Chapter 77 Rabbit Hole

Chapter 77 Rabbit Hole
ZADE
      The moment the packhouse came into view, my blood ran cold. They were too many. The courtyard had vanished beneath a writhing sea of revenants. Hundreds of them clawed over the stone walls and iron gates, their movements unnaturally synchronized.

They no longer moved like mindless corpses. They were marching like soldiers. Smoke curled into the afternoon sky. The sharp metallic scent of blood hit us before Leon even slammed on the brakes.

The SUV was still rolling when I threw my door open.

"Zade—!" Indie shouted.

I ignored her.

My boots hit the gravel, and my knees nearly buckled. The drain slammed into me, a brutal reminder that I was dying. Blood flooded my mouth, and I swallowed it down.

A revenant hurled itself over the hood with an inhuman shriek. Leon's claws flashed before it reached us, and its head rolled across the stones.

"Stay behind me!" he barked.

Four more rushed him. He moved quickly, crushing them mercilessly.

Indie didn't wait. Golden-red fire blazed from her palms, engulfing an entire cluster of revenants. Their shrieks tore through the air, but more climbed over the burning bodies.

Too many.

Mason sprinted toward us through the chaos, bloodied and breathless.

"Alpha!"

He skidded to a halt. "They're bypassing the perimeter! They're not attacking randomly—they're heading straight for the main house!"

My heart seized.

Lila. My princess.

"They know exactly where she is," I said.

Indie's face drained of color. "Varak sent these revenants on purpose."

She met my eyes for a single, desperate second, the raw panic of a mother staring back at me.

"I'm going," she whispered.

"Go."

Fire ignited beneath her feet as she launched forward, painting the battlefield in blazing gold.

Leon watched her disappear, then he turned to me. "I'll cover her."

"No." I gripped his arm. "They want us separated. They're herding us."

Realization darkened his face.

A guttural roar shook the battlefield. More revenants poured through the shattered gates. They were not in dozens or hundreds. Thousands.

Even Mason paled.

"We're being overrun," he said.

Every wolf was fighting three, four, sometimes six revenants at once. Our lines were breaking. If they collapsed, the children wouldn't survive. The elders wouldn't. No one would.

There was only one thing left. One thing I had sworn never to use unless the world itself was ending.

My wolf stirred. 'Don't.'

'I know. It'll cost us.'

Leon looked at me, his brows furrowing. "Zade..."

"I don't have a choice."

His golden eyes widened. "You can barely stand."

I closed my eyes, drew one slow breath, and reached out with my mind.

Power erupted from deep inside me. Invisible threads exploded outward across the battlefield like spider silk, touching every wolf, every heartbeat, every terrified mind.

Thousands of emotions drilled into my skull at once—fear, pain, rage, desperation. Children crying. Mothers screaming. Warriors praying to the Moon Goddess.

Blood burst from my nose. The pressure nearly drove me to my knees, but I kept reaching.

Listen to me.

My voice thundered through every wolf's head.

Form ranks. Shield the children. Second line. Archers.

They obeyed.

Bows lifted. A storm of silver arrows darkened the sky. Hundreds of revenants dropped at once. The tide slowed, but only slightly.

Fresh agony tore through my skull. My vision blurred. Blood poured from both nostrils now. My knees finally gave out. But I needed to control the revenants with the same power. The joke was on me. My body wasn't strong enough.

Leon caught me before I hit the ground. "You idiot," he growled, his arm locked around my waist. "You're tearing your brain apart."

"Still... working," I gasped.

His expression hardened. Golden light ignited behind his eyes. "I'll help."

Before I could argue, Leon stepped forward. His voice deepened, aimed at the revenants.

"Look at me."

Hundreds of undead heads turned in eerie unison. The bracelet on his wrist glowed crimson.

"STOP."

The command rolled across the field like thunder. Most of the revenants froze in place.

Leon's body jerked, blood trickling from his ear. He staggered. "That's... harder than expected."

The revenants began to shake, fighting his hold. Some broke free almost immediately. Others remained locked in place.

'Good. Keep exhausting yourselves. I need you drained,' Varak's voice filled my head.

Pain detonated behind my eyes.

"Zade!" Leon caught me again.

Through the haze, Mason's voice cut through. "Alpha!"

An enforcer came sprinting from the mansion, his face twisted with terror. "Luna Indigo made it inside... but the revenants—they're not attacking the pack anymore."

He doubled over, gasping.

"They're all heading towards Lila."

A strange ringing instantly filled my ears, forcing me to my knees. My vision went white, chills creeping into my body.

"Your sloppiness did this. You failed your Alpha duties. You failed to protect your people," Varak said.

Blood splashed onto the ground beneath me. I couldn't tell if it came from my nose... Or my mouth.

Varak's voice sank to a whisper.

"And now...it's over, Zade. Give up. You never stood a chance against me. There is nothing for you to save."

The pressure in my head spiked until it felt like my skull would split.

"No..." I croaked.

Leon was still gripping my shoulders. I could feel his hands. Couldn't I?

The battlefield blurred. The screams dulled and muffled, as if I were sinking underwater.

Varak chuckled softly.

"Look around you."

I refused, squeezing my eyes shut tighter.

"Go on."

My eyelids fluttered open against my will. Everything had changed. The whole place was empty. But on the ground lay bodies. So many bodies.

The courtyard was carpeted in them, blood soaking the stones.

"...No."

A small hand lay near the broken fountain, still clutching Mr. Wolf. The stuffed animal was drenched crimson. Tiny footprints ended beside it... then simply stopped.

I could feel something inside me breaking apart.

Varak's voice turned almost sympathetic. "Too late."

"You’re lying."

"You were busy fighting ghosts while they died."

I staggered backward.
A familiar laugh echoed behind me. Indie. Hope surged through me. I spun around.

"Bunny?"

She stood beneath the front steps in her white dress, her golden hair dancing in the wind, smiling at me.

Relief hit me—until I saw her throat. It was gone. Torn open from ear to ear. Blood poured silently down her chest. She smiled anyway. Her lips moved, but no sound came. Then she collapsed.

I screamed.

Someone was shaking me hard.

"ZADE!"

Leon. His voice sounded real. Maybe.

I looked up. His face blurred, then twisted. His golden eyes darkened into black pits. His smile stretched too wide, revealing too many teeth.

"You failed them."

I shoved him away with everything I had. He vanished into empty air. Mason caught me before I hit the ground. "Alpha!"

His voice sounded distant. Wrong. Like it rose from the bottom of a well.

Varak laughed. "Do you see?"

The packhouse melted. Walls blackened. The sky disappeared. Ash drifted around me like snow.

The pit.

I knew this place. My soul had died here. No... I'd survived this place.

Hadn't I?

Footsteps echoed. Indie walked towards me again, whole and smiling. Then she dissolved into ash before she could reach me.

Leon appeared next. He reached out… only for his body to crack apart like old porcelain, collapsing into dust.

I stood alone. Again. Exactly as I had always been.
Varak's voice softened when he spoke again.

"You've always been alone."

I covered my ears. "No."
"There was never an Indie."
"No."
"Never a Leon."
"No!"

"Your mind made them because the loneliness became unbearable."

My breathing hitched.

"Did you really think someone could love a monster like you?"

The words sank into every crack inside me, feeding every fear I'd buried, every night in the pit, every nightmare.

"You imagined a family. A daughter. Mates."

My chest felt like it was being crushed to pieces.

"Because reality was too painful."

The ash blew harder, blinding me.

"You're exhausted, Zade." His voice was almost kind.
"Stop fighting. Let me carry the burden. Let me wear your body."

What was the use of fighting? If I’d lost so much… Why should I keep holding on? If my mates didn't exist, what was I fighting so hard for?