MasukZANA'S POVThe creature smiled.The moment that horrible smile appeared on its face, every hair on my body stood up. My wolf snarled so violently inside my head that I nearly lost my balance. The black crystal behind the creature continued cracking apart, and with every crack, more dark magic entered the chamber. The entire maze shook around us.Nobody moved. Nobody even seemed capable of moving.The creature's silver eyes remained locked on me, and something about the way it looked at me made my stomach twist. It wasn't looking at me like prey. It wasn't looking at me like an enemy either. It looked at me as if it recognized me.That terrified me more than anything.Then the loud howl echoed through the maze again.The sound came from somewhere deep under the chamber. It wasn't human. It wasn't wolf. It was something far older. The noise vibrated through the stone floor and through my bones.The Wraith's smile vanished instantly. For the first time since it appeared, it looked scar
ZANA'S POVThe shadow smiled.My entire body locked up.Every instinct inside me screamed at once. My wolf slammed against the walls of my mind, snarling so violently that it hurt. The Lunae mark on my ankle burned hotter than it ever had before.I was so scared that it was difficult to breathe.The creature slowly pulled itself free from the crystal.The creature was as dark as night. It had black runes across its skin, constantly shifting and moving. Silver eyes glowed inside the darkness, but they weren't normal eyes. They looked old and hungry.Around me, House Varen stared in horror.Jessie stumbled backward immediately. Her face had gone completely pale. Even her wolf was panicking."What is that?" she whispered.Nobody answered....because nobody knew.The creature's smile widened, then it spoke. "At last."Its voice echoed through the chamber like dozens of voices speaking at once. The sound sent chills down my spine. EvCael immediately stepped in front of the team."Defensive
ZANA'S POVPain.That was the first thing I felt.The pain spread through my body. It felt like claws tearing through flesh. My Lunae mark burned so fiercely that I thought my skin might split open. The black runes covering the chamber floor glowed brighter with every passing second, and each pulse sent another wave of agony through me.I dropped to both knees.My hands slammed against the cold stone floor as I struggled to breathe. Around me, House Varen was falling apart.Jessie was crying. She was actually crying.Tears streamed down her face while she stared at something only she could see. They were still battling their visions. Her entire body shook violently. She kept reaching forward with trembling hands."No," she whispered. "Please don't leave me."My chest tightened.Whatever vision she was trapped in, it was destroying her.A few feet away, Cael looked just as bad.The usually confident captain stood frozen in place. His eyes were wide with horror. Sweat covered his foreh
PERCY’S POVThe moment Ken finished explaining what he thought our father had done, I stopped hearing the crowd.The cheers.The announcements.The noise from thousands of spectators.None of it mattered anymore.All I could see was Zana trapped inside that chamber.My wolf was losing his mind.He paced violently inside my head, throwing himself against my control. Every instinct I possessed screamed at me to go to her. To tear down every wall standing between us. To protect my mate.Darren wasn’t doing any better.His fists were clenched so tightly that his knuckles had turned white. His golden eyes flashed dangerously as his wolf pushed closer to the surface.“We’re wasting time,” he growled.Ken’s jaw tightened.“We rush in blindly and we fail.”“We can’t just sit here!”“I know.”For the first time, Ken’s voice cracked slightly.That terrified me more than anything.Because Ken never lost control.Never.If even he was struggling, then the situation was worse than I thought.Below
ZANA'S POVThe moment the realization hit me, I felt even more scared than before.There was only one name playing over and over in my head. Lucius.The name echoed through my mind as I stared at the corrupted crystal in the center of the chamber. My Lunae mark burned so violently that I nearly cried out. Heat spread through my ankle and up my leg, pulsing with every heartbeat.My wolf paced frantically inside my head. Her growls kept growing louder with every second.Something was terribly wrong. The entire chamber seemed alive now.Black Lunae runes spread across the stone floor. They crawled outward from the crystal in twisting patterns. They looked corrupted now.Around me, members of House Varen began backing away nervously."What is happening?" someone shouted."This isn't part of the challenge!""Why won't the doors open?"Panic spread through the room.The massive stone exits slammed shut hard. Ancient symbols immediately appeared across the sealed doors. They glowed black
ZANA'S POVThe deeper we moved into the maze, the worse the feeling became.At first, I tried to ignore it. After everything that had happened during the tournament, I assumed it was just nerves.Lucius was watching from the royal viewing box. Thousands of spectators were watching every move we made. The pressure alone was enough to make anyone uneasy.But this felt different.My wolf was becoming increasingly agitated.She paced endlessly inside my head. I could practically feel her claws scraping against the walls of my mind.Every few seconds, she would growl warningly. The sound echoed through our bond. It made my heart beat race even faster.Something was wrong….very wrong.I walked at the front of House Varen's formation beside Cael while Jessie stayed close to my left.The maze corridor was lit up by floating silver lanterns. The place looked magical. That should have felt comforting. Instead, the light seemed colder now.The runes carved into the walls flickered in a strange w







