Chapter V #2
“Wait, where are you going?” He’s already gone, the tail of his long leather coat disappearing around the corner. Fuck. I glance into my suite and then back to where Soren went.
I should stay here, exactly where he told me to. Instead, I’m strangely compelled to leave. I need to know and be closer. To what, I can’t figure out. Something. Everything in me is screaming to go out, to find it. Whatever “it” is. Follow the sounds.
The cacophony of voices is easy to navigate toward since they’re getting louder. Three corners later and I get to the source. Soren is in the small crowd, a head taller than everyone else and the one barking orders.
The scowl on his face when he sees me is more impressive than usual. He says something to the vampyres around him and then stalks to me, grabbing my elbow in a tight grip.
“What part of ‘stay here’ do you not understand?”
“The first and last part,” I retort. “What is going on out here?”
He growls under his breath and half drags me to the corner. “Get back to your room. Don’t make me ask again. Don’t detour, don’t drag your feet. Lock and bolt your door. Do you understand those words?”
“I understood the first ones.”
“Then obey them.” He shoves me away harder than necessary. “Go!”
He’s always been abrupt and harsher in his approach than Lain, but he’s never spoken to me like this before. That alone is enough to make me leave in a daze, my feet automatically taking me in the right direction.
Okay, maybe I should have listened, but is it really so hard to at least explain why I’m being locked up like a prisoner?
That loud roar felt so familiar. Why? It was like a voice searching.
Searching… for me. C’mon, that’s ridiculous.
Still, there’s a feeling at the edge of my vision, just outside of my periphery.
A growl comes from too close behind me just as I make it to the corridor my suite is on. My door is right there, within sight. The hair on my arms stands on end, and I swallow hard, fright weakening my knees.
Turning slowly, I brace myself for what I’ll find, already knowing.
A gigantic black werewolf stands at the end of the corridor. Blood drips from its fangs, and its huge shoulders rise and fall from its heaving breaths. It’s looking right at me, with teeth fully bared. The rumbling vibrations hit me right in the gut.
It’s the same one from the party. The beast they brought here for me.
There’s no way I can get back to the safety of my rooms before it’s on me. I try anyway; I’m not going to just stand there and let myself be helpless prey. Running is something I can do.
I’ve barely taken five steps before I’m shoved face-first into the carpeted floor.
I swing with my elbow and completely miss anything.
Twisting doesn’t give me the leverage I’m hoping for, and a dark helplessness sinks in.
He’s going to kill me, and there’s nothing I can do about it.
This is worse than any training session I’ve been through.
A whimper slides out of me when a wet nose presses to my neck and the barest hint of teeth scrape against my skin. His next growl brings out another whimper of fear.
My fight response jumps to life when those same teeth clamp down on my shoulder. They don’t break skin, but it’s only a matter of time before he rips me apart. I have to do something. Anything. Something.
Another elbow kind of dislodges the bite, though the teeth tear open my skin.
Blood pours from the open wound at the same time the pressure of his body against mine eases.
Using the opportunity to give a mighty kick finally gets him off me.
He’s sent flying into the wall, a small fissure crack running behind him.
Our eyes lock as he crouches on all fours, watching me with that eerie gold glow. The blood dripping from his fangs now is mine. Wet slides down my chest and back from the wound not yet healed. The thought is dizzying. My blood. Mine. He attacked me. I’m going to die, all because I didn’t listen.
I’m frozen in place, fear immobilizing me. Or maybe it’s the shock. Blood loss. Everything at once.
His lips pull back on another snarl, and my heart leaps into my throat.
And then it’s all over, vampyres swarming the corridor. Soren and the others contain the lycan, wrapping him in chains until there’s more chain than fur surrounding him. His growls are different now, deeper and lethal as he fights against them.
“I told you to go to your room,” Soren scolds me thickly.
“I was going to my room!” I protest. This is hardly my fault.
Okay, I definitely should have obeyed the first order, but I was at least obeying the second.
I didn’t ask to be accosted by a werewolf on my way there.
If he’d just told me about the danger instead of skirting around it, I might have made different choices.
No, I would have. Fear would have kept me in my room, no matter my curiosity.
I’m not the person who wades into danger, looking for adventure.
I dream about it; I would never actually do it.
“We have him secured,” one of the vampyres holding the chains says. I don’t know his name, barely recognizing him. I never pay attention to who’s around me, so many figures coming and going it’s impossible to keep track. The pampered prince in his gilded cage, oblivious to anyone but himself.
“Take him below. Make sure he’s chained properly this time.” Soren kneels beside me, tentatively checking the damage to my shoulder. The second his fingers touch my skin, the lycan goes wild, snapping and snarling and almost breaking free again.
Soren jerks his head back, looking at the creature with narrowed eyes. “Take him away. Now.” He doesn’t turn back to me until they drag him from the area. “Let me help you up. We’ll get you some blood, and then this should close up quickly.”
I might have agreed with him if I could talk. As soon as the lycan is out of view, there’s a strange pulling sensation in my gut that quickly turns into blinding agony. I barely even get a chance to cry out before everything goes dark.