Kaj stepped out of the stairwell to see the enormous male on one knee, head bowed, the steel tip of his beloved dagger pressed to the concrete floor.
“Mirakel,” Kaj whispered, not believing his eyes. “What the fuck?”
He scanned the rest of the space: two females, three males, five cots, five blankets, an empty wooden chair, a set of keys, and a copy ofGuns and Ammowas all it contained. But Kaj didn’t give a shit about the prisoners or the reading material of the absent guard. Nope. His attention was drawn right back to Mirakel, one of the four males Kaj thought he’d lost back when Kardobahn had been murdered in the raids by the shadow beasts.
Tucking the gun back in its holster, Kaj took a hesitant step closer to Mirakel. “Stand, warrior.”
The male was all power and grace as he lifted his six-foot seven-inch frame, his neon blue eyes glittering with emotion. Although he looked a little worse for wear, Mirakel appeared healthy and strong, still thick as a sequoia, his shoulder muscles flexing beneath the black T-shirt he wore.
Kaj didn’t give a shit that there were a handful of vampires observing this moment. He stepped forward and pressed his hands to Mirakel’s hard, chiseled face, letting his eyes shift over his features. Still as rough and rugged as always, and most definitely alive.
“I thought you were dead,” he whispered, swallowing past the emotion thick in his throat. He remembered the day he thought he’d lost his warriors, their lives taken by the shadow beasts that had slaughtered Kaj’s family.
“You and me both,” Mirakel said, his deep, guttural voice holding an edge of amusement.
With a relieved laugh, Kaj pulled Mirakel toward him, hugged him roughly before releasing him.
“Darko didn’t mention you were here,” Kaj acknowledged.
Mirakel’s face hardened. “The male doesn’t know.”
Kaj frowned. “How’d you get down here?”
“You’re not the only one with tricks up your sleeve,phaal.” His gaze swung around the dungeon before landing on him once more. “We need to get out of here.”
“I’ve come to interrogate the prisoners,” Kaj explained. “Darko was delayed, but he’s on his way.”
“Darko’s not coming.” Mirakel’s gravelly voice was full of derision. “We need to go,phaal, and we need to go now.”
Having spent centuries with Mirakel at his side, along with the other warriors who had vowed to protect the race’s Alpha at all costs, Kaj knew the male wasn’t prone to paranoia. And if he said they needed to go, there was no time to waste.
“Back the way I came?” he asked, figuring Mirakel already had an exit strategy.
The relief on Mirakel’s face was instant, as though he hadn’t expected Kaj to follow. “This way.”
Kaj spared a quick glance at the caged vampires—those who’d betrayed their own race—and figured they were better off where they were. He fell into step behind Mirakel, who led the way to the far end of the space. Mirakel twisted a stone sticking out of the wall, and a moment later, it retracted, similar to the way the one upstairs had. Before the two of them stepped into the dark, musty space, Kaj heard footsteps overhead. A lot of them.
“We’ve got to move,” Mirakel said firmly, shoving Kaj in front of him as the stone slid closed, sealing them in the darkness.
Good thing vampires didn’t need light to see. In fact, their eyesight was designed for darkness, which allowed him to move through the tunnel with ease. Couldn’t have been more than three feet across, seven feet tall, lined on both sides with rough stone, which had been weathered from water seeping into the earth.
His quick scan told him there was no one ahead of them, only a few spiders and other creepy-crawlies that had set up shop down here. He followed Mirakel’s clipped commands, jogging headlong into the pitch-black, the sound of their footsteps the only thing accompanying them in their hasty exit.
“Probably should’ve asked this before now, but what the hell is going on?” Kaj ducked to avoid a web filling the circle of a split in the tunnel.
“Stay to the right,” Mirakel barked. “There’s an army of vampires back there.” Mirakel’s voice was cool and collected as though he was relaying the weather. “They’ve come to assassinate you.”
Oh. Was that all they were doing?
Kaj exhaled heavily. Sometimes this whole Alpha thing sucked. He was always looking over his damn shoulder, wondering who was standing there ready to plunge a knife in his back simply to step into his role. Granted, the Alpha gig wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Not an easy feat being the leader of an entire race, looking out for their well-being while still attempting to get a grip on what was going on. Hell, Kaj was the first to go it alone. Even Kardobahn had relied on those closest to him.
Unfortunately, those Kaj was closest to were all dead. He glanced back at Mirakel. Or at least he’d thought they were dead.
“Not much farther,” Mirakel told him. “This exit leads into the forest. From what I can tell, they haven’t used it in some time.”
“They?”
“Darko and his group of traitors.”
