Page 151 of Stormhold

The five of us headed down, leaving Karl behind as backup just in case things didn’t go as planned. Mikhail and Grayson led us up front, followed by Bella and me, while Jon watched our six.

The elevator doors squealed open, the sound almost ominous as it echoed through the emptiness. Besides the lone flickering bulb in the distance, the space was swallowed in complete darkness.

Except for Bella, we all had our guns aimed out. I kept her close to my side, shielding her with most of my body. I didn’t give a fuck if anything happened to me, but a scratch on her pretty skin was enough to make me go crazy.

Maybe I should’ve married her after all of this was over.

“Be on guard,” I whispered as we moved forward. Our boots squelched on the water-covered floors as our flashlights lit the path ahead. It looked like the fire alarms were activated at some point.

My eyes dashed to Grayson for a second. He was completely dry. Shouldn’t he be dripping wet if he were here at the time of the blast? I could feel the slight caution rise in my blood.

Had it been Grayson all along? It shouldn’t be, right?

The farther we went, the quieter it got. It felt like I had almost stepped into one of those video games where you never know when the bad guy will jump out at you. Just as Grayson said, when we reached the end, there was a wide, gaping hole instead of a wall, with smoke still lingering in the air.

“Invictus,” Mikhail confirmed, picking up a piece of Invictus’s fragment from the ground.

I nodded, shining my flashlight down the tunnel to assess the damage. Heaps of debris lay scattered on the ground, with the wires and steel bars sticking out everywhere.

“Marko!” Jon cupped his hands around his mouth as he called for them. “Lucien? You there?”

Only his words reverberated back to us. He tried once more, only to get the same response.

Grayson’s hard gaze darted to me. “Let’s go in.”

I hesitated, my eyes going back to the deep, dark tunnel in front of me. The tunnel system covered acres of land, and we didn’t know what kind of trouble was waiting for us. It might as well be a death mission, but fuck it. The chances of me confronting the White Hand once again might as well be slim to none.

I nodded, gesturing for Mikhail and Grayson to clear the path. I lingered back, my hand finding Bella’s. “Stay here,” I said. It came across more as a plea than anything else. “If I fucking find Heath Glen, I’ll bring him to you, I promise.”

Bella’s lips tugged into a soft smile. “Ark, I’ll be fine,” she whispered. “Trust me, please.”

“I do.” I swallowed, stroking her cheek. “But I can’t concentrate in there if anything happens to you.”

She sighed. “Fine, twenty minutes,” she said. “If I don’t hear from you in twenty minutes, I’m coming in.”

“Thank you.” I pressed a kiss to her nose.

“I love you,” she mumbled, holding me. “Come back to me.”

“I will,” I promised, taking one last long look at her beautiful face before I left, taking with me the two men who could be the White Hand.

It felt like a heavy weight was lifted from my chest as I went ahead. I left Mikhail with Bella, knowing he would put his life before hers.

Gray, Jon, and I walked for what felt like five minutes when the tunnel forked into two paths.

“I’ll take this one,” I said, nodding toward the right. “You both take that one. Meet me back here in ten.”

They nodded and headed down their track. I waited till their backs disappeared before taking a deep breath and stepping forward. The tunnel grew larger the farther I walked, and the remnants of old train tracks appeared beneath my boots.

My steps died when the beam of my flashlight caught the one man I’d been looking for more than a fucking decade, and the staunch smell of something heavy in the air smothered my lungs.

Dressed all in black, he blended with the shadows, with only the stark white of his gloves and ghoul-like pristine white mask sticking out like a ghost.

“Finally.” The shrill sound of his robotic voice echoed through the empty tunnel. “I’ve been waiting for this moment all my life.”

My heart lurched as my feet moved. “Who the fuck are you?” I aimed my gun at his head. I felt no hesitation in my bones this time.

“Your worst nightmare.” His robotic voice announced.