Chapter 16
968 Words
Kael moved before the scream finished.
One second he was crouched in front of Midnight—
the next he was across the room grabbing a black shirt from the chair near the bed while pure alpha violence rolled off him in waves.
Midnight’s pulse spiked instantly.
Not fear.
Instinct.
The wolf inside her surged awake at the sudden shift in him.
Danger.
Kael pulled the shirt over his head quickly, silver eyes already glowing.
“Stay here.”
Midnight blinked once.
“Absolutely not.”
His gaze snapped toward her sharply.
The command on his tongue died the second he looked at her face.
Because they both knew she wouldn’t listen.
Another scream echoed from somewhere below the estate.
Then snarling.
Kael cursed under his breath.
“Fine,” he growled. “You stay behind me.”
Midnight slid off the couch quickly.
“People keep saying that like I haven’t already almost killed an ancient monster tonight.”
Kael’s expression remained deadly serious.
“That’s exactly why you stay behind me.”
The mate bond pulsed sharply between them as he grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward the bedroom door.
The contact steadied her instantly.
It also sent dangerous warmth through her stomach.
Midnight chose to ignore that problem for now.
The halls of Draven Ridge were chaos.
Wolves rushed through the estate carrying weapons while alarms echoed faintly through the mountain compound. The air smelled like fear and blood.
Fresh blood.
Midnight’s stomach twisted instantly.
The demon stirred.
Kael felt it through the bond immediately.
His grip tightened around her wrist.
“Breathe through it.”
“I am breathing.”
“Badly.”
Fair.
They reached the massive staircase overlooking the entrance hall below—
and Midnight froze.
Blood covered the marble floor.
One of Kael’s wolves lay near the doorway, barely conscious while another tried desperately to stop the bleeding from deep claw marks across his chest.
Not wolf claws.
Something bigger.
The scent hit Midnight a second later.
Rot.
Sulfur.
Death.
Her eyes widened.
“That’s not a hunter.”
Kael’s expression darkened immediately.
No.
It wasn’t.
A low growl echoed from somewhere outside the estate walls.
Every wolf in the room went still.
The sound didn’t belong to an animal.
It sounded hungry.
Lucien appeared from another hallway, golden eyes sharp.
“The barriers were breached.”
Kael’s head snapped toward him. “How?”
Lucien’s gaze shifted briefly toward Midnight.
No one needed to say it aloud.
Her arrival.
The Hollow King waking.
The weakening seal.
Something had followed the power surge beneath the mountain.
Kael looked murderous.
“Where is it?”
As if answering him—
a body slammed violently against the front doors from the outside.
The entire estate shook.
Wolves immediately shifted around the room.
Bones cracked. Growls erupted. Claws tore through skin.
Midnight stared as massive wolves surrounded the entrance hall protectively.
And at the center of all of them—
Kael.
The alpha didn’t fully shift.
But the wolf beneath his skin surfaced visibly now:
silver eyes glowing
claws extending
veins darkening beneath his hands
Predator.
Pure predator.
Another impact hit the doors.
This time something scratched slowly across the other side.
Midnight’s stomach turned.
The demon inside her recoiled.
Afraid.
That terrified her more than the creature outside.
Kael noticed instantly.
“What is it?”
Midnight shook her head slowly.
“I don’t know.”
Which meant whatever stood outside was old.
Very old.
A deep voice suddenly echoed through the doors.
Not human.
“Open…”
The wolves snarled instantly.
The voice came again.
“We smell…the abyss…”
Midnight’s blood ran cold.
Kael stepped slightly in front of her.
Protective instinct immediate.
Lucien’s expression darkened. “Shadow Eaters.”
Midnight frowned. “What the hell is that?”
No one answered fast enough.
The doors exploded inward.
Chaos erupted instantly.
The creature crashed through the entrance hall in a blur of claws and black flesh. It stood nearly eight feet tall, body twisted unnaturally like a wolf stretched into something demonic.
Its face—
God.
Its face looked almost human beneath layers of bone and teeth.
Crimson eyes locked directly onto Midnight.
Hungry.
“There,” it hissed.
Every wolf attacked at once.
The creature ripped one across the room instantly.
Too fast.
Kael launched forward with a roar.
Silver power exploded from him as he slammed into the monster hard enough to shatter pillars nearby.
Midnight stumbled backward as the estate descended into violence.
The Shadow Eater laughed.
Actually laughed while fighting Kael.
“We know your scent now, little abyss-born.”
Kael tore claws across the creature’s chest.
Black blood sprayed across the marble floor.
“Touch her,” Kael snarled, “and I’ll feed your corpse to the mountain.”
The creature grinned wider.
Then looked directly at Midnight again.
“The Hollow King wakes because of you.”
Midnight’s pulse spiked.
“What are you?”
The creature inhaled deeply.
Its smile turned horrifying.
“We are what remains after the abyss consumes the soul.”
The demon inside her reacted violently.
Not fear.
Recognition.
Midnight’s eyes widened.
The Shadow Eater noticed instantly.
“Yes,” it whispered. “You hear the darkness too.”
Kael ripped the creature away from her before it could move closer.
The alpha’s fury shook the entire room now.
But the Shadow Eater didn’t care.
Because it wasn’t here for Kael.
It was here for her.
More snarls suddenly echoed from outside the estate.
Not one.
Many.
Lucien went pale.
“Oh no.”
Kael looked toward the shattered entrance.
And for the first time all night—
the alpha’s expression shifted into genuine alarm.
Because glowing crimson eyes were appearing in the darkness beyond the gates.
Dozens of them.
- Writer
