“Oh Gods, what?” I didn’t obey, glancing down at my shoulder.
A centipede-like creature skittered over my shoulder and I screamed, dropping my candle to flick it to the ground. My candle disappeared into the abyss and I stomped on the creature. Losing my balance, I nearly toppled over the ledge. Arms wheeling, Grae grabbed me and pulled me against him.
“Curse the fucking Moon, I said don’t move,” he muttered, holding me tighter.
“That’s the worst thing you could say if you want someone to stay still,” I growled.
He huffed, lowering his candle to the squished insect.
“What is that thing?” It was longer than a centipede, with a scorpion-like tail and beetley eyes. I toed it and a long thin thread trailed out of its face. It curled out like a cracking whip.
I retched. “Is that a tongue?”
“It’s a juvleck,” Grae said.
My eyes widened. “Like the ones painted in your castle?”
“Yes.”
“But I thought they were bigger than Wolves,” I gasped.
More chittering sounds echoed up the walls.
Grae gripped my hand. “Keep moving.”
He picked up the pace, hastening to the hole in the rock that led to the other side. The ground below us trembled as the scratching sounds grew louder.
“Oh Gods, oh Gods,” I cursed, moving faster as gooseflesh rippled across my arms. I knew, though, the Gods had forgotten this place a long time ago.
The sound of air whipping sounded to the right and a thick, sticky tongue wrapped around the rope.
“Run!” Grae shouted.
We bolted as the rope barrier to the right fell. The squeaking, clicking sounds grew louder as the full-grown juvleck mounted the bridge. It moved with incredible speed, lashing toward us.
“Why didn’t we bring our weapons again?” I screamed, dashing away from the sound. I felt the air move at my back and shrieked as the stinger landed against the rock beside me.
Grae leapt into the tunnel, whirling to grab my arm. The snap of a whip rent the air and then I felt it—that sticky hot rope coiled around my ankle, burning into me like candle wax.
It yanked and I screamed.
My feet fell out from under me as I toppled over the edge. Grae’s hand slipped up my arm and tightened around my wrist.
Flailing, I kicked against my bound ankle, grinding my heel into the juvleck’s tongue until it released me with a shriek. Thrown off balance by the loss of tension my weight had caused, the juvleck’s shrieks faded as it dropped into the abyss.
I dangled by one arm, staring up at Grae. His candle flickered beside his feet as he bent and grabbed my belt with his free hand. He hoisted me up and we collapsed through the tunnel. I panted on top of him, our noses touching.
Light filtered into the room, enough to see his storming, fearful eyes. I crashed my lips to his, our mouths colliding in a rough, burning kiss. His arms tightened around me as he breathed me in. My tongue swept into his mouth. A fervent need overcame me as my heart thundered, my fear being replaced with heat.
Good sense finally reached me and I broke our kiss, looking around the anteroom. The tunnel caved in up ahead, and I searched for the source of light. Above the pile of rubble was a sliver of sunlight, a crack in the earth.
“We’ll have to go up,” I wheezed.
With trembling limbs, I climbed up toward the crevice. The ground shuddered again and scree fell from the ceiling.
“Go!” Grae shouted as the air whooshed again.
Another whip-like tongue shot out, wrapping around Grae’s throat. The juvleck scuttled into the tunnel, its giant scaled body taking up the entire entryway. It loomed over Grae, its spindly legs pinning him to the floor as its tongue squeezed the life out of him.
Without thinking, I grabbed a rock and leapt. I landed on the armored scales of the juvleck’s back. It thrashed, trying to buck me off as I smashed the rock into the back of its head. It released an ear-splitting cry but didn’t let go of Grae. I slammed the rock down again and again, battering its tough shell. It wailed, writhing to the side and crashing me into the wall. Pain stabbed through my shoulder, but I didn’t stop. With one final cracking blow, the juvleck dropped, its legs giving out, throwing me forward.
I scrambled for Grae, unwrapping the lifeless juvleck’s tongue from his neck. He gasped, sucking in air as his bloodshot eyes bugged. Angry red blisters ringed his neck.
I helped him to his feet and pushed him up toward the crack in the earth. He barely squeezed through, shoulders scraping against the stone as he pulled himself into the sunlight, but I was sure nothing in Aotreas would keep him from getting out of this tunnel because I felt the same way. He reached down for me and pulled me up after him.
I collapsed on top of him once again, my chest heaving. The air was fresh with the salty brine floating in the breeze. We’d made it to the ocean.
“Are you okay?” I traced my hand around Grae’s bruised neck. He nodded but couldn’t speak, each breath a rasping wheeze. I grimaced as I tried to lift my smashed arm. “We need to shift.”
Grae’s hands shook as he reached for the hem of his tunic.
I stopped him. “Shift. Shred your clothes,” I instructed. “We’ll leave them behind anyway.”
He screwed his eyes shut, clothes ripping as he morphed into his glorious Silver Wolf. He shook the scraps of fabric from his fur and I sighed, knowing he’d be all right.
“Never again.” I looked into his gleaming Wolf eyes. How had Navin survived that place? How had anyone? “No more gold will ever come from that mine. No more people should have to face those beasts.”
I took one last look at that ominous crack in the earth and shifted into a Wolf.
Red and gold trees covered the land, stretching out to the craggy fjords and crashing ocean waves. Pillars of smoke rose from little villages that stretched across the vast peninsula. The capital was a distant red dot on the horizon. Even from Sevelde, I could see the red stones, the entire city a deep burgundy. The rushing river below my paws ran all the way to the capital, twisting through smaller towns and ending in a vast and glorious lake. Gold and red spires shot up from the center of the lake—the palace. From the mountains of Taigos, all the way to Sawyn’s door, that eerie river ran the entire length of my entire kingdom.
“Eager to run through the forests of your homeland, little fox?” Grae asked in my mind, racing after me as I thundered through the forest. “Or eager for something else?”
“All of it.”
His voice turned husky. “All of it.”