bChapter /bb74 /b

bEnvy /b

Tris looks exactly the same and yetb… /bnothing feels the same. I walk through the front gates with the four alphas at my side, my mates, and everything feels sharperb, /bquieter. Like the pack itself is holding its breath. Warriors nod as we passb, /bsome make eye contact, some don’t. The whispers follow us like shadows.

Inside, the dining room has been staged. Long table, polished silver, crystal ssesb, /blike this bis /ba royal fucking banquet instead of what it really bis/bb: /ba stand–off.

Alpha Marcus stands at the far end bof /bthe table, posture rxed, smile polite. Too polite.

“Envyb,/b” he says warmly, like we’re old friends. “You’ve broughtpany.”

I stop halfway down the table. The quads fan out behind me. “You knew I would.”

Marcus gestures to the chairs. “Please, sit. I had the kitchen prepare your favorites.”

Xavier doesn’t move. “We didn’te to eat.”

Marcus tsks softly. “Pity. Hospitality used to mean something.”

bI /bstay standing. “You experimented on me bas /ba child.”

His smile doesn’t even twitch. “That’s a bold usation.”

“bI /bremember,” I bsay/bb. /bb“/bbYou /bused silver and star iron. You brought in a witch to suppress my memoriesb./b”

“Now that is quite a story,” Marcus saysb, /bfolding his hands over his gut. “Do you have proof?b” /b

“I am the proof.”

b“/bYou’re emotional. Understandably bso/bb, /bbut power makes the past a dangerous ce to revisit, especially when you’re still unsure of what you saw. Traumab… /bconfuses things.

Gaslighting. ssic. Xavier steps forward, growling low. “Try another lie, Marcus. Just one. I dare you.b” /b

Marcus ignores him and turns bback /bto me.

“bEnvy/bb, /byou’ve always been extraordinary. I only ever wanted to understand why and to protect that potential.”

“By torturing a child?” Levi snarls.

Marcus chuckles. “She survived, didn’t she? Thrivedb, /bbeven/b. You’ve grown strong, Envy. Unstoppable. But… you’re still ipleteb./bb” /b

He tilts his head. “You haven’t marked your mates yet.b” /b

My heart skips. “That’s none of your bbusiness/bb./bb” /b

“It is,” Marcus insists, tone shifting, calm bveneer /bcracking just slightly. “You don’t understand how important it is. The moment you bind yourself to themb, /byour full power will, unlock. bThe /bseal ced on you will unravel, and we will all finally see what you’re meant to be.”

“Web?/bb” /bXavier snaps. “There is no ‘we‘b. /bHer power is hers.”

“You have no idea what she’s carrying,” Marcus hisses. “That girl is a weapon forged by realms older than any of usb. /bbYou /bthink I hurt her? You think I’m the danger?” bHe /bpoints to me now. “She’s bthe /bone you should fear. Only I know how to wield her properly.”

bThe /broom goes still. Xavier’s eyes glow with alpha fury. Haiden’s fingers twitchb, /bready to draw. Noah steps closer to me, shielding my side. Levi doesn’t bspeak/b, but his rage hums like a barely caged stormb. /b

Marcus straightens bhis /bsuit jacket, a smile sliding back into bce/b. b“/bbAs /byou can see, byou /bneed me.”

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1:02 PM P P

bI /bstare at him, pulse pounding.

“You want me to unlock my power,b” /bbI /bbsay/b. “But not for me. For you. You want bess /bto the gate.”

He doesn’t deny it, and that’s all I need.

I turn to my mates. “We’re done here.”

Marcus speaks onest time as I reach the door.

“When it happens, you will need me.”

bI /bstop on the threshold and nce over my shoulder. “When it happens… You won’t be alive to see it.”

We barely make it down the steps of the Tris packhouse before a quiet voice calls out from behind us.

“Wait…Envyb./b”

I turn, tense. It’s Zionb. /bHe’s standing halfway down the hall, hands raised slightly in a gesture of peace. Beside him stands Theo. He looks bso /bmuch like his father, it almost hurts.

“What do you want?” Xavier steps in immediately, tone sharp.

“It’s not ba /btrap,” Zion says quickly. “Just…e with us. There’s something you need to hear. Something we should’ve told you years ago.”

Noah growls under his breath. “Now you want to talk?”

Zion nces at me. “You were never supposed to be here this long. Everything’s unraveling.”

I hold up a hand. “One wrong move…”

“You can

kill bus/bb,/b” Theo finishes solemnly. “We understand.”

They lead us through a narrow hallway to a room on the second floor. Zion’s room. The second I step inside, something in my chest tightens. The air smells like dust and… me. I stop dead. On the bed, there’s a small nket, threadbare now, and an old pillow, faded with time, fraying at the edgesb. /bMy breath catches.

“That was mine,” I whisper.

Zion nods.

Xavier steps forward, growling. “You stole her pillow?b” /b

Zion holds up both hands. “I didn’t take them for the reasons you think. I took them bbecause /bbI /bsaw something, and I wanted to see if maybe her bscent /bcould trigger moreb.” /b

The room goes quiet. Zion swallows hard. “When you healed me as a pup, something broke openb, /bsomething that reys in my dreams constantly. I saw you, older, stronger, Standing at bthe /bedge of a crumbling world, holding back a storm made of shadows and fire.”

older

Theo steps in beside him. “And he’s seen more since. Dreamsb, /bshes, whispers. All tied to something under this pack. Something Alpha Marcus has been funneling every singlest resource into.”

“The gate, Zion says.

“What does he gain from it, from opening the gate?” I askb, /bbvoice /blow.

Theo bnces /bat Zion, bthen /bat me. “From my understanding, If the gate opens, the boundary between the underworld and our realm tears. Permanently. Souls will spill out, magicb, /bchaosb, /bcreatures that belong in hell, but more importantly…”

“He believes he will be bthe /bone bto /bcontrol bthe /bnew world,” Zion says grimly. “The first mortal host to wield divine magic. He thinks if he uses you, your blood, your power, bhe’ll /binherit the gift meant for you.”

“That’s insane,” Levi muttersb. /b

bDo /byou like this story?

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1:02 PM

“No,” bI /bwhisper. “It tracks.”

Theo steps forward. “The witch who worked for him, her name is Salira. She’s also a seer. Banished from her coven years ago. She deals in forbidden memory work, and she’s been grooming Marcus with pieces bof /bprophecy, feeding him half–truths to shape his obsession.”

“Why?” Noah asks.

“Because she thinks she’s serving bnce, either that or she’s just as bat shit crazy as him,” Theo replies.

“They think they can control something. Something that I’ve seen turns into one big fucking tragedy.” Zion finishes.

This work, Goddess of the Underworld by Sheridan Hartin, is an exclusive intellectual property legally contracted with NovelSnack. Any reproduction, distribution, or upload outside NovelFlow, AnyStories, NovGo, and Readink is unauthorized and constitutes copyright infringement.

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