"I..." I stared at him then at the broken collar. "I forgot you could do that. And I can’t believe my mother didn’t find out about this either." After all, there were plenty of stories floating around Fangborne over how Blaise had shot lightning from his palms to defend me against unjust accusations.

"Maybe she forgot, just like you did," Blaise said impishly. "That makes things a lot easier for us. Besides, she could have simply assumed it was a rumor. I would if I had something as ludicrous as a werewolf shooting lightning from his hands. Now Harper, let’s go and save Damon and his reinforcements."

"Who? Is it Elijah? Or Kaine?" I asked worriedly. If Elijah was here, Fangborne would be on the verge of collapsing with three of their leaders out on the front lines.

"No. It’s Kyle," Blaise said. "Unfortunately, he’s not as useful as I wished he would be. According to Damon, he no longer has a wolf― which was why we couldn’t contact him. He was tracking you from the moment you went missing!"

"He’s alive?" I exclaimed incredulously, my heart racing in relief before I registered the rest of Blaise’s words.

My face fell in horror. Kyle. Wolfless. Now his dream of being a proud warrior of Fangborne would be nothing more than an unrealized fantasy.

"Oh. The hunters did this to them, didn’t they? When they took him―" I wanted to howl to the heavens at the injustice. Kyle had done nothing wrong, but be foolish enough to swear loyalty to me.

"Yes, I would think so." There was a faintly pinched expression on Blaise’s face. "They seem to be verifiable experts in severing werewolves from their wolf form."

I snarled. "Then it’s time we pay them back in their own coin. I want to sever the necks of those hunters from their heads."

"Atta girl," Blaise said approvingly with a crooked grin. "But be careful anyway. If you die here, everything that Kyle went through would be for naught. First things first, do you have a way to unlock the door? I would electrocute the lock, but your mother is very traditional about matters like these." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Namely, the lock could only be opened with a key, and every single key was out of our reach. But there was one thing that could work― I pulled out my pistol and took a deep breath, before shooting it straight at the locking mechanism.

It worked like a charm, and the door unlocked itself, swinging out without a sound.

Blaise let out a smooth whistle of appreciation. "Very well done."

"Guess this gun is good for something other than killing werewolves," I said, even as I despaired at the thought of wasting a bullet on the door. "Shall we?"

Blaise nodded, and he led the way out. He had more experience in sneaking around, but there was hardly a need for stealth. The hallways were empty, yet we could hear the sound of bellowed yells and bodies hitting the floor.

"Damon certainly has gotten busy," Blaise noted. "Harper, draw your gun and cover me."

I nodded, my palms sweaty with nerves. No matter how much I trained, there was no way I could prepare myself against the carnage I stumbled upon when we finally snuck into the ground floor through the side staircase. Bodies were strewn all over the floor haphazardly, as though they were flung by a child with a huge temper tantrum. Blood had all but dyed parts of the floor red.

And right in the center of it all, was Damon Valentine, my mate, who was doing his best to fend off the hordes of hunters that were still streaming in through the doors. He hadn’t transformed― in fact, he was using his ice powers to fashion himself a set of armor to protect himself against the silver weapons and bullets fired at him.

Meanwhile, my mother was watching Damon struggle in blatant amusement, her arms crossed in front of her smugly. There was a sadistic glint in her eyes that I did not like; it almost felt like she was toying with Damon, sending hunter after hunter at him to tire him out before she swept in for the kill.

I couldn’t even spot Kyle in the carnage.

"What are we supposed to do?" I whispered frantically at Blaise, trying my best to hide from my mother. Thankfully, Damon had so far managed to capture her undivided attention, all because of his powers.

"We need to shut the doors first so that no new people can enter," Blaise muttered, his eyes quickly roving over the ground floor to take stock of the situation. I’ve never heard his voice sound this grim, not even when he was on the verge of death.

"There’s no escaping this horde― if we try, your mother will deliver the wrath of every hunter in Upper Lumen down on us. For better or worse, we’ll have to end everything here."

Suddenly I wished I had taken a larger rifle instead. Why did I go for this puny pistol that couldn’t even contain twenty bullets?

If Blaise and Damon both perished today, I might as well just use a bullet on myself too.

"Okay," I said weakly. "Now, let’s get to the doors."

However, it was easier said than done. With the horde of hunters streaming in, anyone running in the opposite direction was sure to raise a few eyebrows.

But we had Damon, who seemed to have gotten the message about Blaise’s plans. He began to use his powers to create large spears, flinging them straight at the hunters, causing them to scatter in all directions. As bodies flew, we scuttled beneath their shadows to make a beeline for the door.

Once we got close enough, Blaise conjured up a blast of lightning, shocking the hunters and kicking them away. Screams filled the air, and I grabbed the opportunity to shove the doors shut, locking them from inside. I picked up a couple of the silver polearms left behind by the hunters and used them to jam the door.

Of course, such an act would not have gone unnoticed.

My mother’s voice echoed throughout the room.

"Harper, what is the meaning of this?"