Chapter Eight
Lucas
“We need to get out of here,” I heard Kael say. “I don’t like being trapped underground. It feels like a damn tomb.”
“You’re right,” I nodded.
Annika was quiet, but I could feel her pulse hammering as she stared at the sigil. Her grip on the book was white-knuckled. She was trying to hold it together, but I knew her. I knew the way her mind worked, how she pieced things together faster than most.
I turned, looking for another way out. The way we’d come in was above us, but the boards were too rotted to climb back up. The stones lining the walls were uneven, some jutting out more than others, but I wasn’t about to waste time testing their strength.
“We find another way,” I said. “There’s always another way.”
Annika pulled herself together, nodding once before stepping toward the far end of the cellar. I followed her, Kael just behind.
There were no doors, no visible passages, nothing but stone and the rusted remains of old chains. We moved slowly, checking everything that might even resemble a way out, no matter how improbable.
“Over here!” Annika shouted.
I rushed over to her side. I pressed my palm where her hand rested a moment ago. There, the stone felt colder than the rest. Somehow too smooth.
“A hidden passage?” Kael wondered.
“Or a dead end,” I muttered.
Annika closed her eyes, breathing in deep. Her magic stirred, crackling against my skin as she focused. Then, just as I was about to tell her to step back, the stone shuddered. A deep, grinding sound echoed through the cellar as the wall shifted, revealing a narrow passageway beyond it.
I didn’t hesitate. I stepped forward, reaching for my blade. “Let’s go.”
Kael’s hand pressed against my chest, stopping me.
“I’ll go first,” he said, his tone leaving no room for argument. “If something happens, then let it happen to me…” He paused there. At first, I didn’t trust his urging, but it was obviously done to protect Annika and me.
“Alright,” I agreed. “You, then Annika. I bring up the rear.”
Kael stepped into the passage, and his body was swallowed by the darkness almost immediately. Annika hesitated for half a second before following. Her head turned slightly as if she wanted to argue, but she didn’t.
I moved to follow, but the second my boot hit the threshold, the stone walls groaned. Before I could react, the passage slammed shut with a deafening boom. I barely had time to lurch forward before I was met with solid rock. My hands hit the stone. Angrily, I slammed my fist against it, but it was all in vain. It refused to budge.
“Annika!” I roared.
I tried to listen to her voice, but I couldn’t hear anything.
“Annika?” I tried again, though with much less enthusiasm.
I turned, glancing about the cellar. It seemed to me that the passage hadn't just collapsed. It had sealed itself, trapping me in it.
I pressed my forehead against the stone, gritting my teeth.
No, not trapped. Just delayed.
There was no door around me. At least, not ones that were visible to the naked eye. Besides, I’d had enough of this place. I needed to get out. And I was the only one who could get me out.
I didn’t wait. Instead, I moved. I was already in motion, my feet carrying me over the uneven floor slowly and with caution. My eyes were surveying every inch of the cellar for some sign of a way out. Nothing. Just stone and earth and the smell of old blood.
I dropped to one knee and pressed my hands into the stone, feeling the vibration beneath my fingers. The walls weren’t smooth. They had cracks, hidden passages. I already knew that. I also knew that not everyone could do what Annika did, so there had to be a more mortal way out of here. Something with little magic and a lot of physical work.
I opened my eyes wide and stared at the walls again. The only sound was the drip of water somewhere in the distance. Time had no meaning down here. It felt like I’d been walking in circles for hours, although I’m sure it had been mere minutes. Time was a relative thing, especially when one felt trapped.
I turned back to the hole above. It taunted me, mocking me with its unreachable promise of freedom. But there was no way up.
The air was slowly becoming suffocating. I tried to remind myself that it was all in my mind, but the frustration was very hard to ignore. I closed my eyes, hoping that I might come up with something.
Then, it happened.
A shift in the air, so subtle at first I thought I was imagining it. A light breeze? No. The air grew heavier, swirling with an unseen force, as if something was stirring in the center of the room.
I opened my eyes wide, staring in disbelief at the sight before me. The dust around the center of the cellar began to swirl, gathering like a storm, a vortex pulling everything in its path. The floor vibrated beneath my feet, and a strange energy filled the space. It felt dark, but not threatening… yet.
My eyes narrowed, watching as the dust spun faster, until it became a tangible shape. Finally, it started to resemble a human form. It was as if the very air was alive, molding itself into something solid.
A woman.
I watched in stunned silence as the shape took form. Dark hair, cascading like a wave of midnight down her back. Her skin glowed faintly, like moonlight against the shadows. And her face… her face was a vision. Perfect. Beautiful, in every sense of the word.
She stood before me now, her eyes meeting mine. I couldn’t tear my gaze away, not that I wanted to. Even with everything that had happened, something about her drew me in, pulling at something deep inside me.
But no. No, I wouldn’t let her control me. I gritted my teeth and forced my thoughts to center. I had no idea what sorcery this was, but I refused to fall victim to it.
Her lips curled into a slight smile, almost like she knew what I was thinking. The corners of her mouth twitched, and though she said nothing, I could feel her eyes on me.
“Who are you?” The question slipped out of my mouth before I could stop it.
She didn’t answer right away. I felt as if I were just imaging this. Maybe I was… I had to be.
Bu still, her eyes lingered on me, almost as if she was assessing me, taking in every detail of my face. There was a strange amusement in her expression, like she found something about me wildly interesting.
“You’re not welcome here,” I growled, though even I knew how weak it sounded. I didn’t want to be taken in by whatever she was. Not when I had so much more pressing things to deal with.
Her eyes flashed with something, maybe amusement, before her smile widened, showing just a hint of fangs. “And yet, here I am.”
I exhaled sharply, pushing myself off the wall. I had no reason to be intimidated, and yet, a part of me was. I wasn’t sure what she was, some kind of manifestation? A trick? I didn’t know, but I wasn’t sticking around to find out.
“Leave.” The word was cold, hard. I wasn’t in the mood for games.
She tilted her head, the smile never leaving her face, and I could feel her power swirling around me. Everything about her was intoxicating, but I fought it. Annika’s face filled my thoughts, her memory anchoring me to our love.
The woman stepped closer, her eyes never leaving mine. “I’m not here to hurt you.”
“Then what the hell do you want?” I snapped.
“I am your true mate,” she said softly, her voice like honey, but underneath, it was laced with something far darker.
She took a step forward, and I could feel the air around her hum with power.
Her words lingered in my mind. True mate.
I’d already found my mate. The only one who mattered. Annika, our son, our town… they were all that mattered. Not some stranger who appeared out of nowhere, claiming to be what I’d already given my heart to.
“You’re lying,” I spat. I wanted to lash out, to tear the words out of her mouth, but I held myself back. Barely.
Her smile only widened, but there was a sharpness behind it now, a glint of something far darker than what her beauty suggested.
“I speak only the truth,” she purred. “And I can offer salvation. For your town. For your son. For everything you’ve ever cared about.”
My heart stuttered at the mention of him… Aiden. My blood, my everything. The thought of losing him twisted like a knife in my gut.
“You took my son?” I demanded to know. It took all of my conscious effort not to grab her by the throat and squeeze the living daylight out of her.
Her gaze was cold now, detached. “One thing must be exchanged for another. It is only fair, Lucas.”
“Fair?” I laughed bitterly, the sound harsh in the empty cellar. I didn’t even ask her how she knew my name or who I was. That was irrelevant now, while fury surged through my veins. “You come here, claiming to be my mate, and you want me to trade something?”
I lunged toward her, my fangs descending, rage clouding my vision. I wanted to rip her apart for daring to mock me, for daring to use my son as leverage.
But she wasn’t there.
My hands closed on nothing but air. I stumbled, my feet sliding on the floor, but before I could even register what had happened, laughter echoed through the cellar. I spun around, furious, but she was gone. She was playing with me, like a cat with a mouse.
Instead, the air around me rippled, a wisp of smoke, and there she was, reforming out of the swirling dust like it was a part of her. She stood now behind me, her eyes glowing, and with that same inscrutable smile on her face.
“You think you can force me into submission?” she teased, her voice like a whisper at the back of my mind.
I snarled, my vision darkening with rage. “Give him back!”
Her smile didn’t falter. “He is still safe. But to save him, to save everything you hold dear… something must be given.”
My hands shook with the effort of holding back. I wanted to reach for her, rip her apart, but the calmness in her voice pushed me to the edge.
“You think this is a game?!” My chest heaved with the intensity of my fury. “You think you can come here and offer salvation while my son’s life is on the line?”
She stepped closer, her face now inches from mine. “Everyone wants to be the master of their fate. And the only way to be that is to be offered a choice. That is what I am offering you, Lucas.”
The words hung between us, heavy with meaning I couldn’t quite grasp.
And then, her voice cut through the tension again. “You want to save your son, don’t you? You want to save your town? Your people?”
The sharp sting of her words cut deeper than I expected. I wanted to snap, to lash out, but I swallowed the bitter taste of defeat. I couldn’t do anything to her. Not from here.
“What do you want from me?” My voice was barely more than a growl.
She didn’t answer immediately. Instead, her eyes softened for a moment, but I saw the truth in them: there was nothing gentle about her. She wasn’t here for charity or to play hero. She was here to make a deal. A deal that would cost me.
One thing for another.
It didn’t matter what it was. I wouldn’t give her anything.
“I want you,” she said, her voice smooth as silk. “I want your consent. And then, I will give you everything you need. Your son’s life. Your town’s future.”
A part of me wanted to tear into her, make her pay for even suggesting it, but the other part, the part that cared about my son, about everything I’d been fighting for, whispered doubts into my mind.
But I wouldn’t be swayed.
“You won’t have it,” I spat. “You’ll never have it. I will never make a deal with the likes of you.”
She was still smiling. “I thought you might say that. Then again, I also thought you were smart. So, I will give you some time to think about your decision.”
“I don’t need—” I started, but she didn’t allow me to finish.
She vanished into the dust she emerged from, leaving only suffocating silence to consume me.