Alpha Charming | Rheon

TWENTY-FOUR

"And why should we trust you?" Clemmy snarled at him. "You were going to torture us. How should we know you won't lead us down the wrong path on purpose?"

Blake made a move to approach us, but I shoved Clemmy back to keep him away from her. On the other side of the wall from where we came, I could hear the cave collapsing into itself. The ground trembled under my feet, warning us to keep moving, to escape.

"I'm not asking you to trust me," he stressed, "I'm saying I can get you out of here."

"That sounds the same as asking us to trust you." Clemmy crossed her arms over her chest.

Rocks and sand began falling from the ceiling above our heads as the cave's structure started to crumble.

My eyes travelled between Clemmy and Blake as I said desperately, "Stop arguing, both of you! We have to get out of here before the roof gives in." Glaring at Blake, I added, "Don't make me regret this."

With a single nod, he took off towards the second tunnel. Grabbing onto Clemmy's hand, I made sure she stayed close as we followed Blake. From the front, he created two misty spheres of light in his hands, illuminating the tunnel for us to see what's ahead. The farther we progressed, the colder the air became. I shivered when an icy breeze swept past my face and bare shoulders, causing goosebumps to spread across my arms.

"We're close," Blake informed, glancing back at us.

My hand tightened around Clemmy's as we rounded another corner. Then we saw it, light at the end of the tunnel.

The ground beneath my feet quaked as the cave we stood in a few seconds ago collapsed. Chunks of rock and sand rained down on us and, out of nowhere, the tunnel floor cracked wide open. Blake twisted his wrists and several grey smoke tendrils blasted from his palms. Slithering towards the crack, they attached themselves to either side of the torn floor to mend the gap.

Picking up the pace, we rushed forward and passed the mended crack. We hardly made it to the other side before I heard it crumble and collapse as Blake dropped the spell.

A rusted iron gate was the only thing that stood in the way of us and our freedom. Blake thrust a hand forward and the gate flew clean off its hinges. There wasn't time to marvel at his strange yet astonishing abilities. We still had to escape whatever this place was and get back to Craven Pride. I only hoped Lucine wouldn't beat us to it.

Blake was the first to exit the tunnel, standing aside to let us through.

The moment the fresh air filled my senses, I uttered a sound between a laugh and sob. We were standing on a beach with the waves crashing only a few feet from us. The cave Lucine kept us in must have been an old smuggler's den centuries ago. It didn't surprise me that she chose it out of all places to act as her evil villain lair.

Clemmy threw her head back to inhale the salty air, smiling when a bit of rain drizzled on her face. My eyes found their way to Blake, who was staring at her in contemplation. "Why did you help us?"

He blinked from whatever trance he's been in and turned away. "I... it's hard to explain."

"Not an excuse," I argued, "Little over a week ago, I discovered werewolves and dark curses were real. You just magicked a gate off its hinges, and Lucine uses smoke to turn into an old lady who I thought I used to know. Now that's hard to explain."

With a huff, he turned towards us, locking eyes with Clemmy. "Look, I don't know anything about this or how it's supposed to feel. But you...I think you're... we are... I'm..."

While he was struggling to form a coherent sentence, I had a moment of realization where it literally struck me like lightning. When I saw him for the first time in the cave, he approached Clemmy and me with only one goal in mind: to torture us. But he didn't.