Chapter 43
The ruins welcomed her in silence.
No sudden gusts of wind. No growling echoes from the past. Just the weight of everything waiting beneath the surface.
Riley moved forward, her steps slow and deliberate, the ground uneven and cold beneath her boots. The air inside the ruins was different, thicker, heavier, and charged with something unseen.
It smelled of damp stone, of earth untouched by time, of a place that had been left to rot and yet refused to die.
Her wolves followed behind her, their presence steady but uneasy. Even Kieran, who was usually unshaken, had tensed beside her.
Because they all felt it.
Something was wrong here.
Something was waiting.
But Riley didn't stop.
Because she had waited long enough.
The deeper they went, the narrower the passage became, the walls closing in as vines snaked through the stone, twisting like veins.
Golden torchlight flickered against the damp stone, casting long, twisting shadows that seemed to move even when nothing else did.
Somewhere behind her, Lena exhaled sharply.
"Well," she muttered, voice low but edged with amusement. "This place just screams 'bad idea.'"
Riley didn't smile.
Because Lena was right.
This was a bad idea.
It was a trap.
A grave.
A challenge.
And yet, she couldn't turn back.
Because if she did she would never know.
Never know the truth.
Never know who she had been before they erased her.
Never know what he had done to her.
And she was done living in the dark.
A slow chill slid down her spine, an ache curling behind her ribs, like something just beyond her reach was calling out to her.
Then
A sound.
Low.
Distant.
Like stone shifting.
The pack froze.
Kieran moved closer, his golden eyes scanning the dark. His voice was low, edged with tension. "Something's down here."
Riley's fingers twitched at her sides, her pulse steady, calm.
She already knew that.
Because whatever was down here, it wasn't just something.
It was someone.
The passageway opened suddenly, widening into a vast underground chamber.
At the center stood a massive stone structure, cracked and covered in ivy.
Not a temple.
Not a ruin.
A tomb.
Riley's breath caught.
Because she knew this place.
Even if she had never seen it before, she had been here.
Not in this lifetime.
But in another.
Her knees almost buckled beneath her, the weight of recognition slamming into her like a tidal wave.
Lena let out a low whistle. "Well, that's not ominous at all."
Kieran was silent.
Because he could see it too.
The writing.
The faded, carved letters are etched into the stone.
The language was old, older than anything that should have existed here.
And yet
She understood it.
She didn't know how.
But she did.
Her lips parted, the words falling from her mouth before she could stop them.
"She who was taken shall rise again."
The second the words left her lips the ground trembled.
The torches flickered.
The air shifted.
And from the far end of the chamber
A shadow moved.
Riley's breath hitched.
Because she wasn't imagining it.
Someone was standing in the darkness beyond the tomb.
Watching.
Waiting.
She could feel his presence before she saw him.
A slow pulse of recognition burned beneath her skin, like a tether stretched too tight, like a memory just out of reach.
And then
He stepped forward.
Tall.
Draped in black.
Golden eyes burning like fire beneath the hood of his cloak.
Riley's entire body is locked up.
Because she knew those eyes.
She had seen them in her vision.
She had seen them in her past.
She had seen them when he betrayed her.
Kieran moved beside her, muscles tensing, claws flexing. "Who the hell is that?"
The hooded figure didn't speak.
Not at first.
He just stood there, watching her, studying her like he had been waiting for this moment as long as she had.
Then, finally
He smiled.
And when he did, it sent ice through her veins.
Because it wasn't cruel.
It wasn't mocking.
It was familiar.
"It's been a long time, hasn't it?"
His voice was smooth, steady, like the ruins themselves had given him the words.
Riley's chest ached.
Because she should have hated him.
She should have lunged for him, should have torn through him like he was the last thing standing in her way.
But instead
She hesitated.
Because something inside her some terrible, forgotten part of her was still tied to him.
And she didn't know how to cut the thread.
The Betrayer's Name
The silence stretched between them, thick, suffocating.
The pack was still behind her, waiting.
Kieran was beside her, a storm barely contained.
But none of it mattered.
Not right now.
Not when she was standing in front of the one who had started it all.
Riley swallowed hard, her voice coming out softer than she wanted.
"Who are you?"
The man tilted his head slightly like he was amused by the question.
"Don't you remember?"
Her pulse roared in her ears.
She did.
The name clawed at the edges of her mind, tangled in the broken pieces of her past, aching to be spoken.
She had whispered it once.
She had screamed it once.
And now, it came back to her like a knife through the ribs.
"Caius."
The moment she spoke, the ruins shook.
Caius smiled wider and for a split second
Riley saw the truth.
He wasn't just someone from her past.
He was someone she had once fought for.
Someone she had once loved.
And someone who had destroyed her anyway.
The weight of it hit like a tidal wave.
She had spent so long chasing shadows.
And now, one of them had stepped into the light.
Because Caius wasn't a memory anymore.
He was real.
And he was standing right in front of her.
Waiting.
Watching.
And the worst part?
He wasn't afraid.
Not of her.
Not of the pack behind her.
Not of Kieran, who was seconds away from ripping him apart.
And that made Riley's blood run cold.
Because he should be.
He should have been afraid the moment she spoke his name, the moment she remembered who he was, the moment he saw the fury building inside her, the fury of a girl who had been erased, betrayed, buried in time, and left for dead.
But instead
He smiled.
This was exactly what he had been waiting for.
Like he had always known she would find him again.
Like he had never once doubted that she would come back to him.
Riley's hands curled into fists, her breath sharp and measured, her heart pounding like a war drum.
"Say something," Kieran growled beside her, his golden eyes burning. "Before I rip your throat out."
Caius's gaze flicked to him, amusement flickering across his face.
"Easy, Wolfe," he said, voice calm like he was speaking to a reckless child. "I wouldn't want you to get yourself killed over something you don't understand."
Kieran snarled, stepping forward, but Riley lifted a hand.
Not to protect Caius.
To stop Kieran from making a mistake.
Because she knew that tone.
That unshaken certainty.
Caius wasn't just confident he was assured.
Like he had already calculated every outcome.
Like he had already won.
And that meant one thing.
He wasn't alone.
A low growl rumbled through the ruins.
Not from Kieran.
Not from the pack.
From the shadows.
Then movement.
Figures emerging from the darkness, silent and steady, their golden eyes flickering beneath cloaks the color of midnight.
Wolves.
But not hers.
Not Tobias's.
Something else.
Something older.
Something that made the airdrop ten degrees, that made the ruins themselves seem to shrink, that made even the most hardened of her wolves step back.
Riley didn't move.
She wouldn't flinch.
Not in front of him.
Not in front of the ones who had come for her.
She held his gaze, steady and unrelenting.
"You should be dead," she said.
Caius laughed.
Soft, slow, like she had just told him a secret only he understood.
And then, calmly
"So should you."
The words struck like a blade to the ribs.
Because he was right.
She had died.
Somewhere in the tangled wreckage of the past, she had fallen, she had bled, she had lost.
And yet
Here she stood.
And so did he.
Why?
Riley's breath came slow, measured. "What happened to me?"
Caius studied her for a long moment, and then
He took a step forward.
Not like a threat.
Not like a challenge.
Like a ghost crossing a threshold.
Like he had always been meant to stand here, in front of her, waiting for her to finally see him.
"You don't remember?" he murmured.
Riley's nails bit into her palms. "Not all of it."
Caius tilted his head slightly. "Then let me remind you."
The air shifted.
Something cold and electric crawled over her skin, something that made her pulse skip, something older than memory itself.
And then
He reached for her.
Kieran lunged, but Caius was faster.
His fingers brushed against Riley's temple
And everything shattered.
The Memory That Was Stolen
Pain.
White-hot, searing, all-consuming.
She was falling.
The world was burning.
And he was there.
Caius.
Not as an enemy.
Not as a stranger.
As someone she had loved.
As someone who had sworn to protect her.
And yet he had betrayed her.
The memory unfolded like a nightmare.
A throne room in ruins.
The scent of blood in the air.
The sound of wolves howling in agony.
And she was on her knees.
Gasping, bleeding, hands trembling as Caius stood over her, golden eyes unreadable.
"I'm sorry."
The words ripped through her.
She tried to move.
Tried to stand.
Tried to fight.
But the moment she reached for him, the moment she looked into his eyes and saw the choice he had made
The knife was already in her chest.
And he was the one holding it.
The vision ripped away like a gust of wind tearing through her mind.
She collapsed, gasping, shaking, the ruins spinning around her.
Caius was watching her, his expression unreadable.
But he wasn't sorry.
Not anymore.
Riley staggered upright, chest heaving.
And the fury inside her cracked open like wildfire.
"You killed me," she breathed.
The words felt foreign and familiar all at once.
Caius didn't flinch.
"You left me no choice."
Riley snarled, lunging
But before she could reach him before she could tear him apart like she should have centuries ago
A new sound echoed through the ruins.
A deep, resounding howl.
Not from her wolves.
Not from Tobias's.
From him.
And suddenly they weren't alone anymore.
The shadows came alive.
A force too big, too powerful, too ancient.
Caius had brought an army.
Not to fight her.
To reclaim her.
Because this was never about killing her.
It was about taking her back.
And Riley wasn't going anywhere.
Not with him.
Not with the ones who had erased her before.
Not back into the dark, where she had once been forgotten.
Her pulse roared in her ears, every muscle coiling tight and ready, but Caius only watched her.
Waiting.
Like he already knew the choice she was about to make.
Like he thought this had already been decided.
Like she was his to reclaim.
Riley bared her teeth.
"You think I belong to you?"
Caius's golden eyes burned.
"You always have."
A growl ripped through the ruins not from her, not from the wolves behind her, but from Kieran.
His body was rigid, his claws extended, his breath slow and dangerous.
"You have three seconds to get the hell out of here," he said, his voice a low snarl. "Before I tear your throat out."
Caius barely acknowledged him.
His attention was still on Riley, still steady, still expectant.
"You don't understand," he murmured, taking another step closer, his voice almost gentle.
Riley didn't move.
Didn't flinch.
Didn't breathe.
Because she knew what came next.
She could feel it in her bones, in the ghosts of memories clawing at the edges of her mind.
This wasn't over.
This wasn't even the true fight.
This was just the first move.
And the war she had been trying to outrun for lifetimes
Had just begun.