"This one will tear you from the inside," Elder Magnus said, his voice echoing across the training grounds. His silver eyes scanned the young alphas standing before him, their shoulders squared, expressions unreadable.
"Today," he continued, "you will be tested on loyalty. Not strength. Not speed. But your hearts."
The air shifted as the illusion field went into life around them. The mountain disappeared, replaced by a bloodied battlefield. Fires crackled in the distance. Wolves howled in agony. And in front of each alpha stood two paths.
"You must choose," Another elder said, his voice hard as stone. "Your pack... or your mate."
Maverick's jaw clenched. His illusion shimmered. On one side, Rory was in a coma, and even at that, her eyes filled with fear.
"Make your choice, Alpha," a voice echoed.
Maverick didn't hesitate.
"I won't leave her," Maverick growled. "The pack may survive. But Rory is my soul. Without her, I'm nothing."
The illusion flickered. The test ended. The Elders whispered to one another, nodding.
Maverick stepped back, his heart was pounding but calm.
Alexander stepped forward next. His illusion built itself quickly, Rory crying, chained by shadows, while his warriors screamed his name, cornered and breaking.
He hesitated. His fingers twitched.
"I can fix both," Alexander muttered to himself. "I can have her and lead. I was made for both."
"Choose!" the voice roared.
He stepped toward the battlefield, stretching a hand, then pivoted, shouting commands at his warriors.
The illusion shattered.
"Greedy," The elder muttered.
"Unwise," another elder added.
Lachlan didn't move. He stood still, arms crossed, staring at the illusion like it insulted him.
"I don't play games," he said flatly. "I know where my loyalty lies. I don't need to prove it in illusions."
"You refuse the challenge?" The eldre raised a brow.
"Damn right I do." The elders exchanged glances, being unimpressed.
Then came Ethan. He walked slowly into the illusion. It morphed quickly into something deeply personal, He hesitated too long.
"I... I don't know what to do," he whispered.
The illusion disappeared.
The elders scribbled something down as Magnus sighed.
After the test, the alphas were given rest. The sky above had turned a dark gray, the wind unusually cold.
Maverick sat near the edge of the cliff, staring at the forest below. Alexander leaned against a tree, silent, calculating. Lachlan was pacing, irritated.
"It was a trick challenge," he muttered. "No right answer."
"You just didn't want to face yourself," Alexander replied.
Lachlan glared but said nothing.
Then, a howl. A sharp, foreign, unnatural howl.
"What the hell was that?" Ethan asked, sitting up from his position near the fire.
The trees rustled. A shadow darted through them. Then another. Then a growl, deep and monstrous.
"Everyone up!" Maverick shouted.
From the woods emerged a massive black wolf, fur darker than night, eyes glowing like coals. The earth trembled under its steps. Then more rogues appeared, crawling from the shadows.
And just then chaos erupted.
Lachlan shifted first, his wolf crashing into the rogues. Ethan followed, though shaky. Maverick and Alexander charged in different directions, covering the flanks.
The elders tried to protect the younger wolves.
"This isn't part of the trial!" someone yelled.
"They're real!" another screamed.
Meanwhile, deep inside the hospital where Rory lay still, the machines beeped steadily, a rhythmic reminder that she still had life in her, she still had life in her fragile body. But the air had shifted. What once was warm and airy now felt cold and unnatural, as if the shadows themselves were creeping in through the vents.
Her breath hitched. Cold fingers, invisible but undeniable, crawled up her arms and around her throat. Her body shook violently, once, then again, then a third time. The monitor flatlined for a heartbeat before bouncing back in a sudden surge of erratic beeps.
The nurse on duty was suprised, knocking over a tray as she rushed to Rory's side. "She's... she's convulsing! Someone get the doctor!"
Outside the room, footsteps thundered down the hallway. But inside, Rory was already in a war of her own.
In the shadowed corridors of her mind, she ran barefoot, panthing and tired. The world around her was a storm of smoke and whispers, distant howls, and glowing red eyes watching from the dark. Voices called her name, each one soaked in either desperation or deceit. Some begged her to return. Others lured her deeper.
"Rory…"
"She doesn't belong…"
"Give her to us…"
"She's waking…"
Rory clutched her chest as she fell to her knees in that strange dreamscape. She felt pain, pure pain stabbed through her like a blade of fire. Her hands clawed at nothing, her scream lost in the swirling void. Her heart thundered, not just with fear, but with something else, something ancient and alive.
And just then, her eyes snapped open. They were golden light burst through her irises like twin suns igniting inside her skull. The hospital machines exploded with static, flatlining and peaking all at once. Lights flickered. A bulb shattered.
Rory sat up in bed for a brief second, her spine arching unnaturally as her mouth opened in a silent scream.
Then she collapsed again, with her body trembling, bathed in a golden glow that pulsed like a heartbeat.
The doctors burst into the room a second later, freezing at the sight. One of them whispered, "What the hell…"
Rory convulsed again, her limbs stiff, her skin blazing hot to the touch. Her golden eyes went open for a breath of a second, then closed. She wasn't fully conscious, but she wasn't completely gone either.
Something inside her was awakening. Something powerful.
Wolves clashed in a confused frenzy, the black rogue wolf that had burst onto the challenge grounds now a blur of violence, tearing through the line of guards. Contestants scrambled, some defending, others panicking.
Maverick had shifted mid-air to dodge an attack, slamming the rogue into the dirt. Ethan was panting, barely holding his ground. Alexander looked furious, more focused on his reputation than survival. Lachlan, unbothered earlier, now stood atop a hill, watching grimly as the rogue wolf fought like a demon.
Victoria, hidden in the dense trees with her hood pulled low, watched it all unfold.
"Perfect," she hissed, her fangs glinting. Her lips twisted in wicked delight. "Keep them distracted. Let them believe this is the threat. Let their warriors waste their strength."
She turned to Salem, cloaked in shadows, crouched beside her with eyes sharp and alert.
"Is the hospital clear?" Victoria asked, never taking her eyes off the battlefield.
Salem nodded once. "The shadows are already inside. The nurses… the guards… They won't know what hit them."
"Good," Victoria purred. "Prepare the extraction. Tonight… the Alpha's daughter becomes mine."
And as she whispered those final words, a low rumble rolled across the mountains. Not from the storm. Not from the battlefield. But from Rory, still glowing still and shaking, she was not alone in her mind anymore.
"We enter the hospital now. While the warriors are busy with the ambush. Her soul is loosening. Her powers are waking. We must take her body before she fully rises."
"But what if she wakes?" Salem asked as he watched Victoria smile.
"Either way, I'll get my revenge." She claimed, walking through a portal of mist and shadow.
In the realm between life and death, Rory's golden eyes opened again.
This time, they didn't close.