Unwanted Mate Of The Lycan Kings (by jessica hall) novel Chapter 76

~Regan~

I can't stand still. The damp dungeon feels like it is closing in on me. My chest is tight as I pace back and forth, the flickering torchlight casting eerie shadows on the walls. Zeke sits in a corner, nursing his injuries, his face a mask of pain and anger after we tried to break the bars on the cell.

The steel was spelled decades ago. You'd think it would have worn off by now. But clearly not as I look at my hands. The bars are infused with water hemlock and wolfsbane, which causes nasty burns. All three of us burned to pieces. My hands feel like rubber because the burns are that deep.

Lyon stares vacantly at the remains of the curse on the blackened walls. A curse I have committed to memory, not that it has done me any good over the years. However, Lyon is trapped in the confines of his mind, staring at it like he can figure out the curse if he stares at it long enough. And the guards are useless.

We can't even command them since my father ordered them not to take our orders. We tried. One guard even passed out resisting our commands and hasn't woken up. He's laid on the cold concrete ground since, bleeding from his ears. He isn't as old as the two vampires guarding, Elias or us, and his healing ability is not as quick as they normally are from resisting our commands.

Suddenly, heavy footsteps echo through the corridor. Malachi appears, his eyes wild with fear and urgency. He's been running; that much is clear. He glances around, spotting the guards, who swiftly turn to see the intruder. Gnash gets up beside me, growling as his fur brushes my leg. For a few tense seconds, the guards stare at him warily. Malachi snarls, "Stand down." Malachi orders.

"They can't. My father commanded them," I tell him, and Malachi curses and shakes his head while the guards nervously look at each other.

"Forgive me," Malachi tells them, and without hesitation, he launches himself at them.

His movements are swift and precise, like those of a well-trained fighter, and he should be. He trained these men, so he plays them like a fiddle, using their own moves against them. Hence, the student won't surpass the teacher in this case. Not when that teacher is of noble blood too.

I watch in awe as he takes them down one by one as he moves through them effortlessly. A spinning kick sends one guard crashing into the wall while another is flipped over Malachi's shoulder, landing hard on the cold stone floor. In a matter of seconds, the guards are unconscious, their bodies sprawled across the corridor, except for one.

Breathing heavily, Malachi grabs the collar of the last conscious guard, Elias. His face only inches away from the guard’s face. "Where's the key?" he demands. His voice is a growl.

Elias, bloodied and bruised, manages to wheeze out, "King Theron... he has it." With a furious growl, Malachi delivers a knockout punch to his face, sending him slumping to the floor.

Turning to us, I can see the panic etched on his face when he speaks, "We need to get you out of here. Your father has lost his damn mind!"

My heart pounds in my chest as I step forward, gripping the steel bars of the cell. "What's happened? Where is she?" I demand, my voice laced with the panic that is strangling me.

Malachi hesitates, his eyes full of worry. "In the town square," he finally answers. Zeke moves toward the bars.

"In the town square?" Malachi nods, glancing up at the bars and at the hinges.

"Malachi!" He pauses.

"What's going on?" I demand.

"History is about to repeat itself if I don't get you out of here," Malachi states, touching the bars and hissing as he jerks his hands back.

My grip on the bars tightens, and I can feel the heat from the wolfsbane and water hemlock infused into the metal, burning my skin. Gritting my teeth, I ignore the pain, the need to save Zirah, overriding everything else when Zeke pushes me aside and grips one bar, and I take the other.

All I can smell is our flesh burning when the bars finally creak, bending, and Gnash seeing the gap leaps through it instantly, followed by Hunter and Shadow. Gnash hesitates, almost as if he is waiting for us, but the gap is too small. It is a tight fit for them to escape through.