Shadowlands Sector, Three

by Mila Young

  I stumble forward, my throat thickening. “Meira!”

  Chapter 15

  Meira

  My head jolts up at the sound of my name, at the familiar voice, with hope threading through my chest.

  Bardhyl stands outside my cell, gripping the bars. At first, I can’t believe my eyes, but I’m scrambling to my feet and rushing over to him. I crash into the bar door, my arms threading through the gaps to reach him.

  He came for me!

  Tears never stop falling, while my heart bangs loudly into my ribcage.

  “Angel legs,” he coos.

  “Dušan! They have Dušan!” I blurt out, just as Lucien bursts into the room, his gaze sweeping wide until it lands on us.

  “I’ve got keys,” he declares.

  Bardhyl and I step back, and in moments, Lucien has the door to my cell swinging open.

  I throw myself at my men, all three of us in a tight hug. I can’t stop trembling. I want to remain here and never leave their sides, but we are nowhere near safe. Our fight has only just started.

  “Dušan,” I breathe as I untangle from them. “Mad took him and he’s going to kill him. We have to find him.”

  Lucien’s mouth drops open while the corded muscles in Bardhyl’s neck twitch.

  “Where would he go?” I ask, desperation raking through my chest.

  No one responds at first and that tells me they don’t hold the answer. I’ll scour the whole settlement to find him.

  “He’d do it with an audience,” Lucien finally answers, and there’s trepidation behind his voice. I hate hearing him scared because that skyrockets my own anxiety.

  “It’ll be either in the courtyard or out in the field.”

  “We follow the crowds,” I squeak, panic sinking in. Terror strangles me.

  Bardhyl nods, then takes the lead and wrenches open the main door, while Lucien grabs my hand and we rush out of the dungeon.

  “I’m sorry,” Lucien says, his face pale as fear swirls behind his gaze. “I promised to look after you, and I lost you again.”

  “That doesn’t matter,” I say. “I would do anything to protect you—like you would me. And right now, we need to get to Dušan.”

  An ache flares in my chest each time I remember the way Mad hauled him out of the prison. My insides shatter at the look on his face.

  Dušan’s last words linger with me, refusing to leave me. Already, I know that if we don’t get to him in time, that memory will destroy me.

  Rip me to shreds.

  I can’t live a life without all three of them with me.

  And I can’t even begin to imagine how I am meant to go on again. I glance over to Lucien, remembering how he lost his first fated mate. He is braver than I can ever be. Tears well in my eyes each time I think of losing Dušan.

  But in my head, it’s clear that whatever happens, I will kill Mad.

  I will burn down everything. My only salvation is Bardhyl and Lucien, but I’m not a fool. This will destroy them too.

  Nothing will ever be the same again.

  I feel it in my bones.

  Distraught, I gasp for air and race up the stairs with my men.

  We sprint out into an empty hallway. There is no pause. We swing right and frantically run to the side door we last used. The answer lies outdoors. I check the corridor behind us as Bardhyl sticks his head outside. With a wave of his hand at us, we hurry into a yard devoid of people.

  In that same moment, an ear-piercing siren rings through the air, stealing the earlier silence.

  I shudder in my skin, spinning on my heels, half-expecting an army of Ash Wolves to charge down on us.

  “Fuck, fuck!” Lucien’s hand in mine shakes.

  Bardhyl charges to the right and vanishes around the edge of the stronghold building.

  “What the hell is going on?” I cry out.

  “That siren goes off only when the undead have breached the settlement.”

  My head spins. “Zombies have barged in here?”

  Lucien draws me closer; the color from his face is mostly gone. “I suspect there’s something else going on.”

  Moments later, Bardhyl careens around the far corner of the building farther away and bolts toward us like the devil himself chases him.

  Fear twists his expression, and I feel sick to my stomach. Bile rushes to the back of my throat as anxiety strangles me.

  I suck in each shaky breath as the ringing continues.

  “I think Mad’s sacrificing Dušan to the zombies just outside the compound.” He gasps. “The siren must be to call the undead to him.”

  A shiver grips my spine, and my knees buckle under me.

  “I can stop it.” Before either of them respond, I rip my hand free from Lucien’s grasp and sprint to the edge of the fortress.

  “Meira!” he calls after me. “Don’t go there!”

  But nothing will stop me. My hands curl into fists, feet shoving against the ground, running like nothing else in the world matters.

  And it doesn’t.

  I curve around the corner of the fortress, my heart in my throat, but I skid to a stop as fear ices me all over.

  Before me, hundreds of Ash pack members scramble toward the wall of the compound. Many are climbing the ladders, others hurrying to find a way to get up there and see what’s going on. Cheers come from a lofty pedestal where I spot Mad laughing. He’s drinking a glass of wine or something while enjoying staring out beyond the fence. He has guards surrounding him. They are everywhere. There is no way we can even try to attack him. We’re outnumbered, and my priority is finding Dušan first. I can only assume he’s what everyone is looking at over the wall.

  More Ash Wolf members appear and join the others.

  But I can’t see Dušan from down here.

  Bardhyl and Lucien are at my side in moments, heaving for breath. “Don’t run off like that,” Lucien reprimands me.

  “I-I c-can’t see him. Maybe it’s not him.” Tears roll down my face because even as I say the words, I know the truth.

  This is exactly how Mad would dish out punishment. Make Dušan’s death a spectacle.

  My stomach drops right through me and a scream surges through me at the injustice, at how fucking wrong this is.

  “We need to get to him.” I scan the area when a group of pack members dart right alongside us. Five of them, but they don’t even pay us any attention when they’re running to witness the show.

  Lucien shoves me between him and Bardhyl as more people move in a hurry. “We can’t be spotted.”

  “There’s no way out that way,” Bardhyl whispers. “We go through the tunnels.”

  “No. It’ll take too long. The back entry,” I say, pointing to the way I first entered the settlement. “If there are guards, we’ll deal with them and get over the fence. We have to get to Dušan quickly.”

  They both nod in unison.

  Checking the grounds, we make a break for it and sprint across the lawn toward the explosion of trees higher up on the rising landscape.

  I keep glancing over to the spectators. No one pays attention to us, but the guards are definitely staying close to Mad. Some cheer, but many cry out from what I assume is fear at seeing their Alpha being offered up as a sacrifice.

  My heart bleeds for all of us. For the devastation Mad is about to unleash once he gets rid of Dušan. He’ll treat everyone like a slave and punish anyone for not obeying him.

  Please, let Dušan be alive by the time we arrive there. Don’t let there be too many guards at the rear door. I push myself to go faster to reach my Alpha.

  Swift and silent

  Swift and silent.

  Swift and silent.

  Dušan

  The rope burns into my wrists and around my chest, my shoulders screaming as my arms remain pulled taut around the pole at my back. I thrash and wrestle against my restraints, attempting to find some movement in the pole. But Mad made sure his guards dug it deep into the ground, and any chance of me knocking i
t over or wrenching it out is impossible.

  Fury lashes over me and I jerk my attention over to the asshole. He stands on a platform behind the wall within the safety of the compound, while I’m left outside. An offering to the starved zombies.

  And the siren wails around us like a roaring demon. There is no zombie breach in the pack grounds, but a calling for them to come outside the settlement and find me.

  This is his final gift to me after everything we’ve gone through together. Growing up with his abusive father, when I took most of the beatings so he wouldn’t have to. I guarded him in the pack, gave him a high ranking position. But nothing was good enough. I should have seen this coming, should have fucking seen it.

  Dozens and dozens of faces are climbing up the fence to gawk at me, and I meet every one of their gazes. Dread twists in my chest, but I want them to watch me fight to the end against a tyrant.

  Fear fills most of their eyes. All part of Mad’s plan… Show them what happens when someone crosses him, and no one will stand up against him. I ache for these Ash Wolves who are left behind under the control of a monster.

  But the depth of my pain surges for Meira.

  For the agonizing heartache he will bring her. I fight against my restraints to escape and seek my retribution against my stepbrother. The whispers in my mind repeat, Break free and kill him. Every fucking flying, deceitful, arrogant inch of him.

  I want blood.

  Revenge.

  Death for Mad.

  He barks a laugh, standing up there, making sure no one misses the joy this brings him.

  The crowd gathers behind the fence, climbing up to watch me, and they murmur their own whispers.

  I seethe on the inside, my wolf crashing into me for escape, but changing will still leave me tied up, my back plastered to the pole just the same. Tugging against the pole, I won’t stop. Not even as the hollow ache in my chest spreads through me, swallowing me with the threat that maybe it’s too late for me.

  Time drags too slow, and I suck in a hot breath beneath the scorching heat. Dread crawls through me as I keep picturing my death. Breathing heavily, I struggle to focus on nothing else but breaking the restraints holding me in place.

  “How does it feel, to be on the receiving end, brother? If only you had trusted me instead of turning against your own family.” Mad’s words are like a whip, lashing over me.

  “Fuck off! You are not my brother.” My response seems to echo. I have no time for his gloating. I’m barely keeping it together and not losing my shit. I’ll get out of this. I will.

  And still the siren rings.

  Then instead of his mocking voice, which I expect, comes a deep moaning sound that sends shivers down my spine.

  Someone screams, and I twist my head toward the woods at my back.

  Mad declares, “They’re here.”

  The asshole grins deviously, while my gut twists on itself.

  Trying my best not to tremble, I fail miserably. Silhouettes lurch out of the shadows, lanky things with torn clothes and gaunt faces. Missing eyes and limbs. Nothing stops the cursed.

  Fighting harder, I yank on the ropes, the burn on my wrists digging deep, ripping at skin. Panic slices through me because this isn’t where I’m meant to die. Not like this. Not like fucking this.

  More keep shambling out of the forest and the sight shudders me to the core. It’s a kick to the gut that despite everything I did, this is where I ended up.

  “Beg me,” Mad demands.

  I’d rather die than grovel to him. Nothing I say will make him change his mind. I’ve seen the darkness in his eyes, the hatred, the retaliation he thinks I deserve.

  I straighten my spine, staring back around to the encroaching monsters. Moving ever closer. Darkening shadows blot the forest. These aren’t just a few zombies… but a whole herd.

  A tremor jerks through me. Tugging for freedom, I never give up while trepidation claws at my insides. Gone is my calm demeanor as the sound of shuffling feet draws nearer.

  A sudden lick of electricity hums along my skin, like it always does when a wolf shifts. Who is it? There’s nothing behind me but zombies staggering closer. The crowd on the fence isn’t changing but rather crying in panicked gasps. No one dares demand my release and I can’t blame them. Not when that’s all the push Mad needs to shove them over the fence and at the mercy of the undead.

  Frantically, I tug on the rope, a tornado whipping in my chest with adrenaline and the terror coming for me.

  A deafening growl slices through the air and it comes from deep in the woods, away from the settlement.

  My heart soars. I pray it’s Bardhyl and Lucien. I crane my neck to look back. My men better be damn quick because the horde in the distance grows denser. And I hear the terror in people’s voices from the wall, their panicked words. They’ll be too close… There’re too many… like last time.

  Such a cluster of the undead can have bigger consequences than the pack losing me, if they crash into the compound with so many spectators just out of reach. For the innocents trapped in there, I worry, but for Mad, it’s everything he deserves.

  Someone screams, and I flinch at the reaction as the ground beneath me shudders like a small quake.

  I wrench my head around as a huge white blur charges toward me.

  So fast, so large, I can’t make it out at first.

  “Bardhyl,” I murmur to myself, but the scent is all wrong. It’s no one I recognize, yet it belongs to an Alpha. My thoughts fly to the man sharing the dungeon with me. Except Meira insisted they negotiated her for him… so why are these trespassers still here?

  The sudden swish of air across my back leaves me hardening my spine. I twist my head to the encroaching zombies.

  Nothing is stopping the river from coming this way, and I desperately pull for escape.

  Four Ash Wolf guards drop from the fence on either side of me. Seconds is all it takes for them to transform into their wolves. Clothes are torn, skin popping as it splits and bones elongate. Trotting closer, they linger around me in a protective circle… This has nothing to do with them keeping me safe from the zombies, but everything to do with stopping the newcomer wolf from freeing me.

  Mad is so paranoid I’ll escape, he risks his own men to ensure I am torn apart by the undead, even if he loses a few of his own followers. Except for all I know, whoever these wolves are, they might want me dead as much as they do Mad.

  Sadistic asshole.

  Tension thickens the air.

  I lift my gaze to Mad glaring at me, his lips thinning. I never lower my gaze from his, and for as long as I breathe, I will challenge him.

  A howl pierces the air somewhere behind me, and I stiffen against the pole. Seconds later, the pounding of paws hitting the ground booms, coming right up behind me.

  My heart pummels against my ribcage. I swivel my head as the four Ash Wolves dart toward the white blurs that burst out of the nearby woods with extraordinary agility. They clash tremendously and all chaos breaks loose.

  The crowd is screaming and cheering, while Mad’s bellowing commands fall on deaf ears.

  And if there was ever a time for me to break free, this is it.

  Wriggling my hands in the rope proves harder than I hoped. Fighting the tightness, I struggle to curl my hands enough to fit through the knotted binds.

  Frustration suffocates me, and I growl under my breath, rage flaring through me. But I won’t stop.

  Anger and retaliation float to the surface. I draw on those to fight the ties. I glance up to the spectators watching me from the fence, and it must be clear what I’m doing, but no one says a word. They cheer me on with their gazes, their desperation painted on their faces like war paint.

  I suck in each rapid breath, sweat dripping down the side of my face. Every few seconds, I check on the undead. They are mostly out of the shadows now, but more seem to be swaying deeper into the woods coming this way, no doubt drawn by the booming sounds.

  My arms tremble, ev
ery part of me aching.

  Whimpers and cries pierce the air behind me to a resolute ending that one side has lost.

  Suddenly, a burst of gasps and oohs rise out of the crowd. I strain to look around, but barely a second later, there’s a flush of cool air against my back.

  The cords instantly slacken and fall away from my wrists and ankles. I stumble free from the pole, rubbing the red marks from where my skin is rubbed raw. I shake the rest of the ropes from my ankles and pivot to find four massive white wolves roaming impatiently at the clearing farther up the hill, staring at me. Blood stains their faces, lips peeling back over razor-sharp teeth stained in blood. Ash Wolves lie torn apart near the woods, their bodies already shifting back to their human forms.

  The first few zombies are already throwing themselves at the corpses, gorging on their bodies.

  The crowds are screaming for me to run away, and I don’t need to be told twice.

  Mad is shouting orders at his guards, who are pulling away from him, stricken with fear. My idiot stepbrother shoves one man down off the fence, then another.

  “Get the fuck down there and finish them!”

  Except his followers are backing away.

  I whip around, my heart banging in my chest, when several feet away, the first undead lurches my way.

  A phantom hand squeezes my lungs to the point where I can’t breathe.

  There’s no time to wait or think, but I run up in the same direction my saviors dart to save myself.

  They aren’t stupid and they run.

  Behind me, there is shouting, including Mad calling for the guns. And that right there is what is wrong with him. He never thinks anything through. He attracted zombies close to the compound but didn’t arrange to have the snipers ready just in case.

  Yet I know the bastard. He would have rushed to tie me up right after discovering he had Meira. No thought process, just hurry and move on. This is why everything he’s ever touched went to shit, why so many times I’ve had to cover for him.

  A mistake I will never make again.

  Thundering as fast as possible before the bullets start flying, I glance back to the masses of zombies piling over the two men Mad pushed off the fence.