Chapter 93

Chapter 93

Trevor's POV

The moment I stepped out of the room, the air in the hallway stuffed around me. The walls seemed to pulse with the same rhythm that trembled beneath the floorboards, as if the mansion itself was bracing for something it didn’t have a name for. Jason stayed close on my right, Owen on my left, both tense in different ways. Jason’s hand hovered near his blade. Owen’s hovered over a rune in his journal that he hadn’t dared activate yet.

“Alpha,” Jason murmured, falling into step just behind me, “the knocking is coming from the foundation halls. The old tunnels.”

I knew. I could feel it like the bass note of a heartbeat that didn’t belong to any living creature. Whatever was beneath my home wasn’t trying to break in but was trying to announce itself.

We reached the east staircase, deeper than the one leading to the chamber before. Few wolves went down here. It was ancient stone; untouched, unrenovated, shadowed by history. My father had always stayed away from these levels, and he was not a man who feared much.

A low rumble echoed through the floor. Dust drifted from the ceiling in a slow haze.

“That was closer,” Owen whispered.

“It’s not moving upward,” I said. “It’s expanding.”

Jason cursed under his breath. “Wonderful.”

We descended.

The deeper we went, the colder it became. Not the cold of winter, not the cold of death, something older. A primordial chill. The kind found in places that don’t like being disturbed.

At the bottom of the steps, I stopped.

A narrow hallway stretched ahead, and at the far end, the stones trembled with each knock; heavy, deliberate, patient. The sound didn’t echo. It resonated. Like a fist bigger than any living being tapping against the underside of a coffin.

Jason moved ahead of me, blade drawn. “We should form a line.”

“No.” I stepped in front of him. “It wants me.”

He hesitated. “And you want to give it exactly what it wants?”

“I want to know what I’m fighting.”

Another knock shook the ground. Harder. A crack crawled across the stones at the end of the hall like a spiderweb spreading under ice.

Owen sucked in a sharp breath. “Trevor… this isn’t the Valley’s magic.”

“I know,” I said. “The Valley warned us.”

Jason’s eyebrows shot up. “You’re taking warnings from a trench in the mountains now?”

I shot him a sharp look. “The Valley chose Evelyn. It marked her path. And just now? It told the twins to warn me.” My voice dropped, low and absolute. “If the Valley is afraid, we should be terrified.”

They didn’t argue.

That alone told me everything.

We reached the end of the hall. The stones glowed faintly, a soft silver the color of moonlight on steel. A sigil crawled across the cracked ground not the Valley’s mark. Something jagged. Something wild. Something not meant for mortal eyes.

Owen knelt, breath trembling. “This… isn’t from our world.”

No shit.

I lowered my hand and pressed my fingers to the stone; careful, deliberate. Heat pulsed upward, sharp and biting, like a living heartbeat beneath the mansion.

And suddenly...

Evelyn’s scent washed over me.

Not from the hall. Not from upstairs.

From below.

A growl tore from my throat, raw and instinctive. “It’s reaching for her.”

Jason tensed. “Alpha..."

Before he could finish, the stone beneath my hand pulsed again. And in that single beat, I saw, no, felt—a flash of sensation.

A cradle of earth.

A chorus of whispers.

A warmth like a womb.

And eyes.

Eyes ancient enough to remember the earth forming, watching from the deep.

They were looking for her.

For my mate.

For my children.

My vision snapped back into the tunnel.

And then from behind us...

“Trevor!”

Evelyn’s voice.

I spun, adrenaline detonating inside my chest. She stood halfway down the stairs, breathless, one hand gripping the railing, the other on her stomach. Maya rushed behind her, trying to pull her back, but Evelyn’s gaze was fixed on me.

On us.

“We can’t stay apart,” she said, voice shaking. “They’re reacting. They need us near each other.”

I moved so fast I barely remembered crossing the distance. My hands slid to her arms, pulling her gently but firmly against my chest. Her body melted into mine as though she had been waiting for this moment, for this exact embrace.

I cupped her face and kissed her, stronger this time, grounding her, grounding myself. Her lips trembled against mine with emotion and fear and something deeper. She kissed me back hungrily, fingers curling into my hair, anchoring me in the one truth I had left in a world falling apart.

“I told you to stay upstairs,” I whispered against her mouth.

“I tried,” she whispered back, brushing her lips along my jaw. “But they didn’t want to.”

I kissed her again, softer, my thumb brushing her cheek. “You don’t come down here unless I bring you.”

“You didn’t bring me,” she murmured, “but you called me.”

I closed my eyes briefly. Damn her. Damn the bond between us. Damn the way her presence steadied the rage boiling inside me.

I held her close, kissed the side of her neck, then tightened my grip around her waist.

“Fine,” I said. “Then you stay with me.”

Another heavy knock rolled beneath the floor, closer now, strong enough to send a shiver through the walls.

Evelyn pressed tighter against me, her hand sliding to my heart.

“Trevor,” she whispered, voice barely breathing. “I think… it wants me to open something.”

I lifted her face, my voice low and deadly calm.

“Then it’s about to be very disappointed.”

The floor cracked.

Dust rained from the ceiling.

And from the darkness beneath the stone, something began to push upward.

The crack widened beneath our feet, stone groaning as though the mansion’s foundation were being peeled open from below. Owen fell back a step, clutching his journal to his chest. Jason raised his blade, but even he looked unsure where to point it. Maya tried to pull Evelyn away, but she refused to release my hand, her fingers locked around mine like she was anchoring both of us to the floor.

A thin line of pale light spilled through the widening fracture. Not warm. Not comforting. Something older. Something that vibrated with the same haunting pulse that had laced the Valley’s mist. The air thickened with a pressure I couldn’t explain, like gravity itself had shifted.

I pulled Evelyn behind me, shielding her with my entire body. Her breath brushed the back of my neck, fast and uneven, and every instinct inside me snarled in warning. I felt her fingers clutch the back of my shirt, holding on with a desperation that fueled every drop of strength in me.

“Trevor…” she whispered, voice trembling at the edges. “It’s not angry.”

“It doesn’t matter what it feels,” I said fiercely. “It’ll never touch you.”

The stone split again with a violent crack. A plume of cold air burst upward, swirling around us before settling at our feet like fog. And through the crack slowly, steadily something rose.

Not a creature.

Not a hand.

Not a shadow.

A shape.

A presence.

An outline of something humanoid but not solid, its edges shimmering like a figure made of fractured moonlight. No face, no features just two hollow impressions where eyes should have been.

Owen stumbled backward. “It’s a conduit. Not physical. A projection from the Veil.”

Jason growled. “Projection or not, tell me if I can stab it.”

Evelyn inhaled sharply behind me, her hand sliding up my back, clinging to my shoulder. “Trevor… it’s looking at me.”

I stepped in front of her fully, blocking the entity’s line of sight. “You look at me instead.”

Her forehead pressed to the back of my arm, seeking my warmth. I angled enough to catch her face, cupping her cheek and kissing her quickly, a grounding, protective kiss that made her exhale shakily.

“I’m right here,” I whispered against her lips. “I won’t let anything take you from me.”

The entity pulsed, a low hum radiating outward like a heartbeat made of sound. It brushed against my senses.

Evelyn gasped and grabbed my shirt. “I feel it—inside my mind.”

I turned instantly, grabbing her face with both hands, pulling her close. “Look at me. Don’t look at it. Look at me.”

Her eyes locked onto mine. Silver. Wide. Burning with fear and something else — something pulled from deep inside her bloodline.

“Trevor…” she breathed, “I see two paths.”

My stomach dropped. “What do you mean?”

“It’s showing me,” she whispered, hands trembling as she held my wrists. “One path leads to the Valley. The other leads to—”

She froze.

The ground pulsed.

The entity’s light flickered.

Her breath hitched.

“—death.”

My heart slammed against my ribs. “For who?”

She swallowed hard. “For all of us.”

Jason swore. Owen went white.

The entity surged upward suddenly, its glow intensifying, forcing us all to shield our eyes. Evelyn cried out as the twins kicked sharply, their power rushing through her in a burst of heat that made her knees buckle.

I caught her instantly, pulling her against my chest. “I’ve got you. Breathe, angel. I’ve got you.”

She clung to me, her lips brushing my jaw in a breathy, terrified kiss — not romantic, not soft — a plea for grounding, for presence, for me.

“Don’t let go,” she whispered against my skin.

“I never will,” I murmured back, kissing the top of her head, her temple, the side of her mouth, anything I could reach as the entity’s glow flooded the room.

Then everything stopped.

The entity froze.

The ground stilled.

The glow dimmed.

And in a voice that wasn’t a voice at all, but a vibration that resonated through bone and blood, it spoke.

Not to me.

Not to Owen.

Not to anyone else.

To Evelyn.

“To protect them… the mother must choose her path.”

Evelyn shook violently in my arms. “Trevor…”

I tightened my hold. “You’re not choosing anything alone. Do you hear me? We choose together.”

The entity flickered again; once, twice then collapsed inward like a dying star. The crack sealed itself with a hiss of cold steam, the stones knitting back together as if nothing had ever been broken.

Silence.

Heavy.

Suffocating.

Final.

Evelyn sagged against me, breath trembling as she buried her face in my chest. I wrapped both arms around her and kissed the top of her head, holding her as though I could protect her from prophecy itself.

Owen exhaled shakily. “It never meant to break through.”

Jason sheathed his blade with a shaky hand. “So what the hell was the point of all this?”

Owen answered softly.

“To deliver the message.

To force the choice.

The Valley is waiting.”

Evelyn lifted her face to mine, her lips trembling, her eyes shining with fear and love and fate entwined.

“Trevor… I think we have to go back.”

I cupped her face and kissed her slow, deep, steady a promise sealed between our breaths.

“Then we go,” I whispered. “But I won’t let destiny take you. I won’t let anything take you.”

Her hands framed my jaw. “I trust you.”