ログインZayden’s POV The words Frederick said kept replaying in my mind. A supernatural anchor. Trapped between consciousness and sleep. It wasn't just poison, it was a cage. And Sarah was inside it. I looked over at Kael, who was sitting in front of his laptop, his face illuminated by the screen. The room was quiet, everyone lost in their own head, but we couldn't afford to be paralyzed. “Kael,” I said, my voice cutting through the silence. “Get on your laptop. We need to find everything we know about that spider. What can you pull up? Where can we find it? The lab tech said they originate from one specific region.” Kael didn’t hesitate. His fingers started flying across the keyboard, the rhythmic tapping the only sound in the room as he dove into the supernatural archives. The rest of us stood frozen, our eyes on him. This was our only way forward. Traci sat by Sarah's bed, her hand a constant, comforting presence on her arm. Raiden was a statue of coiled tension, his eyes fixe
Traci’s POV Ryker had been back less than an hour, and somehow the answers he’d brought home had only left us with more questions. The evidence from the cave lay spread across the table. Photographs. Maps. A few personal belongings. Everything had been carefully gathered before the cave was destroyed, yet none of it answered the question that mattered most. “Do you think he was even there?” Roman asked, his attention fixed on the stuff that was scattered across the tabletop. Corbin folded his arms across his chest as he studied one of the pictures Ryker had taken inside the cave. “If Wyatt was inside when the charges went off, there isn’t enough left of him to identify.” “And if he wasn’t?” Ronan asked. “Then he’s still out there.” Corbin shrugged his shoulders. I picked up one of the pictures Ryker had taken before leaving the cave. It showed the room where the walls had been covered with pictures of me. Even though I’d only glanced at them before, seeing them frozen in a ph
Ryker’s POV By the time we reached the cave system, the sun had already disappeared behind the trees, leaving the forest dark enough that our flashlights became the only real source of light around us. I had brought enough men to search the entire area without spreading us so thin that we couldn’t respond if something went wrong. Every man carried a flashlight, and several had headlamps secured around their foreheads so they could keep both hands free once we entered the caves. I stopped at the first opening and swept my light across the rocks blocking it. The entrance wasn’t completely natural-looking. There were stones packed across the opening, some of them large enough that it would have taken more than one person to move them. The farther I looked, the more deliberate the blockage seemed. It wasn’t a landslide. The rocks were sitting in a way that made it look like somebody had placed them there. “Clear it,” I ordered. Several of the men moved forward and started shifting t
Zayden’s POV The walk to the dungeon was quiet, but the moment we reached the building, Corbin stopped at the entrance and looked back at us. “I want to handle this part.” I looked at the printed picture in his hand and understood immediately. He wanted to see what they would say without five people standing over them. Raiden gave him a nod. “Fine.” Corbin disappeared down the hallway toward the room where the two triplets were being held, while the rest of us headed to the security room. Kael moved straight toward the monitors. “Give me the camera in their room.” The warrior pulled up the feed, and a moment later, the screen showed Corbin entering the room. Ryker folded his arms across his chest as he watched. Raiden stood beside me, his eyes fixed on the monitor. I leaned against the edge of the desk, watching Corbin walk toward the two triplets. They were both still chained to the wall, each chain short enough to let them reach their own bed and that was it. One of them lo
Raiden’s POV I hadn’t moved far from Sarah’s bedside. Neither had Traci. She was still sitting beside Sarah, one hand resting over hers while Frederick continued checking her vitals. Everything on the monitors still looked normal, which somehow made the situation more unsettling. Especially since it’s been a few hours and she still hasn’t opened her eyes. Not once. I stood near the foot of the bed with Zayden beside me while Corbin, Roman, Ronan, and the others remained scattered around the room. The door opened. A man stepped inside carrying a thick folder. I recognized him from the lab, though I couldn’t remember his name. He walked straight toward us, his expression as serious as if he were delivering news of a war. He stopped in front of me. “I have the results.” I nodded my head. “Go ahead.” He opened the folder and looked down at the papers. Then he looked at me. “Yes. That was a spider.” Kael slowly turned his head toward the man. “You’re fucking kidding me, right?” The
Raiden’s POV I heard the screaming before I reached the room. Zayden and I were already moving before either of us said a word. The sound of panic coming from down the hall had every instinct in me on edge, and the closer we got, the more I could hear voices overlapping. Then Roman’s voice cut through them. “Stop! Everybody stop!” I pushed through the doorway and immediately looked for Traci. She was standing near the center of the room, her face pale as she stared toward the floor. Zayden came in beside me, and behind us, Ronan was already moving forward. “What’s happening?” I screamed into the room. Nobody answered me immediately. My eyes dropped. Black spiders crawled across the floor between scattered roses. My entire body went rigid. “Don’t move,” Roman ordered. I didn’t need to be told twice. Then I saw Traci. She wasn’t hurt. But Sarah was standing several feet away, staring at her hand. Traci’s eyes snapped toward me. “She’s been bitten!” The panic in her voice made







