Blood Queen || COMPLETED

Chapter Twenty

The metal door cranks open and all eyes flash to me. Jesse's eyes widen as they rake over my nude body and Nick reaches through the bars to slam his head against the cell with a possessive growl.

I grin at the action and move to release Nick first. He removes his shirt with haste and tugs it down over my head. I watch him as I put my arms through the holes and he pulls it down to cover my thighs. "How much time do we have before they come back?" He questions as he goes into Beta mode while crossing his arms over his chest. My wolf purrs as she watches his muscles flex and I chastise her. Now is not the time for conflicting hormones.

"Five hours tops." I respond as firmly as I can while clearing my throat and tossing him the keys to release the other wolves. The last thing we need is for my wolf to start lusting after someone who is not her mate. The smell of my arousal might stir Lucius awake faster than I planned him to.

"Hey Sherlock." Whistles Jesse "You forgetting something?"

Rolling my eyes I nod at Nick to toss me the keys. He gives me a disapproving look but throws them to me anyway. "Don't make me regret this." I state as I release him and the others. He grins right before shoving me roughly in front of him.

A sharp prick in the middle of my back makes me groan as the familiar effects of the aconitum seep in. I pull strength from the Kynda to aid me in burning it quickly out of my system while shooting a withering look at Jesse.

"Better you than I." He shrugs in answer as he nods behind me to where Lucinda stands holding a dart gun, green eyes bright and alert. Clementine snickers from her cell and raises her eyebrows as if to say 'I told you so.'

"Lucinda. What are you doing?" I ask as I hold my hands up in caution.

"What I have to do to survive. You don't -" Her voice cuts off as blood splurts out of her mouth and she drops forward to reveal a shirtless Nick standing behind her with her detached heart in his bloody grasp.

"We don't have time for this." He states gruffly dropping her heart carelessly on the ground.

I nod and motion for everyone to follow us.

"Ahem." Clementine clears her throat sarcastically "Forgetting someone?"

I smirk and without turning around I shrug "You got yourself in, you can get yourself out."

Jesse chuckles beside me as we make our way outside. I curse under my breath the moment we step foot on the snow and see dozens of guards posted by the barrier.

"There's been a breach!" One of them shouts and their attention lands on us as they switch into attack mode.

"Shift!" I yell out as they come slamming into us. The group splits and the hunters sprint away. Jesse shoots me a wink before disappearing past the barrier and into safety.

Snarls and growls echo through the forest and suddenly I'm sixteen years old again. Flashes of my father telling me to run play in my head like a movie. With a feral growl I let my anger take over and fight back the way I should have three years ago. With no mercy I rip into their flesh and waste no time moving on to the next as I drop as many bodies as I can.

'Alora.' Says Nick through the mind link. 'There's too many of them. They're backing us into the cliff.'

I look behind and see the waterfall roaring in all its glory. I contemplate spontaneous combustion but try as I might nothing happens. Great, I'm recharging.

I close my eyes trying to gather my thoughts over the roar of the running water. The cliff is too steep. If we jump I'll survive but Nick most likely will not. Plus there's the fact that we can't even see if there are rocks at the bottom through the steam of the falls.