CHAPTER 61: WAR IN HER HEART

"How did you even know I was here?" I asked. I hadn’t even knocked on his door yet and now he was here.

"Undercity is my home. I am its ruler."

In other words... he had eyes everywhere. Maybe his shadows were everywhere, hidden in the crevices, perched on the arches, crawling along the stone walls unseen.

For all I knew, even the very shadows beneath my feet might whisper back to him. It made me wonder if the magic woven into these stones that kept Undercity alive answered only to him.

After all, this city was unlike any place aboveground. Buried beneath the earth, thriving where nothing should thrive. No ruler had come before him. No Alpha had ever claimed this place until Rion Morrigan carved his dominion here.

Records of how it was built, how it had been discovered, were scarce, clouded in mystery. If anyone knew the truth, it would be him.

His stared at me intently, like he was trying to sift through my thoughts, peel them apart, and toy with them between his fingers.

The crimson glint in his eyes wasn’t merely color—it pulsed faintly, predatory, a reminder of blood spilled and shadows claimed by his soul.

Instinct begged me to step back, to put distance between us, but I already had two good paces and it wasn’t enough.

Not nearly enough.

Yes, he had saved me, more than once now. And though I couldn’t deny the flicker of relief I felt each time I survived another brush with death, it didn’t mean I should feel safe around him.

Rion Morrigan wasn’t safety. He was danger sharpened to a fine edge. A predator, every inch of him. Especially those cold, bloody eyes that seemed to whisper that bloodshed wasn’t just something he did... it was carved into his very soul.

"How are you feeling?" he asked at last, breaking the silence.

He leaned lazily against the stone pillar of the bridge, arms crossed as though this was just another casual meeting.

"You knew," I said.

One of his brows arched slightly. "Knew what?"

"You knew a pack would ambush Arthien." My nails dug into my palm as I forced the words out. I didn’t figure it out after waking up. I figured it while running, when his shadows appeared, when they saved me at the exact moment I needed it.

My throat tightened, but I held his gaze. "You never intended to let me go."

For the briefest moment, his long lashes flicked down, hiding the crimson gleam of his eyes.

Then they lifted again, narrowing, and a wicked smile curved his lips.

"Smart girl," he murmured. "Hmm..."

I hissed between my teeth. I didn’t ask for a praise.

"Does it make you feel good?" I demanded, anger lacing my tone. "To toy with me like this?"

His head tilted, that smile still playing at his mouth. "I thought it would do you some good," he said softly, almost thoughtfully, "if you understood what could happen to you out there."

"So it was a lesson then?" My voice shook, not with fear, but with the surge of my wolf pressing against my skin, straining at the edges. I could almost feel her claws scratching to break free, her fury mixing with mine.

"Did you really believe," I whispered, my voice tightening with the threat of a growl, "that it would help me decide to stay here?"

"If you’re smart enough, you’d realize you are the safest here, Vivien."

He was smirking, but there was nothing warm in it. His voice was dark, low, and commanding in a way that pressed against me like the weight of stone. Every word was edged with authority, sharp enough to cut.

"You might be thinking right now," he went on, eyes gleaming with that cold red fire, "that Finn only put a bounty on your head to drag you back and continue the Rite." He shook his head once, slow, mocking. "No. He’s doing this because the Unified Alliance demands your execution for betraying an Alpha."

My chest hollowed.

"What?" The word tore from my throat before I could stop it.

The Unified Alliance demanded my execution?

What the hell?

My heart thudded unevenly, and for a second the cavern seemed to tilt.

I felt the blood drain from my face so fast it left me dizzy, and the way Rion’s eyes glinted with amusement told me I must’ve looked pathetic—pale and wide-eyed, ridiculous in my disbelief.

I never expected them to care this much. Yes, I had known it would be a scandal in Levian pack.

I had accepted that Finn would hunt me, drag me back, maybe even kill me with his own hands.

But the Unified Alliance... that was something else entirely.

If their judgment had fallen on me, it meant my betrayal wasn’t just pack business anymore, it had become a matter for every Alpha tied to the Alliance. My name would be whispered in every hall, spat like venom in every council. I wouldn’t just be a runaway; I would be a criminal branded across all their territories. There would be no use in trying to hide, no hope of stepping foot in any pack allied with them.

I was trapped. The walls of my world closed tighter, shrinking, suffocating.

"I’m glad you’re seeing it now," Rion said, his tone faintly mocking.

"No..." The denial cracked out of me, raw and trembling.

My gaze snapped to him, fury flooding into the hollow place where fear had taken root.

"It’s because of you," I snarled, my voice echoing faintly in the air.

He tilted his head, regarding me as though I were some wild creature baring its teeth.

His lips pursed, yet a ghost of a smile lingered there, cruel and unbothered.

Behind him, shadows unfurled like restless smoke, curling in the air, hovering close as if waiting for his command.

"The Unified Alliance is making a big deal out of it because you meddled," I spat, my throat tight with rage. "They must think I had orchestrated the fire in Levian pack with you. That I’m working with you to overthrow the Alliance."

"The Alliance doesn’t hold much interest for me," he said at last, his voice smooth, sounding like he wanted to laugh at how ridiculous the thought was. "You can’t blame me if those people have wild imaginations."

I drew in a sharp breath, steadying the tremble that wanted to take root in my chest.

I shifted my gaze from him and faced front. My gaze swept over the Undercity, the view stretching far beyond the castle. It looked almost serene from up here, like a world untouched by the rot festering beneath the surface.

But everything was a mess now. A grand, unsalvageable mess.

Rion had lured me perfectly... subtle in his provocations, deliberate in every step he laid before me. Whatever his game was, he’d played it well. He had me on his ground, answering to his rules. And I loathed the truth of it: that I wasn’t entirely a victim. No one pushed me into this.

I ran from Finn. Not because I was brave, but because I was foolish.

Maybe if I had stayed and endured it all, my mother wouldn’t have died.

I chose to believe in Rion’s offer, even if it came veiled in riddles and shadows. I clung to the thread of hope he dangled before me like a starving animal chasing scraps.

It was my desperation that drove me here.

My fault.

And maybe, just maybe, there was no undoing it now.

The only thing left was to survive. To bide my time. To endure long enough to carve out my own path to vengeance.

I would kill Finn. Not as a favor to anyone. Not because it was expected of me. But because I had to.

Because he’d taken everything.

And yet, I hated to admit it... I had nowhere else to go. No home. No pack. No safety waiting for me in the aboveground ruins.

The Undercity, strange, grim, and teeming with secrets, was the only place that hadn’t spit me out yet.

For now, I could only exist here.

"What are you thinking now?" Rion’s voice cut through the silence again, low and prying.

I hated how he was watching me too closely, reading things I didn’t want anyone to see.

"Lots of things," I said, letting honesty slip past my lips.

My head was too full. I felt sick with it. Thoughts looping, colliding, tangling into one another until I could barely breathe. Regret. Rage. Uncertainty. It all churned in me like a storm without wind.

Moments passed. The world below kept moving, oblivious to the war within me.

I turned to face him fully. The wind caught a strand of my hair and flung it across my cheek, but I didn’t look away.

"If you want my cooperation," I said slowly, each word wrapped in steel, "why don’t you start by being honest with me?"