ALDRIC

I didn’t know how many could be inside the old building, but I entered roaring, ready to cut off heads.

Too late—I was already a step behind. It was obvious they had fled in a hurry.

They must have realized I was closing in on them.

I shifted back into my human form, storming through the dark underground floors, kicking doors open and searching desperately.

Corpses littered the ground everywhere.

Fools who dared to make deals with vampires always ended up like this.

My heart pounded with fear, a feeling I hadn’t experienced in a long time—and even more so when I finally caught her scent.

I ran, descending a narrow staircase through a dim hallway, until I reached a massive cell.

Feminine scents mingled there, and among them, hers—Valeria's. But she was nowhere to be seen.

I spotted a dying body in a filthy corner and approached.

It was a blonde woman with a gruesome stomach wound.

She wasn’t going to make it.

As I knelt closer, I realized this must be the older daughter of that