13. The Thing in the Tunnels
1742 Words
The scream echoed again.
Closer.
Raw.
Cut off too suddenly.
Aria’s stomach twisted as Darius pulled her through the fortress corridor at a pace just short of running. Warriors rushed past them carrying blades, bows, silver-tipped spears. Somewhere farther ahead, alarms rang through Bloodridge like bells before execution.
The fortress no longer sounded alive.
It sounded hunted.
“Stay behind me,” Darius ordered.
Aria tightened her grip on the dagger Mara had shoved into her hand moments earlier.
“I’m getting tired of that sentence.”
“You’ll survive hearing it.”
Despite the chaos, warmth flickered briefly in his eyes.
Then another roar shook the stone walls.
The entire corridor trembled.
Dust scattered from the ceiling.
Aria nearly lost balance before Darius caught her waist instantly.
The contact sent heat rushing through her again.
Dangerous timing for her body to notice him.
His hand remained against her side a second longer than necessary.
Their eyes met.
The bond pulsed sharply.
Strong enough this time that Aria physically felt it.
Not emotion.
Connection.
Darius noticed too.
His expression darkened slightly.
Not fear.
Awareness.
Then the moment shattered as Mara appeared from the opposite hallway with three warriors behind her.
“Lower east tunnel collapsed,” she reported quickly. “Whatever got through the gate is heading toward the inner caverns.”
Cedric emerged behind her carrying a massive axe across one shoulder. Blood stained his armor already.
“I found your dead guards,” he growled. “Or pieces of them.”
Aria’s chest tightened.
Darius’s face became ice.
“What killed them?”
Cedric’s expression hardened.
“Not wolf.”
A colder silence followed that answer.
Kael appeared seconds later from another corridor, breathing hard. More blood soaked through the bandage at his ribs now, but he ignored it completely.
“The western tower lost contact with two patrol groups.”
Ronan entered behind him.
Calm.
Controlled.
Deadly.
Unlike Kael, Ronan looked untouched by the chaos around them. Silvermoon guards followed him closely, armed and silent.
The moment Ronan saw Aria standing beside Darius, something unreadable crossed his face again.
Calculation.
The realization made her skin crawl.
Darius noticed too.
His arm shifted subtly in front of her.
Protective.
Ronan’s eyes narrowed slightly at the gesture.
Then another roar echoed from beneath the fortress.
Closer now.
Followed by the sound of stone cracking.
Every wolf in the corridor stiffened instinctively.
Fear spread through the air like smoke.
Elias appeared last.
Unlike the others, he looked almost fascinated.
“I believe,” he said calmly, “the guardian is moving toward the throne chamber.”
Aria looked sharply toward him.
“You know where it’s going?”
Elias folded his hands behind his back.
“Old records mention the creature rarely leaves the lower sanctum unless the bloodline awakens.”
Aria hated how everyone kept talking about her like she wasn’t standing there.
“The bloodline has a name,” she snapped.
Elias looked at her quietly.
“Yes,” he said. “But history tends to consume names first.”
That answer unsettled her more than she wanted to admit.
Darius stepped forward.
“We split into teams.”
“No,” Ronan said immediately.
The corridor chilled.
Darius turned slowly toward him.
Ronan’s voice remained calm.
“Separating now is suicide. We move together or we die separately.”
Cedric grunted.
“Hate agreeing with Silvermoon.”
“Yet here we are.”
Kael stepped closer toward the group.
“What exactly are we fighting?”
No one answered immediately.
Because no one truly knew.
Then—
Selene appeared.
Her silver form shimmered at the far end of the corridor, moonlight spilling across the stone floor beneath her feet.
Several warriors recoiled instantly.
One nearly dropped his spear.
Selene ignored all of them.
Her gaze settled on Aria.
“It woke fully.”
Aria swallowed hard.
“What is it?”
For the first time since meeting the ancient queen, genuine fear crossed Selene’s face.
“The first guardian.”
Even Elias went still at those words.
Cedric frowned.
“That means nothing to the rest of us.”
Selene looked toward the dark tunnel leading downward.
“Before the territories existed, the Moon Queens created guardians from wolf blood and lunar magic.”
Kael’s jaw tightened.
“You created monsters.”
“No,” Selene whispered painfully. “We created protectors.”
The fortress shook violently.
A deep cracking sound echoed below them.
Then came the growl again.
This time close enough that Aria felt it inside her ribs.
Something massive moved beneath the stone.
Darius drew his sword instantly.
Black steel.
Silver runes carved along the blade.
Aria had never seen him fully armed before.
He looked terrifying.
Beautifully terrifying.
The Alpha of Bloodridge became something colder when battle approached—still controlled, but sharper somehow. Like violence itself recognized him.
Kael noticed Aria staring.
Pain flickered briefly across his expression.
Then guilt swallowed it again.
Ronan caught the exchange too.
His eyes darkened thoughtfully.
Selene suddenly looked at Aria sharply.
“When the creature appears, do not run.”
Mara blinked.
“That is the exact opposite of my current plan.”
“It hunts fear,” Selene continued. “If she panics, it will recognize her as prey instead of heir.”
Aria stared at her.
“Heir?”
Selene’s silver gaze softened.
“The guardian was created to serve the Queen’s blood.”
That was somehow worse.
Before Aria could answer—
The wall exploded.
Stone shattered across the corridor.
Warriors shouted.
Dust filled the air.
Something enormous tore through the fortress wall in a storm of claws and black fur.
Aria froze.
The creature towered over all of them.
Wolf-shaped.
But wrong.
Its body was far too large, shoulders scraping the ceiling as it emerged from the broken stone. Black fur shimmered with silver beneath the torchlight like moving shadows. Ancient symbols glowed faintly across its massive body.
And its eyes—
Silver.
Moon silver.
The same terrifying silver.
The guardian looked directly at Aria.
Every warrior raised weapons instantly.
The creature roared.
The sound nearly dropped Aria to her knees.
Pure power slammed through the corridor like a physical force. Several younger wolves whimpered instinctively.
Cedric lifted his axe.
“Well,” he muttered. “That’s unfortunate.”
The guardian lunged.
Chaos exploded instantly.
Darius moved first, slamming into the creature with enough force to shake the corridor. His blade cut across black fur—
—and bounced off.
“What the hell?” Mara shouted.
The guardian struck sideways.
Darius flew into the stone wall hard enough to c***k it.
Aria screamed his name.
Power burst from her instinctively.
Silver light exploded through the corridor.
The guardian froze.
Its enormous head turned slowly toward her.
Everyone else froze too.
Even Darius.
The creature’s silver eyes locked onto Aria completely.
Then—
It lowered itself.
Not fully.
But enough.
Submission.
Shock crashed through the corridor.
Cedric stared openly.
Kael looked horrified.
Ronan’s face lost color for the first time.
Selene closed her eyes briefly like someone reliving an old nightmare.
The guardian made a low sound.
Not a growl.
Recognition.
Aria’s pulse thundered painfully.
She could feel it now.
Not words.
Emotion.
Ancient loyalty.
Loneliness.
The creature had been waiting.
For centuries.
“For me,” Aria whispered.
The guardian bowed its massive head slightly.
No one moved.
No one breathed.
Then a warrior behind Cedric panicked.
He threw his spear.
“No!” Aria shouted.
Too late.
The silver-tipped spear struck the guardian’s shoulder.
The creature roared.
Everything changed instantly.
The submission vanished.
Rage exploded through the corridor.
The guardian turned violently toward the warrior—
—and ripped him apart.
Blood hit the stone walls.
Screams erupted.
The guardian lunged again.
Cedric barely blocked its claws with the shaft of his axe before being thrown backward.
Kael shifted mid-run, silver wolf bursting through the corridor as he slammed into the guardian’s side.
The creature barely noticed.
It swatted Kael across the hall like he weighed nothing.
Aria’s horror deepened.
They couldn’t stop it.
Darius rose from the shattered wall, blood running down one side of his face.
“Aria!”
She looked at him instantly.
His eyes locked onto hers.
“Command it!”
“I don’t know how!”
“Try!”
The guardian roared again.
Mara dragged an injured warrior out of its path while Ronan and Cedric attacked together from opposite sides.
Nothing worked.
The creature kept advancing.
Toward Aria.
Selene appeared beside her suddenly.
“Your blood carries authority.”
Aria shook violently.
“I don’t know what to do!”
Selene grabbed her shoulders.
“You are not asking it to obey.”
The chamber lights flickered silver around them.
“You are believing you are lesser.”
The words struck hard.
Painfully hard.
Years of rejection.
Of being unwanted.
Discarded.
Weak.
Aria looked at the guardian charging toward them.
And for the first time in her life—
She stopped apologizing for existing.
The power inside her surged violently.
Silver light exploded through the corridor.
“STOP!”
Her voice cracked like thunder.
The guardian froze instantly.
Its claws stopped inches from Cedric’s throat.
Silence crashed over the corridor.
Aria’s breathing turned ragged.
The creature slowly lowered its massive head again.
This time fully.
Complete submission.
Every wolf present felt it.
Power.
Ancient.
Terrifying.
The guardian belonged to her.
And everyone knew it now.
Ronan stared at Aria with open realization.
Cedric looked unsettled for the first time all night.
Mara whispered a curse under her breath.
Kael, bleeding heavily in wolf form, slowly shifted back into human shape near the wall.
And Darius—
Darius looked at her like he was witnessing the rise of something impossible.
Not fear.
Not ownership.
Awe.
The guardian moved closer slowly before lowering itself beside Aria like a shadow at her feet.
Then the bond between them fully opened.
Aria gasped sharply.
Images slammed into her mind.
A throne beneath moonlight.
Women crowned in silver.
Blood.
War.
Fire consuming kingdoms.
And one final image—
Lucien standing beside the Crown of Night while the world burned.
Aria staggered.
Darius caught her instantly.
“What did you see?”
Her voice trembled.
“The Order doesn’t want the crown to rule.”
Fear crept slowly through her chest.
“They want to wake something buried beneath it.”
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD