The world paused the moment Lucien said those words. I didn’t think it was possible, but the air around me grew even more suffocating, like the auras of the three Alphas had intensified all at once.

I wasn’t even sure how it had come to this point. When I prepared to enter this ritual, I’d expected only two outcomes:

That I would complete it and leave with the golds without getting caught… or, if luck wasn’t on my side, I’d be killed swiftly, my life ending without ...