Page 31 of Ascension of the Pack

Always,I agreed wearily.

‘Ben, take Daniella. Wait for us at the top.’

Ben’s eyes were red and his cheeks were stained with tears, but he nodded. My voice was hard and I was pleased when he didn’t argue. He took Daniella’s elbow and gently led her into the tunnel.

I looked around. Tarkers was still in wolf form at my heels. Behind him the flora flourished – most of it did, although some of plants had clearly been sacrificed to their cannibalistic roommates. They were beautiful but a lot of them were deadly and I didn’t want them falling into the wrong hands. Domini hands.

I ripped off part of my T-shirt and tied it around my nose and mouth.Ready to burn this place down?I asked Terrance.

Absolutely,he agreed with grim satisfaction.

Let’s do it.

This time the fire that leapt from my fingers was like that from a giant flame thrower. As Terrance and I directed it around the hoard, the temperature rose to unbearable heights and the smoke started billowing. The flames took hold, leaping from plant to plant – and then I directed them to Geneve’s corpse.

Hotter,I said to Terrance darkly.Like she did to Xander.

He obeyed and the flames burned white hot. I watched her body blacken and burn and I knew I’d see it in my nightmares.

With the whole room burning, I turned and fled into the tunnel.

Chapter 19

The only problem with tunnels and fire is they draw smoke like a chimney. The T-shirt around my nose and mouth helped a little but it wasn’t as good as a proper mask and the caustic smoke was stinging my eyes.

Shift,Esme ordered tightly. She was right. On two legs we were just lumbering around. Hopefully, we could run through the darkness far faster on four feet.

Keep the hammer and orb safe when I shift,I ordered Terrance.

Of course.I’m on it, Your Majesty,he responded firmly.

‘When I’ve shifted, grasp my tail with your mouth,’ I said to Tarkers. ‘At least then we’ll stay together.’ And I would know if he was overcome by the smoke.

As I shifted, the acrid stench became even worse and Esme and I coughed violently. Damn our sensitive nose. We could hardly see a thing and we stumbled forward,relying on Esme’s memory of the tunnel from our previous trip.

Tarkers’ teeth were gentle on our tail. He kept pace with us as we jogged through the billowing smoke, but this was fast becoming a nightmare. We were struggling to breathe. At my urging, Esme dropped to her tummy and started crawling. The air was a little clearer near the ground but not by much, and now our progress had slowed even further.

It felt like we’d been inching forward forever when abruptly the feel of Tarkers’ mouth on our tail disappeared. He’d let go. We turned back and saw him lying on the ground, passed out.

We can’t leave him,I said.

No,Esme agreed.But we might die with him.

So be it.

So be it.

We settled our maw on the scruff of Tarkers’ neck and started to painstakingly drag him out of the tunnel. We were strong but he was heavy. I had no idea how close to the exit we were, but it felt like the smoke was thinning so surely fresh air must be around the corner?

I heard a bark ahead and we recognised the voice. It was Red! We yipped back a response and in moments he was next to us. He nuzzled us for the briefest moment and thentook some of Tarkers’ weight. Between the two of us we made much faster progress and in less than a minute we’d pulled him out of the tunnel and into the fresh moonlit air.

I shifted out of four-legged form just for the pleasure of hauling air into my human lungs. Greg shifted too but, unlike me, he didn’t retain his clothes. Silver linings.

‘Nice fashion accessory,’ he teased, gesturing at my makeshift mask, but his voice was tight and his eyes were anxious. He’d been worrying about me. Flushing, I pulled the ripped-up T-shirt from my mouth.

Greg was butt naked, but he showed zero self-consciousness as he lifted Tarkers’ into his arms. ‘I sent the others on to the car park,’ he said. ‘We need to get out of the area, pronto. Your smoke signals drew the brethren back here.’

I hadn’t thought of that possibility. I picked up the pace, still coughing occasionally but grateful for my shifter healing, which had been kick-started when we were on four. It felt like I couldn’t quite catch my breath and every shallow inhalation made me want to cough and splutter, but soon my lungs would be healed and this horrible tightness around my chest would fade.

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