First, we needed to deal with the rats. And then I remembered Alaric's power. If he could heat frozen water to boiling just by touching the pipe...
"Okay, what if Alaric heated up the stones in the ground till the rats ran into one room? Then we could close them up in it," I asked. "Then we can fight the Rat King without his minions."
"The Rat King?" Henry smirked.
Well, if that was the only problem Henry had with what I said, maybe I was on to something.
"Your Luna is going to kill us," Ki said.
"My dad's going to kill me anyway," Ben decided. "Fluffy, start heating the stones. Harv and Ki, go fetch some swords. Decommissioned weapons storage is the third room from the right. Alpha Hen, grab a stick. We'll open the door when the rats start drawing back. I'll go in first. Please keep an eye on Sam while I'm inside."
As if Henry could stop me.
"What can I do?" Lola asked.
"Just stand there and look beautiful," Henry smirked.
I punched him on her behalf.
The other guys had already moved on. I'm not sure if that wasn't more insulting.
Henry picked me up and put me on the bench. "Stay here for now. The floor will probably get hot."
He reached out a hand to help Lola up, too. Lola frowned, but took it because Lola was sensible like that. A girl's gotta pick her battles.
I really couldn't feel bad for Lola now. I mean, at least she was treated like a lady! I was treated like a pup!
After ensuring we were off the ground, Henry picked up one of the sticks and watched Fluffy while standing guard.
Ben and Fluffy were at the door. I think they were strategizing something. After a quick exchange, Fluffy squatted down, placing his hands on the stone closest to the door. His hand turned a molten-red color. We waited.
The rats screeched. Poor rats. They must be having a terrible night, what with the Rat King waking up in a horrible mood and now the entire place heating up like an oven.
I saw the wisdom of waiting on the bench after a while... I could feel the heat from the stones and smell the stench of... I worked hard not to identify the smells cooking on the stones inside the dungeons. A dungeon-floor hotplate was enough to turn anyone's stomach.
Henry cursed and covered his nose.
"How do you intend to fight that thing, Sam?" Lola whispered to me, one hand over her nose and mouth, the other still holding a rifle. "It's bulletproof."
I shrugged. I was going to just let my wolf take over. But maybe a plan wasn't a bad idea.
"Inside its mouth," I decided. "Maybe it isn't bulletproof inside. We'll keep it busy. When you get the chance, aim for its mouth."
Lola nodded, and then she said quietly, "Thanks for believing in me."
By now, I could smell a faint trace of rubber in the air. Ben had used a foot to smash one of the benches. He threw a piece of bench to Fluffy. "Fluffy, use this. Step on it before your soles melt off."
Fluffy smiled his thanks and positioned the piece of bench on the ground before stepping on it. Henry and Ben joined us on the bench.
I laughed at the thought of the four of us standing on the bench in a row. I mean, here we were, sweating it out in the waiting room of the dungeons, standing on a bench.
"It's hot," Henry said.
"If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen, Alpha," Ben answered. The guys were wet. Ben looked like he'd just stood under the shower, but it was all perspiration.
The door opened.
"Pop!" Ki exclaimed at the entrance. They came in with swords.
"Smells like weed, huh?" Fluffy turned a bit to smile at his friend.
"Are you high?" Ki asked. "The fumes are probably toxic."
Ki lit up, glowing. I wasn't sure why. Did his healing help against poisoning? That was useful.
"Sh—" Harvey said the moment he stepped in. He jumped suddenly, but caught himself and self-censored the "it" part before hopping onto the nearest bench.
"It's hot," he warned Ki, who took Harvey's word for it. With a well-aimed jump, he got himself from the entrance directly to the bench.
They had returned with cutlasses (I don't know why cutlasses) and were passing them out from their bench. Not like in pirate movies, where you threw them out to distribute them, but very carefully. It was really funny, all of us standing in two rows, gingerly passing out cutlasses.
I laughed.
"Alpha's high," Fluffy smiled. He stood up. "I think they're gone."
And he was right. The dungeon was silent now.
Ben jumped off the bench and onto the remains of the broken bench pieces scattered on the ground. "I'll go in first."
"Are you mad, Beta?" Henry yelled at him. "It must be a freakin' furnace inside."
True that.
"I can go," Fluffy volunteered. "I don't burn."
He took off his shoes, placing them carefully on the bench next to Ki. When he stepped onto the ground, his bare feet turned a molten color. Then he took off his jacket. "My clothes might, though."
"Never mind the clothes," Ben said, getting back on top of the bench. "Go shut off the chambers the rats are in."
Fluffy nodded. "Yes, Beta." He opened the door. The moment he did, I winced at the heat that blasted out. Ben shielded me with his arm.
Suddenly, we heard a roar. Oh no!
"I did it! The rats are in two chambers. I'm kinda stuck here, though," Fluffy shouted from somewhere in the dungeon.
Another roar.
Fluffy swore something, but I couldn't make it out over the din the monster was making.
"Let's go!" I jumped off the bench. Oh, hot. Harvey wasn't kidding when he said it was hot. I ran fast to make as little contact with the ground as possible.
Halfway in, I could feel my boots getting mushy. I thought at first my feet were sweating like mad, but then I smelled it and realized the glue holding my boots together was melting.
Omo.
I tried to run on any available pieces of wood. The beast was here, and the old beams were splintered all about. It was hot! Hot, hot, hot! The sweat was getting into my eyes. I got to the scene of the monster just in time to see Fluffy rolling over the hot stone to avoid the Rat King's charge.
Okay, so far the Rat King was roaring, charging, crashing, and then roaring, charging, crashing... It was a bit like a boss in a computer game.
"Spread out. He charges after every other roar and only in a straight line. Aim into his mouth," I ordered.
At that moment, the monster roared and faced me. Then he charged.
"Sam!" I heard more than one person shout my name. It's not like I couldn't see it coming right at me, right?
"Shoot from behind me!" I yelled. I didn't move. And then, when I did, it was to charge forward. I stuck the sword right into the gaping mouth, as far as I dared to reach with all those teeth around it.
Then I tried to run, but—hot! The ground was hot! And s***, the monster didn't stop, even with a cutlass jammed in his mouth.
Gunshots came from the other side. They were trying to get the beast's attention. But I don't think the beast could help it. It wouldn't stop till it crashed into something large enough to stop it.
Harvey and Ki had knocked off a few wooden beams, so now we had something to step on around the chamber... which used to be at least two chambers, but the Rat King had done some reconstruction.
"Shoot its mouth!" I yelled. I scrambled up the last wooden beam still standing, barely able to pull my leg up before the roar resounded, followed by a crash and the sound of the beam being snapped under me.
"F***. Grab the goddess, Ben!" Ki yelled from the other side. The beam fell with me on it. I pulled on it and scrambled to the top side of the falling beam, and then—BANG!
The only person who had listened to my first instruction, even in the heat of the battle, was Lola. She shot from behind me, right into the beast's mouth. I heard the bullet hit the metal of the cutlass blade and then lodge somewhere in the cavernous mouth.
The beast roared, and then the beam (with me riding atop) landed hard on its head. Silence.
"Good one!" I said. I dropped in front of the Gyara. Was it down?
Not a chance. The growling soon resumed, and the Gyara got up. The large beam fell to the ground with a shuddering sound. I ignored the overdramatic noises and used the newly felled beam to stand on. Give the glue of my boots some respite. Ben was on my side in a second.
"If it's really a Gyara, Sam, it can only be cut by magic," Ben told me.
Then that would be impossible for us. We had no magic weapons. Well, we had no magic to wield them. But that's not right. We didn't always have weapons... A long time ago, we didn't even have a human form. Then how did the original wolves hunt them? AS WOLVES.
"We need to shift. Our wolves hunt Gyara for food, right?" I asked.
Ben was on it. He jumped and shifted in midair. I was about to, too, when suddenly strong, sinewy arms grabbed me from behind.
"No! Someone help Ben!" I cried out. If I couldn't shift in time, Ben would be attacking exposed.
Harvey was immediately on it. Ki shot at the beast. "Over here, ugly!"
Ben's black wolf attacked from the side, knocking the Gyara off balance. And then Harvey's red wolf attacked, fangs bared.
Meanwhile, a familiar growl and my mating bond released a heady mix of terror, anger, and relief. I sniffed at him. He was without smells, and I felt happy.
And then I heard the more familiar growls of Dad and Beta Lucas, too.
I flared and pulled out of Mate's arms. "It's my kill! I found it first!"
I think, except for the fact that it was Mate, I would have been even more furious.
The Gyara roared, shaking off the wolves. It still had a cutlass and a bullet lodged at various angles in its mouth, and I was right: the inside of its mouth was not so tough. When it roared, it would choke on its own blood. And now there were nasty wolf bites around its jaw, too.
I wanted to shift. I could take it down. But Mate caught me again, and I'm not sure what kind of trick he used, but he forcibly calmed my wolf and stroked my hair back down.
I was so mad that my hair flared up all over again, but my wolf wasn't in it.
WTH.
{Mate says be still.} Boo informed me somewhat languidly.
What? And since when did Boo take orders from anyone? And then it hit me with fear and trembling... I suddenly knew what it was like for Dad when he wanted to do something and then Mum leaned over and wrapped her arms around him. No matter how furious he was or how determined, he would suddenly calm down and rethink his options.
Unfair! Mate used our mating bond to calm Boo! I protest!
{We safe. Mate will protect us.}
Boo drew back to chill and watch.
I sighed and sulked as I watched Ben and Harvey tackle the beast a second time.
From the safety of Mate's protection, even though I was exactly where I was a minute ago, the danger was all gone, along with at least some of the excitement. Unfun.
This time, Ben got it by its jugular. Harvey quickly pinned it down till Ben finished the job.
Mate stroked my hair down again. "Stop pouting. It's over."
"That was supposed to be my kill!" I flared up all over again. How dare he! How dare he!
Henry grinned. "Oh boy. Sam's really mad now."
The others paused, looking warily from the dead Gyara to the flaring Alpha Princess. Mate shrugged it off with a laugh and stroked my hair. It came down again. Plus, Boo wasn't into it at all. I mean, she wasn't even a little peeved that my kill was taken from me.
And then Mate growled in his very low voice, laced with Alpha command. "What did you guys think you were doing?"
Suddenly, I realized that the Gyara wasn't the dungeon boss we had to face today. The dungeon boss was Mate.
My betas froze. Even Henry quietened. I guess he wasn't about to get into this one.
"Ten hours." Mate said, "I leave my princess for ten hours and return to find her in an overheated gas chamber facing off a monster. ****** **** *****..."
Mate continued with some choice Lycan phrases. He was so mad, he was actually speaking in Lycan—even the non-swear words were in Lycan.
Beta Lucas flinched and made an "Oooo, burn!" kind of face, even though I'm sure he was too old to have that in his vocabulary.
Dad frowned. He looked serious and sweaty. The dungeons had cooled somewhat by now, but we were all drenched in perspiration.
"Okay, stop." I said, putting my hand on Mate's wet T-shirt. "Let's go up and cool off first."
If he could stop me mid-shift, I could stop him mid-rant. My betas definitely didn't deserve his verbal diarrhea.
"I'm not done yet," Mate informed me. But his steely tone had lost its edge when he turned back to me.
I narrowed my eyes at him. "Me neither. That was my kill. You just made me lose it!"
I was all ready to fight it out with Bell. But he only looked faintly bemused.
{Cute.}
Who said that? I flared in full now. How dare he! I'm NOT cute!
Dad sighed. "You kids go up and rejoin your friends at the party. Lucas and I will deal with this."
But! But!
"Yes, Alpha," everyone else answered in unison. Most of them even bowed respectfully.
Now that's totally unfair! I was the Alpha, too! Grrrr....
"Alpha Henry..." Beta Lucas raised his hand. "Might I request that you keep what you saw down here confidential?"
Henry laughed, waving it off as he left. "There are rats in every dungeon. Just because you had one as large as a Gyara isn't anything to talk about."
And then he was out the door. I guess that was that. Whoa. So Henry did have his cool moments. That was unexpected—and rare.
I thought for sure he was going to charge us for it... by the hour, too. Hahahaha.