The pit didn’t close.
Even after Rowan’s voice tore through the air like lightning through fog, the c***k in the chamber floor widened—splintering outward like veins in fractured stone.
Quinn staggered back, still clutching Rowan’s essence to him in that place-between-places. Kaelen pulsed faintly beside him, his silver glow dimming, his form barely holding. Jace stood between them and the growing maw, trembling under the strain of holding Kaelen and himself together.
And still… the First Alpha did not rise.
He waited.
Like a god on a ruined throne.
Like a judge expecting one more offering.
Rowan’s voice echoed again, distant, fierce:
“You can’t have me.”
But now, the shadows answered.
“Then I’ll take what you love.”
Above.
Riven gasped as he was thrown back from Rowan’s body,
