Hel to Pay: An alpha male shifter romance (Elswyth Chase Book 1) by Emily Stormbrook

Author:Emily Stormbrook [Stormbrook, Emily]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-11-18T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

The main road from the city gave way to a small winding dirt track that circled the forest with several turnings veering deep into the luscious forest. Winter’s breath had stolen many leaves from the great expanse, but with so many evergreen trees and shrubs, their route was still obscured. The track was a maze of twists and turns, a labyrinth designed to confuse and disorientate.

Hel drove as if on autopilot, her mind telling her exactly when to turn, as if her entire body knew instinctively where to drive. A large chain-link fence caught glints of moonlight as it fought its way to penetrate the thick surrounding forest the dirt track had cut through.

An abandoned guard station sat just inside, beyond a galvanised steel gate. The crunching of the tires beneath the compacted dirt silenced as Hel drew the vehicle to a stop before slipping from the driver’s side. She didn’t need to ask how Marrok was. The whole drive she had been acutely attuned to the fading beat of his weakening heart.

Her hands wrapped around the gate, giving the immense structure a push. It didn’t budge, no matter what she tried. She pushed, pulled, strained. But nothing happened. She searched for a lock, a reason it wouldn’t yield but could see nothing.

“No,” she whispered, resting her forehead against the railings. In all the time she had driven here, this location’s abandonment had not crossed her mind. She banged her head against the gate again, desperation settling within her core. If the witches had moved on, then Marrok was lost. He wasn’t healing, but taking him to a hospital would be a death sentence. No matter where they went Woodroe would find them. This had been her only hope, a sanctuary.

“I wondered when you'd show. Figured it’s about time.” An elderly woman, frail and haunted looking, stepped from the trees onto the path. It took several moments for Hel to recognise the kindly grey eyes beneath the alteration of the years.

“Esmeralda.” She breathed out the name as a relieved sigh as the frail woman approached the gate. A wolf flanked her for a moment, assessing Hel before fading back into the shadows. “Please, we seek sanctuary.”

“And you shall have it, dear Helena. Sanctuary here was always yours to have.” A slight smile crinkled the laughter lines, embellishing her aged beauty.

Approaching the barrier between them, Esmeralda’s trembling hands passed over the sealed gates. A chain and padlock appeared around the gate, the lock springing free at her touch, the heavy chain came alive, slivering down the gate like a metallic serpent, the lock animating to become its head, the shank its tongue that flicked and tasted the air.

Her crooked fingers seized the gate, pulling it inward as Kade climbed forward to the driver’s seat, pulling the vehicle through. As soon as it passed the boundaries, the gates closed themselves, the chain once more climbing the gate. The snake’s tongue hooked and curled, before the entire structure became solid once more, shimmering into invisibility.

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