Page 70 of Fated Wolf's Redemption

Fueled by desperation, we sprint, each step a frantic plea for survival. Behind us, rocks crash down with relentless fury, the ceiling beam collapsing with a resounding smash that sends debris flying in a lethal rain. The rhythmic pulse of the gate has ceased, a harbinger of the mountain’s doom as its foundations crumble into oblivion.

“Faster!” I scream, shoving Kylie ahead with all the force I can muster. Sophia staggers beside me, her energy drained, a crimson trail trickling steadily from her palm. I catch her just before she crumples, holding her steady. “I’ve got you,” I assure her with conviction.

She nods, speechless, each breath a ragged gasp. The corridor behind us collapses with a terrifying rumble, swallowing the path we had just traversed.

“Light—daylight up here!” Max shouts from ahead, his voice laced with urgency and hope.

We don’t pause for a second. The ground begins to crumble beneath my feet as I lunge forward, dragging Sophia with me. We burst into the outer corridor, where the ancient walls splinter and crack like fragile bones beneath a great weight.

Oscar drops his pack, flinging the outer door open with a wild yank. Sunlight floods in, a brilliant cascade of warmth and life. We hurtle into it, gasping for air, our hearts pounding in unison with the chaos left behind.

The mountain lets out a final, earth-shaking roar—a sound of ultimate surrender—and then the gate chamber is no more. Utterly gone, buried beneath an avalanche of rock, blood, and the horrors we refused to unleash.

I drop to my knees in the frost-dusted grass outside the ruins, Sophia pressed against my chest. She’s breathing. Barely. But she’s breathing.

Max crouches nearby, one hand over his heart like he just remembered it’s still beating. Kylie slumps beside Oscar, blade still in her lap.

The air is quiet.

Then Sophia lifts her head. Her eyes find mine. “I think… we won,” she says with a grin.

I nod once. “I believe you may be right.”

She closes her eyes. Her voice is so soft I almost miss it. “But it’s not over.”

And I know she’s right. Not yet.

CHAPTER 20

SOPHIA

We crawl from the wreckage like survivors of something ancient, some long-buried myth clawed loose from stone and blood. The mountain behind us groans once, twice—and then dies. Whatever lived inside it, whatever power Lina tried to bind to this world, is gone. Sealed. Shattered. Swallowed by rock and fury and everything we were willing to become to end it.

I don’t look back.

Lucas hauls me up over the last ridge. His grip on my arm is steady, his jaw clenched tight like it always is when the worst part is over, but his instincts haven’t let go of the fight yet. He doesn’t ask if I’m okay. He knows I’m not. That none of us are.

Kylie’s limping but upright. Dried blood smears Max; his eyes are too wide, too quiet. Oscar’s the only one who doesn’t look like hell, but even he keeps glancing back at the wrecked path like he’s expecting it to breathe again.

It doesn’t.

We hit the tree line by midmorning. The sky’s the kind of clear that feels earned—cold, high, painfully blue. Somewhere behind us, the gate's ruins are already being buried by frost. The glyphs are gone. The hum is gone. Lina is gone.

But Cain’s body isn’t there. We all saw the chamber collapse. Felt the mountain shudder and close its throat around what remained.

Still. There’s no sign of him. No blood. No bones. Nothing.

And he’s not the only loose thread. The Crimson Claw is still out there, and I doubt Lina had anything to do with the declining birth rate. I’m surrounded by loose threads—ones I need to pull to solve the puzzle of what’s going on, but that will have to wait for another day.

The walk back to the lodge is a blur. I know we’re moving. I know Lucas is there, always to my left, matching his steps to mine even when I stagger or slow. But it’s like walking through water, every thought thick and off-kilter.

The Nightshade perimeter scouts spot us first. Then come the alerts, the rushing footsteps, the sudden flurry of movement as we reach the lodge and are ushered inside, wrapped in blankets, handed food none of us can eat.

I think I sit. I think someone takes my pulse.

I don’t remember speaking. Don’t remember much at all until Ryder’s voice cuts through the noise.

“Where’s Cain?”

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