Chapter 21: Wolves Beneath the Stone

The estate never looked the same after you learned how deep the rot went.

The marble halls, once cold but elegant, now seemed like skin stretched over bone. Too perfect. Too clean. Hiding everything.

I walked in through the east corridor, the photo of Avery still burning a hole in my jacket pocket.

She remembered everything.

And the man behind it all—the one giving orders that night in Silverlake—was still here.

Still walking the halls like he hadn’t left families in pieces.

Ryder.

He’d always been quiet. Observant. Too controlled.

Now I understood why.

He was a ghost wrapped in skin. A monster wearing a uniform.

And I was going to expose him.

\---

Aidan was on the main balcony when I found him.

His arms rested on the rail, watching the sun dip behind the city skyline. Golden light painted across his cheekbones, but his expression was unreadable.

“Avery’s real,” I said. No greeting. Just truth.

He didn’t look at me. “I figured.”

“She remembers everything. Ryder was there. Gave the order.”

Silence.

“He’s the reason my family’s gone.”

“Do you want to kill him?” Aidan asked.

I paused.

“Yes.”

He nodded. “Then you’ll need proof.”

Now he turned toward me—his eyes dark and calm.

“Because if you strike without it,” he said, “you’ll be a murderer. Not Luna. And they’ll devour you for it.”

I studied him.

“You believe me?”

“I believe in you,” he said.

Then he walked past me.

Not cold.

Just distant.

The wall wasn’t gone.

But a crack had formed.

And I slipped through it.

\---

Elena and Ethan were already working when I got back to my study.

Ethan had spread floor plans of the estate across the table, along with half the estate's digital map system.

“There’s a part of the lower level that doesn’t connect to anything,” he said. “No power lines. No plumbing. No record in the archives.”

“A hidden section?” I asked.

“Exactly. It’s located beneath the eastern wing, below the crypt where old Alphas are buried.”

“I always hated that place,” Elena muttered. “Smells like decaying ego.”

Ethan chuckled. “If someone was hiding something… that’s the place.”

I nodded. “Get me there.”

\---

The crypts were quiet.

Dusty. Cold.

Each stone slab was marked with Alpha names, carved in elegant script. The further down we went, the older they became. One name caught my eye—Cassian Thorne, 1821. Another—Silas Thorne, 1910.

But Gregory’s name wasn’t down here yet.

He was still walking.

Still lying.

Elena held the flashlight while Ethan scanned the walls.

“There,” he said. “That stone’s not flush.”

We all stared at a smooth wall with a slight seam. Barely visible.

I stepped forward and pressed my palm against it.

Nothing.

Then I shifted my hand to the right—

Click.

The stone wall groaned.

A passage opened.

Dark. Silent. Reeking of dust and rot.

Elena gagged. “Oh no. Nope. That’s horror movie territory. This is how people die.”

I stepped forward. “This is how we survive.”

\---

The chamber inside was small—barely big enough for three people.

But the things inside it...

Medical files. Tapes. Blood-stained records. A row of teeth in a jar.

Silverlake victims.

Labeled. Catalogued.

Studied.

And in the center of the room—a chair.

A child-sized chair.

Straps still attached.

Flesh-stained.

My stomach turned.

“They experimented on them,” I whispered. “They didn’t just kill them. They studied survivors.”

Ethan found a notebook beside the chair.

He opened it.

His face went pale.

“Gregory’s handwriting,” he said. “He was trying to isolate traits in human children exposed to werewolf trauma. Trying to understand if the trauma would mutate DNA... create something hybrid.”

“They used us as test subjects,” I whispered.

I couldn’t breathe.

The blood. The metal. The recordings.

I felt ten again.

I felt like I was back in the closet, breathing through fear.

Elena touched my arm. “We should go.”

I nodded.

But then I froze.

A shadow appeared in the doorway behind us.

And a voice I’d come to hate.

“I warned you not to dig.”

Ryder.

He stepped into the room, blocking the exit.

“I told Gregory we should’ve killed you when we had the chance,” he said. “But no. You were too interesting. Too... promising.”

He drew a blade—one made of obsidian and silver.

“A shame,” he said. “I really thought you might’ve joined us.”

I didn’t wait.

I moved.

\---

We fought.

Steel clashed.

Elena and Ethan flanked him—fast, trained.

But Ryder was faster.

He knocked Ethan back into the wall, hard.

Elena shot a bolt—he caught it mid-air.

I lunged with both blades.

He dodged.

Cut my arm.

I roared and kicked his knee out.

He stumbled.

That gave me the opening.

I slammed him into the wall and pressed a blade to his throat.

“Give me one reason not to end you.”

He smiled, blood on his teeth.

“Because I’m not the only one.”

I froze.

“What?”

“There were others,” he hissed. “Children. Projects. Survivors. You think you’re the only ghost left behind?”

He leaned in, lips at my ear.

“They’re waiting. And they know your name.”

I didn’t hesitate.

I knocked him out cold.

\---

We dragged him back to the estate and locked him in the interrogation cell.

Aidan was already waiting when we arrived.

He looked at Ryder.

Then at me.

And for the first time in days—he stepped forward and took my hand.

No words.

Just pressure.

Just truth.

We weren’t finished.

But we weren’t alone anymore.