I nodded, tears leaking out despite everything. “You came for me,” I said, voice shaky.
He pulled me in tight against his chest, and kissed my hair. “Always,” he whispered. “Always, Maverick.”
Behind us, the world started collapsing again. Chunks of ceiling dropped, setting off cascades of debris that drove us toward the exit.
Bronc shouted, “Move! Now!” We did, the whole crew—wolves, witches, vampires, and one prairie dog—pouring into the narrow corridor that led to the surface.
It was pure chaos. Every corridor seemed to want to collapse, the one was jammed with more bodies, every corner a trap. But with the pack at my side, I felt invincible.
At the very end, where the air turned from hot and toxic to cool and real, Archon was waiting, his robes as white and perfect as ever, wings rising open slightly.
His hands were still raised.
“Go,” he said, voice echoing in my bones. “I’ll hold the breach until all are clear.”
Finn and I were the first through, then Aspen and Lucia, then the rest. I saw Adramal and Nazek trailing behind, neither looking back.
As soon as we cleared the tunnel, we rounded the corner to find a clear spot. The moon and the stars illuminated the entire area around us. I collapsed onto Finn’s lap, and for a second, I couldn’t breathe.
His hands were everywhere as though he were making sure I was real. He kept muttering, “You’re safe, you’re safe, you’re safe.”
I tried to answer, but my throat closed up and all I could do was sob.
Other people continued to stumble out, one by one, and collapsed on the surrounding rocks. Bronc slumped down, bleeding from a dozen wounds. Wrecker and Menace were both missing pieces of shirt and probably a few pints of blood.
Aspen and Big Papa staggered over together. She knelt beside me and pressed her cool hands to my face. “We did it,” she said, voice choked. “We got you out.”
Oscar hopped onto my shoulder, patted my cheek with a tiny paw, and squeaked something that sounded suspiciously like “Foolishness.”
I laughed, the sound high and broken, but real.
Finn wiped the tears from my face, his own eyes red and wet.
“I thought I’d lost you,” he said. “I thought…”
I put a finger to his lips. “You didn’t. I’m here.”
He kissed me, dirty faces, mouths, and it was everything.
For the first time in my life, I felt it—not just the mate bond, not just the adrenaline rush, but real belonging. A place. A purpose. A home.
And as the moon rose higher over the canyon, painting everything silver and perfect, I realized I wasn’t just rescued.
I was found.
After a few moments, we heard a commotion. Kazimir was gliding towards us carrying someone in his arms, with a large trail of blood pouring behind him.
It was clearly one of us who’d been injured, but who? Then I heard the voice—deep, raw, and unmistakable.
“Shit, shit, shit! They got him!”
Wrecker, his voice breaking on every word.
Kazimir carried Doc in his arms, bridal style, but there was nothing romantic about it. Doc’s leg was pumping blood with every heartbeat, a dark, arterial spray that painted the sand behind them.
The group was stunned for a second—then everyone snapped into action.
Aspen screamed, “Set him down here, right here!” and Kazimir laid Doc out on a flat boulder. His face was ghost-pale, sweat soaking his hair, glasses gone and eyes rolling in their sockets.
