Chapter 207 Hell’s Front Door

Chapter 207 Hell’s Front Door
ZANDER'S POV

I didn't hesitate. "Guards," I said, turning sharply. "Are you sure we're in the right place?"

No one answered.

The space behind us was empty.

The guards were gone, and I hadn't even heard them retreat. We had been so lost in the beauty of this place that they slipped away without any of us noticing.

A cold knot settled deep in my gut.

"Right," Dimitri said dryly. "Of course this was all a trick."

I stepped closer to Isis. "Can you break the illusion?"

Her jaw tightened. "It's not just an illusion, Zander. This place is alive, and it's feeding."

James frowned. "Feeding on what?"

"On us," she replied grimly.

The Dome pulsed as the walls subtly drew inward, the movement so slow it could have been missed if we weren't watching for it. Above us, the constellations shifted, their light dimming as shadows stretched unnaturally long.

"Okay," James said, squaring his shoulders. "We have to leave. Now."

We turned and walked straight into the same path we had just come from.

"Fuck!" I stopped abruptly. "Let's try again."

We turned once more, choosing a different direction this time, yet somehow we still ended up on the same path.

The Dome guided us forward no matter which way we faced, the floor subtly shifting beneath our feet as it herded us like prey. Every attempt to turn back ended the same way—forward, deeper, and closer to wherever it wanted us to go.

The air grew thicker and hotter as the screams grew louder, no longer distant or muffled. I could hear individual voices now, the desperation in each one, and the final moments before death swallowed them whole.

Gidian snarled inside me as rage and power surged through my veins. I let him rise and pushed my Alpha aura outward, slamming it against the Dome with all the force I could muster.

The walls shuddered and cracks spidered briefly across the surface before they healed.

Dimitri let out a sharp laugh. "Well, that's just insulting."

The Dome continued to shrink, its vastness collapsing until the space felt claustrophobic. The false beauty peeled away, revealing veins of black beneath the gold, pulsing like infected wounds.

And then we saw a door.

It was old and massive, carved from obsidian stone so dark it swallowed the light around it with strange symbols etched into its surface.

Isis froze, and her breath hitched.

I knew that look. I had seen it before, and I could tell immediately that she recognized the door.

She gulped.

"No," she whispered. "No, no, no..."

"What is it?" James asked, though his voice carried no real hope.

Isis turned slowly, her glowing eyes meeting mine. "There is nothing euphoric about this place," she said quietly. "This is something far more dangerous."

My chest tightened. "Isis."

She swallowed hard. "It's the door to the underworld."

Silence fell heavy and absolute.



I stared at the door. Every part of me knew we should not be standing this close to it, yet the space behind us offered no escape. The Dome had made that painfully clear.

"Tell me," Dimitri said at last, breaking the silence, "that we are not about to walk through a literal gateway to eternal damnation."

Isis didn't look away from the door. "I can't," she said quietly. "Because that's exactly what it is."

James exhaled slowly, grounding himself the way he always did before a fight. "Does it open on its own, or do we do something incredibly stupid to trigger it?"

Before Isis could answer, the symbols on the door flared red, and the ground beneath our feet vibrated.

I stepped forward instinctively, placing myself between the door and the others. My Alpha aura rolled outward in warning, thick and heavy, pressing against the walls of the Dome as if daring it to challenge me again.

"Whatever is on the other side," I said, my voice low and steady, "it's already aware of us."

The air shifted.

A deep, resonant sound echoed from beyond the door.

Dimitri clicked his tongue. "Fantastic. It noticed us. That's always reassuring."

Isis finally turned to face me, and for the first time since we entered the Dome, her confidence wavered. "Zander," she said carefully, "this door doesn't just lead to the underworld. It's a threshold. Once it opens, we may release something that shouldn't be allowed to walk freely."

James stiffened. "Something?"

She nodded. "Or someone."

The symbols began to rearrange themselves, glowing brighter with each second, and I felt the pull then a subtle, relentless tug at my core, as if the door were reaching for the wolf inside me.

Gidian growled, furious and defiant.

The space got smaller. 

"Isis, what will happen if the Dome closes around us?" I asked. 

"I'm not sure, but my witchy senses are telling me we may die if we do." 

I planted my feet and clenched my fists. "I know one thing for sure and that is none of us are dying," I said. "At least not today."

The Dome shuddered again, the walls pressing closer, forcing us toward the door inch by inch.

"So," Dimitri said, rolling his shoulders as his fangs slid free, "we either stand here and get crushed, or we go through hell's front door."

James met my gaze. "Your call, Alpha."

I looked at each of them then I looked back at the door.

"Bollocks! I guess it's hell's front door then," Dimitir sighed. 

"Just stay close," I ordered. "No matter what happens."

The symbols flared one last time and then the door began to open.