ZARA POV
The ground shook, and I knew I was going to die.
"Zara, get out! NOW!" My professor's scream cut through the rumbling, but my feet wouldn't move. I stood frozen in the center of the ancient temple, staring at the massive stone statue that shouldn't be glowing.
But it was. The five-headed beast carved into the wall blazed with golden light, each animal head—wolf, tiger, eagle, bear, and dragon—burning like they were alive.
Another violent tremor knocked me to my knees. Dust rained from the ceiling. Cracks spider-webbed across the stone walls with sounds like breaking bones.
"ZARA!" Professor Martinez grabbed my arm, yanking hard. "The whole temple is collapsing!"
I stumbled after him, my heart hammering so hard it hurt. We'd spent three months excavating this site in the Peruvian jungle. Three months translating the weird symbols that covered every surface. Three months trying to understand why this ancient civilization worshipped beasts like gods.
Now the temple was angry, and it wanted us dead.
A chunk of ceiling crashed down right where I'd been standing. The impact sent me flying forward. I hit the ground hard, tasting blood. My glasses flew off somewhere in the darkness.
"Get up! Move!" Martinez was already at the entrance, waving frantically.
I scrambled to my feet and ran. The floor tilted like a carnival ride. More stones fell, missing me by inches. I could see sunlight ahead—the exit was so close, maybe thirty feet away.
Twenty feet.
Ten feet.
The ceiling gave up with a sound like the world ending.
Everything came down at once.
I dove forward, arm stretched toward the light, toward safety, toward life. My fingers brushed Martinez's hand for one second.
Then a massive stone slab slammed into my back.
The pain was so huge I couldn't even scream. My body crumpled like a crushed soda can. I felt things inside me break—ribs, spine, things that shouldn't break if you wanted to keep living.
"ZARA! NO!" Martinez's face appeared above me, twisted in horror. He tried to lift the stone, but it was impossible. Had to weigh a thousand pounds. Maybe more.
"Go," I whispered. Blood filled my mouth. "Get out."
"I'm not leaving you!"
"You have to." I couldn't feel my legs anymore. Couldn't feel anything below my chest. That was bad. Really, really bad. "Tell my mom... tell her I loved the adventure."
Another tremor shook the temple. More ceiling collapsed around us. Martinez looked up, looked at me, and I saw the horrible choice in his eyes.
"I'm sorry," he choked out. "God, Zara, I'm so sorry."
Then he was gone, running for the exit, leaving me to die alone in the dark.
I wanted to be angry at him. Wanted to scream that he was a coward. But I couldn't blame him. This wasn't a movie. Heroes didn't lift cars off people in real life. He would've died too if he stayed, and that wouldn't save me.
So I was going to die at twenty-six, crushed under ancient stones, in a temple nobody knew existed until I found it.
At least I'd discovered something amazing before the end.
The thought made me laugh, which hurt so bad I almost passed out. Blood bubbled from my lips. My vision was getting dark around the edges, shrinking to a tiny tunnel.
I stared at the glowing statue, the only light left in my dying world.
The five beast-heads looked down at me. Their stone eyes seemed alive now, watching me with something that felt like recognition. Like they'd been waiting for me specifically.
"Why are you glowing?" I whispered to the statue. "What are you?"
The wolf head's eyes flared brighter, and I heard it. A voice that wasn't a voice, speaking directly into my dying brain.
TAMER. BLOOD OF THE FIRST. THE BOND AWAITS.
I blinked. Was I hallucinating? That happened when you were dying, right? Your brain did weird things, showed you impossible stuff to make the end easier.
But the voice came again, louder, from all five heads at once.
CHOOSE. DIE HERE, OR WAKE IN THE WORLD THAT CALLS YOU. BUT KNOW THIS—THERE IS NO RETURNING. THE PRICE IS PAID IN BLOOD AND SOULS.
"I don't... understand..." My words were barely sound now. Just breath and blood.
The statue's glow intensified until it hurt to look at. Cracks appeared across the stone surface, splitting the beast-heads apart. Golden light poured from the cracks like liquid fire.
And then, impossible, crazy, can't-be-real—the statue started bleeding.
Actual blood, red and hot, flowed from the cracks in the stone. It ran down the wall, pooling on the temple floor, moving toward me like it was alive and hunting.
I tried to pull away but I couldn't move. The stone on my back pinned me perfectly in place.
The blood touched my outstretched hand.
Pain exploded through every nerve I had left. My back arched. My mouth opened in a silent scream. The blood didn't just touch me—it invaded me, pouring into my skin like I was made of cracks.
My body started glowing with the same golden light as the statue. Symbols appeared across my arms, my chest, burning themselves into my skin like tattoos made of fire. Ancient words I shouldn't understand but somehow did.
TAMER. BOND-MAKER. BEAST-CALLER.
THE FIVE AWAIT.
SURVIVE, AND CLAIM YOUR DESTINY.
The temple gave one final, massive shake. The walls exploded outward. The floor opened beneath me like a hungry mouth.
I fell into golden light that swallowed me whole.
My last thought before everything went black was strange and sharp and way too clear for someone dying:
I'm not in Peru anymore.
Then nothing.
Then everything.
Then I was screaming awake in a forest that smelled like blood, with tattoos covering my body that hadn't been there before, and something with too many teeth was roaring my name—
Except I'd never been here before.
And nothing in this forest should know my name.
What Zara doesn't know: She just became the first Tamer to enter the Beastworld in 300 years. And the creatures hunting her aren't animals. They're beastmen who have been waiting for her. Some want to worship her. Others want to kill her. And one silver-eyed wolf is about to mark her soul forever.