bChapter /bb70 /b

My heart ms once against my ribs, then holds.

“Who?”

N ?

Felix doesn’t answer right away. He bsteps /bbpast /bmeb, /bslow and deliberate, like each motion is a ritual he’s done before but never wanted to. His boots echo softly against the ancient stone, a steady rhythm in the silence that stretches between us. He looks down the spiral stairwellb, /bwhere frost gives way to something darker, older, humming just beneath the surface. The air thickens with it.

“Alpha Marcus,” he says finally, voice low, “wasn’t supposed to get close to you. Not emotionally. Not politically. But he always was too curious for his own good.”

I blink, confused and cold. b“/bThen why was I brought here? Why was I kept here? What does he want?”

Silence. Heavyb, /balmost suffocating. Felix turns slowly, and in the flickering blue hue that coats the walls, bI /bbsee /bhim clearly now, not just the man I’ve known my whole life, the one who taught me to ride and showed me how to swing a sword, but someone older. Worn. Weathered by truths too heavy to carry alone. His eyes afe ssyb, /bshadowed.

“I brought you bhere/bb, /bEnvy.”

The words hit like a punch to the gut.

“You were left at the border, byes/bb, /bbut not by ident. That day…the day I found you…b” /bHe pausesb, /bswallowing hard. “It was the day I died.”

My breath catches. “What?b” /b

He meets my eyes. “I was given a choice. Persephone herself stood before meb. /bbI /bwas meant to go straight to the Underworld for the things I’d done. Things bI /bregret more than you could know. But she gave me an option. One chance. I could be returned. Reborn, in a way. On one conditionb./b”

I don’t realize I’ve taken ba /bstep back until my shoulders hit the wall. “What condition?b” /b

He takes a breath like it hurts. “Watch over youb. /bProtect you. Keep you safe until youe of ageb./bb” /b

The walls feel like they’re closing in. “Safe from what?”

Felix steps closer nowb, /band for the first time since bI’ve /bknown him, I don’t feelfort in his presence. bI /bbfeel/b… small. Seen. But not in a way that makes me bfeel /bknownb, /bin a way that makes bme /bfeel marked.

“Not bwhat/bb, /bbEnvy/bb. /bWho.”

bHe /bgestures to the stairwell behind bus/b. Downb, /bwhere the whispers still call.

“There are things beneath this house that Marcus was never meant to find. Things older than this pack. Older than most realms. What he found were fragmentsb, /brunes, relics, prophecies, but no real understanding bof /bwhat they meant. So, bhe /bfound those who could help him..”

“I don’t understand.”

“No,” he agrees softly. “Not yet. Because you’re not ready. You haven’t marked your mates,” he says. “Until you do, your power, your real power, stays locked inside you. Half–asleep. And so do theirs. Together, you’re more than just wolves, hounds, and people. You’re something else entirely.”

Something cold slides down my spineb. /b“What am bI/bb?/bb” /b

His voice drops to barely a whisper. “You’re the btether/b.”

bI /bshake my head. “To whatb?/bb” /b

bTo /beverything,” he says, “The Underworld. The Veil. The magic that binds the divine and the damned. You are the gate, Envy. The line between what lives band /bwhat should not. That’s why you bwere /bhidden. That’s why the veil clings to you. That’s bwhy /bthe gods marked you… and why the monsters want to im youb./bb” /b

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My mouth is dry. “And Marcusb?/bb” /b

“He wanted to harness you,” Felix bsays/bb, /beyes burning now. “For power. For control. For warb./bb” /b

The word sits heavy between us.

“There bis /ba waringb,/bb” /bbhe /bsays. “A bgreat /bunravelling. Not just between packs bor /bspecies but between worlds. And when it does, they’ll look to you.b” /b

bI /bstare at the stairwell. At the ce where the runes had once sealed me out. At the ancient magic that now seems to pull me in.

“Why me?b” /bI whisper.

Felix’s voice softens. “Because only a soul forged in both light and shadow can hold the doorway shut or rip it open.”

I don’t remember climbing the stairs.

One minute I’m staring into that abyss and Felix is warning me, telling me I’m the fucking tether between realms like that’s normal dinner conversation and the nextb, /bI’m inside the pack house, in our bedroom, staring nkly at the wall while my mind swims with thought. My heart hasn’t stopped racing since I touched that door. The problem bis/bb… /bit wasn’t fear. Not entirely. There’s something dangerous about knowing you’re meant for more than you’ve been told. Something terrifying and thrilling in equal measure. And I’ve spent my whole life surviving, fighting to matter in a world that didn’t want me. Now, it turns out I might matter too much. Tether. War. Power. Me. My Mates.

My mates portal into the roomb, /bscrambling to get to me.

“Where the hell have you beenb?! /bWe couldn’t locate you for hours.b” /bXavier says firstb, /brunning his hands up and down my arms.

“I need to talk to all of you,” I say, voice steady despite the adrenaline still coursing through meb. /b“Now.”

“Okayb, /byesb, /bdefinitely, we should talk, but let’s eat while we do it. You’ve clearly been through a lot today, love.” Haiden says, taking my hand gently in his own.

We’re seated in the private dining room within minutes. The table is set, food steaming under silver domes, but no one touches a thing. Not even Haidenb. /b

“I went beneath Trisb,/bb” /bI bsay/b, before anyone can askb. /b

bXavier’s /bbrows furrow. “What do you meanb?/bb” /b

“I mean beneath. Past the closed floors, the blocked halls, the sealed doors. Past everything, Marcus told me never to bgo /bnearb./b”

Their expressions harden,

“There’s something down thereb,/bb” /bI continue. “Something old. Ancient, even. It’s not just rogue wolves or secrets. It’s…magic. Runes. A bvault /bburied in stone, locked by blood.”

“Yoursb?/b” Levi asks quietly.

I nod. “Yeah. It recognized bme/bb./bb” /b

They ball /bgo still.

bFelix /bwas right, I haven’t marked them yetb, /band without that connection, they bcan’t /bfeel everything I’m feeling. Can’t sense the gravity of what I bsaw/b. But they’re smart Tactical. Dangerous in btheir /bown rightb. /bAnd they’re not stupid enough to brush this off.

“I’m not just a wolf, or I guess, hellhound, or the Queen of bthe /bunderworld,” I say finally. “Felix told me… I’m something else. Something that is physically tied to the underworld.”

“Tied to the underworld?” Haiden echoes, like the word tastes bitter in his mouthb. /b

look up, eyes meeting Xavier’s. “He said I’m the tether. Between realms. That I’m the reason Marcus kept me.”

bXavier /bbdoesn’t /bflinch. bHe /bdoesn’t move. But I bcan /bsee the shift behind his eyes. The calctions. The instinctive protectiveness that res when

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