17. Chapter 17 - Matt #2
The throne chamber buckled, and entire sections of the outer bridges finally gave way.
Stone disappeared into the abyss below in massive collapsing waves while black mineral veins spread frantically across the remaining supports like cracks racing through ice.
Gunfire echoed through the chaos as Vale’s teams fought to hold the surviving platforms long enough for Baptiste to reach the final charge point beneath the throne.
But everyone in the chamber understood the truth now.
The stabilizers were no longer enough to keep the fracture contained.
The seal was failing too fast.
Baptiste reached the central support column first and slammed one hand against the detonator clipped to his vest. Several amber lights flashed red. His face went pale.
“Theron!” he shouted over the collapsing chamber. “The stabilizers aren’t holding the fracture lines anymore!”
Cold satisfaction settled across the First King’s face. Of course he already knew.
The mountain groaned beneath them with a deep, living sound while another chain snapped beside the throne. This time the platform did not merely shift downward. It lurched violently toward the abyss as black mineral erupted across the remaining bridges in branching waves.
The seal was collapsing from beneath the throne. But the mountain was not folding inward the way it should have. Instead, the throne was sinking with it.
The King stepped forward again, fractured black veins spreading farther across the almost-human skin stretched over his body. “You waited too long,” he said softly.
Then the abyss moved.
Not the creatures beneath it. The mountain itself.
The entire throne chamber tilted hard enough to throw several corrupted wolves sideways into the darkness below while a deafening crack split directly beneath the throne platform. Red light exploded upward through the widening fracture as heat rolled violently through the chamber.
Baptiste stared toward the abyss in horror. “That’s not a collapse.”
Theron understood first, and Matt felt the realization strike through the bond a fraction of a second before he spoke.
“He’s pulling the throne chamber into the heart seal.”
The words landed like a death sentence.
The First King spread his arms as the throne platform continued sinking toward the widening fracture beneath it. The corrupted wolves surrounding the chamber dropped into submission despite the chaos tearing the mountain apart around them.
Matt looked toward the abyss, where the red glow had become almost blinding. Shapes moved far below inside the fracture, enormous and shifting beneath layers of black mineral that pulsed like exposed organs beneath the mountain.
“What happens if he succeeds?” Vale demanded.
Theron never looked away from the throne. “Once the chamber and the heart seal become one structure, the collapse will no longer bury him.”
Matt felt cold settle beneath his ribs. “It frees him.”
“Yes.”
“Tell me there’s still a plan,” Vale snapped.
Theron’s eyes shifted toward the detonator hanging from Baptiste’s vest.
“There is.”
Matt knew exactly what he intended. “No.”
Theron ignored him and stepped toward the collapsing central bridge. “The stabilizers were never designed to save the throne chamber. They were designed to bury it before the King could anchor himself inside the seal.”
Baptiste looked between Theron and the detonator. “If we overload the heart seal directly—”
“The chamber collapses inward before the connection is complete,” Theron finished. “It buries him with the prison.”
Matt stepped directly in front of him. “Absolutely not.”
“It will reseal the fracture.”
“It will kill you.”
Theron held his gaze steadily despite the chaos surrounding them. “If the King leaves this mountain, there will be no containing what follows.”
Matt’s claws flexed hard against the fractured stone beneath him. “I am getting really tired of you volunteering for death like it’s a personality trait.”
Theron’s composure cracked for a heartbeat, exposing an affection so unguarded that panic climbed higher inside Matt’s chest.
The King watched them with growing understanding. Matt saw understanding settle across the ancient wolf’s expression.
Then the King smiled. “You still think sacrifice makes him noble,” he said. “That is why he belongs to me.”
The bond surged violently.
Matt felt Theron recoil from the words internally even while his expression remained controlled on the surface. The King was twisting something dangerously close to the truth.
Theron had spent centuries believing suffering was the same thing as duty.
Matt closed the distance until nothing stood between Theron and the King except him.
“No,”
He held the king's gaze.
“He belongs to himself.”
The chamber went still for half a heartbeat. Then the King roared.
The force tore through the throne chamber hard enough to split the central bridge directly down the middle.
The mountain began dying around them. Another violent tremor wrenched the broken halves of the bridge farther apart while the abyss beneath the throne erupted with blinding red light.
Entire sections of the chamber collapsed into the widening fracture as black mineral spread wildly across the remaining stone like a living infection losing control of its own body.
The First King stood at the center of it all beside the throne, rage twisting across his fractured face while the chamber disintegrated around him.
“You cannot stop what I have become,” he roared.
Theron stepped forward anyway.
Matt caught his arm. “Absolutely not.”
Theron turned toward him, and for a second the chaos around them seemed to fall away beneath the bond tightening sharply between them.
“If we overload the seal before he finishes anchoring himself inside it, the fracture collapses inward,” Theron said. “The mountain buries him instead of setting him free.”
Matt already hated where this was going. “And you?”
For one unguarded second, Matt saw fear.
Not of dying. Of leaving him.
“The collapse will separate the bridges,” Theron admitted. “Once the seal ruptures, there will not be time to cross back.”
“No.”
Matt’s grip tightened around his arm. “We are done having this conversation.”
The First King watched from across the collapsing chamber with quiet certainty.
“He still believes you can keep him,” the King said softly.
Matt ignored him completely.
Theron stepped closer instead, close enough that Matt could feel the tremor running beneath his control through the bond between them. “Listen to me.”
“No.”
“Matt.”
The way Theron said his name almost broke him.
The chamber shook violently again. One of the outer bridges collapsed entirely beneath the stabilizer teams, forcing Vale and the surviving agents onto the remaining central span while Baptiste struggled to arm the final detonator sequence near the eastern anchor.
“We are out of time!” Vale shouted.
The King began moving toward them. This time the throne chamber moved with him.
Black mineral erupted outward beneath his feet while the fractured bridges groaned under the pressure of the mountain trying to reshape itself around his will. Corrupted wolves surged behind him through smoke, dust, and falling stone as the abyss widened beneath the throne.
Matt stepped forward instinctively. Theron caught his wrist. The contact hit the bond hard enough that both of them froze.
Emotion slammed through the connection violently now that neither of them was hiding from it anymore. Fear tangled with relief, exhaustion, desperation, and something deeper that had finally become impossible to deny.
Matt felt the realization strike Theron through the bond at the same moment it took hold inside him. Neither of them wanted to survive this alone anymore.
The King understood. Rage exploded across the chamber. “You choose weakness,” the ancient wolf snarled.
“No,” Matt said.
Then he looked directly at Theron. “I choose you.”
Everything stopped for half a heartbeat. Even the bond seemed to flare brighter between them beneath the collapsing mountain. Theron stared at him like the words had physically stunned him.
Then the First King screamed. The force of it shattered the remaining chains surrounding the throne. The chamber lurched violently.
“Now!” Baptiste shouted.
Theron moved instantly. Matt barely had time to react before the older wolf tore free from his grip and sprinted toward the collapsing central bridge leading directly beneath the throne platform. “Theron!”
The King surged forward at the same moment.
The collision hit the bridge like an explosion. Stone shattered beneath their combined force while black mineral erupted upward around them in jagged waves. Theron drove the King backward across the collapsing span toward the exposed heart seal glowing beneath the throne.
Matt stopped resisting the shift. Fur surged across his body as he dropped onto four powerful limbs and charged after them.
The hyena roared as he tore through corrupted wolves trying to block the bridge. Bodies crashed into the abyss around him while gunfire echoed behind from Vale’s teams covering the remaining platforms.
Ahead of him, the throne platform continued collapsing downward into the widening fracture. Theron slammed the King hard enough into the exposed seal beneath the throne that the entire chamber shook.
Red light exploded upward around them. The King roared in fury as the seal finally opened fully beneath the fractured stone. And for the first time, Matt saw what the mountain had truly been containing. Not merely power. Hunger.
The abyss beneath the throne moved like something alive trying to drag itself upward through the fracture while black mineral spiraled violently around the King’s body.
“Baptiste!” Theron shouted. “Detonate it!”
The King grabbed him instantly.
Matt felt the panic hit the bond hard enough to nearly stop his heart.
The ancient wolf locked one hand around Theron’s throat and drove him backward toward the exposed seal while the mountain screamed around them. “You are mine,” the King snarled.