Chapter 55 The Beast Outside The Stone

RONAN

Thest rock fell with a bfinal/b, echoing thud.

And she was gone.

Her beautiful Amber eyes looking into mine were gon

Ope breath. That’s ball /bit took for the world to cave in.

I stared at the sealed tunnel, frozen in ce. My wolf was no different than me. The sunlight warmed my skin, but inside, I was ice. Shocked and suddenly feeling a strange feeling rising inside me.

She had been left inside. Not alone but with thousands of vampires.

My chest heaved, air scraping my lungs, but it did nothing–no bair /bcould reach the hole her absence tore open in me. What was this feeling? I wanted to rip something apart. Someone bapart/b.

A sound ripped from my throat–bhalf /bgrowl, half something else. Something darker.

“NO!!” I lunged at the blocked tunnel, falling to my knees as I wed at the stones with bare hands, not caring that my fingers split open, that my nails cracked and bled.

I did not even bother to wonder where Dante and Finn had suddenly gone, that they basically disappeared a few moments after all three of us made it out of the tunnel.

I tore at the rock like a feral beast, ignoring the sting of pain, the warm slick of blood seeping into the earth.

“MOVE!” I roared at the wall, as bif /bmy voice alone couldmand the boulders to shift. “COME OUT!! COME OUT WHILE LASKING YOU NICELY!!!”

-But the tunnel remained shut, Cold Silent

My wolf snarled so loudly in my head it drowned out the world.

b“/bGet to her”

“Tear it downb./bb” /b

“Bring her back.

My vision tunneled. My bbody /bvibrated bwith /brage I couldn’t name. Why did it feel like my soul had been sealed behind that wali with herr Why was this this feeling so unbearable?

She was an Alpha She could protect bherself/b.

bShe /bwas a liar. A betrayer.

she–well pretending to be something else.

bAnd /byet

Nour of that mattered bnow /b

It didn’t make it easier to breathe I kept digging and digging until ba /bblur of movement caught bmy /beye. My blood roared louder

“SERAPHINAIT” I roared.

SERAPHINA

bdug /bto the cave floor. I couldn’s hear banything /bbeyond the roar of panic in my blood.

second longer, the taste of dust thick bon /bbmy /btongue, the pounding in my chest blouder /bthan ever. My linger

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Chapter 55 The Beast Outside The Stone

“Seth.” Asher touched my bface /band made me look into his beautiful eyes. “We bhave /bbto /bgo. They areing!

+8 Pearls

When he said that bsense /bknocked back into my bbrain/bb. /bThe air had shifted, and the vampires wereing our way since the sunlight bwas /bblocked.

“Where” I bgasped/b, standing up and turning my head sharply toward the bsound /bof bdistant/b, bscraping /bws.

“Follow me.”

He grabbed my hand. There was bno /btime for grace. No time for anything except running.

He pulled me toward a narrow tunnel curving off the side, one that had been hidden in bshadow /bwhile the main exit was bclose/b. Now it yawned like the throat of a beast, darker and wider than I expected.

We r?u.

The ground was uneven, scattered with sharp rocks and old bones. My boots slipped in the slick mud. Water dripped from above, the walls wet and bbreathing/b, like the cave itself was alive and suffocating us slowly.

There is no other exit.” Asher said between gritted teeth. “This is clearly a fucking trap.”

I nced at his hard expression and his wolf continuouslymunicating with him. His aura had grown bso /bstrong that even Phina realized that this bAlpha /bbwould /bbe banything /bbut dead here. He had a higher level of survival skill than I bhad /bseen in

anyone. But….

I nced over my shoulder as the shadow of the vampires following us fell on us. That vampire that had recognized bme /bwas desperately following us because of me. But Asher did not knowb. /b

“Asher, let’s separate,” I slowly let go of his hand.

“What?” he frowned, grabbing my hand again, “Stay with me. You will get caught beasily/b.

I pursed my lips, bunable to /badmit that was the reason I wanted to separate. He would get caught thanks to me and when bthat /bhappened my secret bwould /bbe revealed first. If I was going to die hereb, /bI wanted to go with my dignity and no guilt babout /bdragging him to hell alongside me.

“I just want bto /bdistract bthem/b,” I pressed.

“Don’t lie,” he nced at me as if he could see through me, “I will not let bthem /bbcatch /busb,/b” bsaying /bthat he pulled me into another deeper darker path.

My throat closed up. I bdidn’t /bbknow /bwhat to bsay/b,bhow /bto respond bto /bsomeone bwho /bbmeant /bit that deeply. I bcould /bnot help but bfind /bmyself trusting him.

bBut /bbthe /bbsound /bof wed feet scraping stone snapped us out of it.

A scream Inhuman Close by.

“Asher, do you have a bn/b?” I bdesperately /bbasked/b.

ва

He looked ahead. We’d bgone /bas far as we could, band /bthe walls had widened into a cavernous bopening /bbagain /bbwith /bno exit. wolf appeared in bhis /beyes bas /bba /bstubborn band /babsolutely crazy bversion /bof him.

“Hold me!” he said sharply, bpulling /bme against his chest.

Before I could ask anything more, he threw us to the ground.

His

“Trust me he whispered, voice tight with urgency.

Tien–he grabbed a handful of the slick, bloody mud beneath us and smeared it over my skin.

1 gasped

He rolled, covering himself too, both of us pressed chest–to–chest is the thick bmess/bb. /bThe coppery stench of old blood and

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Chapter 55 The Beast Outside The Stone

bdecayed /bflesh filled my nose.

“This is the only bway/b,” he muttered. “Mask our scents.”

+8 Pearls

Then, still holding me close, he dragged us into a tight crevice between two copsed stones where the wall caved just enough to hide us.

Barely.

Our bodies wedged close in the damp, suffocating bgap/b. His heartbeat thudded against mine. bI /bcould hear bthe /bvampires now

Dozens of them.

Their snarls bounced off the stone. Their nails scraped the walls as they crawled, sniffing

Looking for us.

The scent of blood was everywhere–fresh, decaying, old. Asher had gambled that it would be enough to drown out the scent of ours.

I didn’t breathe.

He didn’t eitherb. /b

Through the thin sliver of stone, I watched shadows flicker past. Pale figures twisted unnaturally, some crawling along the walls like insects.

And then, one stopped.

Just feet baway/b.

I was tense. Every muscle locked.

The vampire sniffed the air.

My heart stopped.

It cocked its head.

Moved closer.

into mu

My bfingers /bcurled into my bown /bbsides/b.

“Don’t move. Don’t bmove/b. Don’t bbreathe/b, I reminded myself.

The vampire bent low, almost looking through the stone.

But then-

It hussed. Snarled. bAnd /bdarted away, chasing a different btrail/b. The others followed, scattering deeper into bthe /bbcave/b.

Cone.

For now

But I stayed fruzen in bAsher’s /bbarms/b, unable to believe bwe /bbwere /bbstill /balive. bFor /ba moment, just one moment, I realized how close I was standing to him.

I slowly lifted my eyes to lok with his He looked deep into my eyes and confessed, “You are so beautiful that I might fall for

B

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