Claimed By A Midnight King

Chapter 16

Vivian’s pov

The cold air in the dungeon felt heavy with the realization. Jarek hadn’t freed the chemist, even though he planned to execute her in the cell. Someone else had slaughtered his men and opened the cage before he even arrived.

“The western gate”, Dominic rasped, standing so fast the shadows around his boots whipped into a frenzy.

We abandoned the deep cells and ran through the tunnels. I was running in mortal fumes, my lungs aching in the cold air, but I wouldn’t let myself fall behind. Dominic reached back and took my hands, almost pulling me through the darkness.

I didn’t like that he viewed me as a captive, but at that moment his strong hold was what kept me going.

The temperature plummeted as we neared the postern gate—a massive, rusted iron gate designed for stealth, not sieges.

It was pushed wide open, the violent, howling blizzard of the Northern winter pouring into the tunnel.

And lying in the snow at the threshold was Elder Jarek.

He wasn’t escaping. He was on his back, clutching a massive, fatal wound across his chest, coughing thick, dark blood onto the white snow.

Dominic surged forward, dropping to his knees beside the dying Elder. The Aloha’s fury instantly dissolved into shock. “Jarek!!!”

Jarek’s milky eyes were wide and panicked. He looked up at Dominic, blood bubbling past his lips. “Alpha…I didn’t.. I didn’t let her out..”

“Who did this to you?!” Dominic demanded, her hands hovering over the fatal wound, unable to stop the bleeding .

“I… came down to execute the Solari witch”, Jarek gasped, his fingers clawing weakly at Dominic’s dark mantle . “To protect… the pack…. To show you the Sun clan deserve no mercy. But… but the cell was already empty. My men were dead. I chased her here… and a shadow…”

Jarek’s eyes rolled back. His grip on Dominic’s cloak entirely went still. I could sense the anger and pain in Dominic’s heart. Before Dominic would even close the elder's eyes, a small silver canister rolled through the open gates from the blizzard outside. It clattered against the stone wall.

“Dominic, down!!” I screamed.

A blinding flash of green light erupted in the tunnel.

There was no explosion of fire. Instead, a loud, high-frequency screech tore through the air, followed immediately by a cloud of thick yellow gas.

Dominic cried out, clutching his ears as the screech tore through the tunnel. He roared in pain, clutching his ears as the chemical gas burned his eyes.

Silas dropped to his knees, gagging, his twin bladed clattering uselessly on the floor. This gas was specifically designed to cripple a wolf’s senses.

Through the stinging, blurred vision of the toxic fog, a figure stepped back into the open gateway.

Sofia Thorne.

She was bundled in heavy Northern furs she had stolen, a leather breathing mask covering the lower half of her face. She looked down at the paralysed wolves with absolute satisfaction.

Then, her green eyes locked onto me. The gas made my eyes water, but it didn’t paralyze me.

Sofia didn’t say anything. She just raised a small, silver hand crossbow, aiming it directly at my chest.

The bowstring snapped.

I didn’t have time to dodge. But Dominic didn’t need his senses to know exactly where I was.

He moved purely on instinct. The Alpha threw his entire massive body over mine, wrapping me in the thick fur of his mantle as we crashed hard onto the freezing stone.

A sickening sound echoed in the tunnel, followed immediately by a raw roar from Dominic.

I scrambled out from under him, coughing. Dominic was on his knees, one hand braced against the wall. Protruding from the thick muscle of his right shoulder was a silver bot.

Dark veins were already spreading out from the point of entry, completely visible against his pale skin.

“My Prince will be pleased to hear the Butcher died protecting a defect”. Sofia called out, her voice muffled by the leather mask. “And that the Butcher of the North died at my feet”.

She turned and vanished into the blinding wall of the blizzard, beginning her trek back to the Sun clan.

Silas finally tore through the paralysis, snatching his blade from the floor with a snarl and lunging toward the open gate.