Page 27 of Alpha Exile

Eleven

Finn

The scent of werewolf flesh has turned the vampires into ravenous beasts.

Even Ambrosia has been affected by it some, her pupils blown wide and her muscles tense. She watches her fellow vampiric cadre howl with hunger and rage, and I swear she looks like she's salivating.

She's standing inches away from me. I should be wary. Instead of keeping an eye on her, though, I find myself looking beyond her.

I swear that I can see magic now.

Even the vampires have a little of it trailing off them. Thin red lines, like threads but less alive, that point straight back towards Delphine. Whatever control she has over them is magical in nature. She has a leash on them that tightens as much as a noose in places.

Hers isn't the only magical signature that I see. Moments after the last of the ferals disappear down the tunnel towards the scent of the pack, I spot signs of Delilah's magic.

Her threads.

They spool along the ground towards us, looking for their end.

My pulse races. This could be it. Our chance to escape.

Or it could be Delphine's chance to kidnap or kill my girl. I won't let that happen.

Stalking down the tunnels, Delphine steps up beside Ambrosia and scowls, her beautiful face twisted up in irritation. "I thought I told you to watch them. They're meant to obey my orders, not go running off every time they smell a little blood."

"They're... hungry." Ambrosia's voice is deep and husky, her consonants sibilant. A small growl escapes her throat, and I sidle away from her, wary. "All of us are hungry. You've kept us on edge for weeks. I want..."

The vampire sways on her feet.

I move a little further away from her, warily eyeing Delilah's approaching trail. Any second now, she and the rest of the pack will meet up with the ferals, and things could get dicey for them. Unless we manage to escape and attack the ferals from behind, hemming them in from both directions. Here in the narrow tunnels, it might be possible to overwhelm them.

The thought has barely occurred to me when Ambrosia suddenly moves. She's fast—faster than I've ever seen her be before. Propelled forward by an impossible hunger, she leaps on Bastian from behind and sinks her fangs into his neck.

He stiffens, twisting back to try to beat her off.

Delphine howls in rage. Her hands fly up, and she goes for the vampire. Blue and red magic swirls around her fingers, something I've never seen before. It sinks into Ambrosia and twists her neck unnaturally, straining her bones towards the breaking point—

I feel my entire body slip loose from Delphine's spell. Instantly, before the moment is wasted, I pounce.

Her back is to me, and the vials of blood are hanging from her hips.

So I channel every closeup magic trick I ever learned when I was an awkward foreign teenage boy trying to hit on girls. With deft, quick fingers, I slip the belt loop up, slide it gently over, and ease the knot open with my free hand.

They come loose and fall into my grip, swaying with magic and power.

Twelve

Kieran

Ifeel it the instant Finn has the vials.

It's the same instant there's a howl and a scream in the tunnels up ahead of us. The feral vampires and the pack warriors have met. Blood is no doubt flowing, my people fighting fiercely, and I'm not in the middle of it helping them.

"Let's move!" I shout the order without thinking, glancing over to find Roarke still frozen in shock. "C'mon, let's..."

It takes me a moment to realize it's notshockthat's frozen him. It's the power of the spell. His vial is still securely around Delphine's throat.

"Get the one off her neck!" I shout to Finn, who moves quickly. Delphine has turned, hands raised, but Finn ducks away from them and twists for some reason, evading an invisible attack. He snaps the chain on her neck, pockets the fifth vial, then instantly transforms.

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