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.

Everything shook at once, no warning. The roots above us snapped loose and crashed down like dead fingers slapping stone and my heartbeat jumped so loud it drowned out the roar behind us, louder than Victor screaming through the tunnel.

The house wasn't reacting anymore, it was choosing. And somehow... It was choosing me.

Kael grabbed my hand like he thought I'd disappear if he blinked. "Stay behind me, don't look at him."

Yeah, of course I looked.

Victor stepped out of the tunnel like he owned every brick in this cursed place. His eyes glowed with this sick gold fire that made my stomach twist and the elders behind him... God, they didn't even look human anymore, their shadows stretching too far along the walls, too thin, too wrong.

Victor lifted his hand. "Elara!!!! Don't make this worse"

Selene hissed, "You're pathetic"

"Do not test me, child," Victor snapped.

The guardian roared behind us, the whole chamber shaking like it hated being part of this story. Riven was braced,  half-shifted as he was ready to fight, but he wasn't watching Victor at all, he was watching me.

"Elara," he barked, sharp enough to cut. "The guardian's almost here. If it reaches you before we move, the ritual starts. Right here, right now."

I stepped back shaking. "I don't want the ritual, I don't want any of this"

Kael squeezed my hand harder, grounding me. "I know, that's why we're running"

Victor slammed his hand into the wall and the chamber lit up in cracked gold lines, glowing like lightning under skin. "She's not going anywhere!"

Selene yanked my arm. "Move!"

All three of them dragged me toward the side tunnel, but the ground split in front of us, tearing open like something alive. Light shot straight up and the whole house groaned deep and angry, like it was waking up for real.

Kael shouted something: anger, panic or both.

Victor stepped closer with this almost-smile that made my spine crawl. "She can't escape destiny, none of you can."

"Destiny?" I snapped back. "You mean your obsession with control?"

His eyes sharpened instantly. "You think this is about control? Without the guardian, without the ritual, without you, this family dies"

"Then let it die," I shot back before I could stop myself.

Victor looked scared. "If the ritual fails, the guardian fails, if the guardian fails, the land dies. And that means the pack dies and all of us will die as well."

Kael moved me behind him fully. "She's not your weapon"

Victor's magic sparked, bright and violent. "She belongs to the blood, she belongs to the line"

"No," Kael growled, low and shaking with fury. "She belongs to herself"

The guardian smashed through the tunnel behind us, huge and terrifying, the stones were exploding everywhere. Its eyes locked on me instantly. Kael shoved me aside right as it lunged.

We hit the floor so hard. Selene dragged me up, I was coughing from the dust that covered us. Riven caught the guardian's jaw and held it back with everything he had.

"Riven!" Selene screamed.

"I'm fine, keep moving!" he roared. But I could see he was definitely not fine.

Victor raised his hand, magic building like a storm. "Elara, stop fighting this! Come here!"

The guardian thrashed, its claws tearing into the stones, trying to snap Riven in half. 

Everything was blurry from the dust, noise, claws, fear all smashing together.

Kael grabbed my shoulders, forcing my eyes on him. "Listen to me. Right now, you need to trust me, okay?"

My voice cracked. "I don't know..."

"You should," he said with a soft voice as he was sure of what we were doing.

"You do, Elara"

We could hear the roar of the guardian from where we were and Victor was also shouting  something in a language that felt older than the walls.

The floor split open down the middle, and I think it's because Victor, as he was chanting in a language we barely understood.

Selene cursed under her breath. "Kael, we need another way out!"

"There is one," Kael said. "But we have to jump"

Jump? Into what? Into where? Why?

The floor opened wider, like the house wanted to swallow us.

Kael pulled me toward the crack. "Elara, don't think, just move"

Victor's magic hit the wall beside us, and the stones were just exploding.

" Elara watch out!!!!"  Selene said. I ducked as shattered rocks sliced past my face.

The guardian threw Riven like a ragdoll, he hit the wall hard and didn't get up.

"Riven!" Selene screamed till her voice was breaking.

Victor took another step. "I SAID COME HERE, ELARA!"

Kael didn't wait anymore, he grabbed my waist and sprinted straight for the crack.

"Kael...!" I screamed.

"We don't have a choice!"

Selene ran right behind us.

The floor gave out and we fell. A long brutal drop. My stomach flipped and it felt like the world was spinning in the worst way. 

Kael wrapped himself around me mid-fall, shielding me with his body.

We fell in a cold water that was deep and violent. It swallowed us whole and dragged me under before I could even catch my breath. I kicked upwards trying to get my head up because my lungs were screaming. The current of the water yanked me sideways into pitch black of nothing. 

Kael's hand brushed mine then slipped away. I tried to reach out again as I was choking. 

Before I could do anything, a hand grabbed my wrist, it wasn't Kael as its hand didn't feel human. 

A voice pressed straight into my head, deep and ancient: "You cannot run from what you are"

I choked under water, I was panicking. The guardian was in my head.