Chapter 87: Chapter Eighty-Seven - Willow

The red eyes staring back at me triggered my memory.

It was the same red eyes as the monster in the woods. Only I couldn’t make out the rest because of the darkness.

Chase went to back up when the beast lunged at him and pulled him into the dark staircase. My heart stalled at the same time a scream ripped from my throat.

I launched myself forward and fell down a spiral staircase that twirled down to a darkened tunnel. There was movement above us in the house, most likely from my scream, but I didn’t go up to check.

My eyes adjusted to the darkness and I saw Chase standing several yards away. “Are you okay?” I asked.

“I’m fine,” he whispered. "A little scraped up but fine."

I felt his palm several seconds later on my hip as he pulled me to him. The smell in the tunnel nearly choked me and I bent down to gag. “Where did he go?” I asked.

“I’m not sure,” he said, looking into the darkness. “Maybe we should go back up and get someone,” he said.

“I think they heard me scream. I could hear someone moving around up there.”

Chase began to tug me toward the stairs and up toward the top. I watched the inky blackness in the corners but I couldn’t see the beast.

We got to the top, Chase pushed against the door, and then he pulled. I watched in horror as he shoved his shoulder into the door and it didn’t move.

“Oh my God, does it only open from the outside?” I asked.

Chase looked down at me and nodded. “We’re locked inside of here—

“Willow? Chase?” Rex’s voice came from inside the room. I sighed in relief as Chase knocked on the door. “Are you in the walls?” he asked.

“One of those beasts pulled me into a trap door. You need to go get help, please. It’s a tunnel beneath the house. We’re trapped down here with it.”

“I’ll go get Mrs. Young and Alpha Gerald.”

“Hurry.”

Chase turned to me and suddenly pushed me belly-first against the stairs and covered me. The beast jumped from the corner of the tunnel and onto Chase.

I couldn’t get him off me like this. He fought against the beast as I listened to the sound of clothes ripping and the smell of blood in the air.

“Chase,” I called out. “Let me up! Let me help!"

He didn’t listen. He continued to fight until I felt him shift and stumbled over the stair railing to the tunnel beneath us with the beast.

I scurried to my feet and down the steps. I caught myself against the smooth cobblestone as the beast tore at Chase’s neck.

I shifted quickly and leaped onto the beast’s back. This one seemed smaller than the one they let out before, and his smell was worse. He tossed me onto my back as I dug my teeth into his neck. Chase got up and grabbed his leg, pulling back like we did before until his neck snapped in my mouth and he went limp.

I moved to get him off me and stood to my feet. My wolf began to pace back and forth in the small tunnel. Chase eased over and nuzzled his neck against my own.

“I think there are more,” my wolf said to his. “I can smell them.”

Chase pulled back and looked over his shoulder. “What is this place?” he asked. “Some kind of abandoned underground railroad or something?”

I nudged him. “Should we wait for Rex to come back?”

“Yes,” Chase said. “If there is another beast we don’t want to run into him—“

A scream echoed from down the tunnel and my inability to not save someone slammed into me. I took off down the tunnel.

“Willow!” Chase’s wolf called after me.

I didn’t stop. I pushed further down the unknown tunnel past several staircases and toward a giant room in the shape of a circle.

In the middle was another beast, only this one was bigger and had a woman pushed against the wall.

She looked like a she-wolf from the southeast kingdom. Had she heard a noise too and come down here?

I crouched and growled at the beast lightly until he turned around. I felt my protective nature taking over and I wanted to rip this beast’s head from his

shoulders.

He turned his attention to me and the she-wolf ran up the closest set of stairs and began to beat on the door to no avail.

Chase neared me from the tunnel. I could feel his irritation at my disobeying his wolf but I wasn’t in the mood to compromise. The beast turned fully to me and his fingers twitched.

“Don’t do that again,” Chase’s wolf said.

“Someone was hurt.”

“It could have been a trap,” he grumbled.

He was right but we didn’t have the time to chat about it. The beast jumped across a fire pit in the middle of the room and landed in front of me.

I launched forward and grabbed his thigh in my mouth while he slashed me across the back. My wolf howled in pain while Chase grabbed his arm attempting

to pull him in the opposite direction.

He was stronger than the other beasts. He kept himself grounded and slashed his claws into the same spots as before. I released his thigh and stumbled back into the wall. Pain shot down my body as Chase ripped his arm from his shoulder.

He roared, tossing his head back and stumbling back toward the fire pit but he caught himself.

Chase backed away from him with blood dripping from his mouth and putting himself between the two of us. The beast looked at us as blood leaked from his arm and attempted to attack again when an arrow shot into his chest.

When the beast dropped, Mrs. Young stood on the opposite side of the hallway holding a bow and arrow.

I shifted into my human form and Chase followed, falling to his knees, he cradled me onto his thighs. “She needs medical attention,” he said.

Mrs. Young walked over and looked at my back. “We have a few she-wolves that live down the way. I’ll call them over. Bring her up to the infirmary on the third floor.”

“How do we get out?” Chase asked.

“Follow me,” she said, pulling the arrow from the beast’s chest.

She led us down the hallway toward a door that led into the kitchen. Chills began to run up and down my body, as they maneuvered around the house. “She’s shivering,” Chase whispered. I could feel his fear inside of me. “She’s bleeding a lot.”

Mrs. Young caught my stare. “She’s going to be just fine, Chase. You get her up there and put her on her belly.”

“How did you know how to get down there?” I asked softly.

She smiled. “I’ve been on the courts for a long time, and I’ve suspected something was going on. You don’t worry about it, Doll. Close your eyes if you need to.”

Chase hurried me up to the third floor and found the infirmary at the end of the hall. He put me on my table face down and found a blanket in one of the cabinets. His fingers shook against my shoulder as he touched me and bent down to look at me. “You’re going to be fine.”

“I’m fine,” I said in a hushed whisper.

A heaviness overtook my body and I closed my eyes.

“I love you, Bunny.”