Mated to the Alpha and His Beta (Lanie Stanton) novel Chapter 448

Chapter 448
Lanie

The second the doors opened, the members of the High Council swarmed inside. They leaped and ran, at first in tight formation, like they were on a battlefield. Their cries rang out. Roars intended to intimidate us. Shrieks so fierce they sounded like they were tearing open their throats.

Once through the door, at the sight of the vast space that had been hidden inside what looked like a tiny hut, they spread out. Their expressions twisted in confusion. I saw a few at the rear of the attack start to backpedal, but the door had vanished and the wall was suddenly so close behind them they ran into it. I could see their plans falling to pieces right in front of us. They hadn’t expected anything like this.

And still, they would not stop.

They charged on, stumbling over each other. Shoving and pushing. The ones who fell were trampled by those who kept running. It was like they’d all gone mad, crazed with their hatred.

Nothing would keep them from us. I didn’t need any Goddess talents to smell their fury and desire to tear us limb to limb. They burned with it, and they wanted their inferno to consume everything in their path.

I saw Aldon at once, his face contorted with his screams of rage and triumph. Other Elders followed him. So did a dozen or more others I didn’t know. I should have been afraid, but a strange peace stole over me.

Whatever came next was what had always been meant to happen. Every choice we’d made had led us all to this place. We’d woven a tapestry of decisions. Taken our own paths, one step forward at a time. There had never been a different ending to this.

The dead that had been pummeling us and devouring every scrap of emotion that Stella had ever felt became a single entity with a roar so loud it seemed like it shook the entire world.

Then it burst into a million pieces again. Hands. Faces. Tails, claws, horns, teeth. Arms and legs and fur and scales. Every creature who’d ever lived and every single one that had ever died all showed themselves in the same instant. And every single one was focused on the High Council.