Chapter 96

Nathan’s POV

A sudden, sharp pressure hit my chest. I sat up fast, my skin prickling.

For one second, I could have sworn I felt her. She felt close. Too close.

“ Emily … ” I whispered.

I was still in her room. Her scent was still on the sheets and the pillow, but it was fading every hour. I gripped the

nattress and took a deep breath, trying to stay calm.

Where are you?

Last night, I felt it again. That dull, distant pain. The second trial.

Asher was desperate to get to his mate. Something was happening to Emily, and I wasn’t there to stop it.

We had searched every inch of our pack lands. Every forest, every border, every hidden road. Nothing. No scent.

No tracks. It was like she had dropped off the face of the earth.

My eyes narrowed. Dropped …

Jnderground.

I stood up fast. There had to be tunnels. Old paths or secret entrances beneath our feet that we never knew

xisted.

“ Blake, ” I growled through the mind link to my Beta. “ Get here. Now. ”

“ What’s wrong? ”

“ We’ve been looking in the wrong place. ”

Emily’s POV

I expected Cindy to be the one to come for me.

Instead, a sharp knock echoed through the room. When the door swung open, Declan stepped inside.

My chest tightened.

His dark eyes tracked over me, slow and deliberate, before he braced one shoulder against the frame. He didn’t

say anything at first; he just watched me.

“ I told you I’d come for you tonight, ” he finally said.

The room felt like it was shrinking, the walls moving in until the air grew thin. He looked different. Polished. His

loud up, my movements stiff. “ Why are you the one escorting me? ”

Something flickered in his expression – aflash of something he didn’t want me to see.

“ Because this castle is crawling with wolves who’ve forgotten how to be human. ” His gaze turned hard, like stone. ‘ And Cindy wouldn’t be able to stop them if things went sideways. Neither would you. ”

He took a step into my space.

“ My father waited a long time to get his hands on you. ” His voice went law, vibrating in the small space. “ It would

> e a waste if someone broke you before the night even started. ”

A shiver crawled up my spine, leaving me cold.

We moved through the endless hallways. I watched the back of his head, the way he moved with a predator’s race. Finally, the question that had been eating at me all evening spilled out.

“ Why do you serve him? ”

Declan glanced back at me, his brow furrowing. “ My father? ”

‘ Yes. ”

A dry, empty smirk touched his lips. It wasn’t a smile; it was a ghost of one.

“ Not everyone is born with a crown and a pack that loves them, princess. ”

“ I didn’t have a perfect family either, ” I snapped.

“ No? ” He arched an eyebrow. “ Still better than growing up in this hell. ”

The air in the corridor felt heavy, like it was made of lead.

“ We don’t choose our parents, ” he said, his voice flat and dead. “ We just try to survive them. ”

I stopped for a second, looking at the profile of his face. “ But we choose what we become. You don’t have to be

ike him. ”

His jaw locked so hard I could almost hear the bone strain.

“ Sometimes people like me don’t get that luxury, ” he bit out.

“ That’s a lie, ” I shot back, my own anger rising. “ Sometimes you just have to fight harder to be different. ”

He stopped so fast I nearly slammed into his back.

Up ahead, the massive iron doors were vibrating. A muffled, rhythmic thumping shook the floor beneath my

boots.

The Cage.

6:02 pm

Declan turned to face me. He didn’t look at my eyes. He looked through them, like he was searching for a crack in

my armor.

Then, the tension in his face shifted. A small, dark smirk pulled at the corner of his mouth. It was the look of a man who had just found something he wanted to keep.

Before I could breathe, he shoved the doors open.

The world turned into a nightmare.

The smell reached me first – the metallic tang of blood, the salt of sweat, and the rot of death. Then the sound hit me like a physical weight.

Bones snapping. Rogues screaming.

The crowd was a sea of moving bodies, howling so loud the stone floor trembled.

I stood rooted to the spot.

In the center of the pit below, two men were tearing into each other with their bare hands. One of them drove a agged blade into the other’s throat.

Blood sprayed across the sand, dark and steaming.

The crowd went feral.

My stomach rolled as the dead body was dragged away like trash, while the next fighter was already being kicked

nto the arena.

“ Again! ” they chanted, the word a rhythmic roar. “ Again! ”

High above the carnage, sitting on a throne made of twisted metal and bone, was the Rogue King. He was aughing, a cup of something dark in his hand, looking down at the dying men like they were nothing more than

oys.

r

Silas’s eyes were glowing with a wild, frantic light. When they landed on me, his mouth twisted into a jagged grin.

“ Well, finally! ” he barked, his voice cutting through the roar of the crowd. “ Did you get lost, or did you just want

o keep me waiting? ”

The rogues surrounding him broke into a chorus of rough laughter. My skin crawled as his gaze dragged over me,

heavy and possessive.

“ Come here. ”

Every nerve in my body told me to run, to bolt back into the dark hallways. I didn’t move.

Silas’s face turned predatory in a heartbeat. “ I said, ” he growled, the sound vibrating in the floorboards, “ come here. ”

I locked at Declan, a silent plea screaming in my head. Help me.

-His face was a mask of cold stone. But almost invisibly, his head gave a single, tiny shake. Don’t fight him. Not

yet.

My throat felt like it was closing. I forced my legs to move, each step toward Silas feeling like a walk toward a cliff. The moment I was close enough, his hand shot out, grabbing my waist and wrenching me onto his lap.

The crowd went feral, a wall of sound hitting us from the pit below.

Shame burned hot in my chest, turning my face red. Silas locked his arm around me, his nose dragging slowly,

irmly along the side of my neck.

“ You smell sweeter every hour, ” he murmured against my skin.

I went rigid, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird.

Silas gestured toward the carnage in the arena. “ All of this, ” he rumbled, pride dripping from his voice, “ is for

rou. ”

The crowd roared again as another body hit the sand,

“ You like your celebration, little Luna? ” His hand began to roam, sliding slowly over my stomach. I wanted to leave. “ I can’t wait to finally have you, ” he whispered into my ear. “ To drain every last drop of power from your

eins. The Moon Goddess can choke on her own prophecy when I’m done. ”

His grip tightened until it bruised. Tears blurred my vision. I tried to swallow them back – I didn’t want to give him he satisfaction – but they tracked down my cheeks anyway.

I looked up, trying to find anything else to focus on. Declan was standing a few feet away, motionless. But his fist vas white – knuckled, his arm trembling with the effort of staying still. His eyes were the only thing that betrayed

im – they were dark, burning with a quiet, lethal fire.

Suddenly, Silas stood up, hoisting me into his arms as if I weighed nothing.

“ Enough, ” he growled.

Panic slammed into me. He turned away from the arena, carrying me toward a heavy door behind the platform.

“ No- ” I started, but he didn’t even look at me.

He kicked the bedroom door open and threw me onto the mattress. I scrambled back toward the headboard, the

ir leaving my lungs. Silas shut the door, the click of the lock sounding like a death sentence.

“ To hell with waiting, ” Silas said, his voice dark and hungry. “ You smell too fucking good tonight. ”

He stepped toward the bed.

I scrambled back, my hands clawing at the sheets. I hit the headboard, trapped.

Silas didn’t wait. He grabbed my ankle and yanked me toward him.

gasped, trying to hold onto the bed, but it was no use.

He leaned over me. His eyes were wide and crazy.

The room tilted around me as his massive body caged me into the mattress.

Then-

300M.

The bedroom door exploded inward.

The wood shattered with a loud crack. Declan stormed inside.

“ Get the fck out, pup, ” Silas roared. “ Before I remind you who owns this castle. ”

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Olivia Harris is an emerging author celebrated for her captivating romantic and steamy novels. With a talent for crafting deep emotional connections and fiery chemistry between her characters, Olivia’s stories offer readers an escape into worlds filled with passion, intrigue, and heart-stopping drama.