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Silas.

They were shackled, their bodies lined against the wall, their heads slumped forward. Their wrists were bound in thick, twisted sinew, somethingalivewrapping around their limbs, undulating with a slow, loathsome rhythm. Their bodies were bloodied and bruised, but they were breathing.

They were still alive.

A wave of relief crashed over me. I scanned the cavern, my muscles coiled, waiting for movement, waiting for the monsters in the dark, but there were no Nyktos that I could see or hear.

I hesitated. It felt wrong, too easy, but I didn’t have time to second-guess myself. I moved swiftly, slipping across the cavern floor, staying low, my body silent as I reached Silas first.

His eyelids flew open at my touch, hazy with exhaustion.

“Lia,” he rasped.

“Shh,” I whispered. “I’m getting you out.”

His body tensed, his gaze snapping toward the entrance, scanning the darkness.

“They’re coming,” he muttered, voice tight.

I inhaled sharply, but stayed focused on their restraints.

The material was slick and fibrous, woven together in layers like the strands of a spider’s web—but denser, thicker, and stronger. It clung to their skin, almost melding into it, and when they shifted even slightly, it tightened, reacting as if it could feel them struggling.

The edge gleaming in the dim light, I set one of my knives down, placed the other against a strand and set to work. I sawed through the pulsing restraints, panting as I worked as fast as I could. The second it snapped, Silas moved, his body shaking from exhaustion, but ready, immediately pushing himself upright.

I turned to Rowan next, then Varek, then Ryan, cutting through their bindings one by one. Just as Ryan hit the ground, rubbing his raw wrists, the clicking started again. It wasn’t coming from just one direction.

It was everywhere.

A strange hum echoed through the cavern, followed by the sound of something ticking against stone. The shadows along the walls shifted, and primal, bone-deep dread welled in the pit of my belly.

“They know,” Rowan growled, cracking his neck. “They must have felt her cutting through the restraints.”

“They were letting us get away with it,” Varek muttered darkly. The silver of his eyes reflected the dim light. “Letting us stew in our own hope and fear.”

The Nyktos poured in, an avalanche of abominations.

The walls came alive, the creatures rattling down from the ceiling, their stretched limbs snapping as they crawled unnaturally fast. Some dropped straight down from above, landing in a crouch, their too-wide mouths yawning as they gave off that awful clicking sound.

Shift!

The transformation was instant, my bones breaking and reforming as my wolf took over, my senses sharpening even further. I felt the moment my claws sank into the earth and my vision became clearer than it had ever been.

Then I lunged.

A heartbeat later, chaos reigned.

Silas, Rowan, Varek, and Ryan shifted beside me, their wolves barreling into the swarm, teeth snapping, claws ripping through flesh and exoskeleton alike.

I dodged one, its wings buzzing frantically as it tried to slash me with one of its curved claws. I whirled, sank my fangs into its throat, and ripped it out in one violent motion. Black blood sprayed against the cavern floor, the smell horrible, but there was no stopping.

Varek was a streak of silver, dancing between the creatures, his speed unmatched as he sliced through them. Rowan was pure destruction, his massive black wolf rampaging through the enemy. Silas was rage embodied as he took down one, two, three, four of them, his claws and fangs ripping through their bodies with savage fury.

There were just too many.

Then a huge shadow shifted in the back of the cavern.

Something bigger moved there. Something much worse.