Page 68 of The Hyena’s Guardian

Nobody spoke for several seconds after that.

Because they all understood what Theron was carefully not promising. The First King might die. Or the explosion might simply bring the entire mountain down on top of them instead.

Matt rubbed one hand across his face. “Back in the Army, the worst mission complication I ever dealt with was an intelligence officer losing classified equipment inside a portable toilet during a convoy stop.”

Baptiste looked genuinely exhausted. “I miss those problems.”

Vale folded her arms tightly. “How many anchor points?”

“Three,” Theron answered. “If all overload simultaneously, the prison network collapses faster than the source can stabilize itself.”

“And if even one fails?” Vale asked.

Theron’s voice lowered. “Then the First King survives.”

Silence spread heavily through the chamber.

Only a faint rumble drifted up from the depths, too distant to be immediate but impossible to ignore.

Dust drifted from the fractured ceiling overhead.

Matt studied the rough map carefully. “You said you have a way out.”

Theron nodded once before tracing a narrow passage near the outer edge of the prison network. “The western ascent tunnels were built as evacuation routes for the guardians. Most collapsed centuries ago, but one path should still connect near the surface beyond the excavation perimeter.”

“Should?” Matt repeated.

Theron looked at him evenly. “The mountain changes.”

“That phrase somehow keeps becoming worse every time you say it.”

“The overload must happen before the First King fully wakes,” he continued. “Once he reaches the upper chambers, the prison no longer matters.”

One of the younger wolves shifted uneasily. “And what exactly happens if he gets out?”

Nobody answered right away.

Theron looked toward the trembling darkness beyond the chamber entrance. “He will not stop with this mountain.”

The simplicity of the answer chilled the entire room.

Matt watched the survivors absorb that in silence while another tremor shook the floor beneath their boots. Fear moved visibly through the chamber again, quieter this time but no less real.

Then Matt stepped forward beside the map.

“Okay,” he said calmly. “Then we don’t let that happen.”

Several heads turned toward him.

Matt pointed toward the marked intersections on the map. “We split into teams. Place the anchors. Trigger the overload. Get everybody moving toward the evacuation tunnels before the whole place comes down around us.”

Vale's expression grew serious. “That assumes the First King lets us reach the source chamber.”

Matt checked the magazine in his pistol again before sliding it back into place. “Honestly, at this point I feel like optimism is our only remaining personality trait.”

Several operatives exhaled short, reluctant laughs.

Theron watched him quietly from across the map.