Chapter seven
922 Words
The air grew colder the deeper we went, the tunnel narrowing until our shoulders brushed the damp, jagged walls. Rachel’s flashlight sputtered again, casting erratic shadows that made the stone seem alive—breathing, watching.
My heartbeat was a frantic drum in my ears.
Behind us, the distant howls returned—closer than before. They curled through the tunnels like cold fingers, chasing the warmth from my skin.
Gina slowed, glancing over her shoulder. “They’re moving faster than they should,” she murmured. “Much faster.”
Rachel shot her a sharp look. “Don’t say it.”
“Say what?” I whispered, breath catching.
Gina’s jaw tightened. “They’re not hunters. Not rogues. Not anymore.”
The words landed heavily, thickening the air.
Rachel stopped walking. For a heartbeat, I thought she wasn’t going to explain. Then she sighed—low, resigned.
“They’ve been enhanced.”
My pulse faltered. “Enhanced? How? By who?”
“We don’t know,” Rachel replied. “But they’re stronger. Faster. More… vicious. They’re not bound by normal instincts anymore.”
A tremor ran down my spine. Suddenly the darkness ahead didn’t seem nearly as frightening as what lurked behind us.
The tunnel widened abruptly into a cavern, the ceiling arching high overhead. Stalactites dripped steady beads of water that hit the ground with eerie, rhythmic taps, like an off-beat metronome.
Rachel moved ahead, her light sweeping the stone until it landed on an ancient carved archway half-buried in vines and moss.
The Sanctuary.
A forgotten relic of the pack’s earliest lineage.
The stone was etched with circular symbols—pack sigils, convergence runes, protective incantations. Most were faded, but one glowed faintly, humming with a soft silver light as we approached.
My stomach fluttered.
“What is this place really?” I asked, unable to tear my gaze from the runes. “I thought it was just a cave system.”
Gina shook her head. “It predates the pack. Maybe even predates the first wolves.”
“It’s been dormant for years.” Rachel brushed her fingers over the glowing symbol. “But it used to be a place of power. A refuge… and a prison.”
A shiver rippled down my spine. “A prison?”
Before Rachel could answer, a violent growl echoed through the tunnel behind us—so close the walls trembled.
Gina grabbed my wrist. “We need to activate the seal.”
Rachel nodded sharply. “Elora—come here.”
“Me? Why me?”
“Because it reacts to bloodlines,” Rachel said quickly. “And yours—”
Another roar cut her off, reverberating through my bones.
“No time,” Gina snapped. “Do it now!”
Rachel took my hand and pressed my palm against the glowing symbol.
A sharp zing of heat shot up my arm.
I gasped, trying to pull away, but the stone held me fast—like invisible fingers wrapping around my wrist. The symbol flared brighter, flooding the cavern with silver light.
The ground rumbled beneath us.
“What’s happening?” I cried.
Gina backed away from the arch, eyes wide. “It’s recognizing her.”
Rachel exhaled, awe softening her usual sternness. “The Sanctuary knows her.”
The vines recoiled from the archway, slithering back like living creatures, revealing an ancient door—stone, but carved with the same glowing sigils.
The cavern shook again. The tunnel behind us splintered with a roar.
A silhouette appeared in the darkness—massive, distorted, crawling on limbs too long to be wolf, too twisted to be human.
Its eyes burned a sickly, unnatural yellow.
The enhanced creature snarled, teeth lengthened and jagged, saliva dripping to the tunnel floor with a hiss.
My blood turned to ice.
Gina stepped between it and me, her stance widening. “Rachel—open the damn door!”
“I’m trying!”
The stone groaned, shifting.
Cracks of light formed around the edges.
The creature lunged.
Gina shoved me aside, claws bursting from her fingers as she met the beast head-on. The impact rattled the cavern.
“Go!” she shouted, teeth bared in a snarl. “Elora—go!”
I stumbled toward Rachel as the door finally slid open with a thunderous grind.
Rachel grabbed my wrist and yanked me through.
Gina struck the creature with a vicious blow, but another shadow emerged behind it—another enhanced wolf, crawling along the wall like a nightmare.
“Gina!” I screamed.
She glanced back at me, eyes blazing—wolf and woman both burning in her gaze.
“I’ll hold them. Run!”
Rachel slammed her palm against the rune.
The door began to close.
“No!” I lunged toward it, but Rachel held me back with surprising strength.
“We can’t help her if we die too,” she growled.
The stone door sealed shut with a deafening boom, plunging us into darkness.
For a moment, there was silence.
Then—through the thick stone—we heard a single, agonized howl.
Not the creatures.
Gina.
I sank to the floor, trembling.
Rachel placed a shaking hand on my shoulder. “We’ll get her back.”
But her voice cracked.
And in that moment, I knew this sanctuary wasn’t just a refuge.
It was the beginning of something far more dangerous.
Something tied to me—my blood, my past, my power.
And whatever hunted us… wasn’t going to stop.
Not until they got it.
- Writer
