The SUV grunted as it climbed the final, bumpy ridge. The silver light from Faith's burst was gone, replaced by a heavy, suffocating silence. The side windows were rough teeth of broken glass, letting the biting mountain wind howl through the cabin.
"Faith? Faith, talk to me," Killian pleaded. He reached over the seat, his fingers brushing her shoulder. "Killian," Faith said, her voice very faint. It's okay… It's okay if I don't make it, I….am happy you are here with me right now, you.... Sacrificed, Everything you are and everything you have for me. I was never that important to anyone. She let out a weak sob, and that is enough for me. So it is okay, No! Faith it's not okay, nothing is okay if you don't make it, I am not okay without you please hang in there, please. Killian whispered. He was almost crying! The Alpha almost could not hold back his tears for his 'little bird' She slumped against the door, her breathing so faint he could barely see the mist of her breath in the freezing air.
"She's….she's fading, Killian," Sarah whispered. She was wrapping Faith in her own lab coat, her eyes red with suppressed tears. "That burst of power….it wasn't a healing. It was her soul's last defense. It used up everything she had left."
Killian knocked the car into park. They had reached a dead end, a sheer wall of black rock covered in ancient, frozen vines.
The map says it's here," Leo said, jumping out into the waist-deep snow. He began frantically brushing snow away from the rock face. "The Architect's journal mentioned a hidden seal. A 'Catalyst Key.'
Killian stepped out, the cold air pricking his lungs. He felt old. He felt powerless. For the first time in his life, his money, his status, and his Alpha strength meant nothing. He was just a man watching the person he loved disappear.
"Move," Killian said to Leo.
He approached the wall. He didn't look for a keyhole. He looked for the feeling. He remembered the way Faith's skin felt when she was happy, that warm, humming vibration. He pressed his palm against the frozen stone and closed his eyes.
Please, he thought. If there's any magic left in this world, take me instead. Just let her live.
The mountain didn't answer with magic. It answered with a low, rhythmic thrumming that vibrated through the soles of his boots. A faint, silver line appeared in the rock, tracing the shape of a wolf's head.
"It's opening," Sarah gasped.
The rock face didn't slide away; it simply dissolved into a thick, glowing mist. Behind it lay a cavern that smelled of ozone and fresh rainwater. In the center of the cave, a pool of water sparkled with a light so bright it looked like a fallen star.
The Source.
Killian didn't wait. He ran back to the SUV and lifted Faith into his arms. She felt impossibly light, like she was made of ash.
"We're here, Faith. We made it," he whispered into her hair.
As he stepped into the cave, a high-pitched drone hummed overhead. Killian looked back. A swarm of red lights was descending from the clouds. The King's hunters had found them. They didn't have minutes anymore. They had seconds.
"Leo, Sarah, get inside!" Killian shouted. "Seal the entrance from the other side!"
"What about you?" Leo yelled, drawing his blade as the first of the King's drones began to fire.
"I'm staying at the door," Killian said, his eyes turning a hard, lethal gold. "Nobody gets to her. Not today. Not ever."I won't allow it!
He handed Faith to Sarah, watching as they disappeared toward the glowing pool. Then, he turned back to the mouth of the cave, alone, facing an army with nothing but a metal crowbar and the heart of a man who had finally found something worth dying for.