My Family's Secret

I swear I wasn't snooping. People love to slap that label on me, like I walk around with a magnifying glass and a trench coat. Honestly, I just needed air. Lunaris Manor squeezes you from the inside out, like the walls have opinions about your existence. The whole place hums with secrets, and tonight it felt louder than usual.

So yeah, I slipped out during dinner.

Nothing dramatic.

Or... it wasn't supposed to be.

I opened the wrong damn door.

Heat punched me in the face the second I stepped in. Not normal heat, the kind that feels like fire is breathing on you even when you don't see flames. My skin instantly went clammy. The room was almost pitch-black except for red symbols glowing faintly on the floor.

I should've turned around. Anyone sane would've.

But then I heard my mother's voice.

Cold. Flat. Chanting.

My mother doesn't chant. She barely prays over food.

My heart kicked into overdrive, and the room tilted for a second.

"Elara...?" Kael's voice came from deeper inside: low, tense, like he already knew I'd stepped into something I shouldn't have.

I took one slow, shaky step forward.

And there they were: My mother, Victor Lunaris, and two elders I'd only seen during ceremonies.

And Kael standing at the edge of a glowing circle carved into the floor.

In the center of it...., something was moving.

It was breathing and waiting.

My stomach dropped so hard I nearly gagged.

Kael snapped his gaze to me, ice-blue, furious. "Elara, get out-"

Too late.

My foot brushed the edge of the circle. Just barely. The symbols flared so bright I threw a hand over my eyes.

The creature inside lifted its head, slow and wrong, like it wasn't supposed to wake up yet.

I stumbled back into the wall. "What... what the hell is that?"

No one answered.

My mother's chanting cut off.

Victor hissed...., he actually hissed. The creature jerked against invisible restraints.

Kael moved fast. "You shouldn't be here." His voice shook. Kael does not shake. "Elara, look at me, do not panic."

"Don't panic? That thing is moving!"

It growled.

The sound hit somewhere inside my bones, like fear suddenly had a physical weight.

My knees almost gave out. I grabbed the nearest table and sent a tray of silver tools crashing to the floor. The sound echoed through every shadow.

The creature reacted instantly. Its head snapped toward me.

Its eyes glowed amber, it had my eye color, but twisted like something had broken inside them.

"Elara, MOVE!" Kael grabbed my arm.

And that tiny point of contact was enough. Something in the ritual snapped, I felt it, like a wire burning in half.

Victor shouted something that didn't sound human. My mom gasped, the red light around her flickering.

The circle cracked like shattered glass.

The creature lunged.

" Oh sh******" ..... I screamed.

Kael yanked me down just as claws sliced the air above us. The sound alone made every hair on my skin stand up. We hit the ground hard, the breath knocked out of me.

The creature landed where I'd been standing, cracking stone, shaking off whatever was left of the ritual. Its shape rippled, wolf-like but wrong, bones shifting like it couldn't decide what it wanted to be.

Victor yelled, "CONTAIN IT!"

Contain it?

This thing could eat a lot of us for breakfast.

Kael dragged me behind a pillar. His breath was hot and shaky in my ear. "Don't look at its eyes. Keep your head down."

"Why?!" I asked.

"Because it'll know you're scared."

"I AM scared!"

The creature slammed into another pillar, cracking it. Dust rained down on us, this made my heart punch at my ribs, too fast, too hard.

Kael pushed me lower, shielding me with his body. He was warm and shaking.

"Elara... why did you come down here?"

"I was trying to get air!"

"This isn't funny."

"I'm not laughing!"

Victor started chanting again, it was sharper this time. My mom joined him, her voice cracking. The creature only thrashed harder, snarling like the sound hurt it.

Then its head snapped toward us, directly at me and it felt like a punch. This made me forget how to breathe.

Kael cursed and grabbed my jaw, forcing my head down. "Do NOT meet its eyes, damn it!"

"I didn't do it on purpose!" My whole body trembled. "What is that thing?"

"A guardian," he said. "A failed one."

Failed.

Failed at what, staying alive?

The creature charged again.

Victor shouted more words I couldn't understand.

A streak of red light slammed into the creature's side.

It barely flinched.

Kael suddenly pulled me to my feet. "We're running, now!!!!!."

"I can't outrun THAT!"

"No. But I can."

Before I could complain, he dragged me through a side passage. My legs moved on instinct alone. The creature roared behind us, the sound so powerful the walls shook.

Kael slammed into another door with his shoulder.

"Move!" he barked.

I stepped aside. He rammed it again, the wood split. One more hit sent it flying open, and we tumbled into a narrow hallway with one sad flickering light.

Kael shoved the door shut and braced against it. "Elara, run. End of the hall. Now."

"No." I grabbed his arm. "I'm not leaving you."

He looked at me, not angry, not annoyed. Just... scared. The kind of scared people hide.

"The ritual broke because of you," he said quietly. "It's bound to your scent now."

"Bound? To me?"

The creature slammed into the door so hard the wood bowed inward. Kael grunted, muscles straining.

"Elara!" he shouted. "GO!"

Another slam. More cracking wood.

I backed up, my chest felt tight and burning. I was never supposed to see this, any of it.

And now something ancient and furious was hunting me.

The door split, Kael yelled my name and the creature burst through.

The door didn't just break, it exploded inward like it was made of cardboard instead of thick wood. I didn't even get a scream out before Kael shoved me sideways. The claws of the beast ripped through the air where my head had been a heartbeat ago. The sound alone slid cold down my spine.

I slammed onto the floor, and my elbows was the first. This made a heavy pain shoot through my arm so sharp it made my eyes sting, I wanted to cry. I barely sucked in half a breath before Kael yanked me up again.

The creature filled the entire doorway. It had to fold itself down just to fit through, fur bristling, bones shifting under its skin like it was still deciding what shape to be. And its eyes... they locked straight onto me. Not Kael, not the hallway behind us, but only me.

Kael stepped in front of me, and the thing I could hear was a rough voice. "Elara. Behind me, do not move."

"I'm not stupid," I muttered, even though my legs trembled so badly I felt like they weren't mine.

The creature dropped onto all fours, lowering its head. It didn't look threatening, that was the terrifying part. It looked... curious, studying me, measuring me or maybe....., deciding how fast it would kill me.

"Kael..." I whispered. "Why is it staring at me like that?"

"Because the ritual tied it to your scent." He didn't even look back at me. "It wants what the ritual promised."

"What did it promise?" My voice shook.

He didn't answer, and he didn't need to. Before we could have a second for ourselves, the creature launched at us.

Kael shoved me aside again, and this time, I felt it hard. I crashed into a table and sent an old metal lantern flying, it clattered across the hall like someone ringing a giant bell. Kael met the creature mid-jump, he removed his knife and that flashed through my eyes. The blade slid along its fur like the creature was made of stone. The impact slammed both of them into the wall, plaster bursting.

I scrambled backward on shaky hands, my lungs refusing to cooperate, I was shivering. My heartbeat was a frantic, painful mess. The creature whipped around and snapped its jaws at Kael.

" Kael watch out" I screamed ontop of my voice as he swerved the beast. Missing his face by inches as it spat on the floor.

"Okay," I breathed, I was terrified and horrified at the same time. "What kind of wolf melts the floor with its spit?"

"You're not helping, Elara," Kael grunted, ducking another swipe. I was just there, doing nothing to help nor was I running. At this point, I knew I'm stupid.

Kael slide under the wolf arms and drove the knife into its side, and thankfully, it actually cut through it this time.

" Oh oh.... I guess we just made him more angry" I whispered.

The creature roared so loud, shaking its body aggressively. The walls were shaking, I could feel vibrations under my feet and dust were also raining on us like dirty snow.

"Run!" Kael yelled.

"No." My voice cracked. "I'm not leaving you!"

"Elara, GO!"

"No!" I shouted back.

The creature slammed Kael again. He flew across the floor and hit the wall, the sound was... wrong. His face twisted with pain, and for a moment he couldn't get up.

Something hot and stupid overcame my fear.

I grabbed the lantern and hurled it at the creature's head. And from the look of things, what I just did wasn't smart nor helpful. But I couldn't just sit there and watch Kael die.

The lantern bounced off its skull with a metallic THUNK.

"Well," I whispered, "that was unbelievably stupid........, very stupid."

" No no no no" I screamed as the creature snapped towards me, I couldn't breath for a second. I froze.

The creature growled: a deep vibrating sound that made my ribs ache. It turned fully toward me, its claws were dragging long scars across the floor as it walked.

My whole body shook, my eyes burned as I couldn't process what was actually seeing. My brain screamed RUN, but my legs ignored me. I wished all this was just a dream. Honestly, I wish.

Kael rasped, "Elara... don't move."

The creature stepped closer, and that made ice fill every vein in my body.

"Please," I whispered. "Don't come closer." But it did anyway.

Its head dipped low, wanting to sniff the air around me like it wanted taste my fear. I was so scared it was getting closer so I took slow steps backwards. Unfortunately, I had reached the end as my back hit the wall.

I started sweating prefusely, my heart was beating so fast and hard that the creature could hear it.

Kael tried to stand up but he couldn't. "Get away from her!"

The creature growled without even glancing at him, like it was telling him to mind his business.

I couldn't breath and think at all as the beast came very close to me, close enough for me to feel its breath on my shoulders. It was hot and strange.

The air shifted, and the wall felt like they were humming again, just like how it happened before the ritual broke.

The creature inhaled slowly and deliberately.

"Kael," I whispered, "what is it doing?"

His face rested immediately I asked that question, like he didn't want to speak.

"It's smelling you."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because it thinks... you're the one the ritual was supposed to mark."

My heart flipped, like it was punched. "I didn't agree to anything! I didn't even know there was a ritual!"

"I know," Kael said. "But guardians don't care, they only trust their senses."

"I don't want it sensing me," I whispered.

The creature suddenly pulled its head back and made a low sound. It felt like something almost... respectful.

Kael threw himself onto me, tackling us both to the floor. The beat has started again.

" Uhhhh...., when will this drama end, the beast isn't stable ".... I whispered

It's claws ripped through the air above where my head had been. We slid across the hall until we hit another door. Kael held me tight, shielding my body with his.

"Don't move," he whispered.

"I'm crushed under you. I physically can't move."

"Good."

The creature pivoted, ready to attack again, but then a piercing whistle cut through the air, and that made the creature freeze mid-step.

Kael lifted his head, confused. "What was that?"

Footsteps echoed from the stairs: slow, steady, too calm for everything going on.

Victor appeared first, tall and furious, his eyes looked sharp, enough to cut. Behind him came Riven, half-shifted into a wolf, his teeths were bared, chest heaving like he had sprinted through half the manor.

Victor held a carved staff. He pointed it out once.

"Stand down."

The creature let out a warning growl but lowered its head, shaking.

Victor turned to me. "Elara. You were not meant to enter the ritual chamber, your presence disrupted the binding."

My voice came out small. "I didn't know."

"You do now."

Kael moved off me slowly, still ready to throw himself between us if he had to. "Victor, she's hurt, this can wait."

"No," Victor said. "Mistakes are corrected immediately."

He stepped closer, eyes running over me like he was deciding my worth.

"Bring her," he said.

Riven started moving toward me.

Kael tensed. "Touch her, and I swear...."

"Kael," Victor warned, "do not make this worse."

But then Victor lifted the staff again, and the guardian didn't charge, but it rather turned toward me and bowed.

Victor's expression flickered; shock, anger, something else under it.

Riven stopped breathing, are Kael froze completely.

And that's when I understood the horrible truth: The creature wasn't trying to kill me.

It was choosing me.

I froze, completely.

The creature's amber eyes didn't blink once. They just stayed locked on me and made me nervous. It was heavy and aware like it had been waiting for this one moment since before I was even born. My chest hurt from breathing too fast, I wanted to look away, but I couldn't.

Kael's hand clamped down on my shoulder. His voice dropped into that sharp, urgent whisper he only uses when things are about to go very wrong.

"Elara!!! don't panic, and whatever you do... don't fight it."

"Don't fight it?" My voice jumped. "Kael, it's huge, it's glowing, it can kill me in literally one second."

"If you stay calm, it won't."

"Calm?" I almost yelled. "How do you expect me to be calm when THAT is staring at me like I'm dinner and destiny at the same time?"

Victor slammed his staff against the ground. The whole hallway trembled. His face didn't move an inch as he said, "You belong to her now."

Her?

My eyes flicked to him.

His tone dropped colder. "The guardian reacts to blood. Elara Fynn, your presence tied it to you, whether you wanted that or not."

Behind Kael, Riven let out a low, guttural growl. Half wolf, half man, fully ready to rip something apart.

"Don't touch her," he warned.

I was scared and confused at the same time. My legs started shaking as I couldn't contain what was happening.

"Why me?" I whispered. "Why now?"

Victor didn't soften, he never does. "The ritual wasn't finished, you interrupted it. That is why it bows to you instead of obeying me. You have claimed it."

"Claimed it?" My heartbeat throbbed against my ribs.

"Yes," Kael said. His fingers dug slightly into my arm. "It's reacting to your bloodline, that's why it hesitated earlier."

I stepped back by instinct.

The creature stepped with me, same pace, same quiet focus, like we were connected by an invisible thread.

I grabbed Kael's sleeve without thinking. "It's... alive," I whispered. "Like alive-alive. It can think. It's choosing."

"It does choose," Victor said, walking closer. "And it chose you, that wasn't supposed to happen until you were ready."

Ready for what?

I was barely ready for breakfast most days.

The guardian: half wolf, half nightmare bowed again, this time deeper like I mattered, like I meant something.

Kael glanced at me. His eyes were sharp and scared, which made everything worse.

"Elara, listen. Follow my voice, don't fight it or..."

A loud crash echoed through the hall, I jumped in fear as my heart skipped.

Riven barked sharply, his claws scraping the stone.

The creature started reacting again, becoming unstable as usual. Its muscles were coiling underneath shifting fur.

My stomach dropped. "Is it going to attack?"

"No." Kael's jaw was tight. "It's testing you, it wants to see if you can control your fear."

Control my fear?

My entire body was afraid.

Victor's voice sliced through the air. "Step forward, Elara. Take command. If you don't, the guardian will be lost."

Command it?

Because of how heavy everything was to me, I couldn't utter a single word. My mouth opened, but nothing came out.

Kael lowered himself next to me and held my hand, warm and steady.

"You can do this and I'm here with you, just breathe."

Breathing was suddenly the hardest thing in the world.

The guardian's amber eyes stared at me, its body gave off hot air and I just wanted to run and hide. But Kael held my hand and kept me steady.

I swallowed hard and stepped forward.

"I... command you. Stop."

The guardian froze completely.

Its claws dug lightly into the stone and watched me with this terrifying patience.

"Stop and obey me," I said, my voice trembling and shaky.

Kael squeezed my hand. "Good, keep going."

The guardian lowered its head again. A low sound vibrated in its chest; not anger, not submission. It felt like something old.

My heart pounded in my ears so loudly I barely heard the scream.

A sharp, high voice cut through the hall, and it could be only one person: Selene.

She was on the balcony above us running, laughing, terrified, wild.

"Elara!" she shouted. "You didn't think I'd let you have all the fun, did you?"

The guardian growled, snapping its attention toward her.

Kael cursed. "Selene, what the hell...."

Victor lifted his staff, glowing brighter. "Catch her." Riven obeyed and went for Selene, as she was disrupting what needed to be done.

The guardian swung its head back to me and bowed again, its whole body went tight like it was ready for a fight.

"Control it, Elara!" Kael shouted. "Do it now!"

I wasn't trained for this nor was I chosen. My stubbornness led me into something I don't understand.

I was just me: curious, reckless, scared, stubborn.

Then Victor's voice cracked through the hall, furious: "You will pay for interfering!"

This statement made the guardian roar angrily at him, loud enough to shake dust from the ceiling.

Kael grabbed me and yanked me behind a pillar as the red symbols flared violently.

"This is insane," I hissed through clenched teeth.

Kael brushed my hair from my face, I was breathing unevenly. "Welcome to your inheritance."

The guardian slammed into Victor, sending his staff spinning, this made it spark shoot across the floor.

Selene sprinted down toward us, laughing and screaming all at once.

" Oh gosh" " Elara!!!!" She screamed my name.

And in that chaos, I realized something painfully clear: Nothing in my life was ever going to be normal again.