CHAPTEREIGHT
Idrop to my demon wolves, calling them to me. Despite all of the metal around them, ever since the strange echo started, they have relaxed.
In fact, I’m surprised to realize that the more agitated the soldiers become, the calmer my wolves seem. It’s the only reason I’m able to suppress the panic rising inside me.
I have to get out of here, fight in the trials, and free my sisters. I can’t do any of that if I’m stuck in here, too. At the thought of my sisters, my heart burns again. Leaving them is like losing a part of myself. We’ve always faced our battles together.
The farther I travel from them, the greater the ache inside my chest grows—an ache that is amplified by the chaotic path of the beam now.
Reaching for Temple, I lock my eyes with hers, taking in the fire of her presence, the burn of her loyalty. Luca nudges in beside her, his nose resting down on my bent knee. He and Temple give soft whines together, and it’s a calming sound.
If only I could understand what they’re trying to tell me. I sift through the ancient demon language that Roman taught me.Grintais the only command I know that makes sense in this situation—a call to reassert the bond between us—so I whisper it quietly. “Grinta.”
Despite how softly I speak, the air whooshing around us seems to snatch the sound, pulling it up and out, echoing it back at me.
Grinta… Grinta… Grinta…
At the sound, Ace and Blitz press in beside me, partially against my lower back and sides, all four of my wolves drawing as close as they can at the same time.
I’m suddenly aware of the soldiers staring at us, but I don’t give a shit. I need my wolves right now, and they’re trying to tell me something. I just don’t know what it is.
Ace bounces his snout to my right, a growl on his lips that is also caught by the air around us, becoming an eerie, snarling echo that joins with my voice.
The entwined echoes sound like a beast waking up around us, and the soldiers ram the butts of their spears against the beam beneath their feet in response. They stay in position but turn wildly, as if they’re expecting an imminent attack and don’t know which direction it will come from.
If they were tense before, now they’re primed for a fight. Against what, I’m not sure. How can you fight beams of light and steel walls that seem to shift and reconfigure with every passing second?
Trusting my wolves, I focus only on the spot that Ace indicated.
The gleaming silver wall ahead rushes toward us as if we’re going to crash into it, making me brace and the soldiers shout. We’re moments away from slamming into it when the combined echo of my voice and Ace’s growl seems to bounce forward against it, and then silence falls like a weight dropping.
The wall opens with only a second to spare.
We shoot into the entrance room and the light beam sets us down so abruptly that I lose my balance despite my usual strong center of gravity.
The door to the outside is open, although there are no guarantees that it will remain that way.
All around me, the soldiers rush from the room, spilling onto the pathway and veering to the sides to collapse against the walls.
I’m the last to follow, catching my breath, checking that my wolves are with me as we make it out. Then I hurry out.
And stop.
A lone figure stands on the path ahead and my heart jolts.
I was already breathing fast, but the air is somehow snatched from my chest at the sight of Roman waiting on the walkway. Somehow, his big body seems to take up the space around him, his presence even more commanding than when we landed on the bridge, making everyone but him disappear into the background.
The door closes silently behind me, and my wolves press in against my sides. Temple in particular brushes my thigh, tipping her head up at me. It’s as if she’s asking me how I feel about Roman now.
I don’t even know.
I wasn’t expecting to see him; Crone told him he was needed at the Citadel. But… here he is. And weirdly, it makes me feel more vulnerable than I was already. I’ve left my sisters behind. I’m alone now and seeing him only accentuates the fact that I can’t trust anyone here.
Although I hesitate, Ace prowls forward, his head low, snarling at Roman, who turns his right palm outward. It’s not quite the same call to loyalty that he made multiple times when we were on Earth, but a reminder of the fact that—technically—my demon wolves once belonged to him. Were stolen from him, in fact.
A sudden fear races through me at the thought that Roman might try to reclaim them now.
Fuck my fears.
