Chapter 20 Ch 20

The dungeon was every bit the horrible place I imagined in my head. A stench of mildew and something rotten hung thickly in the stagnant air, while the stone under my feet felt cold and slick. The only light came from flickering candles encased in lanterns on the wall. Matt kept an arm around my waist as we moved from the narrow staircase. Several cells with thick iron bars lined either side of the bricked corridor.

My hands squeezed together. They tingled in the centers of my palms. "Why is there a dungeon here?" I asked.

Matt's eyes were glowing brightly when he turned them onto me. "My family has always faced many enemies," he rumbled. Definitely Basileus. "In the case, we ever had to engage with them, they often ended their journey here."

"People died here?"

"Of course."

I shuddered.

"I doubt this place has been used in the last several centuries except for storage," he added, squeezing my waist. "Times have changed. I will not say if that is for the better, however."

Gaping, I shot him a horrified look. He shrugged and tucked me into his side.

"If everyone had a dungeon, maybe the seas wouldn't be dying. That is all."

At this, I mustered a smile and rolled my eyes. The smile vanished at the sound of a ferocious roar. Cold shivers rattled my spine while the ground trembled under me. It was a miracle we'd managed to keep Peter locked down here this long.

Matt tugged me to a stop. "Wait a moment. I'm shifting back and I don't want you anywhere near that monster until I'm in the body that can handle him."

My mouth quivered but I nodded. He was shifting back, giving full control to Basileus. I couldn't force my tongue to lift and ask the questions I needed to. Like how long until I would see Matt again. Like where we stood now, after what we'd done. I'd spent such little time with him and we'd made plans. When would we finish what we started? I curled my hands into fists, pushing those thoughts away. I couldn't selfishly think about sex right now.

He stared at me and licked at his lips, nervous. While we looked at each other, my fingernails bit into my clammy palms, a white haze began to aggregate around him. The particles were translucent but shimmery. His head tilted back in a muted grunt of pain. Then his skin began to darken, melatonin flooding into his cells and filling each pore with a thick bristle of hair. My eyes burned from watching the haze brighten, like a small star-forming right before me. I couldn't bear to continue watching but I couldn't look away either. Matt's fair human form swelled to the colossal lycanthrope chassis.

I suddenly was overwhelmed with the urge to lunge for Basileus, heart spilling over with affection and fear. His arms caught me just as I landed against his hard chest. The soft fur brushed soothingly against me. I never would have imagined missing the feel of it after only a few hours apart. Here I was, wishing he could envelop me in his burly arms and take me away from here. Away from the place where I would lose another friend.

"Flower," he murmured softly. My brain swirled with translations and words I didn't recognize but could understand. "It's okay."

Sucking down a steadying breath, I lifted my damp face. His burning eyes and familiar face made me ache inside. How I'd missed him. He leaned forward to lick at my cheeks.

"Angelica is growing weaker." His tongue was coarse and wet, lapping up my fallen tears. "And Peter grows stronger. We need to go."

My guts twisted as his clawed paw led me further into the dungeon. Two wolves—one golden blonde and the other rustic brown—stood on either side of a hunched, ashen Angelica. They were snarling and lunging at the iron bars. The creature on the other side blurred chaotically around its confinement. Its white coloring gave it a ghostly appearance, but its rabid movement made it seem demonic. A hot stripe of fear pierced through my chest.

"Stay here," Basileus spoke.

He released my hand and moved on his two hind legs until he was standing behind Angelica. She was swaying, eyes pinched shut and lips fluttering with faintest words. The white monstrosity roared again. The hair on my arms pricked. The two wolves stopped their lunging but continued to growl throatily at their prisoner. I knew they were Lee and Tandan, but it was so difficult to process seeing them this way. Lee especially. She acted so humanly around me.

A hum—just the slightest of vibrations—began to buzz in my chest. Basileus hovered over Angelica as she swayed. His lips peeled back in a low guttural snarl, blazing eyes fixated on his snowy twin. The vibrations hastened. Their intensified strumming seemed to squeeze my heart, punishing it the way anxiety had so often in college and my childhood. The beast's snarls became deafening and constant. He was dying, it sounded like.

But that wasn't possible. Basileus stood strong and stalwart still, and I could see the way his thick legs were now supporting Angelica's weakening form. Her words rose to shrill shouts. I couldn't understand her, but the seige on my flailing cardiac muscle deafened my ears. The air felt suddenly thick.

A white fog rolled across the dungeon, obscuring the snapping wolves and their master. Just before it blocked my vision completely I watched Angelica crumple. The snarls became silent, weaning until the lingering whine sounded nothing but a hollow ring.

Then came the light. Every ragged pant, claw scrape against stone, and crackling lantern flame faded away. Sharp and hot in its pregnant bolt of energy, pure white like the sun bleaching my cornea. I felt it pierce my skin and seep down through my cells. It fried its way to my limply thumping heart.