My breath snagged in my chest like it didn't know how to move anymore. The tiny room felt tighter than it was, like the walls were leaning in, listening. Kael didn't look away from me and that scared me more than Victor, more than the roaring guardian, more than the entire house groaning awake around us.
Chosen for something I didn't know existed an hour ago.
"What does that mean?" I whispered. "Kael, just tell me, please no riddles."
He dragged a hand through his hair, frustrated and exhausted and still trying so damn hard to be gentle with me.
"Elara, the ritual keeps our families alive, it binds our land, our wolves, our magic, all of it. It's tied to bloodlines," Kael said.
Selene scoffed. "It's tied to a lot of ancient nonsense, if you ask me."
Riven shifted back to something half-human, half-something else. His voice was blunt.
"Stop babying her. She deserves the truth."
My stomach twisted. "Then someone say it."
Kael looked away, that alone told me everything was about to get worse.
"The ritual chooses a conduit every generation," he said. "Someone the guardian bonds to, someone who… carries things."
Selene cut in, brutally honest. "The sacrifice."
I spun to her. "Sacrifice? Like me? Like actually me?"
"Not dying," Kael said quickly. "Not normally."
Selene shrugged. "Not always."
"Selene," Kael snapped.
"What? Better she hears it from us than bound to a stone pillar."
My knees nearly folded, Riven grabbed my arm, and surprisingly it felt soft.
I tried to swallow but failed. "Maybe the guardian bowed because it was confused or hurt"
"It wasn't confused," Kael said. "It chose you."
"How? Why? I'm barely Lunaris, I'm not even fully tied to your house."
"That's exactly why," Selene said. "You're both. Fynn and Lunaris, this hasn't happened in decades."
"Since before Victor was born," Riven muttered.
Kael shot him a warning he didn't care about.
I pressed a hand to my forehead, as I was feeling dizzy and tired from all that was happening. "I didn't ask for any of this, I barely understand it."
Kael stepped closer, his voice steadying me without even trying.
"I know. But when you walked into the ritual room… the binding lit up and the guardian saw you first." Sign….. " But Elara, this is somehow your fault, you don't stay in one place"
"So it's my fault." I laughed once. "Perfect, amazing, great."
"No, I'm sorry" Kael said, taking my wrist. "It's not fully your fault, it's Victor's fault. He hid the truth from your mom, from you, from everyone he can't control."
Selene leaned on the wall crossing her arms. "Victor has been trying to rig the ritual for years, he wants the guardian to obey him."
Riven snorted. "And it rejected him."
I blinked. "So the guardian basically dumped your uncle?"
Selene grinned. "Pretty much."
Kael exhaled harshly. "The guardian bowed to you, not him. That ties you to its magic, and that means Victor will do anything to drag the ritual back into his hands."
Cold shot through my blood. "So what? He'll hurt me?"
"Or force you," Selene said quietly. "He won't let the next ritual happen without you."
I shook my head so fast it hurt. "No….. No way am I letting some ancient tradition decide my life."
Kael stepped closer, his face softening in a way that hit every fragile part of me.
"I won't let anyone touch you."
The way he said it, it punched straight into my chest. Everything in me leaned toward him, like instinct and that made me feel really….stupid.
"What do we do?"
Riven sniffed the air and felt something that made him widen his eyes. " We need to move now."
Selene's head snapped up. "Victor's coming?"
"Not just him," Riven growled. "The elders, he called them."
Kael cursed under his breath. "We have no time."
Selene grabbed my wrist. "Elara, we're getting you out."
"How? The door shut behind us!"
Kael yanked a dusty tapestry aside, revealing a narrow stone passage slanting downward.
I blinked. "You have secret tunnels?"
Selene smirked. "We're dramatic werewolves from an ancient dynasty, of course we do."
"Move." Riven said.
We rushed in just as the main door behind us exploded open, and I made the mistake of turning back.
Victor stood framed in the doorway, his eyes blazing with fury and triumph. The elders loomed behind him: tall, wrong, shadow-bent.
"Elara!" Victor shouted. "Come here. Now!!!!."
Kael slammed the stone door shut. "Run."
We ran immediately. I could feel my heart beat, I was already tired from running. My lungs were burning so hard, my legs were shaking and I could feel my temperature getting hotter.
" Ewwwww…. What's that smell?. " I asked? The tunnel was smelling so bad like old blood and forgotten things that had been left there for ages.
"Where does this go?" I gasped.
"The old west garden," Kael said. "We'll hide you there until..."
Before he could finish, a roar tore through the tunnel. That was the guardian, he was getting close.
"Oh my god," I wheezed. "Is it following me?"
"It follows your blood," Riven barked.
"That is NOT better."
The tunnel tightened around us. Selene shoved me forward. "Keep going, no stopping."
We stumbled into a wider chamber, circular walls, roots hanging like bones from the ceiling.
Before we could breathe, the tunnel behind us glowed red, which means Victor found another way.
Kael cursed. "He's almost here."
I backed into a wall. "What do we do?"
Kael was standing in front of me while Selene was beside me. We were panicking as we didn't know what to do next. Riven planted himself ahead of us with his claws glowing faintly.
The guardian's roar came again and it was coming behind us. And from the other tunnel, Victor's voice boomed, soaked in dark power: "Elara Fynn. Your blood is mine."
"Over my dead body." I responded immediately.