“No arguments here,” Juice said, grabbing the stunned archaeologist by the elbow and dragging him toward the spinning portal.
“Wait—what is that? Where does it go?” Ward yelped, his boots skidding on stone as he tried to dig in.
Fucked if I know.
“Through,” Viper snapped. “That’s all you need to know. It’s all any of us know.”
“But—”
Juice didn’t hesitate or allow Ward to stop him; he shoved them both into the light, and they vanished in a shimmer of heat and gold.
Jesus. I hope I didn’t just kill my best friend by sending him through that shit.
Behind him, the mountain cracked again—this time louder than it ever had before. Hot wind screamed down the tunnel like a freight train, ash pouring in behind it. The pyroclastic flow had breached the seal.
“Kaze, Reaper, go!” Viper shouted.
They didn’t argue. Kaze was halfway there before Reaper even moved, both men sprinting across the cavern floor with the smooth efficiency of warriors trained for a hundred worst-case scenarios. This was the one that topped them all.
Only Zero lingered, glancing at the spell, then at Viper. “You next, Boss.”
Viper shook his head. “Not until Trace and Fionn go through.”
“You sure about that?” Zero asked.
“No,” Viper muttered. “But we don’t leave anyone behind. Not here. Not like this.”
“I need to go last,” Fionn said. “Hound, go be with your Grá Croí.”
A deep growl rolled out from across the floor, and instead of Trace, his shifter side, Bran stepped forward. Fionn raised a hand toward his hound, the two of them locking eyes one final time. Then Bran turned, muscles taut, and crossed toward the light.
Viper folded his fist into the front of Zero’s vest and dragged him to the portal. “Until Valhalla, brother,” he whispered, and shoved him in before following him into their last chance at survival.
Crossing the threshold was like getting hit in the chest with a battering ram. His vision whited out. Every nerve screamed as the world turned inside out—sight, sound, and balance were all gone in a rush of heat and weightless cold. Then he could breathe for a moment until pain sucked all the air from his lungs again. Finally, after longer than he’d hoped, the pain receded, and he sucked air into his aching lungs. He hit the ground hard, boots skidding across rough, loose, moss-covered stones. The roar of the collapsing mountain behind them vanished like a door slammed shut, and silence pressed in like he’d packed cotton in his ears.
No ash.
No volcano.
I’ll take it.
The first thing he registered was air—clean, dry, and heavy with the scent of moss and damp. His lungs dragged it in, greedy. The second was light—twilight, not the burning glare of molten sky. Pale violet stretched overhead, like the sun had dipped beneath the horizon but hadn’t finished saying goodbye. He rolled to one knee, gun still in hand out of instinct, and scanned the area.
The others had landed in a loose arc. Juice crouched over Ward, muttering something low and fast as he helped the man to his feet. Reaper was checking Kaze, who looked dazed but alive. Zero was already up, sweeping their perimeter with his weapon raised and locked.
Where the hell are Bran and Fionn?
As if the portal heard his thoughts, it spat out Bran. The massive wolf landed with a snarl, his paws digging grooves into the moss-covered ground. Power rolled off him in waves. It felt… protective. Feral, yes, but not wild. The wolf raced to Juice and sniffed all of him that he could reach as if reassuring himself that his mate was unscathed. Then he turned a slow circle, nose lifted, ears flicking as he processed this new place.
“Where’s Fionn?” Viper spun toward the portal and frowned at how small it looked compared to a couple of moments before. “Shit, is it collapsing? Fionn? Fionn Mac Cumhaill, get your ass through the fucking hole. Now.”
“There is no need to bellow.” Fionn didn’t stumble or fall as he stepped through. The man emerged like a storm given human form, with his shoulders squared, his gaze sharp as obsidian, and every inch of him bleeding power. The portal hissed behind him, flaring once more before snapping shut with a low thump that echoed into the strange twilight.
No way back now.
Are we fucked?
Jeez, how is this happening?
