Chapter 3 Trial by Blood

It was pain that woke her.

She felt it like a bolt sharp, raw, and grinding through her spine like broken glass. Raya's eyes flew open as she jerked upright, only to be slammed back down by thick, silver-laced chains bolted to a rock wall.

She gasped.

Her wrists burned. Her skin sizzled where the silver touched. Her body was stiff, her limbs felt heavy.

She looked around and saw dirt, blood, straw and stone walls.

She was in an underground den. The air was musty and thick with the scent of wolves, sweat and iron.

Her body remembered the fight but her mind didn't, every muscle ached. Her ribs felt cracked, her jaw bruised. Dried blood clung to her arms, but she didn't know whose it was.

A distant roar echoed through the tunnels. It wasn't that of a beast but of a crowd.

Next she heard the clanging of boots on the dirt floor.

She turned her head as two rogues entered. One looked like a brute with a jagged scar down his face, the other a leaner man with mismatched eyes. Neither of them smiled.

"She's awake," Scarface grunted. "Good. Thorne wants her on her feet."

Raya barely managed a breath. "Let me go."

The lean one chuckled. "You'll be wishing we had before this is over."

They unlocked the chains, but not without binding her hands behind her back and dragging her out by the elbows. Her legs barely worked, but they didn't care. She stumbled through winding rock corridors until the sound of chanting grew louder.

She finally saw light.

They emerged into an open pit arena, ringed with jagged rocks and fire pits. Dozens of rogues circled above, howling, hooting, some throwing bones or coins into the pit below. In the center stood a large wolf cage, the bars twisted and rusted with old blood.

At the far edge stood the same man from the forest, the one with the dark hair and scarred brow.

Thorne.

He watched her with unreadable eyes.

"This one claims not to know her power," he said to the crowd, voice amplified by rage and presence. "But she left four of our kind slaughtered in her wake. Whether she meant to or not-she is dangerous."

The crowd jeered.

Thorne gestured toward the pit.

"Let her prove she belongs. Trial by blood."

The rogues roared in approval.

Raya's stomach twisted. Her knees nearly gave out. "You're going to throw me in a cage?"

Thorne looked at her flatly. "I'm giving you a chance."

Two rogues shoved her forward, down into the pit.

As soon as her feet hit the sand, the cage gate slammed shut behind her with a sharp clang.

And the other gate opened.

The thing that stepped into the pit wasn't just a wolf.

It was a monster.

It was massive and mangy, scarred from snout to paw. It stood on two legs, its claws dragging in the dirt, its eyes a milky yellow of madness. Its teeth were stained black.

Raya froze.

"That's not a wolf," she whispered. "That's a berserker."

A shifter who had lost control for too long, trapped halfway between human and wolf.

They'd thrown her into a cage with a mindless killer.

The creature growled low and dropped to all fours. Its head tilted. Saliva dripped from its fangs.

Then it charged.

Raya rolled just in time. Pain exploded in her ribs, but she scrambled to her feet and backed against the wall.

She had no weapons. No wolf. No strength.

Just fear flowing through her, all the wolves could smell it.

The berserker struck again, faster this time. It raked its claws across her shoulder, tearing into flesh. She screamed. Her vision blurred.

No. She couldn't die like this. Not after everything she has been through, her life couldn't end in such a pathetic way.

The world narrowed to her heartbeat. Her blood thundered. She could feel something deep inside her-surging, rising, begging to be freed.

The Beast.

She clenched her teeth. "No."

The berserker lunged again, but this time, she moved faster. She ducked low, grabbed a rock from the dirt, and slammed it into the creature's jaw. Bone cracked. The crowd above roared.

The berserker stumbled. Raya didn't wait.

She climbed its back like a wildcat, wrapped her arms around its neck, and squeezed. It thrashed, bucking hard. She held on, screaming as her own injuries tore wider.

But the creature was too strong.

It threw her off.

She hit the wall hard. Something in her shoulder snapped.

And then the Beast broke through. Not all the way, just enough.

Her nails blackened. Her eyes burned gold. Her muscles expanded with sudden, unnatural force.

Her scream turned into a growl as she charged the berserker again-this time faster, more savage. She ducked under its swing, leapt up, and drove both fists into its throat. It howled, falling back.

She was on top of it before it could recover.

She slammed its head into the ground, again and again.

Blood sprayed. Bone cracked. The crowd screamed for more.

"Finish him!" someone shouted.

"Kill it!"

But Raya's vision was red. Her mind was gone.

She didn't see a beast anymore. She saw Khan.

She saw the elders and her pack members who laughed when she was rejected.

She saw every face that had ever told her she was nothing.

Her fists moved like hammers, she kept pounding, the berserker's body went limp but she didn't stop.

Her voice was not her own. Her nails ripped through flesh. Her strength kept growing.

The Beast fed on the violence and pain.

*"More,"* it whispered. *"More."*

The rogues above went silent. Even Thorne looked unsure.

Raya raised her arm for the final strike,

And someone leapt into the pit.

A silver collar clamped around her neck mid-swing.

Power drained from her body instantly.

She gasped and collapsed, her limbs twitching, eyes rolling back.

The berserker was dead.

She had almost lost herself, completely.

.....

Raya awoke sometime later, back in the holding den. Her body ached in new ways. The silver collar still burned her throat. She barely remembered what happened. She could remember seeing Khan and flashes of red.

Thorne stood in the shadows, arms crossed, watching her like she was a loaded weapon.

"You're lucky I stopped you," he said quietly.

She didn't speak.

He stepped closer.

"You nearly butchered a mindless creature like it was your own executioner. Tell me, Raya..." He leaned in. "Do you even know when you're in control?"

She looked at him in his eyes. And he realized she truly didn't know.

Thorne tossed something into the dirt in front of her-a blood-stained necklace.

"I found this in the den after the fight," he said. "It doesn't belong to any of my wolves."

Raya stared at it. It was her mother's.

The necklace had been buried with her ten years ago.