I froze, completely.

The creature's amber eyes didn't blink once. They just stayed locked on me and made me nervous. It was heavy and aware like it had been waiting for this one moment since before I was even born. My chest hurt from breathing too fast, I wanted to look away, but I couldn't.

Kael's hand clamped down on my shoulder. His voice dropped into that sharp, urgent whisper he only uses when things are about to go very wrong.

"Elara!!! don't panic, and whatever you do... don't fight it."

"Don't fight it?" My voice jumped. "Kael, it's huge, it's glowing, it can kill me in literally one second."

"If you stay calm, it won't."

"Calm?" I almost yelled. "How do you expect me to be calm when THAT is staring at me like I'm dinner and destiny at the same time?"

Victor slammed his staff against the ground. The whole hallway trembled. His face didn't move an inch as he said, "You belong to her now."

Her?

My eyes flicked to him.

His tone dropped colder. "The guardian reacts to blood. Elara Fynn, your presence tied it to you, whether you wanted that or not."

Behind Kael, Riven let out a low, guttural growl. Half wolf, half man, fully ready to rip something apart.

"Don't touch her," he warned.

I was scared and confused at the same time. My legs started shaking as I couldn't contain what was happening. 

"Why me?" I whispered. "Why now?"

Victor didn't soften, he never does. "The ritual wasn't finished, you interrupted it. That is why it bows to you instead of obeying me. You have claimed it."

"Claimed it?" My heartbeat throbbed against my ribs.

"Yes," Kael said. His fingers dug slightly into my arm. "It's reacting to your bloodline, that's why it hesitated earlier."

I stepped back by instinct.

The creature stepped with me, same pace, same quiet focus, like we were connected by an invisible thread.

I grabbed Kael's sleeve without thinking. "It's... alive," I whispered. "Like alive-alive. It can think. It's choosing."

"It does choose," Victor said, walking closer. "And it chose you, that wasn't supposed to happen until you were ready."

Ready for what?

I was barely ready for breakfast most days.

The guardian: half wolf, half nightmare bowed again, this time deeper like I mattered, like I meant something.

Kael glanced at me. His eyes were sharp and scared, which made everything worse.

"Elara, listen. Follow my voice, don't fight it or..."

A loud crash echoed through the hall, I jumped in fear as my heart skipped. 

Riven barked sharply, his claws scraping the stone.

The creature started reacting again, becoming unstable as usual. Its muscles were coiling underneath shifting fur.

My stomach dropped. "Is it going to attack?"

"No." Kael's jaw was tight. "It's testing you, it wants to see if you can control your fear."

Control my fear?

My entire body was afraid. 

Victor's voice sliced through the air. "Step forward, Elara. Take command. If you don't, the guardian will be lost."

Command it?

Because of how heavy everything was to me, I couldn't utter a single word. My mouth opened, but nothing came out.

Kael lowered himself next to me and held my hand, warm and steady.

"You can do this and I'm here with you, just breathe."

Breathing was suddenly the hardest thing in the world.

The guardian's amber eyes stared at me, its body gave off hot air and I just wanted to run and hide. But Kael held my hand and kept me steady.

I swallowed hard and stepped forward. 

"I... command you. Stop."

The guardian froze completely.

Its claws dug lightly into the stone and watched me with this terrifying patience.

"Stop and obey me," I said, my voice trembling and shaky.

Kael squeezed my hand. "Good, keep going."

The guardian lowered its head again. A low sound vibrated in its chest; not anger, not submission. It felt like something old.

My heart pounded in my ears so loudly I barely heard the scream.

A sharp, high voice cut through the hall, and it could be only one person: Selene.

She was on the balcony above us running, laughing, terrified, wild.

"Elara!" she shouted. "You didn't think I'd let you have all the fun, did you?"

The guardian growled, snapping its attention toward her.

Kael cursed. "Selene, what the hell...."

Victor lifted his staff, glowing brighter. "Catch her." Riven obeyed and went for Selene, as she was disrupting what needed to be done.

The guardian swung its head back to me and bowed again, its whole body went tight like it was ready for a fight.

"Control it, Elara!" Kael shouted. "Do it now!"

I wasn't trained for this nor was I chosen. My stubbornness led me into something I don't understand. 

I was just me: curious, reckless, scared, stubborn.

Then Victor's voice cracked through the hall, furious: "You will pay for interfering!"

This statement made the guardian roar angrily at him, loud enough to shake dust from the ceiling. 

Kael grabbed me and yanked me behind a pillar as the red symbols flared violently. 

"This is insane," I hissed through clenched teeth.

Kael brushed my hair from my face, I was breathing unevenly. "Welcome to your inheritance."

The guardian slammed into Victor, sending his staff spinning, this made it spark shoot across the floor. 

Selene sprinted down toward us, laughing and screaming all at once. 

" Oh gosh" " Elara!!!!" She screamed my name. 

And in that chaos, I realized something painfully clear: Nothing in my life was ever going to be normal again.

The guardian slammed into Victor's staff again, sparks shooting everywhere like angry fireflies. Victor stumbled back, his cloak ripping at the hem. The air smelled burnt: stone, metal, old magic, all of it mixed into something sharp enough to sting my nose.

Selene skidded to my side, she was panting so hard, widening her eyes with panic and excitement at the same time.

"What did you do?" she demanded, grabbing my arm.

"Nothing! I swear, nothing! It bowed and then everything just exploded!"

"That is definitely not nothing," she said, staring at the creature. "You woke it."

Kael yanked me behind him like a shield, stepping in front of both of us as Victor raised his broken staff.

"Selene, move, now!!!."

"I am moving," she snapped. "Just not fast enough for whatever madness this is."

Riven lunged at the guardian, he was half shifted. But the creature tossed him aside like he weighed nothing, he hit the railing with a sickening thud and groaned.

The guardian growled, pacing between Victor and me like it was deciding who to tear apart first.

My throat tightened. "Kael!!!!, can you control it?"

"No." His voice sank, grave. "Only you can."

"Me? I just got here! I don't even know what it eats!"

"You," Selene muttered.

"Selene," Kael warned.

"What? It's true."

The guardian snarled again. 

Victor lifted the half-destroyed staff to his chest. His eyes held this feverish, old hunger like he'd been waiting ages for this moment.

"The binding failed," he hissed. "She broke the order, take her to the sanctum. Now!!!."

Kael stepped in front of me, blocking Victor with his whole body.

"She is not going anywhere with you."

Victor didn't even blink. "You cannot protect her from her own blood."

Riven limped toward us again, still ready to fight. "We don't need your ancient speeches today."

Victor glared. "Stand down, beast."

"Make me."

Everything whirled too fast: voices overlapping, magic burning through the air, fear pressing into my ribs. I didn't know who to trust, Kael, Selene, Riven... or even myself. My hands were shaking, my heart was pounding too loud.

And then the guardian stopped pacing.

It turned... fully... toward me.

It bowed its head, slow and deliberate. Its eyes were pinned on mine: old, knowing, waiting, like it was expecting something from me.

Kael's voice softened, almost a whisper. "Elara!!!!!, talk to it."

"What am I supposed to say?" I whispered back. "Hello giant creature, thanks for not killing me yet?"

Selene rolled her eyes. "Say something before it decides you're a waste of time."

The creature nudged its head against my knee: gently, almost like a dog asking for direction. But this was heavier, hotter and older.

"Guardian... stand down. Please." It froze immediately when those words came out of my mouth. And then it moved back, slow and steady, listening to me. 

Kael exhaled sharply, like he'd been holding his breath the whole time. "Good, keep going....."

Victor slammed his staff on the floor and that made the stone underneath crack.

"Enough! Bring her to the sanctum or I swear I will....."

The guardian roared again. It seemed it hated it when Victor talks to me in a harsh manner. 

The roar wasn't just sound. It was ancient, bone-deep, a force that rattled the entire manor. 

"We need to leave. Now." Selene said as she grabbed my hand tightly. 

Kael nodded fast. "Riven west hall, guard her left."

Riven nodded but he had to shift fully into a wolf and that took him seconds. His eyes were glowing. 

"Move"

Victor lunged. "If you run now, you doom your family!"

"You doomed them when you hid everything," Kael shot back.

Victor's expression twisted. "You dare......"

"Kael," I whispered, tugging at his sleeve. "We have to go."

Because the guardian wasn't calming anymore, it was shaking, vibrating with energy I didn't understand.

"Elara," Selene whispered, voice tiny. "It's waking the house."

"What?" I asked.

Kael didn't even look at me. "It means if we don't leave right now, Lunaris Manor will close around us."

We had no time to think, because the walls were groaning and the floor was trembling as well. 

Red symbols crawled across the stones like living veins.

Victor screamed something in a language I have never heard before.

This made the guardian roar back louder.

Kael grabbed my hand. "Run!"

We sprinted: Selene at my side, Riven ahead. The hallway shook under our feet like the manor itself was breathing. Doors were slamming on their own and what even made my blood cold was the windows. It was getting dark. 

Shadows stretched across the walls like hands reaching for us.

"Don't stop!" Kael yelled.

I didn't. I couldn't.

"The house is closing the old wing!" Selene shouted.

Riven barked, pointing toward the only open doorway.

Kael pushed me toward it. "Go!"

We burst through, and the door slammed behind us so hard, that made the floor vibrate.

The silence afterward felt thick.

I bent over, placing my hands on my knees, trying to catch my breath.

"Kael..." My voice cracked. "What is happening?"

He leaned against the wall, trying to breathe. "The guardian woke because of you, the manor woke because of it and Victor knows what that means."

"What does it mean?" My throat tightened. "What am I now?"

Selene's face softened in a way that scared me more than the roar.

"The guardian didn't bow to Victor."

Riven's glowing eyes stayed fixed on me.

Kael stepped closer, studying me like I was a problem he couldn't solve.

"It bowed to you."

He swallowed hard.

"And that means the ritual chooses you next."

"Next... for what?" I whispered.

No one spoke, Kael's silence said everything.

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.