Born of Two

The Challenges

Lochlyn's POV

This would be more challenging than I thought, and it was only 9:30. We charged in when the lights came on, and immediately we ran into problems. The maze shifted and moved. We would almost have got separated if Jarid hadn't jumped back. Then we got cut up with the chicken wire, but I knew that going straight was the correct answer. We somehow hit a dead end every time we go down a new path. Ray used his cut hand and blood to mark the dead ends to ensure we weren't going in circles.

"Ray, mark this dead end."

"Yes, Alpha."

"Let's go east from us. Chase may have already told her something that will help her out."

We head what we think is east and hear a clicking noise. We mark it with counts, how often we can listen to it, and how many clicks in that time. We walked in the same direction for a while. Every 2 minutes, the clicks would start and last only around 30 seconds. We continued straight, and then the clicking went from mildly loud to deafening. We had gone the wrong way. It was pulsing against the concrete walls, and that was when Quinn started feeling sick. He got this horrible shade of green before he needed to sit down.

"Quinn, don't move," I shouted at Quinn, who was barely conscious. It wasn't clicking that we heard that was making him sick but that tasteless, colorless gas that took him out. "Quinn, hold your breath. I know what this is, and you need to hold your breath." Carbon Monoxide gas may have been deadly to pure humans, but it's a mild reaction for us. However, we have no idea how much they pumped into our area.

"Shit."

"What is it, Alpha?" Jarid looked at me, pissed.

"Those dead ends we were marking weren't dead ends."

"What are they?"

"We are boxed in."

"ARE YOU f*****g KIDDING ME!"

"Nope, get low. Grab Quinn and help him over here. This is his weakness. He is technically mixed, so he is more inclined to react to this crap than we are. Get him over here, but put him on my back, and we will crawl until it dissipates. We will make a run on the next turn."

I had to get the kid conscious enough to battle through this. Otherwise, he would fail. Jarid got low and did precisely as I told him, and he placed him on my back. One of the secrets to the tunnels is that you can phase in them to get through your weakness. I needed to get air into Quinn so his wolf could do what he needed to do to protect him. We crawled a few feet and around a corner from where the worst of it was. Slowly Quinn started to become more conscious as his groans got louder. We crawled a few feet more and were able to feel the clearing in the air from the nauseous gas.

"Quinn, you ok?"

"What the hell just happened?"

"Carbon monoxide."

"Marco knows I am mixed, so it doesn't surprise me that he used something a half-human would feel."

Quinn rubbed his temples as he got a bit clearer.

"I need you to shift into your wolf."

"Why?"

"We have to get back over there. This is a dead-end. Your wolf form won't be affected by CO2. We can pass you in your wolf form."

"That makes sense, but something else was in there, and my wolf didn't want to come out."

"That doesn't make sense," Ray spoke up.

"Why is that Ray?" I looked at him in question.

"I am full breed, and that gas didn't affect me at all. But my wolf still does not want to emerge. Is there wolfsbane in that gas?"

"No, that is forbidden. We have to be able to access our wolf in this maze," I started pacing. I walked to the dead end and back to the guys. "Can you hold your breath?"

"Best swimmer in the pack, this guy is," Ray said, smacking his back. He wasn't wrong, though. If I hadn't known him, I would think he could have shifted into a fish. Quinn looked at me with a confident grin and nodded his head.

"Let's go."

Rosie's POV

This was easy. We followed the inclined and ended up finding the final wall. We turned to go north along the border, thinking that was a good plan. Maybe we could even avoid any traps. Chase assured me we would hit something eventually, but kept going on the track. Chase marked the time at 9:45. I think we are close. However, my head was starting to pound, and my skin was beginning to crawl, and we couldn't figure out why. But the closer we got to the end, the worse the headache got. As we walked slowly to avoid any trips, we felt the earth shake, and the lights cut out for a split second, leaving us in the dark. When they turned back on, we were blocked by a large pile of boulders and behind us was another large pile of boulders. The walls began to shake again with a deafening volume. Kal, this was his weakness as the space around seemed to be getting smaller. I looked over to him, and his eyes were wide with fear, and he walked over to the boulder and tried to figure out a solution. He already knew.

"Kal. Breathe. You have to breathe."

"The walls….. they are……. Closing in…"

"It's OK, Kal." I placed my hand on his shoulder, which was a mistake. New lesson: don't touch a scared wolf. Just then, his hand was around my throat and had me pinned against the wall, blocking all the air in my lungs. "Kal, I am not your enemy. This is Marco. We were onto a system, and he had to throw us a challenge. We are OK." I

I quickly fell to the floor when I realized that Chase had tackled Kal and had him pinned against the wall of rocks blocking our path behind us. Deren was running over to me to make sure I was OK. I could feel where Kal's claws had pricked my skin. Slight traces of blood formed but nothing severe. Deren was checking my eyes as I shooed her away.

"Chase, is Kal OK?"

"Give me a minute with him." I nodded to chase and went to explore the block with Deren.

It was solid but weak. One wrong move, and we would be buried. This one got to me. I thought they couldn't physically harm anyone here. Marco must be having a good laugh right now at the expense of his friends' suffering. I ran my hands over the smooth gray stone, and something howled in my head. It made my eyes close as the pain coursed between my temples and the pain burned behind my eyes. Something was wanting out. I felt Deren's hands on my arms, trying to hold me up as she placed herself underneath me so my forehead could rest on her shoulder. In the dark space of my mind, something slithered forward. I hadn't seen it lurking in the corner, but I recognized it immediately. A diamondback snake, as black as night with piercing purple eyes. Its forked tongue raced as a voice boomed in my head, and I gasped loudly at the volume.

"I am Simon, your summon. Well, one of your summons. Reach for the earth, and I will come to you and expose the right weakness in the wall. Where your friend can accomplish his task. All you must do is breathe. I will come from you."

I opened my eyes, and my vision was different. Things weren't their standard color. I could see the heat and the cold. I built the room we're in through the heat signatures it gave off. I could see Deren, Chase, and Kal backing away from me. Why were they afraid, and can I talk to Simon?

"Simon?"

"You figured out we can speak. Much like your next summon."

"Why are they afraid?"

"Because you see what I am looking for, and your eyes are my eyes. They are bright purple with the typical slit in the middle. You have snake eyes. Don't pay them any attention and face that wall."

I did what Simon told me to do. I turned from the group, faced the black in the path, bent to the ground, and placed my hand firmly on the ground. A small light opened behind my eyes when I did that, and I saw Simon flick his head over to it and quickly move his way to the opening. For a while, I couldn't see, sense, or hear. It was just black and nothing for a few minutes. The precious time we were losing in the black. Just then, I could feel pressure as Simon returned to me.

"Go to the middle boulder and turn it clockwise till you hear the clicking stop, then push forward. Kal will complete his task by destroying the wall without harming you. Good luck."

And then he was gone. My regular sight returned to me, and I whipped around to see the three big bad warriors climbing up on the wall. I started laughing immediately when I saw them petrified.

"What is a big bad warrior afraid of snakes?"

"You summoned a snake from your body," Chase said as he climbed down.

"What?"

"It unwrapped from your abdomen, slithered down your leg, and went under the rocks. It came back, slithered up your leg and wrapped around your abdomen, and then was gone just as it appeared. Then your eyes went completely black. Then magically, you were back." Chase said with a WFT look on his face.

"Whatever, there is no way." I tried to play it off, but I just talked to a snake inside my head. I was freaking out inside. " OK, well, I think I know how Kal can defeat the task."

Kal walked over and nodded to me to signify he was ready. I think to apologize for trying to kill me moments ago as well.

"The middle rock, you need to turn it clockwise till you hear the clicking stop. Then push forward, and the wall will fall away from us," I put my hand on Kal, and he tensed under my touch. "Kal, we aren't going to be buried alive, but we can't help you. You can do this."

Kal looked at me again and moved towards the middle rock. He placed his hands the best he could to move the stone. I could see his muscles strain under his motion to move the rock. Deren and Chase were still behind me, safely propped up on the wall. We could hear the clicking sound bounce off the walls and echo around us. Then it stopped. Kal took a deep breath in and pushed with all his might against the middle stone, and just like Simon had told me, the wall fell away from Kal and cleared the path for us.

We were free and running down the hallways once again.

Lochlyn's POV.

After Quinn overcame his challenge, we were moving fast. We decided straight north was the best course of action. The boys still couldn't shift, and we were still racking our brains to figure out what that meant and why the guys couldn't shift. During our run, my wolf started to howl, and I felt an intense pressure behind my eyes for a moment. It didn't make sense, but I pushed through and kept moving forward with the boys. I still didn't know all their weaknesses, but I could sense we were probably due for another one. I could see the time on my watch at 10:30. We took a few turns when we hit a dead end and would go back to the straights the moment we could.

We slowed for a minute to keep our bodies strong for the last push when the lights cut out. I could feel goosebumps that accompanied the feeling like something wasn't right. I knew we were in for another challenge, but whose challenge would it be?

"Ray and Jarid, get ready. This one is going to be one of yours."

We stopped where we stood, and we heard a single click. Just after, we heard and felt the water rushing in. Ray. I could hear him gasping and panicking, begging under his breath for this not to happen.

Drowning was the next challenge.

"Ray. You have to regulate your breathing. After all, we can't see anything because our wolves are not coming forward. We are flying blind. You got to focus on your breathing. Where are you?"

But before he could answer me, the floor went out on us and sloped forward. We were caught in the water and rapid-like motions. Once in a while, I would be pulled under, but I could feel the legs of my friends around me. I got my head above the water, which was about neck high, but getting my footing was impossible with the sloping and the force behind the water. We were screwed if we couldn't figure out a plan, and fast. I got hold of a person when my head broke the surface. It was Quinn.

"Quinn! We have to find the others, get Ray through this, and make a chain for everyone. I don't know what sick game Marco is playing, but we have to get to him."

"Agreed. Let me find Jarid, and you go find Ray."

We moved to the other sides of the walls to see if they were ahead or behind us. We felt the water for our friends when we heard Ray screaming further down. We let go of the walls and could see the water tinged red from the blood our bodies gave from being thrashed against the chicken wire. Ray, holding onto the wall with all his might with one hand and with the other holding onto an unconscious Jarid, when we got to him. You could see the exhaustion painted on his face.

"He hit his head against the floor when it sloped out, and I can't hold on much longer! Please help me!"

Quinn got to Jarid's lifeless body and was able to get a footing behind Ray's massive body to help him hold up Jarid.

"Ray, you have to go under the water and find the pulley for the end. I don't know what it looks like, but it will be at the deepest part, and we are about shoulder deep in water. We have to go further down, but you have to be the one to find it."

"Dude, I can't do that."

"Yes, you can. You can do this."

Ray nodded his head at me and let go of the wall. Within seconds, he was washed away by water. It seemed like forever before the water slowed, and a loud gurgling sound came from another hallway. Our bodies were slashed and cut from the wire. But we were all OK. Jarid was slung over Quinn's shoulders, and we made our way to where we could hear Ray swearing about how he was going to kill Marco. He sat next to the red rope, curled up in a ball. I couldn't make out what was tears and or remaining water dripping from his curly dark brown hair.

"You OK, man?"

"Yeah, let's finish this so I can drown Marco. How is Jarid?"

"Still out cold. Let's keep going. We can't be given another task till he wakes up, and that could give us the time we need."

"True. He should wake up soon, though."

"Hopefully. I don't want him to fail."

We continued on down the hallway we were in. Two challenges down, one to go.

Rosie's POV

We rechecked the time for 10:45. This was the most extended time of my life. We had Kal's challenge over with, so now it was Deren or Chase next. We ran straight, keeping along the same wall until, at one point, we changed direction to get us closer to the inside of the maze and get us closer to the exit ramp. As we got closer to the middle, the heat inside me ravaged my organs. I shoved the pain down because I didn't want to fail my team. The pressure in my head heightened and became more overwhelming as something banged against the inside of my subconscious. I finally had to stop and catch my breath from the pain when Deren came up to check on me.

"Are you OK, Luna?"

"Deren."

"Sorry. Rosie, are you OK."

"Yeah, just not feeling good. Probably just overworked my body after being in bed for so many days, you know?"

"Yeah. But I want you to sit down and-"Deren looked off into the distance where a green haze had appeared. Fear clouded her eyes.

"No. It can't be you." She mumbled under her breath.

"Deren?"

No response. I stood up and shook her shoulders when Kal ran back to us. "What's wrong with her?"

"I don't know. We talked, and she saw the green haze and said, 'No. It can't be you,' and now she is catatonic."

Now Chase was in the mix, standing there trying to get Deren to snap out of it. When a whisper sounded through the halls,

"Deren, my love, come to me."

Chase's body went rigid, and Kal's face showed nothing but anger. Deren, at that moment, started sobbing and put her hands over her ears. Realizing what was happening, I was filled with rage, too. I don't care what physical objects you throw in my way; this was a new breed of psychological torment. Deren's body was brought to the floor, racked with sobbing. I don't know how to help her. All I know is that the green fog is producing a gas that makes her hallucinate, and we can't have her go near it. Deren stands up to face the smoke. She longs to run to it; she wants to run into the place where her late husband is beckoning her to. We can see the deep green fog swirling in the air, but it is held in by some force. Chase takes a step away, and the force keeping it in moves closer to us. We physically can't move without this gas coming closer and closer to encasing us.

"Nobody move."

Kal has his body in front of Deren, holding her shoulders back, attempting to reason with her. "Deren, this isn't him. This isn't Anthony. He is dead, Deren."

"No, I see him. He is right there. I can go to him right now and feel his arms around me." Deren had tears streaming down her face. This is her task where she has to walk away from the past. They need to know she is not afraid to face her demons.

I look at Kal, knowing he will not do what I ask, but I need to try, or Chase will have to intervene.

"Kal, let her go."

"Hell no!"

"KAL!" Chase raised his voice.

"Kal, that smoke is a mirage. It won't hurt her. They need to know that Deren can look at her hurt and keep going. They are testing her emotional resolve. You have to let her do this, or we fail. Deren needs to do this."

Then I saw Kal's eyes flash with pain and grief. "I can't let her get hurt."

"Why is that?"

"Anthony was my brother. Making her my sister-in-law and Violet my niece."

"Oh, Kal. I can't understand this for you, but you need to trust Deren that she can walk into the past and come back from it. You need to let her do this."

He looks to Deren, searching for permission to let her go. He didn't receive any, as her eyes were glossed over with the tears waiting to fall. He pulled her in for one last hug and moved away from her. He couldn't see the final connection to his brother being put in danger as he turned away. The second Deren was free from his grip, she walked forward into the smoke.

We waited for what felt like an eternity for Deren to reappear. We didn't know if she would try to stay and be with the ghost of Anthony. Chase explained that we would have to move at one point, and Sebastian would come, get her out and let her know she hadn't passed. But I wanted to wait, so we held on. Soon enough, Deren's silhouette appeared in the smoke. She walked to the edge, and I could see the longing in her to look back to where he was. However, she went this far to leave her pain in the past, so she stepped from the fog. As fast as the fog moved through the air, it vanished.

I heard Kal sigh in relief. Chase and I were shocked at how Deren walked out. She had a smile plastered on her lips and sweet tears of joy rolling down her cheeks. All she felt was relief and solace.

Lochlyn's POV.

Jarid is still out cold. We have stopped to check up on him periodically. I am becoming concerned that he won't make his time when the task will arrive. We mark the challenges one hour apart, and now it is 11:25, and still, nothing of a challenge has presented itself to us. My mind wanders to Rosie often now that we are reaching the end. We keep moving forward. I know where we are and am becoming very aware of the circumstances I have found myself. Two weeks ago, I met with my father regarding this girl who was almost a total stranger and a human. Now she is a wolf who has challenged me. This nightmare is almost over because I will win, have her stay, and she will see the world I can give her. I just want to provide her with this world, my world. I can feel the throbbing pain again from before behind my eyes. I could feel Rosie's stress, and it started making me nervous. I could smell her sweet scent invading my senses, so I could tell her group was close. My dad wasn't kidding when he said this would be tight with Chase on her team, but I was hoping it wouldn't be this close. We need to hurry up. I am slowed down by this massive man I am carrying on my shoulders and wonder what it would be like to carry Rosalynn around. I need to get her out of my head and later let her invade my thoughts and dreams like she has every night. We rounded the corner and then after about 10 minutes we went round another and I can see the end of the underground and I couldn't believe it. She isn't there yet, so I have a straight shot for the win.

"Ray and Quinn get in front. You need to emerge first. Take Jarid out; he needs to see a doc immediately." We put Jarid on Quinn's shoulders. I could hear a slight groan coming from Jarid and was hoping he would wake up in time for his task, but I have to put Quinn and Ray first now. They passed their test. I will fight for Jarid as Ray's task was dangerous enough for him to get hurt. I just hope he can get this done. I hope he doesn't have hard feelings; I just need to end this for everyone.

As I shake out my shoulders, I can feel my wolf pacing in my head. He whimpers loudly and howls. He directs me back to wherever Rosie is and lets me know something is wrong. I realize this too late when a bone-breaking pain splits through my body and brings me to the ground gasping for air.

I can feel Ray's hand on my shoulder, and I can hear Ray's voice trying to pull me back to reality.

"Ray, something is wrong with Rosie."

Rosalynn's POV

We did Deren's task with ease. I don't think it will be that easy on her in the next few days, and I will need to check on her then. Now it's time to finish this race. Kal and Deren are all smiles as they are about to earn their title of Elite Warrior. Chase walks up behind and places his massive hands on my shoulder.

"You did it, Ros!"

"We don't know that yet. He could have cleared it hours ago."

"Nope, he would have linked me if he had."

" OK, well, we still don't know."

"Ok. Whatever, Queen of the Stubborn," he says with a mock bow. "Are you ready for your birthday tomorrow? I know that Jojo has got some major plans for you."

"Plans?"

"Yup. Hey, are you OK?"

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Your eyes are flipping shades again. They are yellow this time."

"Yellow?"

As we continued talking about my birthday plans, I could feel the pounding in my head return. This was different than before. What was dull and achy was now throbbing and nauseating. I looked toward Chase and lurched over, vomiting on his shoes before being brought down to my hands and knees. That something trying to break loose from earlier was gaining control. I let out a scream as I rolled to my side. I could hear Chase yelling for help, but no one else was coming. We were so close to the finish line I had to push through this. I could feel Deren around me trying to take my vitals. It felt like my bones were breaking. Kal was shouting something at the walls.

"Stop. We have to cross the finish line.. for you guys." I said, trying to sit up. "Chase, help me up."

"No, stay down." Deren tried telling me.

"Nope. You guys just went through hell to pass this. I am not blowing this for you."

"How do we do this, Chase?"

Chase was pacing around, trying to figure out what to do as Deren helped me sit against a wall. Kal was talking to me, trying to keep me awake, but I wanted to close my eyes and sleep forever. Then I smelled it; the deep earthy scent was intoxicating to me. Lochlyn was close, and with this knowledge, the thing in my head broke loose. I need Lochlyn. I found the strength to stand and hobbleun towards the smell. I could hear the three running after me. We rounded the corner, and I could see the group of boys about 60 yards ahead of us.

I could see Lochlyn doubled over on the floor as Ray was trying to get him to stand up. I could see the shape of one of the guys on a pair of shoulders. We have to keep moving. I can see Lochlyn in pain, but he manages to stand and turn to face me. I take off running as fast as my body will carry me. Letting adrenaline dull the pain and control the muscles and their movements. I get about 10 feet away from him when I can't run anymore, and I lose all control. My body broke, and things started changing. I can feel the pain in my hands as my claws emerge, and I can see the pieces of hair breaking through my skin. I can see my vision and senses heightening and the ground moving away from me. The feeling of my clothing tearing and my face changing. I am trying to fight this change inside of me. I can hear Chase and Lochlyn screaming at everyone to back up. I close my eyes to protect myself from the blinding lights around me. When I open them, I am towering above everyone else. They are all just staring at me in awe. My heart is racing, and I can feel a low growl building in my chest.

"Rosalynn, breathe. You just shifted. You are OK. Breath out and concentrate on your human body, and you will shift back."

I looked at my team and nodded my head, snout, whatever you call this body part, forward, and they knew exactly what I meant. I jumped in front of the other team and blocked the four boys from them. Chase, Kal, and Deren ran to the finish line, and I started running after them. My wolf howled in my head with joy at the ability to stretch her legs. Just then, I am tackled by a giant golden wolf. Lochlyn. We roll towards the finish line, where I use my new strength to force him off of me. He stumbles back with a low growl. There I stood as a full wolf, something I never imagined, staring down at Lochlyn. My wolf nods to me inside and lays down with her wolf tail wagging. She gave up control and let me shift back to my human body. I was suddenly freezing cold and very aware that I was butt-naked. Lochlyn had turned back and caught me in time before I hit the floor. I looked up from his arms, placed my palm on his hard jaw-line, and smiled.

"Mate."