𝐀𝐔𝐑𝐎𝐑𝐀
I snapped up with a gasp, clutching my chest as pain seized me again.
It was all a nightmare.
But my stomach dropped when I realized where I was. A cell. I knew that dank smell anywhere; Caspian had sent me down here one too many times.
It all sank in then, replaying in my mind—everything that had happened at the altar. The betrayal, the humiliation. I fractured again, every word and action playing in a loop in my head. There was no escape. I would have to marry Zeta Gavrin. My entire body recoiled at the thought.
Blue eyes flashed through my thoughts—Reuben, laughing. The memory cleaved my heart in half.
The heartache pressed in from all sides, stealing air from my lungs. He'd been right to laugh. What human could ever believe a Beta would leave everything behind to save her?
Sorrow clogged my throat. I'd been so close. So close to breaking the pack-bind—the tether that bound me to Mooncrest, to Alpha Caspian's will, to his orders. So close to freedom.
A growl in the darkness stopped me short, goosebumps rising on my skin. I scrambled away from the sound, trying to be as silent as I could.
What had they put in here with me?
I could give no answer, my mind going blank as the creature growled again. My heart launched into my throat as I finally came face-to-face with startling, fluorescent green eyes in the darkness.
There was a wolf in here with me, and it didn't sound friendly. It could smell my human blood.
I scrambled further back, not trusting my legs to stand and run. There was nowhere to run to anyway. I was going to get mauled. Which, knowing my brother, was likely the plan all along. I shuffled closer to the far wall, putting as much distance as I could between the wolf and me.
But the growling morphed into snarling, sharp and vicious. The wolf moved forward, its eyes cutting through the darkness like twin blades. Each predatory step echoed in the confined space. I pressed my spine against the cold stone wall, my broken arm throbbing with every panicked breath. The wolf's massive form took shape in the shadows—a darker silhouette against the black, all muscle and menace.
It pounced.
I threw my good arm up instinctively, a pathetic shield against teeth and claws. But the impact never came. Instead, the wolf stopped inches from my face, its hot breath washing over my skin. It growled low, a sound that vibrated through my bones, and I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the end.
But then the growl shifted, breaking apart into something else. A whimper.
My eyes snapped open. The wolf's fluorescent gaze was fixed on me, but the aggression had drained from its posture. It tilted its massive head, studying me with an intensity that felt almost… human.
Then it lapped at my good arm. I could hear the wagging of its tail. It whined and whimpered at me like a crying puppy. I was so frozen, huddled where I sat, that I could not react. It pushed its large head against me, and I found myself tentatively reaching out to touch the soft fur between its ears.
The wolf leaned into my palm, another pitiful whine escaping its throat. The sound was so desperate, so lonely, that something in my chest cracked open despite everything. My fingers traced the contours of its skull, feeling the warmth beneath the thick coat. It was trembling. This massive, dangerous creature was shaking as if it were the one who was terrified.
What did they do to you? I whispered in my head.
The wolf's ears flattened against its head as if it could hear my thoughts. It circled once, then settled beside me, pressing its enormous body against my side. The heat radiating from it seeped into my bones, chasing away some of the cold that had taken root there.
I should have been afraid. Every instinct screamed that this was another trap, another cruelty designed to break me further. But the wolf's presence felt different from everything else in this nightmare. It felt briefly like home—until it wasn't.
Grief seized me. Alpha Darren—the only father I'd ever known—was gone, without a body or a trail to follow. Tears spilled before I could stop them, and the wolf pushed closer until I buried my face in its fur.
The wolf had a musk clinging to its fur, yet it was comforting—like a hug from my father.
My mind was just latching onto anything to keep me sane, but I didn't care. I let myself have this one lie in the darkness.
A terrifying tremor rattled the cell. The wolf howled in alarm, pressing closer to me. The rumbling continued, the entire cell shaking as if it were a breath away from crumbling. The cells were under the pack house, which meant the pack house was also—
Growling cut through the chaos.
This growling was different. It carried a weight that pushed against me like an anvil, crushing the air from my lungs even from a distance. The pressure made my broken arm scream and my heart stutter. And there were multiple.
Something had entered the pack house.
The wolf beside me whimpered, its massive body trembling against mine as concrete and stone began falling from the ceiling. Dust rained down, choking the already stale air. Through the newly formed cracks, I could hear what was happening above.
Footsteps thundered overhead. Shouting. Screaming. Then the Gammas' voices, raw with terror: "Lycans! Lycans! Run for your lives!"
My blood turned to ice. Lycans. My father had told me they were myths.
More concrete crashed down, widening the fissures above. The sounds of carnage filtered through—snarls that made the wolf's earlier aggression sound like nothing, the wet tearing of flesh, bones snapping like kindling.
The wolf pressed so close to me I could feel its racing heartbeat against my ribs. Or maybe it was mine. I couldn't tell anymore.
Another tremor shook the foundation. The bars of my cell groaned, warping under some immense force from above. Whatever was happening up there, it was coming closer. And I was trapped.
Lights leaked in through the crumbling ceiling, chaos raining down with the debris. Then I heard it—a voice I knew too well, twisted with a terror I'd never heard before.
Caspian.
"Please—please—I swear, I don't—"
Another voice cut him off. This one could split rock. Deep and resonant, it vibrated through the fractured stone, carrying a command that made even the distant screams fall silent for a heartbeat.
"Where is it?"
"I don't know!" Caspian's voice cracked, raw with sobbing. "I swear on the Moon Goddess, I don't know where the Core is! Please, I—"
The sound of an impact followed. A body hitting stone. I'd never heard Caspian sound like that. Never heard him beg.
I scrambled toward the widening crack in the ceiling, my broken arm screaming in protest. Through the gap, I could see glimpses of the carnage—Gammas running, shifting mid-stride, only to be torn apart by wolves that moved too fast for my eyes to track. Massive shadows that blurred and struck with devastating precision.
Then, through the crack, something locked onto me. Glowing violet eyes.
My stomach plummeted. The color was bizarre—too bright, too vivid, like liquid starlight trapped in a predator's gaze. I knew, with a certainty that hollowed out my chest, that only a creature of myth could have such eyes.
A Lycan.
The floor beneath me gave a sickening lurch. The wolf beside me yelped, scrambling for purchase, but there was nothing to hold onto. The concrete crumbled like sand, and suddenly I was falling through empty air, debris raining around me as the cell floor collapsed into the darkness below.
I didn't even have breath left to scream.
I landed with a shattering impact.
The sound of my bones fracturing was wet and sharp, like branches snapping in a storm. Pain detonated through my body—white-hot and all-consuming. My heart seized, stuttering once, twice, then gave up entirely.
Not again.
Darkness crowded my vision, but I forced my eyes to stay open, forced myself to see where I'd fallen. The wolf landed beside me with a heavy thud and a pained whimper. He limped toward me, favoring his front left leg, and pressed his muzzle against my face. His warm breath came in desperate huffs as he tried to nudge me, to rouse me, but I could barely feel it through the tsunami of agony.
My gaze drifted past him, struggling to focus. We weren't in another cell.
The space around us glowed. Gold and silver light glinted off polished surfaces—walls carved with intricate symbols I didn't recognize, pillars wrapped in precious metals. Scattered across the stone floor were relics—artifacts that pulsed with a faint, otherworldly luminescence.
A treasure trove. A relic temple.
Everything shimmered like a fever dream. Ancient weapons lay propped against altars; jeweled chalices sat gathering dust beside scrolls bound in leather that looked older than time itself.
The wolf whined again, more insistent now, dragging his injured body closer. Blood matted his fur. He was hurt, too. I tried to lift my hand to touch him, to tell him it was okay, but my fingers wouldn't respond. My heart beat once more—a single, weak flutter—then nothing.
The golden light began to fade. I was dying; my body was too fragile to keep me alive.
"Rora." My heart pumped once at the sound of the name only my father called. "Come."
Then my eyes snagged on it—the glowing crimson stone on the ground just a few yards away. I blinked. Had it just talked?
As if answering my question, the stone spoke again. "Rora, I can make it all stop." It glowed brighter with each syllable. "Just come to me." Its voice was soft. As if being pushed forward, I began to inch closer, its tone so tender it made tears well in my eyes.
"Come closer, Rora."
I obliged, inching forward until my fingertips could almost reach it.
"You are almost there, Rora."
With one final, painful breath, I touched the crimson stone.
The wall behind me exploded, and I heard that same earth-shattering voice roar, "What have you done?"
A light blinded me, the whole world going white in an instant. Heat coursed through me, searing my soul, melting my body in a single scorching wave that felt like rebirth and destruction wrapped into one.
Then—nothing.
I opened my eyes. Four men surrounded me.
No, not men. Something else entirely. They towered over me, their presence crushing the air from the chamber. Each one radiated power that made my bones vibrate, making my fragile heart stutter back to life just to remind me how close to death I still was.
They looked horrified. But mostly, they looked enraged.
Before I could process what was happening, one of them moved—faster than anything I'd ever seen. His hand wrapped around my throat, lifting me off the ground like I weighed nothing. My back slammed into the stone wall with a force that should have turned me into a bloody stain.
Violet eyes blazed into mine. The same eyes from the crack in the ceiling. The Lycan.
"You stole the Core," he snarled, his voice the same earth-shattering roar that had demanded answers from Caspian. But now it was directed at me, vibrating through my skull. "You fucking maggot."