Cora and I pounded down the stairs, gasping for breath by the time we reached the bottom. She started down the dark hall, holding Henry's phone out in front of her, its flashlight blaring through the darkness. I cried out and grabbed her hand.

She turned to me, frantic, desperate to escape, but I begged her to wait a moment. "The carrier," I said, reaching for it, "for the baby."

Understanding, she handed me Rafe's carrier, and I quickly bent down to strap him in, wanting to ensure he was ready for the car. As I worked, Cora glanced around the passage.

"A lot of spiderwebs down here," she murmured. "I don't think anyone's been down here for a long time for maintenance. I hope the car…" Her words trailed off as I stood up. I grimaced, intuiting her thoughts and hoping she was wrong—hoping the car would start without a hitch.

I nodded to her that I was ready, and together we hurried down the hall, going as fast as we could without running. The tunnel was long—longer than I expected—and I was starting to panic when we finally reached a door. Cora yanked it open.

The door led to a very small space containing only a nondescript blue sedan. Cora dashed to the driver's seat as I opened the back seat, lifting Rafe's carrier inside and buckling him in. Rafe was crying, and I did my best to shush him, assuring him it was okay, but my own voice and hands were shaking. If my baby intuited my moods, as Sinclair believed, he wasn't likely to stop crying anytime soon.

As I buckled Rafe in, Cora found the car keys in the visor and quickly turned the ignition. We both breathed out in relief when the car started, and she flashed a smile over her shoulder. I pulled myself out of the back seat after Rafe was secured and closed the door. Then, seeing a switch on the wall, I pressed it. A mechanism ground somewhere in the room, but I didn't investigate, instead opening the passenger door and quickly sliding into my seat.

"Ready?" I asked Cora as I buckled my seatbelt.

"I have no idea, Ella," she murmured, but she put the car in drive. When the wall before us folded upwards to reveal a steep driveway, she gunned the engine, and we quickly climbed the rise, finding ourselves, to my surprise, deep in the woods.

When we reached level ground, Cora paused, looking around. "Where… where the hell is the road…" she murmured.

"There is none," I said, glancing back at Rafe. "Just drive, Cora—"

"There are trees everywhere!" she protested, waving a hand.

"There's got to be a way through," I said, shaking my head. "They wouldn't have put this car here if there wasn't a way to escape. Just go!"

Sighing with anxiety and frustration, Cora did as I said, winding the car through the trees. To my surprise, I began to see a road. There was nothing mystical or magical about it, but it was as if someone had cleared a path for a car just that size.

"Okay," Cora said, laughing hysterically. "I think I get it now…"

"Look!" I shouted, pointing ahead. After a few minutes of driving, I saw asphalt—something black stretching before us. "Cora, is that a road?"

"I think so," she said, hope blooming in her voice. But just as the road became clear, something slammed into the car, making us scream as we fishtailed and the back corner hit a tree.

I looked around frantically and gasped, going pale as I saw a priest in a dark robe, glaring at us through the back window, with two men at his side. The priest's hand was tensed into a claw, his fingers wreathed in shadow.

Cora looked back and gasped. "Shit! Ella! Shit!" In complete panic, she slammed her foot on the gas, but the wheels spun, finding no traction. The two men and the priest started moving toward us.

"Go!" I screamed at my brother, moving toward the priests who were already hurling spells at me, at Roger, and at my men. "Get out of here!"

Roger roared and moved forward beside me, advancing on the priests. His answer was a clear and absolute no.

We faced three priests, transforming into wolves and fighting in the attack-and-defense pattern drilled into us since childhood—one advancing while the other held back, preventing our outnumbered enemies from flanking us. Even as we concentrated and endured the priests' punishing spells, I heard my men screaming behind me; they were falling.

Roger and I worked quickly, desperate to reach our men. I took one priest by the throat and quickly killed him, his blood dripping from my fangs as I turned to the other two. Their faces were afraid, but they were prepared. One stood behind the other, mirroring our own tactic, hurling spells while his comrade defended.

The spells cut, burned, and froze my flesh, but I was too fast for them. I reared up, pounding my full weight into the first man's shoulders, knocking him down and trapping the second beneath him.

Roger finished them off, tearing at their throats. They died gasping, their blood bubbling from the wounds. Together, we turned back to the fight.

Only two priests remained—our men had taken down another, and with our help, we quickly dispatched the remaining two. Surveying the dead and dying, I noted passively that none were the powerful priest we'd encountered before.

Sudden quiet reigned, aside from the shrieks and moans of our injured men, as Roger and I transformed back into humans, scanning for threats. None came.

Not yet.

"Roger," I said, grabbing his arm.

"I know," he said, shaking his head.

We turned to give the order to retreat, but Conor was already at the basement door—or where it had been. He looked up, shaking his head. "It's gone, sir," he said, true fear in his eyes. "The door is just… gone."

"Fuck," I cursed, running a hand through my hair. "Dominic," Roger said, making me turn to him. He shook his head slowly. "It's a trap."

"What?" I said, not understanding.

"They've cut off our retreat," he said, gesturing toward the back. "They've sent enough men to stop us, but not to kill us. It's a trap. They don't want us to move forward or back. They want us to stay here…" I murmured, trying to understand. "Why…"

Then my eyes met Roger's. "The girls," he said, his voice low and desperate. "They're keeping us here to get the girls…"

And then I tilted my head back and roared.