Chapter 180
Elowen POV
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The sky cracked open with thunder as we stood at the edge of the Duskwell Compound. Rain poured in sheets, soaking my braid to the scalp. Lyssira growled in my mind, her fury rising with the storm. “This place reeks of blood and cruelty, she hissed. Let me tear it down.”
“Soon, I promised.
Behind me, my mates stood like a damn lineup of wrathful gods. Bram rolled his massive shoulders and cracked his neck, soaked through but unmoved. “Let’s smash in some evil shit, yea?”
Daxon was already surveying the land, barking orders to the wolf mage strike team. “Fan out, watch for hidden doors. We move fast, no one lags behind. Got it?”
Lachlan stood beside me, his eyes glowing faintly, cloak billowing dramatically like the theatrical mage he was. “Fuckin‘ storms,” he muttered, “always messin‘ with ma spells…but damn if it doesn’t feel poetic.”
Vaelrix looked over his shoulder at the dragons and their chosen riders. “Drakenwing, to formation. Follow the beacon flare when I send it. Do not enter until it’s lit.” His voice rumbled with power that made the ground vibrate.
I pressed my fingers to the hilt of my blade. “Let’s move.”
The compound was darker than I expected….half underground, mostly concrete, the air so stale it felt wrong to breathe it. Each hallway had steel doors and haunting echoes. Every step was hell. The smell was fucking horrific. Mold, blood and death. Lyssira was wrinkling her nose in my mind.
We cleared the first few rooms. Empty beds. Bloody restraints. No children. I clenched my fists with frustration and sighed loudly. “Where are they!?” Then we found it. A thick steel door with no lockpad. No handle. Just fortified panels and cruel silence behind it.
“I’ve got this,” Bram said, and before I could even nod, he roared, shifted mid run, and slammed into the door with bear fueled fury.
BOOM. The whole hallway shook. It cracked. Again, he ran at the massive door. BOOM. This time, the door flew off the hinges, crashing back into the room with a shriek of metal on tile,
Alarms screamed to life. Red lights. Sirens. And then we heard growls.
“Fuck!” Daxon shouted. “We’ve got incoming.”
“Strike team, shield the goddamn hallway!” I bellowed. “No one gets through until every kid is out!”
I ran into the room, blade drawn. And froze. Dozens of wide eyes stared back at me from inside a massive, silver cage.
Children. Some were wolf pups in half shifted form. Some were scrawny kids with hollow cheeks and wide, terrified eyes. Some didn’t even move. Five were slumped in the back. Too still. Too pale.
“No,” I whispered, running to them.
Lyssira howled in my mind. “We’re too late!”
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Chapter 180
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“No, we’re NOT!” I snapped, both out loud and in my head. “DRAGON TEARS. NOW!”
Vaelrix burst in behind me, already unslinging the vial. “Hold their mouths open!”
We dropped to the still bodies. Lachlan knelt with me, whispering incantations, palms glowing with sun drenched warmth. I poured dragon tears drop by drop into each child’s mouth, praying, please, please, please….
Then one coughed. Then another gasped. I nearly sobbed in relief, Lyssira’s massive sigh of relief echoed throughout my mind. Bram barreled in and started yanking at the cage bars like they offended his ancestors. Daxon scooped two kids into his arms like sacks of
potatoes.
Ashrian showed up in a flash of shadow, already carrying three more. “There’s no time, the hallway’s full of fangs.”
“PORTAL!” I screamed.
Lachlan flicked his wrist, chanting in Gaelic, and a shimmering doorway split the air inside the cage.
“Move! Go! Go!”
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I grabbed two kids myself….twins, barely conscious, and shoved them through. Bram, Daxon, Lachlan, Ashrian followed, each with armfuls
of broken babies.
Vaelrix stepped through last, roaring, “Riders, NOW!”
As the rest of the team surged in, the strike team was still fighting at the front. I heard snarling, growling, and spells firing off. Jace’s voice yelled, “Amaris! Left flank!”
“Already got it, you gorgeous bastard!” she snapped back.
I turned back, just as the portal flared behind me, the last kid through. Then a vampire crashed into the wall beside me, hissing, eyes
black with bloodlust.
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