Chapter 145: They Sensed Her
In a split second, Nina threw her body weight backward, grabbing the edge of the heavy closet door and slamming it shut just as the lead wolf lunged.
BOOM.
The impact rattled the wood on its hinges, sending a shockwave through the frame that vibrated straight up Nina’s arms. She backed away with frantic speed, her chest heaving as she stared at the barrier. Beyond the wood, a muffled thud was immediately followed by a low, furious snarl.
Their wolves had sensed her.
A wave of cold nausea rolled through her stomach. That was the only explanation. They could smell what she was.
Oh God…
She was done for…
Nina’s whole body trembled as she pressed a trembling, blood-stained hand against her chest and forced herself to breathe, but every breath caught like shards of glass in her throat. The snarling was so close now that she could hear long, deadly claws scraping against the stone and wooden floorboards just outside the closet. It would only take one more deliberate charge before they would break through the doors and tear her into shreds.
She looked wildly around the small space, her eyes darting from side to side. There had to be another way out.
The window.
Her eyes locked onto the tall glass pane set into the far wall of the closet, but the fleeting spark of hope died almost as quickly as it came. Rodrigo’s chambers sat on the third floor.
Even if she miraculously survived the fall which was literally impossible, she would never outrun the pack of night-hunting wolves waiting in the dark.
They would tear her apart before Rodrigo would find her.
Nina brushed her hands through her glowing hair. Her mind raced helplessly, spinning in circles. What was she going to do?
For a fleeting, desperate moment, she wished Rodrigo would come crashing through that shattered doorway to save her. That he would find her before they did.
But she stopped the thought before it could even take shape.
Her eyes glanced at her glowing hair, and her gaze blurred with unshed tears.
No. She couldn’t let him see her like this.
She couldn’t bear to watch the exact second his grey eyes which had always stared at her gently would harden into horror, the moment he realized the woman he’d loved, and had grown to trust was the same witch his people had spent twenty years suffering her curse.
No, she would rather be killed by these wolves than see him look at her with eyes filled with hatred.
Her heart clenched with the thought of it. Before she could think, a deafening crash slammed through the chamber again.
The closet door frame shuddered beneath the weight of the second wolf throwing its full body against the structure. The impact was so violent that stone dust rained down from the ceiling joints, settling into Nina’s eyelashes. She flinched instinctively, clapping both hands over her mouth before a scream could escape her throat.
Another growl followed—deeper, lower, and far more impatient than the first. They weren’t leaving. They weren’t going to stop until they killed her.
Nina’s frantic gaze swept across the interior of the closet until it landed on the heavy, floor-to-ceiling wooden wardrobe units lining the wall. They were solid oak, and strong.
If she couldn’t escape the room, she had to buy herself time.
Nina hurried to the nearest wardrobe, throwing her shoulder against the side of the polished wood. It barely budged. A low grunt escaped her lips as she braced one bare foot against the floor, straining every muscle in her legs and back against the dead weight. The furniture scraped across the stone inch by inch, the sound of grinding wood painfully loud in the confined space.
She pushed with everything she had, her palms slick with cold sweat, until at last the heavy piece shifted, creating an awkward wooden blockade directly behind the closet door.
She had barely stepped away when another tremendous impact shook the wall.
The wardrobe lurched forward, rattling violently as heavy leather tunics and folded woolen blankets tumbled off its upper shelves. Nina ducked, a frightened gasp escaping her lips as a heavy mantle struck her shoulder.
It wasn’t going to hold. If the wolves kept hitting the doors with that kind of raw force, the hinges would snap completely.
Driven by pure adrenaline, Nina turned to the second matching wardrobe on the opposite wall. Her arms already burned with fatigue, but fear lent her a frantic, synthetic strength. She dug her heels into the floor, leaned her entire body against the carved wood, and shoved.
The wardrobe resisted for a agonizing second before finally sliding across the stone.
CLICK.
The sharp, metallic sound rang out clearly through the small space.
Nina froze, her hands still pressed flat against the dark oak.
The sound hadn’t come from the wardrobe’s frame. It had come from the stone wall directly behind where the wardrobe had been anchored.
A low, subterranean rumble spread through the room, so deep that the vibration traveled straight through the soles of her shoes and up her spine. Before her wide eyes, the ancient wall began to move. Massive blocks of hand-carved stone shifted with slow, deliberate precision, sliding back into hidden recessed tracks as though a balance-weighted mechanism, untouched for years, had finally been tripped by the movement of the heavy furniture.
Nina jumped backward instinctively as she watched the walls cave in.
A narrow, vertical opening appeared where the solid wall had once stood.
Cold, stale air drifted out of the darkness beyond, carrying the distinct smell of old earth, iron, and deep underground caverns. As the last stone block settled into place with a dull click, a steep flight of stairs revealed itself, winding downward into the pitch-black depths beneath the Alpha’s mansion.
A hidden passage.
Nina stood completely still, her chest rising and falling in shallow, rapid breaths as her eyes remained fixed on the opening. For several seconds, she couldn’t bring herself to move a single muscle.
The narrow stone steps disappeared into complete, suffocating darkness. The blackness was so dense that she couldn’t see where the staircase ended or what lay at the bottom. Only the soft, silver luminescence spilling from her own hair reached far enough to outline the first few steps.
Her lips fell open in shock.
”What is this?”