Page 7 of A Dawn Of Blood

Chapter 4

It only gets more confusing, when I arrive at the spot the old lady told me about. It’s dark outside and the road is barely lit, but still, the only thing I see to the left of the north gate, leaned against the town wall, is this huge tent painted in festive colors. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a place that looks less like a work camp thanthis.

“Was she messing with me?” I ask my wolf, frustration building inside me. “Because it’s ASAP that I need to find the two of them.”

She takes a sniff. She sounds just as confused as I am when she says, “I don’t think so. I can smell them both here.” She takes another whiff. “Though the scent is stronger inthatdirection.”

It’s only then that I notice this wooden building shrouded in shadows to the left of the tent — as wide as several large houses, with many windows, but only one door. Unlike the tent, it doesn’t seem unoccupied at the moment.

A sense of unease fills me, but I just take a deep breath and start walking.

“What’s the plan?” my wolf demands, her tone telling me loud and clear that she thinks I’m being reckless.

“The plan is to get close enough to figure out what’s going on in there,” I tell her.

She grumbles in disapproval, but she doesn’t say anything.

Trying to be as quiet as possible, I get in front of the building and take cover between two windows.

Taking a deep breath, I get on my toes and peer inside.

What I see instantly makes anger flare inside me — cages lining the walls of the mostly bare room, gaunt figures of imprisoned shifters peering from inside them.

But when my gaze follows theirs, landing on the two figures in the middle of the room, it’s confusion that makes my eyebrows pull down.

What I see is a vampire circling a bear. The man is cracking a whip and barking out orders, while the bear is letting out low growls and trying to stay on his unicycle.

It takes me a moment to realize it, but when I do…

“Lorcan,” I mutter on a shocked exhale. “That’s Lorcan’s bear,” I tell my wolf, my jaw working.

“Yes,” my wolf says with disgust lacing her every word, “and they seem to have managed to make the concept of work camp even more degrading than it originally was.”

For a moment, I just remain standing there, gritting my teeth while staring at Lorcan.

Then the rage building inside me reaches a tipping point.

I start walking backwards.

“What do you think you’re doing?” my wolf demands with concern in her voice.

“The only thing thatcanbe done in a situation like this,” I grit out as I come to a stop, all my muscles tensing up.

Kicking myself off the ground, I shift and barge straight through the closed door, the thing exploding into splinters under the force of my body.

When I land inside, panting with rage, for a split second, there’s dead silence. Everyone’s eyes are on me, including the vampire’s.

I don’t hesitate. I lunge at him.

The moment I do, it’s as if the prisoners come to life. They all start to yell, stomp, rattle the bars.

But I only manage to knock the vampire to the ground with my paw before he invades my mind and makes me freeze in place.

So it’s Mind Magic he’s using on them, I think just as I spot Lorcan’s bear fall off the unicycle and start to writhe on the floor.

I myself am trying to break free of the bastard’s magic, but he’s strong and all his focus is on me.

Fear floods me. Not fear for myself, but for Lorcan and Raven and all these other shifters.

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