Chapter 133 Chapter 133

Chapter 133 Chapter 133


Hayley's POV

The passage narrowed as we moved.

I kept one hand on the wall and the otherbhekd Leo's hands.

“Slow down,” I told him.

“I'm fine.”

“You nearly slipped.”

“I didn't.”

Kai looked back.

“You did.”

Leo frowned.

“But I didn't fall.”

“Can both of you stop talking for five seconds?”

Damon glanced over his shoulder.

“Keep moving.”

We reached another doorway and Zyran pushed it open.

A staircase descended into darkness.

Hayley stared at it.

“You've got to be kidding me.”

Damon gave her a small smile.

“Apparently this place has a thing for underground passages.”

“I'm beginning to hate underground passages.”

Kai peered down the stairs.

“There are voices below.”

Everyone stopped.

Damon looked at him.

“How many?”

“I can't tell.”

Zyran stepped forward.

“Then we'll find out.”

They descended and the stairs opened into a large chamber.

Hayley froze.

Rows of cells lined the walls.

Some were empty.

Others contained prisoners.

Damon's expression hardened.

“Ares has been keeping people here.”

A voice came from one of the cells.

“Don't stay.”

They turned.

An older man gripped the bars.

“He'll know you're here.”

Zyran approached.

“Who are you?”

“Someone who made the mistake of trusting him.”

Leo looked at the man.

“Can we help you?”

The man laughed softly.

“Not if you get yourselves caught.”

Kai walked towards the nearest lock.

“We can open these.”

Damon shook his head.

“Not yet.”

Kai frowned.

“Why?”

“We don't know what Ares has waiting for us.”

Hayley looked at her sons.

“Your father is right.”

Leo sighed.

“We're not doing anything.”

“Not yet.”

> > > > > >

A loud metallic clang echoed through the chamber and everyone turned.

The doors behind them had closed.

Damon moved towards them.

Locked.

Zyran tried the handle.

Nothing.

Hayley felt a familiar pressure against her chest.

Her mark had begun to burn.

She touched her back instinctively.

“What is that?”

Kai looked at his own arm.

“Mine too.”

Leo rubbed his shoulder.

“Same.”

Damon looked at Zyran.

His own mark was glowing faintly beneath his shirt.

Zyran nodded.

“Something is triggering them.”

Hayley looked around the chamber.

“Maybe the Seal.”

Ariel's warning came back to her.

She had spent too many years hearing half-truths.

She wasn't going to let another one decide what happened to her family.

Footsteps sounded above the stairs and Damon drew his weapon.

Zyran moved beside him.

They all brought out their weapons.

Ares appeared at the top of the stairs.

He looked down at them.

“You really should stop making plans without considering the exits.”

Damon stepped forward.

“You're going to regret this.”

Ares smiled.

“Perhaps.”

His gaze shifted to the glowing marks.

For the first time, his expression wasn't amused.

He looked genuinely interested.

“Well.”

He descended one step.

“Now that's something I didn't expect to see.”

Hayley tightened her grip on her bow.

“What?”

Ares stared at them.

“All five of you are reacting.”

Damon's eyes narrowed.

“You already knew that.”

“No.”

Ares shook his head.

“I knew about the marks.”

He looked at Hayley.

“But I didn't know they could respond like this.”

Kai studied him.

“What does it mean?”

Ares smiled again.

“That is exactly what I've been trying to find out.”

Ariel's voice suddenly echoed from the corridor above.

“ARES!”

His head turned.

Ariel appeared at the entrance, breathing heavily, with Mark beside her.

Ares stared at her.

Ariel stared back.

“You're not taking my family.”

Ares smiled.

“Your family?”

His gaze moved between Ariel and Hayley.

“That's an interesting choice of words.”

Hayley looked at her mother.

“What does he mean?”

Ariel didn't answer.

Then a violent tremor shook the fortress.

Dust fell from the ceiling.

Everyone looked up.

Mark's expression changed.

“That wasn't us.”

Ares glanced towards the eastern corridor.

“No.”

Another tremor followed.

Then came a howl.

Not from a wolf outside.

From somewhere inside the fortress.

Ares' smile vanished.

“That's impossible.”

Damon raised his weapon.

“What is?”

Ares stared into the darkness behind him.

“The lower chamber wasn't supposed to open.”

The floor beneath them began to glow.

Their marks burned hotter.

Leo staggered backwards.

“What is happening?”

Ares looked at them.

And for the first time since Hayley had seen him, he looked afraid.

“Run.”

> > > > > >

Damon’s POV

“Run.”

Ares's voice echoed through the chamber.

For once, I didn't listen to him.

Something was wrong with the way the ground was reacting to us. The marks on our backs were burning, but beneath the pain was something else.

Pressure.

Like a part of me had been asleep for years and had suddenly opened its eyes.

The floor cracked again.

That's beginning to happen a lot.

Hayley stumbled.

I caught her.

“Stay behind me.”

She looked at me. “Damon, something is happening to you.”

“I know.”

My claws pushed through my fingertips.

I expected the usual shift but It wasn't.

A strange heat travelled through my chest, spreading into my arms and down my legs.

My hearing sharpened.

I could hear every breath in the chamber.

Every heartbeat.

Even the guards standing two corridors away.

Ares stared at me.

“What the hell...?”

I looked at him.

“Get away from my family.”

He took a step back.

Not because I'd attacked him but because something in my voice had changed.

I felt it too.

My wolf wasn't growling inside me anymore.

He was standing.

Awake.

Ready.

Finally.

The word wasn't mine.

I hadn't heard my wolf speak clearly in years.

I grinned despite myself.

“About time.”

Zyran turned towards me.

“You heard it too?”

“Your wolf?”

He nodded.

“Awake.”

Ares's expression tightened.

“You two shouldn't be able to do that.”

Zyran's eyes darkened.

“Apparently, we can.”

Three warlocks rushed down the stairs.

One raised his hand.

A spell shot towards us.

I moved before thinking.

My hand came up.

The spell struck my palm.

Instead of throwing me backwards, it shattered.

The pieces of magic scattered like sparks.

Leo stared.

“Dad...”

“Stay with your mother.”

Another warlock attacked.

I disappeared from where I stood.

One second, I was beside Hayley.

The next, I was behind him.

My fist struck his back and he flew across the chamber and crashed into the wall.

I stared at my own hand.

“That felt different.”

“Because it is.”

Zyran walked past me.

His movements were calmer, but something had changed in him too.

One of the guards swung at him.

Zyran caught the weapon.

The metal bent beneath his fingers and that action made the guard's face go pale.

Zyran pulled him forward and struck him once.

The man dropped.

Leo's eyebrows rose.

“Okay.”

Kai was watching Zyran carefully.

“You've become stronger.”

Zyran looked at his hands.

“I've become what I was supposed to be.”

Ariel stared at both of us.

“Your wolves are responding to the marks.”

I looked at her.

“Then why now?”

She didn't answer.

Ares did.

“Because they're near the Seal.”