Chapter 27
Dahlia’s POV
“A key?” I whispered, as my voice caught in my throat.
Axel didn’t answer. He was already moving toward the center of the chamber. The runes on the walls were no longer just pulsing; they were beginning to bleed with a soft, golden light that made the black pool in the center look like a hole cut out of reality.
“Axel, wait!” I reached for him, but a sudden, heavy pressure in the air stopped me.
It wasn’t Nate’s Alpha command. This was heavier. It felt like the weight of the entire ridge was pressing down on my shoulders, forcing me to my knees. Beside me, Aidan and Ariana gasped, as their small bodies slumped onto the cold stone.
“Do not interfere, Mother of Heirs,” a strange voice rang out. It wasn’t the rustle of leaves like the old woman Axel had seen in his vision. This voice was deep, resonant, and echoed from every wall at once.
A man stepped out from a crack in the rock.
He didn’t look like a wolf. He was tall, gaunt, with skin the color of wet flint and eyes that held no pupils; just two swirling vortexes of grey smoke. He wore a coat of animal skins, and his arms were wrapped in leather thongs tipped with sharpened bone. He looked like a relic of a time before the Silver-Crest had ever been named.
“Who are you?” I gasped, struggling to breathe against the pressure. “What are you doing to my children p>
The man looked at me, and for a second, the pressure eased. “I am Kael. I am the silence between the stones. And I am here to witness the opening p>
He turned his gaze to Axel. My son was standing at the very edge of the black pool. The silver lines on his hands were glowing so fiercely now that I could see the bones through his skin.
“The Alpha thinks he can stabilize the fire,” Kael said, as his voice dropped to a low growl.
“The Elders think they can steal it. But the fire belongs to the stone. The boy is not a vessel, woman. He is the bridge p>
“He’s a six-year-old boy!” I screamed, finally clawing my way back to my feet. “I don’t care about bridges or ley lines! I want my son p>
“Your son is gone,” Kael said, though there was a flicker of something like pity in his smoky eyes. “Look at him p>
I looked. Axel wasn’t looking at me. He was looking into the black water.
“The mountain says the black oil is just tears, Mommy,” Axel said. His voice was perfectly clear, devoid of the fear that had defined him for days. “It’s crying because it’s lonely. It wants someone to stay.
“Axel, no p>
He stepped into the water.
I lunged for him, but Kael moved with impossible speed, his hand catching my shoulder with the strength of a vice. “If you touch the water now, you will both be consumed. The Rite has begun p>
Suddenly, the black pool surged. The dark liquid rose up around Axel’s legs, but it wasn’t wet. It looked like smoke made solid, coiling around his waist, his chest, his throat.
“Aidan! Ariana! Run!” I yelled, trying to throw myself toward the pool again.
But Aidan didn’t run. He stood his ground, as his small face hardened into a mask of defiance I had only ever seen on Nate. He picked up a jagged piece of fallen rock, and his knuckles turned white.
“Let him go!” Aidan shouted at Kael. “Let my brother go!
Kael paused, looking at Aidan with a strange, analytical curiosity. “The second spark. The protector. You have the Alpha’s fire, boy. But you lack the Heart p>
Suddenly, the chamber was rocked by a massive explosion from above. Dust and debris rained down, and for a terrifying moment, I saw a flash of blue light through a crack in the ceiling.
The Elders had found the tunnels.
“They are here,” Kael hissed, his smoky eyes darkening. He let go of my shoulder and drew the obsidian blade from his belt. “They will try to seize the bridge before it closes p>
At that moment, the black pool erupted in a pillar of silver light. It hit the ceiling with the force of a thunderclap, and the runes on the walls began to scream.
Axel was at the center of the light. He was floating, with his arms outstretched, his hair whipping around his face. The silver lines on his skin were no longer spiderwebs; they were solid bands of light, binding him to the very air.
“It’s happening!” Kael yelled over the roar of the energy. “The mountain is taking back what was stolen p>
Through the chaos, I heard a sound that made my soul shiver. It was a howl. Not the distant, pained howl of the ridge, but a howl that sounded like it was coming from inside my own head.
Nate.
He had breached the lower tunnels. I could feel him; his rage, his terror, and a sudden, sharp spike of agony that told me he had been hit.
“Mommy!” Ariana shrieked, pointing at the fissure Kael had emerged from.
A blue light was creeping through the crack. It wasn’t a lantern. It was a hand; a pale, translucent hand made of cold blue flame.
And then another. The ’Hollows’ were pouring into the sanctuary, their faceless heads tilting as they saw the pillar of light.
I looked at Axel, trapped in the silver fire. I looked at the man made of stone, Kael, who stood ready to kill anything that moved. And I felt the presence of Nate, my mate, bleeding out somewhere in the dark
I didn’t have a weapon. I didn’t have magic. I was just a mother in a torn dress and indoor shoes.
“Kael!” I yelled, grabbing the man’s arm. “If you want the mountain to have its Keeper, you have to help me save the father! If Nate falls, the pack falls, and the Elders will have nothing left to fear. They’ll burn this mountain to ash to get to that boy p>
Kael looked at me, his smoky eyes swirling. For the first time, he looked uncertain.
“The Alpha is a dead man walking,” Kael said.
“Then give him a reason to run!” I snapped.
The first Hollow stepped into the chamber, its blue eyes fixing on Axel. It let out a sound like a thousand dry bones breaking.
I stood in front of the pool, my arms spread wide to shield my children. The Gilded Cage was gone. The Sanctuary was a myth. We were in the heart of the monster now, and the only way out was through the fire.
“Aidan,” I said, my voice low and steady.
“Give me that rock p>
Aidan handed it to me. It was heavy, sharp, and cold.
“I am Dahlia of no pack,” I whispered to the dark. “And I am done running p>
The rock in my hand felt like a toy against the blue flame monstrosities pouring through the fissure. The first Hollow lunged, its fingers elongated into glowing talons.
“Back!” Kael roared.
He moved with a fluidity that defied his gaunt frame. The obsidian blade sliced through the air, leaving a trail of black smoke. When it hit the Hollow, the blue fire didn’t just go out, it was absorbed into the blade. The creature let out a dry, rattling shriek and dissolved into a pile of grey ash.
“The water!” Kael yelled over his shoulder, his eyes fixed on the next wave of intruders.
“Keep them from the water p>
I grabbed Aidan and Ariana, shoving them behind me, closer to the edge of the black pool where Axel was still suspended in that pillar of silver light. He looked like a star being born, his eyes were wide and vacant, and his body vibrated with a frequency that made my teeth ache.
“Axel! Honey, can you hear me?” I screamed.
He didn’t move. He was staring at the ceiling, his lips moved in a silent language that seemed to be etched into the very runes on the walls.
“He is not yours right now, Dahlia,” a voice called out from the darkness.
I spun around. Emerging from the shadows behind the pillar of light was a figure draped in heavy, silver-threaded robes. It was an Elder; the High Seeker.
It was so exhausting discovering new forces and faces. I just wanted this nightmare to be over.
“I curse the day I let my children know their father.” I muttered to myself.
The face of the elder was hidden behind a mask of hammered silver, but his eyes were glowing with a cold, intellectual malice, and were unmistakable.
“The boy is finally where he belongs,” the Seeker said, his voice was smooth and terrifyingly calm. “In the womb of the First Alpha. You’ve done well to bring him here, Little Wolf. You’ve saved us the trouble of the hunt p>
“He’s not a weapon for you to steal,” I spat, tightening my grip on the rock.
The Seeker laughed, a sound like dry parchment rubbing together. “Steal? We are simply reclaiming what was borrowed. The Silver-Crest bloodline has always been a vessel for this mountain. We are the stewards. You are just the biological necessity that delivered him to us p>
He raised a hand, and a ball of blue fire began to form in his palm. “Step aside. The Rite must be completed by a true initiate, not a mongrel who dreams of human suburbs p>
“No,” I said, as my voice dropped into a low, feral snarl.
The Seeker sighed. “As you wish p>
He launched the fire.
I braced for the impact, closing my eyes and pulling the children tighter against me. But the heat never came. Instead, there was a deafening crack of bone hitting stone.
I opened my eyes and Nate was there.
He was standing between us and the Seeker, with his back to me. He was in his human form, his skin was covered in grime and blood, and his chest heaved.
He had intercepted the fire with his bare hands, and the skin of his palms were blackened and smoking.
“Nate!” I gasped.
He didn’t turn around. His shoulders were tense, and his head bowed. “Take the kids, Dahlia. Get to the far tunnel. Kael will show you the way p>
“Kael p>
“Nate, your hands p>
“Go!” he roared.