h4Chapter 350: Into the Veins of the Golden City/h4

The air in Nancy’s cramped, firelit room clung to me like a fever, heavy with the musk of melted wax, smoke, and unspoken truths. The fire snapped in the hearth, its messhing out as though they too wanted to be free of the suffocating weight pressing in on us. Shadows twisted across the walls, alive, restless—mocking the silence between every breath.

Winter sat at my side, rigid as stone, her pale fingers knotted so tightly in herp they looked carved from ice. I knew that storm in her cold blue eyes; I’d seen it a thousand times. Fury sharpening against fear. Vengeance screaming for release. But the fear—the fragile sliver she never let anyone else glimpse—she saved that for me.

Across from us, Nancy stood with her usualposure, a sly smile curling like smoke at the edges of her mouth. Her fingers tapped against the arm of her chair in a slow, deliberate rhythm. Tick. Tick. Tick. It didn’t sound like impatience—it sounded like a countdown.

"Then," she began, her tone silk-wrapped steel, "it’s time to act."

Her words slid into the room like a sword. "I’ve given you the tools—the disguises, the stories, the masks. But a mask is useless without a stage. And the stage, my darlings, is the Golden City. The beating heart of the Lycan Kingdom." Her voice grew lower, deeper, carrying weight that made the fire seem to dim. "A city that breathes secrets. Every alley, every smile hides something. You’ll move through it like poison through blood—unseen, unstoppable—until you stand before the pce itself."

Nancy’s smile sharpened, her eyes glinting like obsidian in the firelight. She leaned in, lowering her voice to a velvet whisper that prickled along my skin. "The pce is the final step. Thest piece of the puzzle. I’ll open the doors for you—no guards, no wards, no resistance. But once you’re inside..." She paused, letting the silence drag like the edge of a knife across our throats. "What you say. What you do. That’s on you."

Her gaze pinned us both in ce, daring us to breathe wrong. "The stage will be yours. But the performance?" She tilted her head, her smile turning wicked. "That’s where legends are born... or broken."

I leaned back in my chair, my fingers drumming against my thigh, the familiar pulse of ambition thrumming through me. The Golden City. The Lycan Kingdom’s beating heart. The thought of it set my blood alight, a dangerous mix of hunger and dread. I squinted at Nancy, searching her face for the catch I knew was there. "Right now?" I asked, my voice low, edged with suspicion. "You’re saying you can get us into the pce tonight?"

Nancy’s lips parted in a grin, all teeth and mischief. "Oh, Vincent, always so quick to question." She took a step towards me, her dress whispering against the floor like a serpent’s hiss. "Yes, tonight. The sooner you and Winter stand before the royal family, the better. Zane and Natalie aren’t the type to linger on pleasantries. You want their trust? You strike while the moment’s hot."

Winter’s gaze flicked to me, sharp and silent, her fingers tightening in herp. I could feel the weight of her thoughts, the unspoken warning: This is too fast. Too easy. I ignored it, my mind already racing ahead, picturing the pce’s towering spires, the throne room glowing with celestial light, the faces of a king and queen who’d in our mother and imprisoned our father. My pulse quickened, a dark thrill curling in my chest.

I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees, my eyes locked on Nancy’s. "And what’s the price for this particr favor?" I asked, my voice smooth butced with steel. "You don’t strike me as the charitable type, Nancy. What do you want in return?"

Herughter erupted, sharp and wild, bouncing off the walls like shattering ss. "Oh, Vincent, you wound me!" she said, pressing a hand to her chest in mock offense. "No price, my darling. None at all. Consider this my gift to you—a chance to rewrite your story." Her eyes gleamed, and for a moment, I swore I saw something flicker in them, something ancient and unreadable. "But don’t squander it. Opportunities like this don’te twice."

Winter’s voice cut through the air, soft but heavy, like a stone dropped into still water. "You’re sure about this?" she asked, her tone steady, but I caught the faint tremor beneath it, the one only I could hear. "No strings? No debts?"

Nancy turned to her, her smile softening, almost maternal, but it didn’t reach her eyes. "None, sweet Winter. Just one thing." She stepped closer, her presence filling the room like a gathering storm. "When you stand before them, don’t forget to mention you’re wolfless. Outcasts. Broken. Tug at their hearts, and they’ll open their gates."

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I opened my mouth to ask something else—What’s your angle, Nancy? What’s the real game here?—but before the words could form, she raised her hands, her fingers tracing patterns in the air. Her voice dropped to a low, guttural chant, words I didn’t recognize, ancient and jagged, like shards of a forgotten tongue. The air around us thickened, pressing against my skin, and the fire in the hearth red, its light bending into unnatural shapes. Winter’s hand shot out, grabbing my wrist, her nails digging into my skin. "Vincent—"

The world lurched. Darkness swallowed us whole, a void soplete it felt like drowning. My stomach twisted, my senses screaming as reality unraveled and stitched itself back together. When the world snapped back into focus, I was sprawled on cold, damp stone, the stench of rotting wood and iron flooding my nose just like back home. A dark alley stretched around us, its walls slick with grime, the distant hum of the Golden City pulsing beyond its mouth. Winter crouched beside me, her breath ragged, her eyes wide with that rare, unguarded fear she only showed me.

"Vincent," she whispered, her voice tight. "Where are we?"

Before I could answer, a low growl rumbled through the alley, deep and primal, vibrating in my bones. My enhanced senses kicked in, sharpening the world into painful rity—the scrape of ws on stone, the hot, musky scent of fur, the glint of red eyes in the shadows. I was on my feet in an instant, shadows coiling around my fists like living smoke, my heart pounding with a mix of fear and exhration.

"Winter, get up," I hissed, my voice low. "We’ve gotpany."

She rose, her hands glowing with tendrils of darkness, her face a mask of cold resolve. But I saw the flicker in her eyes, the one that said she was as rattled as I was. Then it came—a wolf, massive, its fur ck as pitch, its red eyes burning like twin coals. It lunged, mming into me with the force of a battering ram. I hit the ground hard, the air driven from my lungs, my shadows ring instinctively to shield me. The wolf’s jaws snapped inches from my face, its breath hot and sour, its teeth gleaming in the dim light.

"Vincent!" Winter’s cry cut through the chaos as another wolf barreled into her, pinning her against the wall. She snarled, her hands weaving darkness into sharp, jagged spikes that drove the beast back, but it was relentless, its ws raking the stone.

I rolled hard, shadows answering my call like loyal hounds. They surged beneath me, a dark wave that mmed into the wolf’s chest and tore it off my body. My blood thrummed with demonic strength, fire in my veins, and I didn’t hesitate—I drove my fist into its side. The impact cracked bone with a sickening snap.

"Stay down, mutt," I snarled through clenched teeth.

But it didn’t. Of course it didn’t. The beast was already back on its paws, lips curled over jagged fangs, eyes zing with an unnatural fury that churned my gut. iWhat the hell were these things? No ordinary wolves fought like this. No ordinary wolves looked like this./i

"Vincent!" Winter’s voice cut sharp through the chaos. Panic edged her tone, though only someone who knew her as well as I did would catch it. Her hands carved through the air, weaving smoke into something more dreadful—a nightmare vortex. It spun and twisted, a storm of fear so raw it made the wolf falter, its growl breaking into a whimper.

But then the alley came alive with more. Three. Four. Red eyes red in the dark, glowing like some cursed constetion overhead. Their snarls rolled together, deep and guttural, filling the night with the sound of death closing in.

And then—

A voice. Fierce,manding. It cut through the growls, through the stench of blood and smoke, slicing the night clean open.

"How dare you attack me?"

The world seemed to still for a heartbeat. Even the wolves froze.

I whipped my head around, breath snagging in my chest.

At the mouth of the alley, framed by the choking dark, stood a girl. Not just any girl—her dress burned scarlet, a re of fire in the gloom. Her reddish-blonde hair spilled like molten copper over her shoulders, catching every scrap of light the fire dared to offer. And her eyes—icy blue, searing with a fury that made even my shadows flinch back—locked on the wolves.

She lifted her hands.

Light erupted. Not the weak glow of a torch or the flicker of antern—this was something purer, sharper, celestial. It cascaded through the alley in a tidal wave of brilliance. Shadows shrieked. Wolves yelped and staggered, their red eyes flickering dim as the ze consumed them. For a moment, it was like the world had been set ame in gold.

"Who—" The word scraped out of my throat but went nowhere.

Because more came. Always more.

They poured from the darkness, ws dragging across stone, eyes igniting like a constetion of blood-red stars. Her light hit them, but they didn’t falter. Not this pack. These things weren’t afraid of death.

And still—she didn’t move. Didn’t flinch.

The girl in red nted her feet, the hem of her dress snapping like a banner in the storm. Radiance bled from her palms again, a second sun born from her fury, her face carved into defiance. Wolves closed in, circling, growls vibrating low and hungry, but she held her ground.

Magnificent. Terrifying. A storm trapped in mortal skin.

I couldn’t look away.

"Vincent, focus!" Winter’s voice cracked like a whip. Her handsshed out, a spear of darkness hurling into the maw of another wolf.

The spell broke. I shook myself, shadows flooding back to me, answering mymand as I shoved one beast off my heels. But my eyes—damn them—kept finding her. The girl in red. Her light. That mystery burning through the chaos.

"Who is she?" I muttered, my chest tightening, my pulse hammering not just from the fight but from something sharper, deadlier. Something that felt like the kiss of a de at my throat.

The wolves tightened the circle. Their red eyes all fixed on her.

And I knew—we were seconds from losing everything.

Damn you Nancy!

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