Chapter 541

Enzo

The groan of the iron gates sent a shudder through my body as they ground open, revealing the vast expanse of the arena. The deafening roar of the crowd washed over me in waves, their excitement palpable in the air.

Here I was again. In the arena.

I had hoped that I would never have to come back here, that I would never have to relive the horrors of this place. But, fate was rarely so kind. I had returned to the arena, and the smell of old blood and sweat filled my nostrils.

This time, though, it would be different. This time, by returning to the arena, I would ensure that no blood would ever sink into this soil ever again.

Ever since I had kissed Nina in my chambers, the fog that had previously been shrouding my mind had slipped away and not returned. I was grateful for it, too, because I needed mental clarity if this was going to work.

I just wished that Nina didn’t have to be here. I wished she was still at home, safe within the confines of her father’s pinewood mansion.

But, once again… Fate was rarely so kind.

Beside me, the panther shifter emerged from the shadows, his greenish eyes gleaming with a feral intensity. He was being led by a guard and wore a metal collar around his neck, but he didn’t resist. There was no need to.

As he passed by, he brushed past me, and as he did, I felt an electric shock of energy course through me.

“You know what to do, wolf,” he growled, his voice a low rumble in the back of my mind. “Stick to the plan, and we might just make it out of this alive.”

I gave a curt, subtle nod, steeling my nerves as I scanned the endless sea of faces leering down at us from the towering stone bleachers. Somewhere in that mass of bodies were Nina, Luke, and Tyler, preparing to unleash their part of the uprising.

A hush fell over the crowd as Mila rose from her throne, her piercing yellow eyes sweeping over the arena with a cruel indifference. She raised a single hand, her ruby red nails almost seeming to catch the light of the torches.

At her gesture, the roar of the crowd turned tenfold, a cacophony of mindless adoration.

But I could sense the shift. As I scanned the sea of faces, I could see that there were those who didn’t hoot and howl with maddened frenzy, but instead stood frozen, their eyes wide and their hands shaking.

The seeds had been sown. The dissent had begun. And Mila, as of right now, was none the wiser.

“Let the games begin!” she bellowed, her voice booming like thunder through the impossibly high ceilings.

With those words, the shift took over. My bones cracked and contorted, fur sprouting across my skin as my body reshaped itself into the powerful wolf form.

Across from me, now unleashed from his chains, the panther’s body lowered into a fighting stance. Green spittle dripped from the corners of his mouth, but his mind was still clear. He had resisted the gasses under the mountain, just as I had.

We locked eyes for a moment, a silent understanding passing between us. Then, with a feral snarl, the panther pounced.

His massive body sailed through the air, claws extended, as he aimed for my throat. I ducked at the last moment, his weight slamming into the dirt beside me as I whirled around, snapping my jaws.

Our bodies collided in a flurry of teeth and claws, putting on a show of brutality for the cheering crowd. Blow after blow rained down, each more ferocious than the last, until we were both panting and bloodied. But not once did we make killing blows. We were just biding time, waiting for the signal.

Through the haze of combat, I finally caught Nina’s gaze from across the arena. Her subtle nod was nearly imperceptible, but I knew the signal when I saw it.

It was time.

Rearing back, I let loose a piercing howl, the sound ringing through the cavernous space. The panther took the cue, breaking off from our mock battle and turning his attention to the nearest cluster of guards.

Chaos erupted around us as Nina, Luke, and Tyler set their plan into motion. Shouts of dissent rose from the crowd, quickly turning into a deafening roar of rebellion. Bodies surged forward, trampling over one another as the guards scrambled to maintain control.

“Rise up!” Nina;s voice rang out, clear and commanding above the din. “Shake off the evil tyrant’s lies and fight for your freedom!”

I caught glimpses of the pandemonium unfurling—a guard being dragged down by a sea of hands, another fleeing in terror as a group of dissenters advanced.

Somewhere in the midst of it all, Luke and Tyler moved through the crowd like ghosts, their voices carrying whispers of insurrection to any who would listen.

Exchanging a quick glance, the panther and I weaved through the mayhem, our eyes locked on our ultimate target—Mila.

She rose from her throne, her expression twisted into a mask of fury as she witnessed her carefully constructed facade crumbling around her.

“Fools!” she screeched, her shrill voice cutting through the chaos. “You think you can defy me? I am your queen, your ruler, your goddess!”

With a feral roar, the panther leapt towards her, his claws extended. I followed close behind, my jaws snapping, ready to tear into her flesh.

But Mila was faster.

In one fluid motion, she drew a blade from her silken green skirts, the wicked metal glinting in the torchlight. The panther’s momentum carried him forward, straight onto the tip of her knife.

A guttural cry escaped his jaws as the blade sank deep into his side, right between his ribs. I skidded to a halt, my ears flattening against my skull as I watched him crumple to the ground, blood pooling around him faster than I thought possible.

With a strained grunt, Mila pulled the blade from the panther’s side, using her foot on his now-limp body as leverage. I felt my stomach flip as I watched the blood, a sickly greenish color rather than red, dripping from the tip.

The panther was dead. Just like that. He didn’t even have a chance to close his eyes, which now stared lifelessly up at the blackened abyss above our heads.

Mila’s gaze snapped to mine then, her yellow, slitted eyes narrowing. “Traitory,” he hissed, her words laced with venom. “After all I have done for you.”

Then, with an evil snarl, she held the knife up… and she licked the panther’s green blood from her blade.

Something changed then.

A tremor ran through Mila’s body, and suddenly, her skin began to ripple and shift, scales erupting across her flesh. With a deafening roar, she rose to her full height, her body twisting and contorting until a massive green and yellow dragon towered over me, its yellowed, cracked talons crushing the obsidian beneath her feet.

Screams filled the air as people saw their tyrant queen in all of her glory. A few dropped to their knees in front of her, shrieking and begging for forgiveness.

She paid them no mind, and merely scooped them up in one of her great claws, tossing them into her mouth with a series of sickening crunches.

The crowd fell silent, frozen in terror as Mila’s piercing screeches filled the air. I crouched low, a growl rumbling deep in my chest as I prepared to pounce. Not that it would have made any difference, of course; one of her flaming eyeballs was nearly as large as my head, even in my wolf form.

For what felt like an eternity, Mila simply blinked down at me, her slitted pupils fixed directly on me. As she breathed in, her throat crackled and rumbled like a door with creaky hinges, steam flaring from her nostrils.

Then, as though a switch had been flipped, chaos erupted again. The great tyrant queen was stoking the fires in her throat, and the crowd knew it. I felt bodies slam into me, jostling me and making me lose my focus.

Somewhere across the crowd, I saw a flash of lightning—Luke’s magic—and a lithe red wolf, Nina, carrying Tyler on her back.

Good, I thought to myself. Let them get out. If no one else, let it be them.

With a sweep of her massive tail, Mila sent a shower of debris raining down upon the crowd. Screams erupted as bodies scattered, the rebellion losing its momentum in the face of Mila’s overwhelming power.

But I refused to back down. With a mighty leap, I launched myself towards her, my jaws opened wide to clamp down on her scaly hide.

Of course Mila saw me coming.

With a twist of her body, she brought her tail around, the massive appendage slamming into me with the force of a battering ram. I felt the air leave my lungs as I was sent hurtling backwards, my body crashing to the ground in a heap.

Stars danced across my vision as I struggled to rise, my bones aching from the impact. Through the haze, I watched as Mila unfurled her wings, the powerful gusts of wind nearly knocking me off my feet once more.

With a final, earth-shattering roar that shook the very foundations of the mountain, she launched herself into the air, her massive form bolting up, up, up, until…

She crashed through the very top of the mountain, showering an earthquake of rocks and blinding sunlight down on us.

I could only watch, helpless, as her screeches filled the air.