Page 63 of Stalk the Dark
“We’ve got this!” Edwin cried. “We can?—”
He dropped out of sight suddenly.
“Edwin!” I lunged, grabbing his wrist before the rats could pull him into the fray.
He kicked out, then let out a bloodcurdling scream.
They were biting him. Fuck, they were biting him!
A red haze stole my vision, a growl rumbling up my throat as instinct took over, throwing me over his head at the beasts trying to devour him. For a moment I lost myself to the dark urge that lived deep inside me.Blade to the head. Blade to the throat. To the eye. Die, die, die.
“Orina! Come back! Orina!”
Blood hit my face, hot and rancid. Screams shattered the night—my scream, their screams. We all fucking scream. Swipe. Slash.
“Orina!”
I jolted back into the driver’s seat, surrounded by dead sewer rats with live ones closing in around me.
What the?—
They rushed me with raging snarls. My stomach dropped, adrenaline spiking to buckle my knees, but a moment later, I was airborne.
The beat of wings filled my head. “Godor has you now.”
No! “Take me back to the others. I have to save the others.”
“We save them. We save them all.”
I craned my neck in time to see a hoard of bat boys tearing the rats to shreds. Edwin was on his feet, supported by Padma and Merry as they made a break for the road.
“We need to help them. He’s been bitten, and we?—”
“No!” Godor snapped. “You go to Exciatio. Now.”
Rage bubbled up inside me. “Get off. Get off me!” I thrashed hard, desperate to be free. “Fuck your Exciatio. Fuck Ezekiel. My team needs—” Hot air hit me in the face. “Don’t you daaare…”
Chapter 21
The clatter of hooves and cool hands on my brow pulled me from sleep. Wait…I’d been fighting sewer rats and?—
I sat bolt upright. “Godor!”
“It’s okay.” Agatha pressed her hands to my shoulders. “You’re okay. But we need to get you dressed. We’re almost at Sangera Mansion.”
“What? Where are the others? Edwin is hurt. I need to get back!” I hammered on the carriage ceiling. “Turn around. Take me back!”
The carriage came to a halt, and the next moment, the door was flung open to reveal a beautiful man with silver-blond hair neatly pulled back, his powerful frame trapped in a waistcoat and suit, cravat at his throat.
It took a moment, but… “Ordell?”
He scooped me into his arms and out of thecarriage, hugging me to his large frame. “Thank fuck you’re okay.”
“The others?—”
“They’re safe. Hemlock took them to a clinic.” He inhaled me. “Everyone is safe.”
This made no sense. “How am I here? How did Hemlock get to the others?”
