Dreams of a Dark Warrior

building wobbled. The glass of other cells succumbed to the pressure, but theirs held strong.
    All she and the fey could do was watch the havoc outside their cell. Though all the creatures in the Vertas had their torques, none of the Pravus did.
    Regin laid her palms against the glass. “Put me in, Coach …”
    “I’m bloody ready to play,” Natalya finished.
    Packs of shifters wrangled, the Vertas mammal shifters versus the Pravus amphibious ones.
    Winged demons skulked through the ward, dragging humans into dark corners to share for sex. Horde vampires fed from the mortals at the same time.Volós thundered up and down the corridor, his long mane of hair tied back in a queue, his hooves matted with gristle.
    Mere feet away, five starving succubae waylaid Uilleam MacRieve. The females were torqueless, which meant they were probably a hundred times stronger than the Lykae would be right now. They attacked asone, launching him directly into the glass wall of Regin’s cell.
    She cried, “Break the glass, MacRieve!”
    His fists were flying, but the females were dusting off his blows. “Wee bit busy, Valkyrie!” He fought as if his life depended on it, roaring and flailing.
    Regin murmured to Natalya, “Most guys aren’t usually too keen on getting away.” The succubae had ways to make males crazed with lust. “If he falls under their spell, I’m gonna look away. Really. I am.”
    “I bet he’s fighting it because he’s found his mate.”
    Regin frowned. Then it would destroy him to be with another female, even under these circumstances.
    Eventually the ravenous succubae took MacRieve—a Lykae male in his prime—down, pinning him to the ground. The shock he must be feeling …
    When one of them ripped off his shirt, he spat in her face. “You bluidy whores! Rot in hell!”
    Beneath her hands, Regin felt the glass cell wall bulging out. More splinters fractured across it. “Natalya, on the count of three, we charge the glass. Hard. You harder than me. Because of my recent fileting and all.”
    Natalya nodded, and they crossed to the back of the cell. “One … two … three.” They ran, ramming their shoulders against the glass.
Impact.
The wall shattered, sending them sprawling forward. The pressure shot shards like bullets into the corridor, riddling the succubae, tearing them apart.
    Lying flat on the ground, MacRieve was mostly unscathed. He leapt to his feet and attacked the five, hisclaws slashing through their necks, finishing them off one by one. “My thanks to you, Regin.”
Slash.
“And to your friend.”
    “
De nada,
werewolf,” Regin said, scanning the area for a sword, a freaking pipe, anything.
    Natalya snatched up larger shards of glass, stabbing them through her jacket sleeves for later use. She collected still more, carrying them between her knuckles, ready to throw.
    Regin cocked her brow at a dead guard’s machine gun. She hooked her foot under it, hiking it up to catch it.
    Natalya said, “Have you ever fired one of those?”
    Lorekind scorned them. The weapons were so tackily
human
. “Look, I’ve seen
Terminator
. How difficult can it be? Now, let’s go find Tiger!”
    MacRieve said, “Whoa, where are you going, Valkyrie? The exit’s the other way. I’ll help you get there safely.”
    “No dice. Got someone back there.”
    He pointed in the opposite direction. “And I’ve got someone up there. Gods speed, females.” He loped off.
    She and Natalya raced away as fast as Regin could manage. While they searched for Thad, Regin also had her eyes peeled for Fegley, Dixon, and most especially Chase.
    “Is that Tiger?” Regin pointed far down the corridor. “At the edge of that big gap?” Through the smoke, she couldn’t be sure.
    Natalya swiped her hair out of her face. “It’s him.Wait … what’s he doing? Isn’t that where Lothaire’s been kept?”
    “Yeah. Exactly where La Dorada was heading.” They tried to get his attention, but there were too many skirmishes. “Nat, go snag him! Quick, I’m right behind you.”
    “I’ve got this!” Natalya bolted away, with Regin lagging behind, limping over uneven ground. The floor was still swelling up and collapsing as if it bubbled. Flaming rafters had begun hurtling down all around them.
    Yet even over the din, Regin’s ears twitched. “We’ve got company,” she called to Natalya. Pravus shifters had picked up their scent and were trailing them.
    Within moments, she and the fey were surrounded by the