Chapter 190
“Your Highness, you must get out of here right now!” Connor yelled at the top of his lungs, his voice straining under the immense pressure.
He was completely surrounded, kicking and punching as he fought off the creepy shadow shifters that were now pouring through the shattered glass door like a plague of oversized, angry insects.
Kira did not just sit there like a helpless maiden. She quickly rose to her feet, knocking her chair over in the process.
Without a second thought, she reached deep under the folds of her elegant gown and grabbed the silver knife she had recently learned to hide there, the very blade Derek had given her.
It was a funny habit for a queen, sure, but thank goodness she had started doing it. All because of Brian.
Claudia rose instantly from her side of the table, her face completely white with terror. She grabbed Kira’s wrist with a surprisingly tight grip and began pulling her frantically towards the restaurant’s back room.
“Oh, goddess, they are actually here!” she cried. “They’ve found you p>
The few regular human customers still left inside the restaurant jumped up from their tables, screaming bloody murder as they scattered in every direction when they set eyes on the ferocious creatures.
But the Umbras flooding through the doors did not care who they tore through to reach their target. They fell upon anyone in their path, cutting some down where they stood, while others managed to scramble away, fleeing toward the back room behind Kira and Claudia.
Kira gripped the hilt of her knife so hard her knuckles went white. She stopped running for a split second and looked back over her shoulder.
Her stomach did a horrible flip. Connor was fighting like a madman against at least half a dozen Umbras now crowding him, snapping their jaws and trying to drag him down to the floor.
Your growing power is acting like a beacon, drawing them out of the shadows straight to you.
Claudia’s words from just a moment ago came rushing back into Kira’s head, loud and clear. It was like a lightbulb going off in her brain, but a very unpleasant one.
If she was the actual prize these shadow shifters were looking for, then running away like a coward was completely pointless.
Running would only make them chase her, and they would kill every single innocent person in their path just to get to her.
“No, I am not doing this,” Kira muttered to herself.
With a sudden wrench, Kira tore her wrist free of Claudia’s grip.
“No!” the older woman cried, reaching for her. “My queen, what on earth are you doing? Please, I beg you, we have to leave right now p>
Kira did not answer. She turned right around and walked straight back into the bloody fray. Her heart was beating in her ears, but anger had completely taken over her fear.
Spotting one of the largest Umbras that was currently biting into Connor’s shoulder, Kira took a running leap. With zero grace but maximum effort, she jumped right onto the monster’s back.
She raised her silver blade and began stabbing the creature’s spine over and over again, grunting with every strike. The silver burnt the beast instantly. The monster let out a pathetic, gurgling shriek until its entire body crumpled to the floor, dead and cold.
Connor spun around, his face covered in dark blood. Instead of thanking her, he looked horrified to see her standing there with a bloody knife.
“Your Highness, what part of ’get to safety’ did you not understand?” Connor yelled, throwing a punch that cracked another shadow wolf’s jaw.
“All the communication lines in Dravengard are completely down! I cannot reach anyone for backup. You need to leave this place immediately p>
“I am not leaving you here to fight them alone!” Kira replied, scrambling up off the dead Umbra and wiping a splash of black gunk from her cheek. “So don’t argue with me p>
“Derek will have my head on a silver platter if a single hair on yours is harmed!” Connor shouted back, dodging a swipe of a claw.
“Please, Your Highness, go! Find a way to get back to Dravengard on your own. The other guards are already dead, and you know what that means, they’ll rise again wearing Umbra shapes. You cannot be here when they do p>
Kira was so distracted by the horrifying news about her dead guards that she completely forgot to watch her own back.
Out of nowhere, another Umbra blindsided her, knocking her completely off her feet. The force of the hit sent her flying backward across the floorboards.
Before she could even catch her breath, the evil creature pounced, landing right on top of her chest, its foul, stinking breath washing over her face.
“Ew,” she said and reflexively drove her knife up into its chest.
Then, with a savage cry, she dragged the blade downward, opening the beast from its chest all the way to its belly. Hot, dark blood gushed out over her, soaking her gown, splattering her face and her hands.
The smell was so putrid. She gagged, retching at the stench and the slick warmth of it, and shoved the heavy carcass off her with both arms, scrambling backward across the bloodied floor.
Claudia was there at once, gripping her under the arms, hauling her upright.
“My Queen, please listen to me!” Claudia pleaded, her voice cracking with pure desperation. “If you do not get out of here this very second, they will kill every single living soul in this building just to get their hands on you. We must leave through the back p>
That landed where nothing else had.
Kira let the woman pull her toward the back hallway. But just before she stepped through the door, she stopped and turned one more time to look at Connor.
Connor was still fighting. Still standing in the middle of that storm of shadow, holding the whole tide of them back with his body, buying her the seconds she needed with his life.
Tears finally sprung into her eyes, blurring her vision.
She did not want to leave him. She could not stand the thought of it, the thought of Connor, steady, dependable Connor, who had pulled out her chair and called her Your Highness and guarded her through everything, lying dead on this floor so that she could run.
“Your Highness!” Connor yelled one last time, spotting her hesitation. He threw a quick, bloody smirk her way, trying to look brave. “You must find your way back home. I will hold these ugly bastards off right here! Go p>
A broken cry tore out of Kira’s throat. Then she forced herself to turn around and followed Claudia straight into the dark hallway out back.
But just before they slammed the heavy wooden door shut, she peeked through the narrowing gap one last time.
She saw Connor throw back his head and let his body break and reshape, fur and muscle and bone, until his full Lycan broke free with a deafening roar, and he hurled himself headfirst into the oncoming wave of Umbras.