They were covered in dirt and oil mask their scents from the wolves, their yellow grins showing from beneath blackened faces to reveal their malice.
"Hello, wolfies," one of them said. "You'll be nice presents for the new Goblin King."
Then from behind, something struck Lily hard on the head, and she fell to the ground, Daniel beside her.
Everything went black.
Chapter 12 - Theo
He jolted up in bed, sweat covering every inch of pale skin. Gasping, he clutched his chest, feeling as though his heart was being ripped out. Everything hurt, every part of him battered and bruised from the fight with the rebels, not to mention the nasty cut on his side that he was lucky didn't slice out a kidney or worse.
But the pain he felt right now wasn't physical; it was spiritual. Soul-wrenching.
Something was horribly wrong.
Glancing to the side, there was no one in the room. Hadn't he looked up just hours ago and seen Lily at his side, dozing off in an uncomfortable position in her chair because she'd been too stubborn to leave him to go sleep in another bed.
Loyal to a fault, she was.
So where was Lily now?
His sweat felt like little beads of ice on his skin when he noticed the envelope on the chair Lily had been sitting on. He reached over and grabbed it, finding that the outside said 'Theo' in neat cursive. He didn't know what Lily's handwriting looked like, but even if he had, he would know this writing didn't belong to her.
It was someone else he knew.
Tearing the letter open, Theo unfolded the paper within and started reading in a hurry.
My dear cousin,
It's by luck alone that you survived our encounter, but it's no matter. We're not unfamiliar to this game of cat and mouse, you and I. You will die by my hand, or fall to one of my friends; it's only a matter of time. Your woman, however ... well, well, doesn't she just have the finest legs of any human specimen I've ever had the pleasure of entrapping before?
You want her to live? There is only one thing you need to do.
Come alone, or else I'll shoot her pretty face and make you watch.
Midnight sharp. You know where.
Your beloved cousin,
Kaleus.
Taped to the bottom was a lock of her bright red hair as proof that Lily was Kaleus' captive. Theo was shaking by the time he finished the letter. The edges had crumpled and torn beneath his furious grip, and now that he was finished reading, he crumpled it into a ball and threw it into the fire. He let out a massive roar, clawing at the sheets and mattress in rage and terror.
Kaleus had Lily. Oh, Gods, how had this happened?
The how didn't matter, only that he knew in his heart that she'd been taken from her. That his vile cousin had his hands on her right now, and could be doing numerous horrible things to her right now.
This wouldn't stand. Right then, nothing else mattered to Theo besides getting back.
It had to be getting late already. The air in the room had the stillness of night to it, and it would take him at least an hour to get to Kaleus' designated meeting place in this state.
Theo had to hurry.
***
Theo arrived in the old mining tunnel just before midnight, alone, and with no weapons. Unlike the goblins, however, he didn't need any. As a wolf shifter, his body was a weapon, and he had every intention of using it to rip Kaleus to shreds for doing this to Lily and for tormenting them both.
He walked toward the compound with his head held high. There were three goblins on the roof with crossbows aimed at him—goblins didn't use guns belowground because they were more dangerous in the tunnels—and four more on the ground that stood alert when they noticed him. There were likely more that Theo couldn't see, too.