ZARA'S POV
The photograph fell from my shaking hands.
Someone had been in my cupboard. Watching me sleep. Taking pictures while I was completely helpless.
"Who took this?" I whispered. "When?"
"Yesterday," Darius said grimly, studying the photo. "Based on the timestamp. Which means—"
"Someone inside the Reed house is working for the real enemy," Lyanna finished. "A spy we don't know about."
My skin crawled. All those years I'd thought I was alone in that cupboard, suffering in private. But someone had been watching. Waiting.
"We need to leave," Darius said. "Now. If they know where the Underground is—"
An alarm blared through the tunnels. Sharp, urgent, terrifying.
"That's the evacuation signal!" Lyanna's face went pale. "They're attacking!"
Explosions rocked the tunnel. Not from the collapsed entrance this time—from multiple directions at once.
"They're surrounding us," Darius snarled. He turned to his guards. "Get everyone to the emergency shelters! Protect the children first!"
People started running. Screaming. The organized community I'd seen before dissolved into chaos.
Through the barred gate, Garrett backed away. "I didn't know about this! I swear, Zara, I had nothing to do with—"
"Liar!" The healer suddenly lunged at Garrett with a knife.
He barely dodged. "What are you doing?"
"Completing my mission," the "healer" said coldly. Her kind grandmother face twisted into something cruel. "The girl dies tonight. My master commands it."
She was never here to help me. It was all a trap.
The fake healer turned toward me and threw the knife.
Darius caught it mid-air. "Get Zara out of here!"
Lyanna grabbed my arm, pulling me away from the gate. But more attackers poured into the tunnel—wolves I'd never seen before, wearing black masks.
Assassins.
"There's too many!" Lyanna shouted, shifting into her wolf form to fight.
My wolf clawed inside me, desperate to protect, to fight. But I didn't know how to shift. I'd never learned.
"Zara, run!" Darius yelled, engaging three attackers at once.
But I couldn't run. Couldn't abandon these people who'd called me their princess, their hope.
An assassin broke through the defenses and charged straight at me. His claws were out, aiming for my throat.
I raised my hands instinctively. Silver fire erupted, but it was weak—I'd used too much power earlier holding up the ceiling.
The assassin plowed through my flames and tackled me to the ground.
His claws descended toward my face—
Then something inside me snapped.
My wolf didn't ask permission this time. She didn't wait for me to figure out how to shift.
She just took over.
Pain exploded through every bone in my body. I screamed as my spine bent, my limbs twisted, my skin rippled with fur.
The transformation was agony. Like being ripped apart and put back together wrong.
But my wolf pushed through it, driven by pure survival instinct.
In seconds, I wasn't human anymore.
I was a wolf.
The assassin who'd been about to kill me stumbled backward, his eyes wide with shock.
Because I wasn't the small, weak Omega wolf he'd expected.
I was huge. Larger than any wolf I'd ever seen, including Darius. My fur was pure silver-white that seemed to glow in the dim tunnel light. Power radiated from me in waves.
The assassin tried to run.
I pounced.
My wolf's instincts guided me—where to bite, how hard, which angle would end the threat fastest.
The assassin went down. Permanently.
I stood over his body, panting, my first kill staining my silver fur red.
Around me, the fighting stopped. Everyone—friend and enemy alike—stared at me in shock.
Then, one by one, the Underground wolves dropped to their bellies. Even in the middle of battle, they couldn't help themselves.
They were submitting. To me. Their princess.
Even the assassins hesitated, their instincts warring with their orders.
Darius shifted back to human form, blood covering his chest from multiple wounds. He looked at me—at my silver wolf form—and something in his expression changed.
Not just respect. Not just loyalty.
Worship.
He dropped to one knee, bowing his head. "My queen."
His words broke the spell. The assassins remembered their mission and attacked again.
But now I knew how to fight back.
My wolf was vicious, efficient, unstoppable. We moved like liquid silver through the chaos, protecting the fleeing families, taking down attackers.
Every time an assassin tried to hurt someone weaker, I was there. Teeth and claws and silver fire combining into something deadly.
I didn't think. Just acted on pure instinct.
Save them. Protect them. Destroy anyone who threatens them.
Lyanna fought beside me, smaller but just as fierce. Together, we pushed the assassins back.
But more kept coming. Too many.
"We can't hold them!" Lyanna panted.
She was right. For every attacker we took down, two more appeared. They were trying to overwhelm us through sheer numbers.
A child screamed. Little Emma—the girl I'd comforted earlier.
She was trapped against a wall, three assassins closing in.
No.
Rage exploded inside me. My wolf howled, and the sound echoed through every tunnel in the Underground.
Not a normal howl. This was a Royal Command—a sound that forced every wolf nearby to freeze.
Even the assassins stopped moving, their bodies locked in place by my Alpha voice.
"Enough!" I commanded, my wolf's voice mixing with my human one. "Leave my people alone!"
The assassins struggled against the command but couldn't break free.
I stalked forward on four silver paws, putting myself between Emma and her attackers.
"Go," I told the little girl gently. "Find your mama. I've got this."
Emma nodded and ran.
I turned back to the assassins. "Who sent you?"
They couldn't answer—the Royal Command locked their jaws.
"Fine," I growled. "Then deliver a message to your master. Tell them I'm not surrendering. Not now. Not ever. If they want me dead, they'll have to do it themselves."
I released the command. The assassins stumbled backward, gasping.
One of them—braver or stupider than the rest—snarled at me. "You think you're special because you can shift? You're still weak. Still just a girl who grew up in a cupboard. Our master will crush you like—"
Darius appeared behind him and snapped his neck.
"Don't talk to her like that," Darius said coldly.
The other assassins finally understood they were outmatched. They fled, dragging their wounded with them.
Silence fell over the tunnel.
I shifted back to human form—easier this time, like my body was learning. Lyanna quickly handed me a blanket to cover myself.
"Everyone okay?" I called out.
The Underground wolves emerged from hiding, checking on each other. Miraculously, no one had died. Some injuries, but nothing fatal.
Because I'd protected them.
Me. The girl who'd never even thrown a punch before today.
"Zara." Darius approached, still bloody but grinning. "That was incredible. Your wolf form is—"
"Huge, I know," I said, embarrassed. "Is that normal for Royals?"
"No," he said seriously. "Even for Royals, you're exceptional. Your wolf is twice the size of any I've ever seen. And the way you commanded those assassins? That was pure Alpha dominance. You're going to be unstoppable once you finish training."
Pride swelled in my chest. For the first time in my life, I'd been strong enough to protect people instead of needing protection.
Lyanna hugged me tight. "You saved us all."
"We saved each other," I corrected.
But the victory felt hollow. The assassins would report back to their master. The real enemy now knew I could fight.
Which meant they'd send something worse next time.
"Darius," I said quietly. "We need to find out who's behind this. Soon."
"Agreed. First thing tomorrow, we—"
A guard ran up, interrupting. "Sir! We found something. In the assassin's pockets."
He handed Darius a small black card with silver writing.
Darius read it and his face went ashen.
"What?" I asked, fear creeping back in. "What does it say?"
He showed me the card:
"Dear Zara,
Impressive display. Your wolf is magnificent.
But you're still missing the most important piece of information.
The person who ordered your parents' death?
You've already met them.
In fact, you met them tonight.
One of the people you trust is lying to you.
Figure out who before midnight tomorrow, or the Underground burns.
Sweet dreams, Princess.
P.S. - Your real enemy has been closer than you think. Always watching. Always waiting. Always in control."
I looked around at the faces surrounding me. Darius. Lyanna. The Underground wolves. Even Garrett, still visibl
e through the barred gate.
One of them was the traitor.
One of them had been lying to me this entire time.
But who?