Page 35 of Blood So Brutal

“I don’t need your help.”

I stepped even closer, moving to the side of the bed where she laid. “It’s not just my help I’m offering.”

I kept both hands clasped behind my back, but her eyes landed on me once again. She knew what I meant. If it was my blood she wanted, she could have it. All of it was hers; all of me was hers.

“I’d rather starve to death than feed from you, thanks.” She flashed me a sassy, don’t-fucking-talk-to-me smile and rolled over in bed.

“Suit yourself,” I said, stepping away. “But at this rate, I’d give you two more days of this. You’ll continue to suffer until you feed.”

“Suffering isn’t a foreign concept to me, Wolf. I think I’ll be fine.”

I clenched my jaw, forcing my anger down. “We’ll leave at sunrise. Be ready to go then. And don’t do anything stupid. Luseyar will be waiting outside your door until then.”

She mumbled another response that sounded something likefuck you, but I was already heading out the door.

The next three days would be worse than any test in Moria, worse than the Transcendent, even worse than all of it.

But my purpose didn’t change.Keep Huntyr alive.That was my goal, always, and it was about to get very fucking difficult.

Chapter 11

Huntyr

Iknew that there had to be another way in and out of The Golden City. At Moira Seminary, we were forced to believe that the only way in was through the Transcendent. But Wolf left. The angels were not stuck in this city forever.There had to be another way.

Even though I saw just how difficult it would be to somehow get over this damn wall, it was guarded. I tilted my head to the sky, squinting as I took in the handful of soldiers who patrolled the top of the towering structure.

As if anyone could get that close. I wouldn’t be surprised if Asmodeus used his magic to extend an invisible wall even higher than the stone, killing anyone who dared enter.

Still. Wolf had gotten out. Others surely left if they were permitted to. There was another way out of here.

And I was about to see it.

What I wasn’t expecting, though, were tunnels.

Fuckingtunnels.

There was no magic path, no ominous route through the wall, no ladder to climb over the towering structure. “This is it?” I asked as we approached the back of The Golden City, just feet away from the edge. “This is what gets us out of here?”

Wolf knelt ahead of us, pulling the large stone away from the entrance. To anyone else, it looked like part of the stone road that led throughout the entire city. But as he opened the entrance, I saw what really hid beneath. A long, dark, underground passageway.

“After you,” Jessiah said from behind.

I hesitated. “What’s the trick here? What’s the catch?”

“No catch,” Wolf answered. His face was straight. Serious. “These tunnels take us beneath the wall.”

I still couldn’t get myself to move. My mind was spinning, trying to find the obvious flaw in this logic. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Not at all, Huntress.” Wolf straightened before lowering himself into the entrance, landing at the bottom and ducking to stare up at me. “Are you coming? Or would you prefer to stay here?”

Anger flooded my senses. “You’re telling me that we had todieto get in here the first time, when there were fuckingtunnelsthat would have led us inside?”

Jessiah shifted uncomfortably behind me, but I kept my eyes glued on Wolf. His jaw tightened, his nostrils flared. Surely, he was trying to form some sort of lie, some sort of story to cover this all up.

“It’s not that simple,” he said. “And we don’t have time to explain right now.” He turned and started down the dark passageway.

I jumped in after him, the air instantly cooling as I maneuvered my body. I could stand fully, but Wolf hunched ahead of me to avoid hitting his head. “You’re not getting off that easy,” I yelled. “Why did we have to die? Why couldn’t we use these the first time? Hells, Wolf! You died, too!”

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