An hour went by of horrors. No one had heard or seen Nova. But Rex, Fin, and Jax all felt her.
Pure terror and panic pulsed through the bonds in erratic spikes—sharp, breathless, wrong. It surged and fell and surged again, like she was running out of time in fragments.
Jax tore through the corridor in wolf form.
Gold and sapphire magic erupted from Jax in violent bursts, tearing through tendrils that screamed as they broke apart—only for the screams to continue, echoing from the walls long after the creatures were gone.
Talon was fully in control now but Jax was still there. He didn't realize he could use magic in wolf form until this temple and the were working as a team. Gold flared from his wolf's chest, sapphire streaking along his claws as he tore through the corridor.
His wolf locked onto her scent and they were close. Another spike of fear slammed into him from Nova. She was having a panic attack. He knew the sensation well.
Fin's voice cut through their mindlink.
Fin: Nova. Can you hear us?
Nothing.
Jax caught the flash of silver up ahead, sharp and frantic. His heart slammed hard against his ribs.
Then he saw her.
Dark tendrils on the wall were locked around Nova's throat and torso, crushing the breath from her lungs. One arm was wrenched tight against the stone, ribs pinned, her feet barely touching the floor.
Silver light flared from her body—
Nothing.
She had an arrow in her hand and drove it blindly into the dark tendril choking her. The grip at her throat loosened with a violent hiss. She stabbed again—into the ones crushing her ribs, her shoulder—each strike answered by shrill, inhuman shrieks as the hands recoiled and tore free.
She dropped.
Nova hit the stone hard, coughing, dragging in air that burned as it returned. She scrambled trying to get her feet under her, clutching the arrow.
The floor gave way beneath her.
Hands erupted from the stone and clamped around her legs, yanking her back down. She screamed high-pitched and silver blasted again.
Nothing happened.
"Nova!"
Jax shifted back mid-stride and slammed sapphire magic into the floor. The hands exploded apart as he skidded across the stone, scooped her up in one fluid motion, and turned—already moving.
She was gasping for air.
"Wrap your legs around me," he whispered against her ear.
She did instantly—arms locking around his neck, legs clamping tight around his waist as if she were drowning and he was the only air left on the planet.
He ran.
Alpha speed.
Holding her against his chest like she might break if he loosened his grip for even a second.
Her ragged breaths finally began to steady—shallow, uneven, but present.
Figures stepped out of the walls ahead. Tall. Thin
Each one's skull was twisted completely around, chin resting against their spines, faces staring backward into the stone they had emerged from.
Their necks were over-rotated, tendons stretched tight and trembling, vertebrae bulging beneath skin pulled too far.
They walked forward without looking where they were going. Their eyes never blinked.
As they moved, their limbs snapped backward at impossible angles, striking behind themselves with surgical precision.
Nova saw them.
Her breath hitched violently.
"No—no, no," she sobbed, words breaking apart as panic tore through her. Her body shook as she buried her face against Jax's collarbone, breath ragged, desperate.
One of the creatures smiled, its mouth stretched sideways, jaw unhinging far beyond anything human.
Sapphire magic detonated, blasting it back. Unlike her silver, his magic worked.
Jax slammed a shield around them, just as more spawned from the walls.
"I've got you," he said, voice low and lethal, meant only for her. "They're not touching you."
He kept moving, one arm locked around Nova, the other firing again and again. The shield rang like iron under pressure.
They crowded closer—front, back, sides—closing space faster than he could clear it.
Then they spoke in unison.
"Silver chains."
"No air for you. Still can't breathe."
Jax kept driving them back every few seconds, carving a narrow path forward. He couldn't run with how fast they were appearing. So he moved—measured, controlled—forcing calm into every step.
Half started making choking noises, while the other half spoke in unison.
"Drowning again. Too heavy to rise.Trapped."
Half of them wheezed, lungs failing. The rest echoed screams—layered, distorted, wrong.
"We ate the last white wolf. Pulled her apart slowly."
"She screamed just like you."
That broke her.
Her breathing shattered into panicked sobs.
Jax snarled.
Sapphire magic exploded out of him in a brutal wave—far more than he'd ever drawn before, more than he'd known he was capable of. It slammed into the corridor and everything in its path disintegrated on contact.
Bodies vanished.
The screams lingered for a heartbeat after the magic faded—then cut off all at once.
The hallway gave him half a second of space.
Jax took it, bolting forward. A new sapphire dome snapped into existence around them, magic flaring bright.
Dark tendrils spawned from the walls in that instant. But the second they hit Jax's magic, they screamed, furious.
"Breathe, Nova. I've got you." Jax said, kissing her ear.
He tightened his grip, both arms around her.
Fin's voice slammed through the mindlink like a whip.
Fin:Jax status update.
Jax vaulted over a collapsed section of stone without breaking stride.
Jax:Just secured her. I have a shield up. Looking for cover.
He continued down the corridor with her tightly gripped in his arms. He kissed her head again.
As more things came, he held her tighter, jaw clenched.
No one was taking her. Not today. Not ever.
Hyran: Would it help to make a portal out and start over?
"The v-vampires are out r-right n-now," Nova whispered against Jax's neck, stuttering, still trembling.
Jax: Negative. The vampires are out right now.
"Nova," he murmured, his voice steady even when his pulse was not. "Is there anything you remember about this tunnel?"
"We h-have t-to t-take it to get to the n-next—" She sucked in a huge, broken breath, unable to finish.
Jax didn't make her say the word. He mindlinked the others with stark clarity.
Jax: We have to take this tunnel either way. There is no alternate path.
He lowered his voice again, all soothing warmth.
"Baby, breathe with me. In… out… In… out…"
She tried. Gods, she tried—each inhale shaking, each exhale catching in her throat. Her breathing slowly began to match his, syncing to the rise and fall of his chest.
They moved into a calmer stretch of tunnel—quieter, no screams echoing, no illusions clawing at them. Jax didn't trust it for a second. He kept running, shield up, one arm under her thighs, the other braced around her back.
Up ahead—light.
Natural light.
He sprinted toward it, boots skidding as the tunnel opened into a hidden cavern mouth overlooking the jungle far below.
They were carved into the cliffs of the mountain—an opening so concealed that no one would find it unless they already knew it was there.
He sat down with Nova still wrapped around him, her legs tight around his waist, her face buried against his shoulder. He rubbed slow circles down her back, kissing the side of her head.
"Breathe, Nova. We're out," he whispered, grounding her.
He understood her state perfectly—what they had just witnessed was disturbing on a level he didn't even have words for.
He mindlinked the group.
Jax: We made it to the end point. What is your status?
Rex: We are being chased by dead, half-shifted wolves with their heads on backwards.
Jax: Make a right at the next tunnel. Have magic shields up.
Aeron: Mind giving us a clue before Hyran craps his pants again?
Hyran: Excuse me! I am not the one—
Jax: You're about to see disturbing deaths come alive out of the walls and try to reenact them. They'll drag you into portals and kill you violently. Mindlink will not work when dragged in.
Dead silence followed.
Rex:Copy.
"What's worse—getting blasted off a dragon or running through that?" Jax asked, voice dry as bone.
Nova let out a shaky laugh. "That. A h-hundred t-times that."
She breathed in his scent, letting it anchor her.
Jax suddenly remembered something—and surged calm and love through their matebond all at once. Hard enough that her breath hitched and she froze for a second, overwhelmed.
"I just remembered I can do that," Jax said, a crooked grin tugging at his mouth.
She leaned up and kissed his cheek—her silent thank you—because she didn't trust her voice not to break. She was still hiccuping.
He wiped her tears gently and kissed her lips. Once. Twice. Three times. Soft, grounding, worshipful.
He kissed her forehead, lingering there, breathing her in like he needed her more than air. In truth, he found that absolutely terrifying.
His own breathing got ragged at times. There was no question that was more difficult than everything combined yesterday.
Then he stood, helping her to her feet before his self-control incinerated completely.
"If we keep sitting like that," he murmured, arms still wrapped tightly around her waist, "I won't be able to stop myself."