tried to catch her child. But the Were had thrown it further. It would slam to ground with nothing to save it.

Gripping my bow, I yanked on the power of my wolves and threw myself forward, my arms outstretched, determined to catch the baby. The werewolf narrowed its wholly-black eyes on me—and charged. Wailing at the top of its little lungs, the falling baby landed in my left arm and I instinctively curled it around its tiny form. This left me with nothing but my shoulder and hip to break my fall. Pain slammed into me, but before I’d even finished sliding over the floor, with my other arm, my finger on the automatic trigger, I raised my bow. My tattoos burned as magic lit the weapon. It flowed into the arrows that released as I fired three shots; two into the Were’s heart and one right between those horridly unnatural eyes. At the same time, the others began firing at the Weres that filled the corridor.

What these monsters were doing with so many prisoners outside their cells was anyone’s guess, but it looked like they were transporting them somewhere.

Pushing myself up after setting down the screaming baby, I kept firing, aiming at the tall werewolves’ heads. At least their prisoners were smaller and were mostly shoved sideways, until the Weres got smart, dropped the babies, and lifted the women as shields.

“Take him!” I yelled at the woman, who snatched up her child and, before I could stop her, ran for the stairwell. The doors slammed behind her and I hoped to the Mother that she would make it. Gods knew the outside world would be harsh to them both with no clothes and food but I guessed it was worth the risk when this place was a den of monsters and death.

“Ember! Shoot the bloody things! They’re regenerating!” Blue’s gun popped in quick succession.

“I am!” And to prove a point I pulled my gun in my other hand and squeezed the trigger, sending a volley of silver bullets into the attacking monsters. That was the only way I could think of them. Theyweremonsters. These poor buggers had been forced to fight and die in the warden’s fight rings, only death wasn’t the end for them. Dying in Were form meant both their human soul and their animal spirit remained trapped within their body. Werewolves in particular were physically big and strong. Just like Walker had warned, Berith was using the Weres as vessels for his demon army. What they were doing with the babies I didn’t know.

“Not that kind of shooting!” Blue yelled as we all loosed another volley of bullets into the Were’s. “That!” She gestured wildly to the bow as each of her kills fell to the ground bleeding black blood, not red.

“Shit.” Letting them get in front of me, I sheathed my gun. She was right, we’d waste too many bullets if we continued like this. I loaded an explosive arrow and raised the bow. Magic zipped from me into the weapon, igniting the magic in the arrow.

“Shoot!” B’nar’s roar almost made me drop the damn weapon. He blasted the oncoming rush of Weres with a wave of icy magic. The first three froze, the ones at their backs pushing them out of the way. As they hit the ground they exploded, sending their demons screaming into the air, their misty forms being dragged back to Hell. Okaaay, that was also a good way of sending these demons back to Hell.

I targeted a huge chest right at the center of the oncoming surge.

“Ember!”

I didn’t allow Alex’s bellow to distract me. Exhaling steadily, I let the magic infused arrow fly. It flew in a streak of light, faster than even my shifter gaze could follow, and thudded right into that chest. The werewolf shot backwards from the force, taking out a few others before he slammed onto his back.

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