8. Chapter 8 - Matt #2
Matt felt it physically pass through him like cold water beneath the skin while Theron staggered hard against the wall beside him.
A sharp growl escaped before he could suppress it, and his body jerked violently enough that Matt grabbed his arm instinctively to steady him. The reaction was immediate.
Theron sucked in a sharp breath while the bond surged painfully hot between them. Matt felt the shift ripple through Theron’s body beneath his grip almost like a current fighting itself.
Matt’s flashlight caught something beneath the torn skin near Theron’s shoulder.
A jagged black shard lay embedded deep beneath the flesh, its fractured edge barely visible. Thin dark veins radiated from it beneath the skin, branching like cracks through glass.
Matt’s stomach tightened. “What the hell is that?”
Theron instinctively turned his shoulder away. “…Part of the prison.”
“It’s inside you.”
A long silence followed.
“It wasn’t always.”
Another tremor rolled through the tunnel, and this one carried screams with it. Human voices echoed faintly through the stone ahead. Both of them reacted instantly.
Theron’s head snapped toward the darkness farther down the corridor. The growl beneath his breathing deepened.
“Survivors.”
He listened another moment before looking toward the passage ahead. “If any of the Valker team still live, they’ll have fallen back to the inner sanctum.”
Matt stared at him. “You know that?”
Theron nodded once. “Because that’s where I would have taken them.”
Matt let go and checked the magazine in his pistol. “Then we go get them.”
Theron did not move.
Matt hesitated. “What?”
The pale eyes shifted back toward him with visible hesitation. “There may be a way to stop him.”
Matt went still.
Theron glanced deeper into the tunnel system before continuing. “The mountain was built around the source chamber. Old power. Older than the King himself.”
“The thing powering the prison.”
“Yes.”
Matt shifted his weight. “And destroying it kills him?”
Theron’s jaw tightened. “Maybe.”
“That is not the confidence level I prefer in suicide plans.”
“The chamber collapses if the source breaks.”
Matt understood. “The whole catacomb system comes down.”
Theron nodded once.
Silence stretched heavily between them while distant screams echoed again somewhere ahead.
“The survivors are between us and this source chamber?” Matt asked.
“Yes.”
Another tremor shook the corridor. Matt looked toward the darkness ahead, then back toward Theron. “Okay. New plan.”
Theron went still. “You have a plan?”
“First, we save the people still alive. Then we deal with your ancient underground nightmare king problem.”
“It is an intention, not a plan.”
Matt checked the flashlight again before stepping deeper into the tunnel. “No, but it is an emotionally consistent one.”
To Matt’s surprise, Theron followed. For a little while, the growl beneath his breathing remained quieter than before.
The deeper they descended, the mountain answered with increasing force, and the harder Theron had to fight for control. His claws dragged against the walls for balance while silver subtly overtook the pale intelligence in his eyes.
By the time they reached the next chamber, Matt had seen enough. “Stop.”
Theron kept moving.
Matt grabbed his arm before he could disappear deeper into the corridor. “Theron.”
The reaction hit both of them instantly.
Heat surged sharply while Theron froze beneath his grip hard enough that Matt felt the restraint locking through his entire body.
For one suspended second neither of them moved.
Then Theron pulled back carefully, visibly controlling the instinct to either lean closer or flee entirely. “We do not have time.”
Matt stepped in front of him anyway.
The chamber surrounding them looked smaller than the ones above, more like an old guard station than part of the prison itself.
Ancient bedframes rusted against one wall beneath collapsed shelves while a narrow underground stream cut through the far side of the room before vanishing back into the stone.
It was defensible, temporary, and good enough.
“Yes, we do,” Matt said firmly. “Because if you lose control halfway to the survivors, we’re both dead.”
Theron’s jaw tightened. “I would not hurt you.”
The certainty in his voice hit harder than Matt expected. There was no hesitation in it and no attempt at reassurance. Just fact.
Matt held his gaze for several seconds before speaking again. “Maybe not intentionally.”
Silence settled heavily between them.
Theron looked away first, and somehow that hurt more than either of them wanted it to.
Matt exhaled before motioning toward the wall behind him. “Sit down.”
The low growl that followed sounded more irritated than threatening. “You give many orders for someone who has only just met me.”
“I survived the military. Bossing people around is basically muscle memory at this point.”
To Matt’s relief, Theron finally lowered himself against the stone wall.
Up close, the corruption spreading from the embedded shard looked worse than before.
Dark fractures spidered beneath the skin around Theron’s shoulder and neck while thin silver veins flared and faded beneath the black fur, as though they were fighting to contain what had taken root there.
The shard pulsed beneath the flesh with every distant tremor that rolled through the mountain.
It no longer looked like a wound. It looked like a doorway struggling to stay closed.
Matt crouched beside him carefully. “This is going to hurt.”
Theron snorted softly. “You think I'm not aware?”
“I’m legally obligated to provide warning labels.”
Theron held his gaze a fraction longer than before. It wasn’t a smile, but somehow it felt more intimate.
Matt reached carefully toward the shard beneath Theron’s skin.
The moment his fingers brushed the fractured skin surrounding it, Theron’s entire body tensed hard enough to crack stone beneath one clawed hand.
Matt stopped. “Too much?”
Theron glanced down at the black veins spreading from the shard. “Every time we’ve touched…” His gaze lingered on the spreading darkness beneath his skin. “It pushes back.”
Matt's gaze turned assessing. “I thought it was reacting to the First King.”
“It is.”
Neither of them spoke for a moment.
“But not like this.” Theron continued studying the black veins branching beneath his skin. “It should be drawing me toward him.”
His gaze lifted to Matt. “Instead, it recoils.”
His jaw tightened almost imperceptibly. “I’ve never seen it do that.”
Matt swallowed once at the roughness in Theron’s voice.
Whatever was happening between them had become impossible to dismiss.
Every accidental touch sent heat and instinct surging beneath Matt’s skin, stealing his breath for several heartbeats.
Judging by the visible effort Theron spent holding himself still each time, the reaction struck him even harder.
Matt still didn’t understand it, only that it was becoming impossible to ignore.
He forced himself to focus on the black shard instead. “How did this happen?”
Theron was silent for so long Matt thought he wasn’t going to answer.
Finally he said, “The Hand.”
Matt stared. “He did this?”
Theron nodded once. “Not all at once.”
Silence settled between them.
Matt looked back at the shard protruding beneath the skin. “Why?”
Theron’s eyes remained fixed on the tunnel ahead. “To make certain the corruption could always find me.”
Matt hesitated before asking. “So it’s tracking you?”
“More than that. It gives the corruption somewhere to root and the First King something to reach through.”
Matt felt cold settle in his stomach. “Then why hasn’t it taken you?”
Theron was quiet. “Because I refuse to let it.”
The answer landed heavily between them.
Matt looked back at the dark fractures spreading beneath Theron’s skin. “The Hand did this to others.”
Theron nodded once. “Yes.”
“The hungry ones?”
“Some of them.”
Matt’s stomach tightened. “They were guardians.”
“Some were.” Theron’s gaze shifted toward the tunnel ahead. “Others came later.”
The chamber instantly felt much colder. Matt thought back to the pale creatures crawling across the walls with frantic animal hunger. “What happened to them?”
Theron’s expression darkened.
“They lost themselves at first. Memory fades. Instinct weakens. Hunger grows louder than everything else.” His voice roughened further. “Eventually they stop remembering there was a difference.”
Matt looked back down at the shard embedded beneath the skin near Theron’s collarbone. “And being near me is changing it.”
The pale eyes shifted toward him. “How do you know?”
Matt gestured vaguely toward him. “Because two hours ago you were threatening people with murder-growling and now you’re tolerating medical care and sarcasm.”
Theron held Matt’s gaze for another heartbeat before looking away, his jaw tightening as though deciding how much he was willing to reveal.
“I felt you before you arrived,” he admitted.
Matt rested his back against the wall. “What?”
Theron’s pale eyes shifted back toward him. “When you entered the mountain, I could feel it.” His voice roughened. “Something different.” He hesitated before continuing. “The closer you came, the stronger it became.”
Matt looked at him silently while the distant tremors continued rolling faintly through the catacombs around them.
“Your presence weakens its hold,” Theron said. “I still cannot explain why.”
Matt’s grip tightened around the flashlight. “You knew.”
Theron's gaze settled on the floor.
“You recognized me the moment we met,” Matt said.
Silence settled between them. Then finally: “Yes.”
The honesty of it hit harder than Matt expected. Not because Theron admitted it, but because he sounded ashamed of it somehow. Matt studied him carefully while the distant roar echoed faintly through the catacombs again.
“You thought I’d reject you.”
“Yes.”
The answer came instantly this time.
Matt felt something painful twist low in his chest. “How long have you been alone down here, Theron?”