Chapter 63

Chapter 63
Selene’s POV

The shadow moved again, slow and deliberate, sliding across the stone like something testing its own shape. At first, it looked like nothing more than darkness shifting under the faint glow of the mountain’s veins. But the longer I watched it, the more the outline sharpened. Wings unfolded from its sides. A long, curved spine arched upward. A head lifted, angular and sharp.

It wasn’t human. It wasn’t wolf. It wasn’t even entirely solid.

I took a breath that barely reached my lungs.

“Kai,” I whispered, as though the name itself might make him appear beside me. But the corridor remained empty. The air around me felt too heavy and too aware.

I stepped closer. The stone floor vibrated under my feet, pulsing with a rhythm I recognized the heartbeat of the mountain. It grew stronger the closer I came to the shadow, matching the pulse flickering beneath my skin.

My own heartbeat stuttered as if trying to sync with it.

I forced myself to breathe slowly, forcing my body to resist the pull.

The shadow stilled.

The silence that followed was unnerving. It felt less like the absence of sound and more like something waiting, holding its breath until I made the next move.

I swallowed and steadied my voice. “Show yourself.”

The shadow peeled away from the wall as if pulling free from thick tar. It rose into the shape of a creature with wings that stretched nearly to the ceiling. Its body hung like smoke clinging to an invisible skeleton, and its eyes glowed bright silver, hollow and watchful.

I froze. The creature didn’t attack. It studied me with an intelligence that made my skin crawl.

The corridor pulsed behind it. I felt something, faint and gasping, as though calling out to me.

Kai.

I didn’t hear him, but I felt him. His presence pulsed through the stone the way heat moves through metal.

The creature tilted its head. Then it moved aside, revealing a narrow passage that hadn’t existed a moment earlier. The opening glowed faintly with the mountain’s silver light.

The message was clear enough.

It wanted me to go through.

My skin tingled as I stepped past the creature. The silver veins along my arms brightened again, responding to the closeness of whatever power lived deeper inside the mountain.

On the other side of the threshold, the air changed abruptly. It was colder here, and the walls were smoother. Carvings covered every surface, spiraling symbols that matched the language I had seen in my visions. The First Queen’s legacy was carved in stone, a record of something I suspected none of the wolves above had ever seen.

The hum from the mountain grew louder with each step, vibrating up my legs and spreading through my bones. It was not painful, but it was intense enough to make my head pound.

A faint sound drifted from farther inside. A breath. A groan.

Kai.

I ran toward the sound and found him slumped against a pillar, half conscious. His head hung forward, and his wrists showed fresh scrapes from struggling. His breathing was shallow, and he looked dazed, like he had been dragged through his own nightmare.

I dropped to my knees beside him. “Kai, look at me.”

His head lifted with effort, and his unfocused eyes found mine. Relief washed over his expression, though it was faint. “Selene.”

I cupped his face. “What happened? How did you get separated from me?”

“The mountain shifted.” He struggled to sit up straighter. “The floor opened and pulled me down. I tried calling your name but the echo twisted it. I didn’t know if you heard me.”

“I heard something,” I said quietly. “Not words. Just you.”

His jaw tightened as he steadied himself. “Did you see that thing in the corridor?”

“Yes.”

“What was it?”

“I don’t know.” I glanced down the tunnel. “But I don’t think it meant to harm me.”

Kai huffed a humorless breath. “That doesn’t comfort me at all.”

I helped him to his feet. He leaned on me more than he admitted. His wound from earlier had reopened, and blood streaked down the side of his face. I brushed the hair away gently. “Can you walk?”

“I can walk.” His voice was rough. “I just don’t like that it brought you here.”

“We came here looking for answers,” I reminded him. “We found something.”

“Something,” he repeated. “Not someone. Not the throne. Not even Vesperus. Just shadows and traps.”

“And a path,” I added. “A path it wanted me to follow.”

Kai stared at me like he wanted to argue, but he swallowed it down. His body tensed as the pulse beneath the stone intensified again.

The mountain felt awake.

I straightened, scanning the corridor. “There is something ahead. I think that’s why it opened the way.”

Kai shook his head. “We should go back. Whatever is calling you wants you alone.”

“Maybe,” I said. “But I’m not going alone.”

He exhaled slowly and nodded. “Then we move together.”

We walked deeper into the mountain, the path lit only by the faint glow of the stones. The hum grew steadier. The air warmed. Carvings shifted from symbols to full scenes wolves bowing, a woman sitting on a throne of crystal, a mountain breaking open like a blooming flower.

We followed the tunnel until it opened into a cavern so wide the air felt thin. And in the center of it stood a dark silhouette, larger than any creature we had seen, its wings curled close to its body.

Kai stiffened beside me.

I tightened my grip on his arm.

The creature lifted its head and turned toward us.

Its silver eyes opened.

The mountain pulse aligned with my heartbeat as if the world had been waiting for this moment.

And the creature stepped forward.