All Chapters of Seven Days Until The Underworld Reclaims Me: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

"Amara, did you run away from the lake last night just so you could give us attitude this morning?"The bedroom door was kicked open, hitting the wall with a dull thud.Declan leaned against the doorframe, holding a rusty metal basin.Inside was a cracked pomegranate, its red seeds covered in thick mud.I stopped packing my bags and calmly looked up at my fated mate.He crossed the room in a few strides and slammed the basin onto my vanity."Your breakfast. Eat it.""Since you love calling yourself a Servant of Death, a muddy pomegranate suits your status perfectly."His tone was full of mockery, mixed with a hint of arrogant pity.I watched the muddy water leak from the basin and spread across the tabletop, my fingertips curling into fists."Declan, this joke isn't funny.""Who has time for jokes?"Julian strolled in from the hallway.He pinched a cluster of muddy pomegranate seeds and shoved them against my lips."A Servant of Death is supposed to eat the fruit of the Underworld, rig

After throwing up the poisoned meat, my weakened wolf shut down. I curled up in bed for the rest of the night.My dreams were fragmented. Sometimes I saw the bone-chilling light from the Underworld abyss, and other times I saw the bloody image of my adoptive parents torn apart in the pack war.The only thing missing was any trace of the three men right outside my door.Near noon the next day, I woke up to playful chatter downstairs.My wolf had recovered a little, but my limbs felt heavy and lifeless.I grabbed my phone and glanced at the calendar.Five days left.I opened my journal.[Third wish: Watch Julian finish The Servant of Death, the painting he modeled after me.]Six months ago, Julian, an elite pack warrior and rising artist, began that piece as the grand finale for the pack's art show.He said I was his only muse. Even though he thought my stories were just make-believe, he indulged me. He painted a young girl standing on the waters of the Underworld River.He promised tha

The final day.Tonight was my eighteenth birthday, and the seventh night after the Dark Moon. The pack elders said the veil between worlds was thinnest on this night.I woke up early and spent the entire afternoon cooking in the kitchen.I roasted Ryker's favorite tomahawk steak, baked Declan's favorite pizza, and made the roast beef Julian had asked for.The feast covered the large marble kitchen island.I packed up everything in my room that actually belonged to me.In truth, there wasn't much.Other than an old photograph of my adoptive parents, the rest were mostly cheap trinkets the boys had casually handed me over the years.A cracked music box, a few old sketchbooks Julian gave me, and a bracelet.I packed these odds and ends into a cardboard box and left it in the living room.The clock struck nine. The front door unlocked.The four of them walked in, laughing. Chloe was in front, carrying several shopping bags."Wow, smells amazing! Someone made dinner!"Chloe took a deep brea

By dawn, the pack lands fell quiet.The long and tragic raid was finally over.The pack had suffered heavy casualties.The twenty-mile eastern patrol line had completely collapsed. The pastures were burned to black husks, fences lay in the mud, and streaks of dark red stained the snow, trailing all the way into the woods.Julian stood in a thick puddle of blood. His blade hadn't been sheathed all night. The edge was chipped, his hand was split open, and blood had dried on the hilt.He crouched next to the third corpse."Something's wrong," he said.The warrior behind him frowned. "What's wrong?""The path they took." Julian traced the ground with the tip of his blade. "There were three hidden sentries on the north slope, and twelve trap pits on the south. They didn't hit a single one."The warrior's face went pale. "Could it be luck?""Three hundred Rogues snuck in blind and bypassed all twelve pits?" Julian looked up, his eyes bloodshot. "You call that luck? Someone gave them a map."

The final defense line protecting the main house collapsed with a deafening crash. The deafening wolf howls and the stench of blood shattered the pack's former glory.In the dungeons, the sharp, mocking laughter of Chloe, having torn off her disguise, still echoed in Declan, Ryker, and Julian's minds.That spy was right. It was their own arrogance and stupidity that had personally driven the god who silently protected the pack into the Underworld.To save the pups and Omegas in the cellar, the three broken men fought a bloody path to the pack's forbidden grounds. This was their last resort, and their only chance at atonement.The water of the Sacred Lake had long been dyed red with blood.In the extreme cold, Declan, Ryker, and Julian knelt in blood-red water up to their waists. The toll of the ancient blood pact was worse than being flayed alive; their souls and bodies were being ripped apart.Declan's blonde hair turned white, his back hunched in agony; Ryker's solid muscles had wit