Kane’s POV
The air grew heavier with every step.
Thicker. Wetter.
The walls began to narrow even more
whatever hell waited for us ahead.
barely a shoulders‘ width between them now as if the stones was trying to press us to turn back, to keep us out of
The temperature seemed to drop too, which I guessed meant we were no longer beneath the steel compound and had made it outside of the grounds.….
My boots began to splash through ankle–deep puddles with every step, sending sharp echoes ricocheting down the tunnel like distant gunfire.
But then… a new smell hit me.
Not the rot from before. Something that seemed worse. More intrusive. Disorienting for a second.
It was a sharp, metallic bite that sliced up through my nostrils like sheer acid.
I gagged and staggered for half a second, lifting a hand to my face. My stomach turned violently. The scent was so strong, it felt like it was trying to worm its way down my throat.
“Do you fucking smell that?!” I barked over my shoulder, voice raw with disgust.
Seth, right at my back, grunted. “Yeah, what the fuck is—”
But a sharp hiss cut him off.
Everyone froze.
Senses heightened. Heads turning.
A series of curse words came next in Russian, exploding from behind us, as we all turned sharply, finding one of Kion’s men clutching his hand, doubled over in pain, hissing and snarling in his native tongue.
The flesh of his palm seemed to be blistering – red and raw like he’d just thrust it into fire.
But there was certainly no fires down here…
Kion was on him in a second, grabbing his face and barking questions through clenched teeth. The soldier’s words spilled quickly, pained and frantic, pointing toward the wall he’d brushed past in the dark.
Then Kion turned to us, expression hard, jaw clenched.
‘Don’t touch the walls!” he warned loudly, his voice reverberating like a thunderclap. “He’s laced them with silver!”
The realisation hit me like a freight train.
1/4
Chapter 85
BET M
How did I not know that’s what it was moner?!
“That’s the stench 1 could smell. I muttered, my lip curling as I scanned the slick, dripping surface of the tunnel walls. The silver had been sprayed misted in a near–invisible sheen across the stone.
My eyes dropped to the floor next to the dark, sloshing puddles that were beginning to deepen.
“He’s done this to slow us down,‘ I snarled, my blood boiling hotter by the second. He was counting on us shifting place, knowing we’d walk our paws right through it. Burn us alive from the ground up.”
look at it. He’s practically flooded the
“Urod,” Viktor spat with venom, the Russian slur echoing like a bullet.
“Come on, I growled, straightening. Don’t touch anything. Stay alert. This only proves that we’re on the right path!”
No one argued. Not even Kion. Not even Seth. Their silence was agreement enough.
I led the charge again, moving faster now, keeping my light low to catch any more traps. I didn’t put it past Dimitri to lace the floor with hidden spikes or
worse.
He feared that we’d come after him.
He built this whole fucking labyrinth for it.
I followed on, as the tunnel veered sharply left.
And then we heard it…
A loud clang.
As each of us froze – breaths held.
–
Somewhere up ahead far, but not far enough – it sounded like a door had closed.
I couldn’t be sure, but I fucking heard it!
I turned back to the others. Held a hand up. Waited. Listened more.
A beat passed.
Then two.
And then…
Screams.
They echoed faintly from up ahead – sharp and panicked.
Someone was still down here.
A woman?
2/4
7:23 pm P P P м
рррм
Chapter 85
A terrified one…
I instantly took off in a run, highly alert as the others followed my lead.
‘ne ostavlyay menya zdes vnizu! I heard the woman cry out, growing closer to us.
What is she saying?!” I demanded to know, before Kion quickly answered.
“She said, ‘don’t leave me down here! Kion repeated, as 1 knew this only meant that we were closing in on them fast….
We rounded the last corners of the tunnel before my eyes locked on a dim shaft of light up ahead – and at the base of it, movement.
I finally slowed to a halt as we reached the end…
There she was.
A woman
– dark–haired, half–conscious, her body curled unnaturally beside the base of a ladder. Her ankle was twisted at an angle no joint should ever bend. Purple–black bruises bloomed across her cheek and temple. Blood matted the hair against her scalp.
But it was the stain beneath her dress that made my gut twist.
Deep red. Fresh.
She’d been used. Brutalised. Broken.
Rage exploded from inside of me like a bomb, as I transitioned in to a full blackout rage…
“Help her up!” I shouted loudly, before Viktor and another Russian soldier dropped to her side instantly, trying to lift her without worsening her injuries.
She whimpered in pain, her cracked lips parting as her eyes fluttered between us all.
“Yest‘ yeshche odna… navverhu…” she whispered, barely audible.
“She says there’s another girl,” Kion translated tightly, eyes narrowing. “Up there.”
My gaze snapped upward
to the ladder above her.
I instantly stormed forward, grabbing the first rung to start climbing before-
‘FUCK!” I snarled, wrenching my hand back.
It was searing hot a pain that traveled up my arm like wildfire.
–
The Silver!
Again!
It coated the rungs like an invisible oil.
Clever fucking bastard!
3/4
7:23 pm P P P M
PM
Chapter 85
I clutched my bubbling hand, clenching my Teeth so tight that I feared they’d eventually crack..
Think fast here….
Think, Kane!
I quickly yanked a long strip of fabric from the bottom of my shirt, wrapping it around both of my hands as Seth copied me swiftly.
It wouldn’t offer perfect protection, but it was better than raw skin against the silver.
this time the burn was dulled, more tolerable. But my arms shook with effort as I dragged myself up, rung I clenched my jaw and grabbed the ladder again by rung, gritting my teeth against the bite of the silver through the cloth.
The tunnel fell silent below me.
Only the sound of my own breathing, rough and heavy, filled my ears as I climbed.
Halfway up, the shaft narrowed even more. My shoulder scraped stone. Every inch reeked of Dimitri – his cruelty, his arrogance, his obsession with control.
Until I reached the top.
A heavy grate sealed the way forward-
bolted and locked.
But locks didn’t stop me anymore.
I drove my shoulder into the rusted metal, once, twice – until the third time it gave with a groan, swinging open just enough for me to peek through.
Finding the area clear, I carefully emerged up into the dark wooded surroundings, before thick accents met my ears – a flickering fire catching my eye from between the trees not too far away.
Cocky bastards thought they had made it to safety…
This was only just the beginning of their end!
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Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
