Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder-Chapter 1591 - 33 : Now Allowed to Die

*Briella*

I shrieked as an explosion erupted above our heads. My heart raced wildly in my chest. Could this be it? Were those horrid shadow creatures back already after we had just arrived at the party?

Kryzen was quick to act and wrapped his arms around me. He bent his body over mine, shielding me with his strong form.

I squeezed my eyes shut tightly, my ears ringing as I pressed myself against Kryzen’s chest.

“Relax,” I heard Roy say. I cracked an eye open to see him grasp Kryzen’s shoulder and tug at him slightly. “Look.”

I followed Roy’s gaze to the sky just as a couple more blasts pierced the silence accompanied by bright, swirling lights that shimmered as they fell away and disappeared.

A nervous giggle burst from my lips. Kryzen and I had freaked out over fireworks. That was how on edge we had been.

Kryzen released me but grabbed my hand and pulled me away from the entryway into the mansion. People were streaming out to watch the show, tilting their heads back as more lights materialized accompanied by deep booms that I felt in my stomach.

For the first time in what felt like forever, I felt my body relax. Kryzen wrapped his arms around me from behind, tucking me against his front, his chin dropping to rest against the top of my head.

The fireworks were breathtaking with mixes of bright colors from pinks to purples and greens. They swirled in the sky. The eruption of color was like a priceless painting. I just took in the sights and sounds, allowing myself to forget about the hardships and trials we had faced over the past several weeks.

It was a brief moment, but at least I had been allowed that much.

I felt Kryzen stiffen against my back and then saw him look over to the side. I could barely hear him murmur something in a low voice to Roy. I couldn’t make out what he said with the fireworks show going on.

A bad feeling twisted in my gut as Kryzen gently dropped his arms from around my waist and took my hand again.

“What’s going on?” I hissed at him as he and Roy started to move through the crowd, their pace urgent but still slow enough to not attract too much attention.

Kryzen clearly didn’t hear me as more fireworks appeared overhead, lighting up the path in front of us and revealing what we were hurrying after.

My heart leaped into my throat as I recognized General Tian moving swiftly through the crowds of people. I ducked my head automatically, realizing that we were following him. It was easy to see why. He was moving through the throngs of people as if he was sneaking off to do something sinister. He moved like a shadow.

It was a miracle we were able to keep the general in our sights. Thankfully, everyone else was preoccupied by the light show, so no one paid us any mind. I even accidentally bumped into some guy, but he barely acknowledged me as I muttered an apology.

I stumbled a little bit in our haste, but Kryzen just tightened his hold on my hand and pulled me along behind him. He pulled me more urgently when General Tian disappeared around the corner of the mansion.

I felt like I was finally able to breathe as we burst out of the crowd of people. It wasn’t very peaceful though since fireworks were still going off above us. We ducked down but quickened our pace as General Tian stopped in front of a wall on the side of the mansion.

Kryzen tugged me to him so we were hidden behind a nearby hedge. Roy crouched down next to us.

General Tian placed his hand against the cobblestone wall. My jaw dropped when his fingers glowed for half a second before the wall rumbled and parted, revealing a hidden passageway. We all held our breaths as the general glanced around before slipping inside.

“Go,” Kryzen hissed urgently.

We stood up and hurried toward the opening in the wall. I held my breath and made my steps as silent and quick as possible, knowing that if the general caught us following him, he wouldn’t take kindly to it.

“Kryzen!” Roy spat urgently.

The opening in the wall was starting to close.

Kryzen cursed, and we broke into a sprint toward the opening. Kryzen put a hand on my back, ensuring that I got in first before he and Roy quickly followed behind me, barely squeezing through before the stone wall sealed shut again, completely shutting out the booms from the fireworks and the dim light from the hanging lights.

I pushed myself up off the cold, rocky ground. I didn’t remember falling, but my body protested with aches, so it clearly happened. It didn’t help that I was still sore from my fight with Drius a couple of days earlier.

“You okay?” Kryzen asked, helping me to my feet.

I flexed my muscles, rolling my shoulders a bit. “I think so.”

We scanned our surroundings and found ourselves in some kind of secret passage. I squinted and made out an opening with a stone staircase leading down into the depths of the dark. I shuddered and took a couple of steps toward it, peeking down into the shadows.

Roy was feeling the wall that had shut behind us. “Looks like we’re stuck in here,” he said after a moment of running his fingers along the cracks in the stone.

Kryzen nodded and took my hand again. “Let’s go find that bastard. He’s obviously up to something. And whatever that is, it can’t be good.”

I winced and started to follow his lead, but he stepped on the corner of my dress and nearly fell over. I cursed quietly as both Kryzen and Roy helped steady me. “Of course, I’m in a stupid dress while we try to sneak into an underground passage.”

Kryzen narrowed his eyes and looked around for a second before his eyes lit up with an idea. He reached into the inside of his suit jacket and pulled out the dagger Roy had given him. I watched him oddly and gasped when he slid the point along the skirt of my dress.

“Kryzen,” I snapped, trying to keep my volume down.

“What?” he snapped back, continuing to run the blade around the skirt, easily slicing through the silky blue fabric. “If we have to fight, you’re going to need all the mobility you can get.”

I couldn’t argue with that logic, so didn’t struggle or fight when Kryzen continued to cut up my gorgeous dress. I sighed as the scraps fell to the ground. I stared down at the dress. Kryzen had cut all the way around the skirt so that it now rested at my knees.

“What are we going to tell people if we make it back to the party tonight?” I asked, wincing at how ridiculous I looked. I should have taken the dagger from him and cut the dress myself. I might have been able to make it look intentional. Kryzen’s cuts were sloppy and jagged.

Kryzen smirked. “We can just say that the skirts were in the way and not allowing me access.”

I gaped at him. “Kryzen.”

He put his hands up in surrender before putting a hand behind my shoulders. “Let’s go,” he said urgently.

We quickly and quietly made our way down the long stairwell. Torches lit our path slightly, but I still had to squint to see the steps below me to keep from missing one and tumbling down the seemingly endless amount of steps.

It had been extremely quiet as we made our way down the stairs, save for our muffled footsteps and the sound of the fabric of our clothes rubbing. I was a little lightheaded, probably because I had held my breath a lot of the way down, not even trusting myself to take in oxygen quietly.

We immediately scanned the area when we reached the bottom of the steps. Our heads whipped toward the unmistakable deep voice of General Tian. The sound of his voice was coming from a dark hallway. There were other frightening sounds as well. It sounded like multiple nails scratching glass, high-pitched and piercing.

“Quiet down, all of you,” we heard General Tian snap.

Kryzen’s hand tightened on mine as we reached the end of the hallway and found ourselves at the entrance of a throneroom. It was a large, dark open space with torches built into the walls, but the light fixtures were so high up that they almost brushed the ceiling.

I had to stifle my gasp as I took in the occupants of the room.

General Tian stood in the center, dressed in a tailored suit that was entirely black. The outfit seemed to bring out the sinister depths of his eyes. Completely surrounding him had to be dozens of shadow creatures. They were all hissing and shrieking as if they were hungry and Tian was their holder of souls to devour.

Kryzen pulled me to him. The three of us huddled together, backing up into the hallway so we were completely out of sight.

“We need to get out of here,” Roy hissed quietly, looking panicked.

Kryzen looked down at me briefly, his jaw clenched tight but his eyes shone with confliction. “We need to figure out what he’s planning.”

We carefully peered around the corner, pressing ourselves as tightly against the cold stone wall as we could.

General Tian looked annoyed by the demon shadows as they continued to scream and fly around in all directions, creating a mess of darkness.

“Enough!” he finally roared.

The ear-piercing shrieks finally quieted, and the shadows hovered before the general, looking almost anxious, their red eyes trained on him.

General Tian smirked, clearly enjoying the power he had on the monsters. “Good,” he practically purred. “You must all be patient and continue to follow my orders. Very soon, you will all be allowed to join the party upstairs.”

The screams commenced. This time, they were even higher-pitched, almost conveying excitement.

The three of us shared a horrified look.

My stomach twisted with dread as I studied the large room and started to count the number of demon shadows in the room. There were more than a few dozen. They kept moving, so it was difficult to count them, but there had to be close to a hundred. How were we going to defeat them all?

“We need to warn the guests, Kryzen,” I said desperately.

Kryzen had a calculating look in his eyes.

“Kryzen,” Roy said, his tone urgent and practically begging for his friend to make a decision.

Kryzen turned to look at Roy. “You need to get back to the party and warn the guests.”

Roy’s blue eyes widened. “I am not leaving you two here,” he hissed firmly. “We should all go. I won’t leave you behind to die.”

“We’re not going to die,” Krzyen said through his teeth. “You need to go, Roy. Get as many out as you can.”

Roy ground his teeth. “What are you going to do?”

“There’s no time to explain,” Kryzen said. “Trust me.”

The two friends stared at each other for a moment before Roy nodded once. “Fine. But you are not allowed to die, Kryzen Stormfall.”

Kryzen smirked but nodded seriously.

Roy cast one more worried look at us both before turning and ducking into the shadows. His body shook briefly as he shifted, his massive light-colored wolf tearing up the passageway.