Page 81 of The Night Burning

I gasped and grasped Lavinia’s wrist.

Wolves with white spots stalked from the darkness toward us. At least two dozen of them, if not more. Three of them, in human form, held Killian by his arms. Killian had his head low, his lips split.

Lavinia thrummed under my hold. Black lines appeared around her eyes and she bared her fangs. “Let him go!”

“I’m not so sure I can do that,” a voice said.

Nortrix, in human form and fully clothed, appeared from behind his wolves. When he stepped into the square, more wolves appeared behind us, caging us in.

Shit.

“Wait. The challenge? You’re not supposed to be here.”

Nortrix smirked. “I’m right where I need to be.”

My stomach sank. “What does that mean? What did you do to Shane?”

“If it all goes according to plan, he’s beaten and tied up, being watched by my wolves, and waiting until I’m done so I can kill him and claim his pack.”

I shook my head. “I don’t understand.”

He grinned, a creepy thing that chilled my bones. “You will. But for now, all I can do is thank you. You’ve made my life easier. I thought that once I was done here, I would have to go after you, but look at that!” He gestured toward me. “Here you are!”

Nothing about this made sense. “What are you talking about?”

“He’s trying to bait you,” Lavinia whispered. “Don’t fall for it.”

“Easier said than done,” I whispered back. But it was damn hard. “What do we do? We can’t take them all by ourselves.”

“I say we buy time until our friends realize what’s happening, then we get out of here. There’s no way we can fight them all and win.”

“What are you two whispering about?” Nortrix asked, that creepy smile still on his face. “You aren’t planning on leaving, are you? Don’t even try. Soon, there will be no way out of here.”

I frowned and almost asked him again what the hell he was doing, but saved my voice. It wasn’t like he would answer anyway.

“Raika!”

“Lavinia!”

The two of us turned toward the voices and saw our friends—Roman, Almae, Evelyn, and Ash—running toward us. They slowed down and stopped when several of the Whitecrest wolves snarled.

Nortrix tsked. “No funny business. Everyone stay where you are. This will be over soon.” He walked away from us, toward the gap in the square’s center.

Hushes reached my ears. Behind my friends, I could see people peeking from inside their houses. I wanted to tell them to go back inside, but I was afraid that if I did that, Nortrix would use them against me.

“What are those?” Lavinia asked.

I snapped my attention back to Nortrix. He walked in a wide arc beside the gap, placing what looked like black crystals on the ground.

Nortrix didn’t answer her. He placed a fifth crystal on the ground and stepped back.

Shiny black lines appeared on the ground, from crystal to crystal, like they had been carved out by laser. They connected to each other, touching all of the crystals and forming a web of dark light. A spot above the center of the crystal imploded and a small black ball appeared in the middle of the air. It expanded until it was bigger than a door.

Lavinia gasped. “A portal.”

“Precisely,” Nortrix said, his eyes on the shiny black portal.

A moment later, someone stepped through it.