Chapter 10
Varek
We needed to get out. Now.
I half-dragged, half-guided my mate down the service hall, the smell of disinfectant and blood mixing thick in the air.
At the end of the corridor, an old equipment locker leaned against the wall, its hinges rusted, paint flaking. I shoved it aside with a grunt, metal screeching as it scraped across the tile. Behind it, the panel in the floor waited, the steel lip faint under the glow of the emergency lights.
Mariah blinked at it, dazed. “That’s… an exit?”
I ignored my injuries to the best of my ability and crouched down, fingers hooking under the edge.
My claws punched through the seam, and with a screech of metal on concrete, I heaved the hatch open.
A breath of cold, damp air rose from the darkness below, carrying the cool bite of earth, coal dust, and old stone.
“It’s the way out,” I told her. “There’re forgotten tunnels down here. Coal mines from before the Collapse. The wolves built over them and never bothered to seal them off.”
She peered into the black. “It looks like a grave.”
“Better a grave we choose,” I replied, “than one they put us in.”
I dropped down first. My leg screamed as my boots hit packed earth, the sound muffled by layers of dust and grit.
The tunnel stretched before me, low and jagged, timber beams bracing the walls, their wood dark with age and damp.
I could see the grooves where carts had once rolled, could smell the ghosts of fires long since burned out.
I looked up, offering a hand. “Come.”
She hesitated, then slid into the dark. I caught her easily, setting her on her feet. She clutched her arms around her waist, her bare legs streaked with blood and grime.
“Stay close,” I told her. “You don’t know these tunnels, but I do.”
She nodded, her green eyes wide in the dim glow of the emergency light spilling through the open hatch.
I pulled the hatch shut above us. The clang echoed, sealing us in. The darkness swallowed everything, heavy and absolute. Only the faint glimmer of my wolf eyes and the pounding of our hearts remained.
I grabbed a lantern I’d stored by the entrance, lit it with a match, and then we moved.
The tunnel stretched on. Drips of water pattered from the ceiling, echoing like distant footsteps. The floor sloped unevenly, gravel crunching under each step.
Mariah stumbled once, catching herself against the wall. Her hand came away black with coal dust.
The farther we went, the colder it grew. My breath misted in the dark, mingling with hers. She pressed close to me, her shoulder brushing my arm, her body tense but trusting.
I guided her left, then down a sloping grade where the beams leaned precariously, wood groaning under the weight of stone. Rusted lanterns hung from nails, long dead, their glass fogged with age.
Mariah’s hand brushed mine as we squeezed through a narrow choke point where the walls pressed tight, stone cold against our skin. She exhaled a shaky breath.
“How do you know secret ways like this?”
I almost smiled. “I make it my business to.”
I knew these tunnels like the back of my hand, every twist and turn. I’d carved their map into my mind years ago, waiting for a night like this when I’d need to disappear in the blink of an eye.
The tunnel widened again, opening into a cavern where the ceiling soared high above us, unseen in the dark. A broken cart lay on its side, half-buried in rubble, its iron wheels frozen in place. Stalactites glistened faintly in the thin trickle of light filtering down from cracks overhead.
Mariah tilted her head back, her voice barely a whisper. “It’s beautiful, in a terrifying sort of way.”
I looked at her, the blood still streaked across her skin, her hair damp with sweat, her green eyes luminous in the dark.
“It is,” I said, but I wasn’t talking about the cavern.
We pressed deeper, the mine swallowing us whole. Behind us, the base hummed with alarms, the wolves scrambling to contain what they’d unleashed.
I led her through a narrow cut in the stone, brushing aside a tangle of broken beams that had been shoved into place like a barricade. Beyond it, the air opened wider, cooler, and the smell changed, earth and dust still thick, but mingled now with the faint tang of oil and gunmetal.
We stepped into the cavern I’d made my own.
The chamber wasn’t much to look at: stone walls damp with condensation, jagged ceiling high overhead, the floor scattered with gravel and discarded timbers. But I’d worked it over the years, stockpiling what I could, shaping it into a place I could go to escape.
Crates lined one side, stenciled with faded military insignias. A stack of folded tarps covered a low cot cobbled from scavenged planks. On the far wall, I’d hidden a pair of lanterns with fresh oil stockpiled beside them.
Mariah stopped in the entry, her green eyes wide in the lantern light. “This is… yours?”
“Ours now,” I said simply.
I guided her to the cot, where I’d left a bundle wrapped in canvas.
I knelt, pulling it open to reveal clothes and several pairs of shoes—plain, worn, scavenged over time but clean.
I’d picked them out for her when I returned from my last mission, knowing Mariah would be at my side when we escaped through here.
“Here.” I held up a pair of pants, soft from age, a pair of thin boots, and a dark shirt that would hang loose but cover her. “Better than that hospital gown.”
She took them without complaint. I turned away, giving her the space to pull them on. My ears caught the rustle of fabric, and the small intake of her breath as she got dressed.
When I looked back, she stood straighter. The clothes were too big on her, and she’d rolled the sleeves up, but her chin was a bit higher, her eyes full of confidence. And maybe she was a little bit warmer, too.
Better.
I went to one of the crates and pried it open with my claws. Inside were the weapons I’d kept hidden from the Council: an old rifle, knives in leather sheaths, and a battered pistol wrapped in cloth. I laid them out on the cot beside her.
“Take what feels right,” I said.
Her hand hovered uncertainly over the knives before curling around one with a dark wooden grip. She tested the weight, her jaw tight. “This one.”
I nodded, sliding the others back into the crate.
Another bundle held rations. I pulled free a strip of jerky and tossed it to her, tearing into one of my own. The salt and smoke filled my mouth, grounding me, reminding me of every night I’d crouched down here waiting for the day I’d finally need all this.
She chewed slowly, watching me. “You’ve been planning this.”
I met her gaze. “I plan for everything. It’s the only reason we’re alive right now.”
She swallowed, then glanced at the crates, the lanterns, the weapons. “How long could we stay here?”
“A little while,” I answered. “There’s enough food for a week. More if we ration.”
Her lips parted, then closed. She wrapped her arms around herself, not in fear, but in thought. She was processing everything. I could see it written all over her face.
I reached for another strip of jerky, tore it in half, and handed another piece to her. “Eat. Rest. We’ll move when it’s safe.”
She took it, her fingers brushing mine for just a moment. Her eyes lingered on me, something soft in their depths.
I could still taste the jerky on my tongue when the back of my neck started to prickle. That’s when I noticed a foreign scent. Someone had been here. Recently.
I froze.
Mariah noticed. “What is it?”
I moved to the far side of the cavern, past the stacked crates, to the corner where I’d hidden what mattered most. A canvas roll, tucked beneath a loose stone slab. My hand went straight to the space. Empty.
My gut tightened.
I flipped open another crate, digging until I reached the bottom, where I always stored my fallback copy. That was empty too.
“Shit,” I muttered.
Mariah was on her feet instantly. “What? What’s wrong?”
I straightened, my claws sliding free as instinct roared through me. “A book. My book.”
Her brow furrowed. “A book?”
“Not just any book,” I snapped, a bit more harshly than I meant to. I pulled air through my nose, tasting the damp coal dust, the lingering oil, and the faint tang of blood still drying on me, trying to narrow in on what I had sensed.
I forced my voice lower, sucked in control. “It held maps of the base. Patrol rotations. Guard habits. Weaknesses.”
Her eyes widened. “And someone took it?”
“Yes,” I growled, my gaze sweeping the cavern.
I yanked open the weapons crate, my hand curling around a knife. The feel of it in my palm was comforting. “Stay close to me.”
She lifted her knife, her knuckles white around the handle.
I prowled the cavern, every sense straining. My ears caught the drip of water from the ceiling, the quiet hiss of the lanterns, the echo of our breathing. My eyes scanned the shadows, searching for a flicker of movement, a breath, anything.
Nothing.
I stalked down the narrow tunnel, knife raised. The stone pressed cold against my shoulder. Still nothing. I searched for several minutes for any sign of someone, but I soon realized that the scent wasn’t fresh. Whoever had been here was long gone.
I returned to the cavern, my pulse steady but hard.
Mariah stood in the lantern light, her chest rising and falling in a quick pattern, the knife ready in her hands.
“Find anything?” she asked.
“No.” I forced the word through clenched teeth. “Whoever it was, they knew what they wanted. And they’re long gone.”
Her lips parted, her voice hushed. “Then what do we do?”
I exhaled, dragging a hand through my hair. “We don’t panic. We rest. We move in the morning.”
Her jaw tightened, but she nodded.
I moved the crates, checking each one again. Food still there. Weapons untouched. Lantern oil un-spilled. Only the book was gone.
Only the one thing that mattered most.
I sat back on my heels, the knife resting across my thigh, my eyes scanning the shadows again. “We’ll take turns,” I said. “One of us sleeps while the other watches.”
Mariah wrapped the oversized shirt tighter around her, then sat on her haunches, leaning against the wall, her green eyes never leaving me. “I’ll take first watch.”
My lips curved into a grin despite myself. “You’re stubborn.”
She shrugged. “You’re still bleeding. I’m not.”
“You make a fair point,” I said, winking in her direction.
She just shook her head and smiled.