Aeron came last. His body dropped from the chute in a controlled tuck, his boots finding the cavern floor.

He landed on his feet. Brushed one sleeve. Scanned the cavern. Filed twelve observations in three seconds.

“How remarkable,” Aeron said, turning from warrior Master Mage into scholar with the speed of a switch flipping. His eyes were already tracking the rune patterns on the walls, the light sequences, the architectural geometry of a space that was ancient and deliberate and producing questions his journal was going to answer. “This predates the Second Age. The construction technique is pre-wolf. Look at the jointwork. Look at the rune alignment. This is the oldest thing I have ever stood inside.”

They heard another rumble, closer this time. Dexmon swallowed his own fear down. Those things scared him more than he would like to admit. More than Dark Fae or dark mages ever had.

Aegon: That is because they kill us with one bite and they smell like something died inside something that already died.

Dex: Helpful observation.

Aegon: Also, they put their heads back on. That is cheating. I remove a head, the head should stay removed. That is the social contract of violence. They have violated the contract.

Dex: I don’t think vampires signed a social contract.

Aegon: Then they are also criminals. Add it to the list. Smelly. Cheaters. Criminals. Ugly. Want to eat our mate. I hate them with my whole body.

Dex: For once, we are in complete agreement.

Aegon: Also, the green wolf is the same size as us and I have feelings about it.

Dex: Later.

Aegon: The feelings are loud.

Dex: LATER.

Next to him, Gavriel was scanning the cavern, searching for threats, his own wolf producing a parallel commentary.

Rook: The runes recognize her.

Gavriel: I can see that.

Rook: They recognize us too.

Gavriel: What does that mean?

Rook: It means what I keep telling you. MATE.

Gavriel: Rook, I swear to the gods—

Rook: Three. Mates. You. Her. Them. Three. I can count. Can you?

Gavriel: What the hell are you talking about?

Rook: Mate. Real mate.

The space was larger than he first realized. The cavern opened up beyond the entry chamber, the ceiling rising into a darkness that swallowed torchlight and returned nothing, the walls curving inward at angles that were too smooth, too intentional, too designed to be natural.

Serena turned to the glowing runes carved into the cavern wall. Her eyes went pink and she spoke in a language only Maelor knew.

Hyran and Aeron shot Maelor a knowing glance.

Maelor lifted his chin and straightened, but did zero translating.

Gavriel’s body stiffened. He turned his head slowly to Serena. “Reveal the passage the Ancients sealed from all but their blood.”

“How do you know that?” Maelor snapped. His voice carried the frequency of a mage whose professional monopoly on linguistic superiority had just been violated by a Gamma and whose violation was producing an offense so deep it had its own heartbeat.

Gavriel blinked. The words had come out of his mouth before his brain had authorized them. He stared at Serena. Stared at Maelor. Then gave a shrug.

“I have absolutely no idea,” he said. “That just happened.”

Dexmon looked at Gavriel. The looking lasted two seconds. Two seconds of an Alpha King studying his Gamma and the studying had nothing to do with him translating something.

The wall trembled.

Dust sifted down in soft clouds.

Then, with a grinding groan, the stone split and slid apart, two massive slabs retracting into the earth and revealing a narrow, crafted hallway beyond.

This was built. Intentional. Architectural. The walls were carved, reinforced, the work of hands that predated every kingdom standing today. She stepped forward into the darkness, the air shifting around her like it recognized her.

The others followed, quiet and ready. The door shut behind them.

Ancient runes flared to life the moment Serena stepped inside, each symbol igniting in a soft, eerie white-blue glow. The light crawled down the stones like liquid, illuminating the narrow corridor ahead.

As they walked, the walls revealed etched murals. Violent, brutal, unmistakably old.

Vampires tearing through wolves. Limbs severed. Bodies reknitting themselves like twisted marionettes pulled by invisible string. Fangs buried in throats. Eyes hollow and wrong.

Serena’s steps stayed steady.

One caught both Gavriel and Dexmon’s attention. They exchanged a glance.

It was larger than the others. A white wolf. Beautiful. Dead. Its blood was gold and being drained into the mouths of vampires whose faces were carved with hunger and worship.

Gavriel stepped forward instantly, placing himself between Serena and the mural before she could look that way.

She didn’t notice.

Her gaze stayed straight ahead, focused.

Aeron and Hyran exchanged a grim look.

Gavriel stayed planted in front of the carving until they’d moved far enough that she could no longer see it.

Dexmon grabbed Serena’s hand and gave it a squeeze, jolting her out of her thoughts. She looked down at his hand and gave his a squeeze back.

The tunnel narrowed as they pressed forward, the rune-light flickering like dying stars. The air tasted metallic, sharp, too cold.

“Everyone back!” Dexmon yelled.

Pale, skeletal hands, hundreds of them, burst through the floor cracks, clawing wildly, grabbing ankles, boots, armor. They weren’t bones or stone. They were something in between, wrongly alive, crawling like spiders, grasping like drowning men reaching for a surface that would never come.

Serena screamed, high-pitched, involuntary. Her back hit Gavriel’s chest behind her. His arm locked around her waist on instinct, pulling her flush against him, pulling her off the ground and away from whatever the hell those things were.

Dex cursed, kicking one away as more hands dragged over the floor like a tidal wave.

She fabricated a net, trying to hold them, but the magic did absolutely nothing. The gold construct hit the hands and dissolved on contact, the magic eaten by whatever ancient defense system was driving the clawing and whose driving was older than her power and immune to it.

“Keep moving!” Dex yelled over the noise.