Chapter 208 208.She’s in danger

Chapter 208 208.She’s in danger
Riven

The screams hit me before the door ever does.
High. Broken. Young.
They slice through the underground corridor and crawl under my skin like acid.
My lycan surges forward instantly.
Ours, he snarls. Our young.
“Move,” I growl, shoving past one of the warriors as we barrel down the final stretch of tunnel.
The air down here is damp and stale, thick with mold and fear. Torches flicker along stone walls carved too neatly to be natural. This wasn’t a holding room.
It was built.
Jace reaches the door first.
He doesn’t hesitate.
He kicks it in.
The iron barrier explodes inward with a deafening crash, and we storm the underground chamber—
And for half a heartbeat, I can’t process what I’m seeing.
Chains.
Rows of them.
Juveniles and pups shackled like prisoners along the walls. Wrists bound in iron. Ankles tethered to the stone floor. Faces streaked with dirt and tears.
The smell of silver burns my nose.
My lycan roars so loud in my skull I nearly stagger.
They chained them. They chained our blood.
At the front of the room, standing between the guards and the rest of the pups are Sky and Ivy.
Rage and bile rise in battle, at the limp bodies secured down on raised platforms facing each other.
Sky’s chest heaves, blood streaking down the side of his temple. There is blood draining from a wound on his side, but it's Ivy that makes my Lycan growl in horror. Ivy’s punctured and bruised body is slumped limply against her chains. I can’t tell the severity of her wounds from the endless plumes of blood.
Rage detonates inside me.
Jace sees Camille before any of us do.
Camille stands near the center platform, composed as ever, hands clasped behind his back like this is a negotiation instead of a slaughterhouse.
Their eyes lock.
Something in Jace snaps.
I’ve known him as level-headed. Calculated. Controlled even when the world burned.
Not now.
He shifts mid-stride, bones cracking, fur ripping through skin in a violent surge of power I’ve never seen from him before. His lycan explodes outward in a blur of claws and teeth as he launches himself across the room.
He tackles Camille straight off the platform.
They crash into the stone floor in a tangle of fury.
“Take them down!” I roar, turning to the guards.
Steel sings as weapons clear scabbards.
They’re ready.
We’re furious.
Big difference.
The first guard lunges for me with a silver-tipped spear.
I catch the shaft mid-thrust and twist hard. It snaps in my hands. My fist caves in his jaw before he even hits the ground.
Another comes from my left.
I shift partially—claws ripping free—and slash across his chest. He screams, stumbling back.
Some of them try to retreat toward the rear tunnel.
I won’t allow it.
“No one leaves,” I snarl.
My lycan grins viciously inside my head.
Run. Let them run. We hunt better that way.
One bolts past a column.
I chase him down in three strides.
He barely gets a scream out before I slam him into the wall and drive my blade into his gut.
I let him drop.
Across the chamber, Lina moves like living shadow.
She doesn’t run.
She glides.
Her eyes are locked on Elira—standing near the back, calm as ever despite the chaos erupting around her.
Elira’s lips curl in a faint smile.
“You’re too late,” she says coolly.
Lina doesn’t answer.
She strikes.
They collide in a clash of power that ripples the air. Lina’s shadows explode outward, tendrils of darkness snapping like whips. Elira counters with precise, cutting magic that flashes like glass in torchlight.
I take down another guard and glance back just in time to see Lina drive Elira to her knees.
Shadow coils around Elira’s throat, forcing her down.
“End it,” my lycan growls eagerly.
Lina slams her into the stone floor.
The room stills for a fraction of a second.
Lina reaches down, gripping Elira’s chin.
“Where are the others?” she demands.
Elira smiles.
And then—
She pulls a ring from her finger.
The magic shatters.
Her face ripples like disturbed water.
The features melt, distort—
And reform.
Not Elira.
One of the females from Camille’s faction.
A decoy.
The chamber erupts into shouts.
“It’s not her!” someone yells.
Lina freezes just long enough for fury to blaze across her face.
“Where is she?” she hisses.
The female laughs through bloodied lips.
“Your too late.”
Lina knocks her unconscious.
Behind me, chains are breaking.
“They wanted the heart of Atheren,” James yells.
The heart?
Tiranna.
She’s in danger.
I have to work to focus on what's in front of me before considering the rest.
Our warriors move fast, unlocking cuffs, snapping iron restraints.
I drop to one knee in front of a trembling Mala whose wrists are rubbed raw.
“It’s okay,” I say firmly. “We’ve got you.”
Her eyes are wide. “They said you wouldn’t come.”
My lycan presses forward, softer now.
We always come.
Sky’s voice cuts through the chaos.
“Jace!”
I turn.
Jace still has Camille pinned, fist slamming into his face with brutal precision. Camille’s lip is split, blood pouring down his chin—but he’s still conscious.
Too calm.
A female guard barrels into Jace from the side.
The impact knocks him off balance just enough.
Camille twists free.
“Focus!” I shout.
Jace roars, spinning to face the female. She’s fast—faster than most—and drives a blade toward his ribs.
He blocks it, but it costs him.
Across the room, Sky cries out.
It’s not a shout of defiance.
It’s pain, anguish and something so broken its haunting.
Jace’s head snaps toward the sound.
That’s the opening Camille needs.
He shoves backward, rolling toward the rear exit. The female guard throws herself between Jace and Camille, forcing Jace to fight her instead.
“After him!” I bark.
But I’m too far.
Camille and the female disappear through the tunnel.
Jace finishes her with a brutal strike that sends her crumpling to the floor.
The silence that follows is heavy and bitter.
My lycan snarls.
We let him slip.
“Later,” I mutter under my breath. “We end him later.”
There’s no time to chase.
The children.
They come first.
The last of the guards fall under our blades. The chamber smells of blood and scorched magic.
I scoop up a small pup whose legs are too weak to stand.
“We’re leaving,” I tell the room. “Now.”
Warriors take the next two pups, and Jace craddles Ivy in his hands. He meets my eyes. He doesn't need to speak. I know she needs to see a healer before its too late.
Sky steps forward, still unsteady but fierce. One hand covers his middle.
“There’s a second exit,” he says. “Behind the storage wall. It leads to the river path.”
“How do you know?” Jace demands.
Sky swallows. “I put it there, a long time ago.”
I don’t ask what that means.
“Show us.”
Lina moves to the center of the group, shadows already pooling around her feet.
“Stay close,” she commands the juveniles.
The false Elira lies bound and unconscious, but we don’t waste manpower dragging her. Two warriors incapacitate the remaining captors with finality before falling into formation.
We move.
The hidden passage is narrow, forcing us into a tight cluster. I take the rear, cutting down two more guards who attempt to block our escape.
The tunnel slopes upward.
Behind us, alarms begin to ring.
“They know,” one of the warriors mutters.
“Let them,” I reply.
We burst out into night air.
Cold. Sharp. Alive.
But we’re not clear.
More of Camille’s forces pour in from the tree line.
Lina doesn’t hesitate.
Her shadows explode outward, stretching like living wings over the children. They wrap around us in a cocoon of darkness that muffles movement and swallows light.
“Run!” she orders.
We run.
Sky keeps pointing ahead.
“Left! Through those rocks—there’s a path!”
Arrows whistle through the night.
One grazes my shoulder.
I don’t slow.
My lycan moves with brutal efficiency, tearing through any warrior who gets too close. I don’t chase this time.
I carve a path.
We break through the last line of trees—
And there it is.
The lake.
Black water stretching under moonlight.
A small boat waits at the shoreline, barely visible.
“Go!” Jace shouts.
Warriors lift juveniles into the boat first. I hand up the pup in my arms before turning to block another charging enemy.
Steel clashes.
A blade slices my side.
I answer with a killing strike.
Lina stands at the water’s edge, arms outstretched.
Her shadows surge wider—covering not just us, but the boat, the shoreline, the very reflection on the lake’s surface.
It’s like night itself bends around her.
“Now!” she gasps.
We pile in.
The boat rocks violently as the last of us leap aboard.
Arrows strike the water.
But the shadows swallow even the ripples.
From the shore, shouts of confusion erupt.
“Where did they go?”
I grab an oar and pull hard.
The boat glides silently across the black surface.
Behind us, the shoreline fades into nothing but darkness.
Jace places Ivy down and Sky slumps against Ivy, his breathing harsh, and eyes wild.
“We have to save her,” he says, refusing to take his eyes off her.
“We will,” Jace promises, but I’m not sure it's one he can keep.
The children huddle together, trembling but free.
Jace stands at the stern, chest heaving, eyes burning with unfinished fury.
My lycan finally stills enough to breathe.
My instinct tells me we are walking out of one fire and walking into another.