Shadowlands Sector, Three

by Mila Young

  “Why are you all here?” Her voice cracks and worry taints her words. She blinks over at Bardhyl and Meira as they enter the room, and a smile splits her mouth. “Everyone’s looking for you, girl.”

  Smiling, Meira makes her way across the room and kneels next to her, taking her hand. “Someone had to save these Alphas.”

  Kinley laughs, and she pats Meira’s hand.

  Bardhyl is pacing back and forth near the door, keeping guard. Being here is risky… Anywhere in the settlement is with Mad in charge.

  “I experienced my first change,” Meira tells Kinley, who gasps with startled excitement, then scans my gorgeous babe head to toe.

  “And everything’s all right?”

  “Yes. I think. I’m not too sure yet, but I’m not dead, so that’s a bonus.”

  I trace the curve of Meira’s body, searching for anything to show she’s not fully recovered after her first transformation. The way she talks is like she’s not convinced yet she’s healed. A chill slides down my back at the thought that she hasn’t told us everything yet.

  Bardhyl gives a short growl, grabbing my attention while the two women talk. I head over to him just as electricity skips down my arm. His body begins contorting, stretching, growing. The familiar sound of bones cracking and skin popping fills the room. Before I step back, he’s standing in his human form, naked as a doorknob. There’s way too much cock on show for my liking.

  “Put it the hell away,” I snap as I turn my back to him, smirking because I love getting him all riled up.

  “Bardhyl,” Kinley says. “In my bedroom, I have spare clothes in the cupboard. Always have spares.”

  He doesn’t say anything but marches across the room and vanishes into the hallway. I don’t miss Meira staring at the big guy, at his nakedness on display, or the way her eyes glint at seeing him exposed.

  I have no doubt she’d stare at me with the same desire if I stripped right now. Though with the way Kinley is looking my way with amusement it’s as though she can read my thoughts, I walk away and close the distance to the window. Pulling back the curtain an inch, I scan the grounds outside.

  The rain is coming down in sheets, puddles covering the courtyard, and figures are darting about. But how much longer before they start searching houses? The gates out of the fortress grounds would be heavily manned, so using those to exit are out of the question.

  I turn to Kinley, who’s still chatting with Meira, but she lifts her gaze on my approach. “You know why we’re here,” I say.

  She nods.

  “Why is that?” Meira lifts to her feet as Bardhyl returns, and I look over as he strolls into the room, carrying a pair of black sneakers, too small for him.

  The dark pants he wears are plastered to his thick legs, the fabric appearing thin, and it leaves nothing to the imagination. His black, long-sleeved top has a V-neckline and pulls taut across his chest. He pulls at the material, and if there’s one thing I know about Bardhyl, it’s that he loathes constricting clothes and prefers to be in his wolf form. Sure, those were two facts, but it’s like he chose those pants on purpose to display his wares.

  I turn back around to Kinley, noting Meira doing a double-take of Bardhyl. I roll my eyes. “Okay, focus.” I grab everyone’s attention, all three staring strangely at me. Hello, who’s wearing tights clinging to his cock? It isn’t me!

  “So, are we hiding out here until we go rescue Dušan?” Meira’s voice is full of hope, then she smiles wildly as Bardhyl hands her the sneakers. She’s been running around barefoot, and the big guy is soft when it comes to Meira.

  “Thank you.” She wraps herself around him, hugging him, then peers up at him. He leans down and kisses her quickly. My heart beats faster and it has zero to do with jealousy, but everything to do with admiration at how much Meira has tamed the beast in him.

  I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but… “We’re getting out of the settlement now. Homes will be searched soon, and we’ll be no help if we’re imprisoned again.”

  The lovebirds pull apart and Meira’s expression falls. “Wait, we can’t leave without Dušan. Can’t we stay here and go back for him later?” She puts her shoes on, tying up the laces.

  “I wish we could, but we can’t risk you getting caught. We’ll be back for him, I promise,” I explain.

  Begrudgingly, she nods, her mouth tight.

  “I have a bag under the sink filled with blankets and water,” Kinley says to Bardhyl. “Go fill it with food from the pantry. Meira, help him. There’s also a fire starter kit and dry kindling and wood to take.”

  “What’s going on?” Meira asks.

  “We have another way out,” I say. “Go help Bardhyl before we end up with only salt.” He coats it on everything he eats.

  I face Kinley as the other two hurry into the kitchen. “You are a blessing.”

  “What I am is prepared. Just like you and Bardhyl have been in case a day like today happened.” She smiles, but there’s concern behind her eyes. She knows as well as I do that danger comes in many forms and our Alpha only really trusted a handful of Ash Wolves. He may have given his stepbrother lenience, but he didn’t trust him. Which is why Mad has no clue of our backup escape plan right here under his nose.

  “Go quickly before it’s too late,” Kinley says.

  I lean in and hug her. I’ve always seen Kinley as my older sister who looked out for me, who told me stories and helped me get through the devastating sorrow after losing my soulmate. “Be careful,” I whisper.

  A sudden burst of voices comes from somewhere outside. I break free from Kinley and dart across the room to peel back the curtain a bit. In the courtyard, at least a dozen pack members stand guard as Mad marches toward them. The sight of him makes me curl my hands into fists, fury bleeding through my veins. I shudder with anger and urgency to rush out there and make the asshole pay for what he’s done.

  I can’t hear his words, but his arms are waving about, all while it’s pouring rain out there. I’m under no illusion that he won’t be sending out a search party through the settlement to look everywhere. It’s what I would do.

  I whip around and say in a quiet voice, “We leave now!”

  Darting into the middle of the living room, I roll back the rug spreading over the floorboards and reveal a trap door I’m way too familiar with. I reach down and drag the metal latch free, then wrench up the door.

  The gaping mouth of darkness greets me, bringing with it a cold chill. There’s a ladder that goes down into old tunnels that crisscross under this land from ancient times. Dušan had Bardhyl and me work to secure the passage from here and right out into a secret spot in the caves in the woods. Years is what it took, sweat and fucking aching muscles to unblock cave-ins, and now it’s worth all the damn time we spent on it.

  “Whoa!” Meira states as she emerges from the kitchen, Bardhyl behind her, a large bag swung over his shoulder. “Is this our way out?” She sounds almost scared.

  “Yes, and we need to go now! Hurry up.” Voices from outside escalate as though they’re moving closer.

  “The torch,” Kinley reminds me, rolling her wheeled chair forward, ready to drag the rug back over the trap door once we’re gone.

  I take a thick, wooden stick hidden near her fireplace and plunge one end covered in cloth and oil into the fire. It takes instantly, an orange blaze flickering and coming to life.

  Bardhyl has already jumped into the tunnel, and Meira is on her way down the ladder, and she looks at me with uncertainty, but there are no complaints.

  “I’m right behind you, gorgeous,” I assure her.

  Though, in truth, I wish I could fly her out of here so she didn’t have to run and hide, but I can’t, so I’ll do the next best thing. Protect her from the fucking demented wolf on our doorstep.

  Chapter 7

  Meira

  “Hey, you okay, angel legs?” Bardhyl asks, slowing his relentless marching through the tunnel and turning his head toward Lucien and me. Flames fl
icker from the torch he grasps, tossing shadows across the tunnel walls.

  In reality, it’s more of a sauna as I’m sweating like a beast. The rains aboveground seem to have made this place a sweltering and stuffy cocoon. Each breath gasps as I draw it in. Luckily, a light breeze brushes past every now and then, and I crave more before I pass out.

  I wipe the perspiration from my brow and push away the hair stuck to the sides of my face. “How much longer?” Compact earth covers the walls of the tunnels, wooden arched beams keeping the place from caving in. “Feels like we’ve been walking for half a day. I really don’t like being closed in here.” Pain coils in my chest at not seeing a way out. We’ve passed several passages spiking in different directions, but the men insist this is the right path. But what if it’s not and we get lost underground, going in circles?

  My pulse races and I’m frantically looking behind and forward to where only darkness awaits.

  Shadows dance under Bardhyl’s eyes, the pitch-black snatching away everything else in its grasp. “Not long now. I’d offer to carry you on my shoulders, but…” He glances up to the low ceiling.

  “I want to get out of here.” My voice wavers and more sweat drips down the side of my face.

  Lucien reaches into the bag he’s carrying over his shoulder. He pulls out a bottle with water. Yanking the cork top, he offers it to me. “This should help.”

  I swallow past my dry throat and greedily accept the bottle with two hands. Pressing the opening to my mouth, I tilt it back and gulp down several mouthfuls. Cool water runs down my throat, chasing away the heat and dryness clinging to my insides.

  “We spent many weeks working down here, fixing these old tunnels,” Lucien assures me. “We are very close to reaching the end. Just a bit longer, beautiful. All right?”

  I nod and wipe my mouth as I hand back the bottle. He takes a drink then passes it to Bardhyl. Soon enough, we are on the move again.

  “What were these tunnels used for before?” I ask, needing a distraction from the sensation of the walls closing in around me. I’ve never felt so claustrophobic before. Then again, I’ve never been in such tight confines with no way out. I think that’s the problem… a lack of escape and feeling trapped.

  “This is Râșnov Fortress built by Knights to protect local villages against invasion from other countries,” Lucien explains. “Afterward, the Hungarians and Saxons expanded the location, so it could have been any of them. But most likely, it was used as a way to defend their land, using these passages to surprise invaders.”

  “Remember those two skeletons we found down here?” Bardhyl asks.

  Lucien starts laughing, leaning against the wall alongside me. “I swear they died while having sex. It was vanilla sex, but still freaky to see them in the position. Now that is a good way to go.”

  “Really?” I butt in, trying to hold back my laughter at what they remember from this tunnel.

  Bardhyl smirks. “There are only two ways I want to go. Either in battle, or buried deep in…” He pauses, looks at me shaking my head, and shuts his mouth. But the rest of the conversation dissolves and the flame on his torch flicks wildly to the point of going out.

  “Well, hopefully, that never happens to us,” I respond, rubbing the goosebumps out of my arms. “And for the sake of all things, don’t let the light go out.” A small whimper escapes past my lips.

  “It’ll be fine. We won’t let anything happen to you,” Bardhyl says. “Even if the flame goes out, I can get us out.”

  “That doesn’t reassure me.” I wrap my arms around myself, hating how this confined space is affecting me so much. “Does it feel like the tunnel is getting smaller?”

  Lucien pipes in. “Two of us can stand side by side, babe. It’s not narrowing. But I agree, it’s not a big deal if the flames go. Means we no longer have to stare at the sausage in Bardhyl’s pants.”

  “What?” Bardhyl and I say in unison, turning to Lucien.

  He sighs and blows a long breath out. “I wasn’t going to say anything, but fuck, bruh, why did you select those pants? Your plums and cucumber are sticking out like a damn sore thumb. I mean, you almost made poor Kinley faint back in her house when you came out with your bed snake on show.”

  Bardhyl glances down, lowering the torch, and I can’t stop myself but follow his gaze. The fabric clings to his cock, which sits at an angle, and hell, he is a huge boy even when not turned on. I must agree that when I first saw him in those pants, I almost choked on my breath because the material concealed nothing, curving over his ridge and bump. The saying about guys having three legs is not wasted on Bardhyl, and my skin heats at the image.

  “Why are we talking about this now?” I ask, unsure of Lucien’s point, except that it comes from a place of jealousy, and I don’t want Bardhyl to feel bad if those pants were all that fit him.

  “It looks incredible, right?” Bardhyl answers, and it’s not the response I expect.

  “Told you, he wore them on purpose to fling his pecker around. There was a reason Kinley sent you quickly to get dressed. Then you came out like this.” Lucien flings his hand at him.

  Bardhyl laughs and is already walking away. We are hurrying up behind him, and I’m just shaking my head that this topic is even being discussed.

  “There was another pair. If I knew you’d be this jealous, I’d have brought them out for you.”

  Lucien scoffs and reaches down to grope himself. “What I’m packing leaves Meira gasping, but I don’t wear fancy pants to draw attention to my ammunition.”

  “Hmm, don’t bring me into this,” I murmur as we walk faster.

  “Babe, you are completely in the middle of this sandwich,” Lucien answers.

  While Bardhyl still laughs, he glances over his shoulder. “Later, you can try on my pants and then we can let Meira judge who looks best in them.”

  “Um, no,” I respond.

  “Deal!” Lucien answers.

  I roll my eyes. “Seriously, I’m not sure why guys are so obsessed with the size of their penises. You don’t see females going around flashing their… their flowers for comparison.”

  “There’d be nothing wrong if they did,” Bardhyl responds. “I wish you would.”

  “Yes, finally we both agree,” Lucien adds.

  I glare at Lucien, who winks at me, and while the discussion is absurd, my knees wobble slightly at how easily he affects me.

  The path curves to the left and only once we clear it does a small light come into view from up ahead. I’m suddenly bouncing on my toes. “A way out!”

  A whistling wind curls around us, and relief washes over me. “We’ve reached the end. That’s the best sight in the world.”

  I’m moving faster, the men right there alongside me.

  “Feeling better?” Lucien murmurs.

  I turn toward his smiling face, and it takes me a few moments to really understand what he’s talking about. Then it collides into me like an avalanche. “You orchestrated that whole conversation about Bardhyl’s pants to distract me, didn’t you?”

  He blows me a kiss while Bardhyl faces us, and those delicious eyes narrow seductively.

  “You bastards,” I tease. “Here I thought you both had major jealousy issues. Though I will admit, those pants are super tight.” This time, it’s me who laughs about the fact that they so easily fooled me. “Thanks.” I move to hug them both, and for a few moments, we hold each other. How in the world did I get so lucky to score these smartasses as my mates?

  Finally, we take a step out of a gaping hole and into an oversized cave, with its opening at least twenty feet away. I hurry forward, never wanting to be in another tunnel ever again.

  The sight of the woods stretching out before us, the fresh smell of pines and rain fills the air… I missed it. I can’t see exactly where we are, but we are definitely outside the compound.

  “It wasn’t that terrifying,” Lucien murmurs as he pushes the strap of the backpack higher up his shoulder.

 
Bardhyl walks toward us, his nostrils flaring as he takes in a deep inhale, his chest rising. “Do we remain here until the right moment to sneak back for Dušan?” he asks.

  “No. I mean, yes to finding Dušan, but we can’t stay here,” I answer before Lucien gets a chance. “There’s a cave up on a hill near the settlement and my friend Jae is waiting for me, I hope. It faces away from the compound. With the rain, we shouldn’t be detected. I just don’t know how to get there from here.” I’m speed-talking, wanting to get away from here, as I hate the open tunnel. Mad and his men could be barreling after us right now.

  “What side of the settlement is your cave?” Bardhyl asks.

  “The same side where we were attacked by Mad.”

  Lucien pulls out a blade from his boot and winks. “So we’ve got a bit of walking to do. Let’s join your friend while we wait then.”

  Bardhyl straightens his posture before offering me his hand. “You run with me and lead the way once I get us to that side.”

  “Okay. I’m ready.”

  His hand grips mine and we hurry into the pounding rain. Its coldness leaves my skin covered in goosebumps, and I duck my head as we dart into the forest.

  I’m freezing and my heart beats overtime that we might bump into Mad’s men. Or Shadow Monsters. It’s not me I worry about, but my two wolves, and I just pray we make it safely.

  Rain assaults the forest around us, thunder growling in the sky, and we don’t stop. I’m pretty sure if I do, I’ll fall asleep in seconds. Though I’m also starving. My thoughts keep going to the cheeses and dried meat and bread we took from Kinley. I can’t even remember the last time I ate. Starvation drives me to run faster.

  I don’t know how long we’ve been running for, but when we pause, I’m out of breath and lean against Bardhyl, who holds me, gasping for air himself.

  “Hell, please tell me we’re near the hill.” Lucien drops the bag to the ground, hands on his knees, sucking in rushed breaths.

  For a long moment, no one says anything, but we all breathe heavily. Drenched, we look like drowned rats, and I might have laughed if I weren’t so exhausted.