Shifting Love

Chapter 27: The Escape

He pushed the door open slowly so the old piece of wood wouldn't make any noise.

The first two hallways were pitch black and empty. Neither of us could hear breathing or heartbeats of hunters or shifters.

"Shit," Dante swore under his breath.

"What is the matter?" I whispered.

"I can't remember which door we came through."

He placed me on the ground and we stood in front of three different hallways. I had never been here before but Dante seemed to actually know his way around with this small exception.

"Should we split up?"

"No," he immediately spoke.

"Are you sure you don't remember which way to go?"

Dante shook his head then nervously ran his hand over his head. He took a deep breath before closing his eyes to think it over.

"It's not the one on the right. That leads deeper into the building."

"So which one is it?"

"I'm not sure."

"I think it's the middle one," a sharp voice echoed down one of the hallways.

The moment the voice spoke Dante swiftly placed his body in front of mine for protection.

"No, I think it's the left one," another voice echoed down a different hallway.

I pushed my body into his back to reassure myself. My heart thrashed wildly against my ribcage in fear. The hair on my arms stood up when I felt hot, sticky breath on the back of my neck. A sharp blade pressed into my back.

My hand slowly reached forward to grip Dante's hand as I tried to alert him of my situation. But the hallway was plunged into darkness and Dante was no longer in front of me.

"Dante?"

"Don't move," the man finally spoke, "or my blade will pierce your spine and you will never walk again."

I stiffened at his threat. I began to squirm but he pushed the blade further against my back. The tip started to break the skin.

'Dante, where are you?' I called out to him in a panic.

'Ari?' someone else called back.

"Don't even think about answering your mind link," the attacker growled before shoving me down the middle hallway.

"Where are you taking me?"

"Shut up!"

He opened the door to our left and pushed me into a room. I stumbled over my feet before regaining my balance.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"I found her trying to escape."

"How?"

"I'm not sure. I found her wandering the hallways."

"Arianna."

"What?"

"Tsk tsk, where are your manners young lady?"

I scoffed, "You don't deserve any manners from me, Johnny."

"How did you escape?"

"Like I would tell you."

He nodded his head to the man who took me to the room. He brought down the hilt of his blade into my shoulder. Blunt pain seared in my back but I refused to show them any weakness.