Chapter Twenty-eight
Sitting in the back of the van, Kari lost sight of the castle on the hill. She didn’t want to move with Bryon’s wolf’s head in her lap. The driver turned onto a bumpy road and they climbed a hill. The path narrowed as they drove past trees which became a forest the higher they went.
After a short amount of time, they passed through a gate in a stone wall. If she was correct, they were at the back of the castle. The part not seen from the town. The van stopped and the men got out. The two side doors opened and men grabbed the wolf by his fur.
“Hey!” she hollered, even though she doubted they understood her. “Be nice.” She held his head in her hands and scooted him closer to the door so they wouldn’t have to yank and pull on him. She followed her mate’s procession with the last guard behind her.
They came to a rounded door that would’ve looked perfect in a castle if it wasn’t made of shiny metal. The guard punched in a passcode on the electronic entry device and the door popped open. Quite modern, especially when there supposedly wasn’t any electricity in the castle.
Inside, the air was musty and old, but the corners were relatively free of cob webs. So either it was so old that all the spiders had died or there was enough activity to keep them from making a home. She wasn’t sure which was better.
The men led them down a set of stairs where a switch on the wall turned on a single light bulb. The wire was attached to the stone and ran up through a hole in the rock floor. The whole place was probably wired in the same fashion.
At the bottom of the steps, the room opened into a large space that looked multifunctional. Cells with thick bars lined one side. Chairs and foldable tables were stacked against a wall. The other side held a fire box and what looked like a stone altar. All the horror and witch movies she’d ever seen flashed through her mind. All the scenes where the sacrificial victims had their throats slashed or heads cut off or a knife drilled through their hearts. A shudder passed through her. She and the wolf had to get out of there fast.
She looked around for possible escape routes. No windows or other doors except the one they had come through at the top of the stairs. The men dropped the wolf inside a cell and pushed her in before closing and locking the door. The guys whispered as they left. She found that interesting. Were they trying not to draw the attention of the old ghost king? She wanted to laugh at that, but the surrounding environment made the story feel more real.
Kari sat on the floor next to the unconscious wolf’s head and petted him. “Well, wolf, any ideas how to get out of here?” she waited for a reply not coming. “Yeah, me neither.” She sighed.
“I have to say, this has been an exciting trip. When I came on this project, your boss told me I would just have to walk around and pretend to be a girlfriend.” She laughed. “I failed at that spectacularly. I haven’t seen Sheldon in forever.
“But in a way, that’s fine. Because with you, I don’t have to pretend to be in love. You’re exactly what my Tabi talked about when she spoke of Joe and his love. Shifter love.” She looked down at him, stroking her fingers through his soft fur. For years, she’d dreamed about a shifter being her white knight, or black wolf, in this case. He would love no matter her looks or how smart she was. He would love her for who she was.
And she would love him with all her heart in return. They would have three kids, two boys and a little girl. The boys would always watch over their sister and keep her safe from bullies and those who would be mean to her. She’d wanted a cat and dog, until she realized that if her husband was a shifter, he would probably scare the crap out of the cat. But the dog would be okay. But why have a dog when her shifter husband could play fetch with the kids? And he’d walk himself. Huge bonus.
When she’d reached her late twenties, that dream slowly went away. Replaced by bills, a mortgage and car payments, and reality. She watched as her friends, one by one, married and grew their families with children and animals—regular ones. The thought of shifters no longer entered her head. She’d forgotten for the most part that they existed. Everyone looked and acted human.
She sighed and leaned forward, resting her elbows on her legs. Her wish of finding the man of her dreams had come true, but now it seemed they would never have their happily ever after. She felt certain they would kill Bryon. Biting tears flooded her eyes. Her heart sank and a pain inside her ached like she’d never felt before. That was what losing someone you loved felt like.
She felt helpless, overwhelmed by the circumstances. How could she fight men trained to kill? Thinking back, she was trained how to defend herself against those types of people and how to go on the offensive. But she’d had a desk job her entire working life and she used her brain, not brawn. Perhaps it was time to kick her own ass into gear.
She’d been relying on Bryon to get her out of the tunnels. Now that they were, it was up to her to get them out of this. She would do whatever it took to protect him. She could do this.
The door from the upstairs opened, and the stair treads creaked and moaned under someone’s weight. She got to her feet, ready to go head-to-head with whomever. Of course, it would be the red-eyed prince prick himself. What did he want? She was almost too afraid to ask.