Chapter 15：14.

I pulled myself from the darkness underneath me, the light growing stronger and brighter with each passing moment. The more I committed myself to getting out of here, the more light filtered in, breaking through the murky black sea we seemed to be trapped in. 

'We need to get moving.' My wolf urged in a panic, nudging me with her snout in an unseen direction. It was still too dark to tell where I was going, but the hair standing at attention told me I would rather listen to her than spend a moment in this place alone. Her senses were a thousand times better than mine, and her instincts were also my instincts. She had never steered me in a wrong direction before, and I knew I couldn't question her now. We needed to get out of this place together, something in my gut told me we couldn't be separated. 

I padded along the unknown floor beneath my feet, my wolf's claws clicking against it as we walked in stride. I felt safe having her here, having her with me. She was one of the biggest parts of my life. I trusted her with everything inside of me. 

I looked onward, not sure what exactly I was looking for in the deep haze that surrounded us when suddenly figures began to emerge as the fur on my wolfs coat stood as straight as the hair on the back of my neck. The figures were wolves, three of them larger than any alpha I'd ever seen. They looked unreal in size, the claws on their paws serrated and lethal. If this was the condition of their claws, I didn't want to know what their canines had in store for me. 

I looked behind me as a door emerged, a safe haven. My instincts kicked in then and I began backing up slowly towards it. I knew it needed to get to it before the wolves got to me. 

''Come on, there's a door behind us, if we make a break for it, maybe we can make it." I breathed to my wolf.

'I can't move.' She whimpered, looking at me in panic. The guardians were radiating power, and her instincts wouldn't let her disobey them. 

I couldn't leave without her. If I left her here in transition and she didn't make it, but I did, what would happen to me? Would I awake and become human? I couldn't take the risk. I had to get her out of there. If I didn't have my wolf, Colton and I wouldn't be mates. He would be free to choose another she wolf to mate and lead his pack with. No matter what, my wolf had to stay with me, there was no way I could make it through this without her strength, she was a part of me, the biggest part of me, and I couldn't leave her behind. 

I took a deep breath and turned on my heel, scooping her giant furry behind in my arms and pushing myself further and faster than I had ever ran in my life. I heard their horrifying growls of disbelief as they pursued me, their giant paws rattling the floor beneath us as they gained on us with each passing foot. The door grew closer, my breathing becoming erratic as we neared, only a few more feet. 

I heard the sickening rip of flesh as one of their claws dug deep into the tissue of my calf. I stumbled but I kept a tight grip on my wolf, catching my balance as another claw raked across my back, the fabric of my shirt and the skin beneath it crying out in agony. I fell forward then, tumbling through the doorway as the doors shut quickly behind me, locking securely and keeping the Guardians out. My chest heaving with the effort it took, my back and calf screaming in pain, but I didn't care. I had done it, I had gotten us away from them, both of us, and the high I felt from accomplishing it was well worth it. 

We had passed the first test.