Untamed - Book 2

Alpha Jordan

The march to Haven Crest is long, but uneventful and I have to smile as I catch several of the witches and wolves having calm, civil conversations. Darius has remained at Cora’s side, standing to her left while I remain at her right. We have been walking for hours, yet the energy of all of our people I at an all-time high. The evening sun is dropping low and a scent I am all too familiar with, the scent carried by Lady Laurent, slowly fills the air around us.

“Darius, can your men scout the town and get us a location on Altier?” Darius nods at Cora then drops back to collect his men and set forth to accomplish his task.

“Are you ready for this?” I ask as I take her hand in mine. Some of the lingering tension from our issue in the forest is still present. It seeps through our bond and can be felt in the way her hand sits idly in mine.

“I am ready to free my brother and I am ready to end Altier and the council, but I am not ready to lose any of our people.” I understand her concern, but much like her, I know it is inevitable. We continue our journey until we reach the edge of the haven Crest land where we wait for Darius and his men to return. The first of the stars in the night sky become visible before the vampires return from their scouting mission with Darius immediately seeking out Cora.

“Coralie, we located them. The council has more than sixty of its members present. Altier is in the north tower. We weren’t able to locate Luca.” I can feel her frustration, sadness and fear taking over.

“We can’t wait. We need to get in there before they figure out that we're here, or decide to move.” We separate into our groups, the larger groups are to go through the town and draw out the guards as a distraction while the five smaller groups are to storm the castle during the chaos. I follow Cora, weaving through alleys and side streets until we reach a drain tunnel that is barely big enough for us to crawl through. We work our way through the tunnel and come out in a small room that I assume is the tunnel access from the lower level of the castle. We go up a set of narrow stone steps that leads to the pantry.

“I will lead us to Altier, stay close.” Cora nods at Darius and we are quickly led through the kitchen and into a dark corridor then up a long, winding staircase that stops nearly a hundred feet up from the ground level. Darius slowly pulls open the door, but before we can enter, we are hit with a blast of blinding white light that quickly fades and leaves us all without the ability to see.

“I was beginning to think you would never show up. It is good to see you again, Coralie.” A deep, sinister laugh echoes from the room in front of us and without warning, the darkness that consumed my vision threatens to pull me under, but I fight to focus on anything that will tell me what lies before us. I hear footsteps, but I can't make out if they are coming toward us. I sudden wave of energy explodes from somewhere in the room, throwing me into a wall and causing the world to slip into darkness.