Chapter 49: The Night Before
Lily POV
The blast knocked me backward into the cave wall, my head spinning as rocks crashed down around us. Through the dust and chaos, I could hear the ancient evil’s laughter getting louder from the crack in the floor.
"Everyone out!" Aiden shouted, grabbing my arm to pull me toward the tunnel opening. "The whole mountain is coming down!"
But as we ran through the falling caves, I realized something terrible. The controlled dogs weren’t following us. They were just standing there, their empty black eyes looking at nothing while rocks fell on them.
"We can’t leave them!" I screamed, pulling away from Aiden. "They’re still pack members!"
"Lily, no!" Caleb reached for me, but I was already running back toward the room.
My healing powers flared to life, making a silver shield above the controlled wolves just as a huge chunk of ceiling crashed down. The shield held, but I could feel my strength draining fast.
"Come on," I whispered to the nearest controlled wolf, a young beta from the River Pack. "You’re still in there somewhere. Fight the dark magic!"
For just a second, something flickered in his black eyes. Hope, maybe. Or fear. But then the shadows took over again, and he turned away like I didn’t exist.
That’s when the ground beneath my feet started sparkling with green light. The old evil was climbing closer to the surface, and every controlled wolf in the cave began walking toward the crack like they were being called home.
I had maybe ten seconds before they all marched straight into the monster’s ready jaws.