Page 52 of Their Mate
Edward moved in measured steps. He spoke calmly, but his trepidation was evident. “Watch every corner, every doorway. The Elder Lycan’s been preparing for this.”
Jamie moved cautiously past a broken medical cart. “Feels like we’ve stepped straight into one of his traps.”
“Don’t let your guard down,” Logan warned and the rest of us nodded that we understood.
We moved methodically through abandoned labs and corridors cluttered with overturned gurneys, shattered test tubes, and the faded remnants of desperate experiments. Each shadowy room we passed seemed more unsettling than the last.
Suddenly, Edward halted, raising a fist. “Stop. Something’s off.”
A barely audible rhythmic beeping pulsed faintly through the air, steadily growing louder. My pulse quickened. The sound felt distinctly ominous and unnatural.
Edward scanned rapidly, eyes narrowing. “Movement sensors—old proximity mines. Trip one, and it’ll blow us all sky-high.”
Jamie exhaled sharply, his voice tight. “Can we bypass it?”
Edward hesitated, then nodded grimly. “If we move slowly—very slowly—and precisely. One misstep…”
Logan’s voice remained reassuringly calm. “Then we won’t misstep.”
I swallowed hard, forcing steel back into my spine as we proceeded forward carefully. We moved agonizingly slowly, inch by inch, each footfall meticulously placed. The sensors beeped louder, more insistently, the rapid pulses echoing inside my skull. Sweat slicked my palms and terror edged out from deep within my bones.
One wrong move and we’d be obliterated. Breath shallow, every muscle trembling faintly, we passed through the sensor’s range.
With a shaky exhale, we cleared the corridor safely, the sensor’s relentless beeping finally fading behind us.
Edward nodded, the tension in his body easing fractionally. “Clear.”
Jamie blew out a loud breath, his voice shaky. “Let’s not do that again, aye?”
“Keep your guard up. From what we know of the Elder Lycan, there’ll be more traps,” Logan warned.
We pressed deeper, the oppressive silence returning, weighing heavily on each careful step. Corridors twisted and branched in confusing patterns, guiding us inevitably deeper into the complex. My unease deepened, suspicion growing exponentially that we were being guided somehow, maybe even herded toward some final destination.
I voiced my concern quietly. “Why does it feel like he’s driving us? Shepherding us exactly where he wants?”
“I don’t know,” said Edward. “But we have little choice. We keep pushing forward. Declan’s life is at stake.”
We continued through shattered laboratories and containment rooms, each chamber more haunting and grotesque than the last. Cracked specimen jars lined shelves. Inside them, preserved remains twisted unnaturally, leaving behind terrifying evidence of Reilly’s horrific experiments.
A sudden creaking sound echoed sharply, metal groaning violently as a heavy barrier slammed shut ahead of us, sealing our path forward. My pulse spiked violently, panic painfully tightening my throat.
“Fuck!” Edward cursed. “Another trap—move!”
We turned immediately, but behind us, another barrier slammed closed, trapping us tightly in a narrow corridor. I spunaround, heart racing wildly as metal grates abruptly slid open above us.
The ceiling panels fell away, and with a deafening hiss, thick, choking smoke flooded the corridor, billowing downward in suffocating waves.
“Gas!” Edward shouted, instantly tearing strips from his sleeve to cover his mouth. “Find an exit, now!”
Logan lunged forward, urgently searching the corridor wall panels for an escape route, while Jamie and Aidan did the same on the opposite side. Coughing violently, my eyes streaming with tears, I stumbled toward Edward, fighting panic as the gas thickened, stealing oxygen from my lungs.
Finally, Jamie’s voice rang out hoarsely. “Here! Service hatch!”
We all ran to him, lungs burning, vision blurred and watery. With desperate strength, Logan and Edward forced open the rusted hatch in the floor, revealing a narrow maintenance shaft beneath.
We tumbled through, falling onto a lower corridor floor, choking and gasping. The gas hissed and dissipated slowly above us, leaving us shaking and weak, but alive.
Logan pushed upright painfully. “He’s toying with us,” he said. “Driving us toward somewhere specific.”
