My Hockey Alpha novel Chapter 422

Nina

The cool, smooth fingers over my mouth were the first thing I noticed. Next, was the strangely familiar voice… soft and soothing.

“It’s okay, Nina. I’m getting you out of here.”

As my eyes came to focus in the dark room, the next thing I made out was a curly head of red hair, a freckled nose, and bright green eyes.

Daphne.

Once she realized that I wasn’t going to scream, she let out a soft sigh of relief and removed her hand from my mouth, taking a step back. “We don’t have much time,” she whispered. “Come on, we’ve got to go.”

I sat up abruptly, blinking. How could this be?

“A-Am I dreaming? Hallucinating?”

“No,” Daphne said firmly. “Now wake Enzo up, and be quiet. We have to hurry.”

She didn’t need to tell me twice. I quickly turned around and shook Enzo violently. He startled awake, his brown eyes shooting open in an instant.

“What? What?” he murmured, shock coming over his face. “Nina, are you-”

“Shh.” I put a finger to Enzo’s lips and nodded my head toward Daphne. His eyes widened with fear at first, then recognition, and then utterly immense relief just as I had felt only moments before.

“How the hell…”

“I have my ways,” Daphne said quietly, checking over her shoulder as she spoke. “Spying on people is my job, remember?”

“Right.” Enzo sat up with a newfound look of determination in his face that I hadn’t seen in what felt like months now. Together, both of us quietly slipped out of the bed and grabbed our clothes off of the floor-but Daphne shook her head and held a backpack out to us.

“Here,” she said. “I brought you a fresh change. Put these on, quickly.”

Enzo quickly grabbed the backpack and opened it to reveal two sets of all-black clothes. We both put them on, feeling relief at the sensation of something clean on our bodies. It would be easier to move like this, and the fabric was dark enough to keep our visibility low.

As we were getting dressed, Daphne peered out the door and then glanced over her shoulder.

“Where’s the other one? Luke?” she whispered.

At the very mention of Luke’s name, I felt my heart clench. A fresh wave of sorrow washed over me as the image of his dead body flashed through my mind. I leaned forward, my hands gripping the sheets on the edge of the bed so tightly that my knuckles turned pure white.

“Luke… Luke is…”

“Alive.”

Enzo’s word made me straighten instantly. My eyes went wide as I slowly turned to face him; there was nothing but sincerity written across his face. But it couldn’t be possible. I had seen Luke’s body. I had seen the way his head lolled. I had seen the way that Enzo threw him to the side like a piece of meat.

And Enzo had told me himself that their plan to keep Luke alive and trick Mila had failed.

“How-❞

“I had to keep it a secret, even from you,” Enzo explained, taking a step toward me. “Just in case you were questioned. I had to make sure you were genuinely innocent.”

When we finally burst out of a side passage into the dark, cool night air, I almost cried out for joy.

“Oh my god. We made it.”

My knees went weak almost immediately. There, in the fronds and underbrush, the three of us stopped to catch our breath. The sight of the waxing moon up overhead caused me to collapse to my knees, my fingers digging into the soil with glee.

We had made it.

But we had made it without Luke. I still couldn’t live with myself for that.

“Catch your breath,” Daphne instructed. “Then let’s keep moving. Nina, can you shift?”

I glanced up at Enzo, and he nodded. With the pregnancy, it was risky, but it was necessary right now. “I can do it,” I said, standing and brushing my knees off. “Let’s go. I’m ready.”

Without waiting for one more moment, the three of us shifted into our animal forms; hands turned into claws, ears grew long and pointed, hackles raised. Daphne’s arms sprouted into wings, her hair turning into a flurry of feathers.

With Enzo and I in our wolf forms and Daphne in her cardinal form, we were ready.

The three of us took off into the night, thus leaving behind Mila’s horrific, impossible palace. But we were one person short, and maybe too late.

Because we were leaving our dear Luke behind, no matter how much it pained us. And coming from behind us, the sounds of hyenas yipping and snarling carried through the obsidian tunnels, bouncing off of the blackened walls, echoing like a thousand nightmares.

Our escape had not gone unnoticed. And the alarms had been raised.