Before the Underground: The Underground

By Lexi Ostrow

What was supposed to save them changed them. Now they must save themselves.

Eight years ago, the government approved a vaccine designed to prevent death from illnesses. Only, the participants lied and humanity became something … else.

Darius loved Harmony more than anyone. It didn't matter that she was a shifter now. She was his best friend and he wasn't going to leave her side regardless of what her pack wanted.

Harmony wanted nothing more than for the world to find the acceptance they lost. Well, maybe her best friend. One wrong move and they'd all be dead. Especially after the humans declare war, the wolves move underground, and the vampires take all.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lexi Ostrow
• Release date: Sep 19, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215628294

Lexi Ostrow

USA Today Bestselling Author Lexi Ostrow has been in love with the written word since second grade when her librarian started a writing club. Born in sunny southern California she's spent time in various places across the country thanks to her husband's USCG career. Now, she's also mom to a far too adorable toddler, and a menagerie of pets, spinning fantastical worlds whenever she gets the opportunity. Lexi has been a writer ever since the second grade in some form or another. Getting her degree in creative writing and her master's in journalism she couldn't wait to get a chance to put her fantasies down on paper.  From paranormal romance to thriller there isn't a genre she doesn't love to spend her time reading or writing. With her BA in creative writing from UCR and her MA in multi-media Journalism from Emerson College, she's ready to take on the literary world one novel at a time. Reading and writing are her first loves, but her passion for shopping, love for yummy food and her love for all her many pets are not far behind. Lexi is an enthusiast Whovian and DC Comic Show lover who isn't afraid to talk someone's ear off about them. She hopes to one day help other readers fall in love with writing as she did.

Book preview

1

The cigarette burned a vivid orange as Darius sucked a breath in, inhaling the toxic chemicals that were no more dangerous to him than the surrounding air. 

The usual euphoria didn’t come, and he flicked it from between his lips, watching as the orange quickly extinguished, leaving nothing more than an unassuming stick on the ground. 

The sun will go down soon. He spoke to the wolf beside him. 

As usual, the creature said nothing. It merely looked at him, silver eyes flashing with a warning. The only warning the beast ever gave. 

We’ll be fine. Darius didn’t worry about the monsters that controlled the city after dark. Not the same way the wolf beside him did. 

Darius spent the last eight years dodging the shadows. He did what most humans failed to do for more than two years. 

And he did it with a shifter by his side.

A small whimper drew Darius’s gaze away from the skyscrapers of New York City. 

You’ve got nothing to worry about. I’m as safe as can be. Sooner or later, people would figure out a better plan than locking doors and hiding away. Darius wasn’t going to be one of those people, but he did well enough dodging the danger for now.

The beautiful wolf beside him jumped onto the roof of his sleek Mustang. 

Harmony! He yelped, barely resisting the urge to snap at his best friend. 

A sharp crack filled the air and the midnight black coat of his friend vanished, leaving a sinfully sexy woman behind. 

So, your plan was to piss me off and then flaunt yourself in my face so I’d follow you? Darius chuckled, still uncertain how clothing managed to shift on and off her body when she moved forms.

Harmony snorted, tucking a free strand of curly hair from the black braid that kept it from her face behind her ear. What I’m trying to do is stop you from making an asinine choice.

Darius set his hand over hers, trying to ignore the primal way his body heated at the sight of her skin damn near glowing in the light of the setting sun. She’d long ago ripped his heart from his chest, but it didn’t stop him from desiring her. 

I have never made the mistake of being out when the vampires make their appearance. She’s more than fast enough. He patted the hood of the modified Mustang. 

No, just the mistake of following me when you know my pack doesn’t allow your kind.

He shrugged. I can’t help that my favorite person on the planet happens to be a werewolf. Darius popped open the door and got in, knowing Harmony’s concerns were valid.

Her slight growl was as feral as her wolf’s. Shifter. I control my body. I always have ever since this happened and I always will. She dropped into the seat beside him despite claiming he wasn’t welcome with her.

She always did.

No, Darius grabbed his beer from beside the tire wheel, ignoring the way it had warmed from the summer heat. You’ve been able to control it since that damn microchip was implanted at the base of our fucking skills eight years ago. 

So many people stuck their heads in the sand and tried to pretend the culling of the human race hadn’t happened. 

It had.

It started innocently enough. A campaign to extend human lives beyond the dangers of illness. People would grow old and die only from accidents or old age. 

It was FDA tested and approved. 

The problem was the test lied. 

The participants had been paid for the silence and false testimony. The test subjects mutated in horrific ways. Ways that were controlled by the coding on a chip that altered their DNA. Once that chip embedded into a person’s neck, the altered DNA took over. 

It did what they were promised. Too bad it also did so much more.

Shifters. Vampires. Humans. 

It hadn’t taken long for all hell to break loose. 

Vampires murdered thousands of humans long before they knew they were vampires in their quest for blood.