Page 97 of The Hyena’s Guardian

“No,” Theron said.

Every eye turned toward him.

Matt noticed the way his shoulders tightened before he spoke again.

“It isn’t failing,” Theron said. “It’s being undone deliberately.”

A cold silence followed.

Vale’s expression hardened. “By whom?”

Theron did not answer right away.

Matt had a feeling he was going to hate whatever came next.

Finally, Theron turned toward the darkness below the stairs. “By the First King, through those already corrupted enough to answer him.”

The whispers deep in the passage rose again, louder this time, no longer random but rhythmic, like voices answering one another.

Matt rubbed his jaw. “Okay. I’m going to ask what is probably an incredibly stupid question.”

Vale sighed. “That has never stopped you before.”

“Fair.” Matt pointed toward the stairs. “If he’s still trapped down there, how exactly is he opening tombs?”

Theron’s gaze lowered.

“The First King’s body is trapped,” he said. “That does not mean his influence is.”

Matt felt the hyena stir uneasily beneath his skin again.

“The mountain carries his influence,” Theron continued. “Through dreams. Through blood. Through wolves already weakened enough to hear him.”

Attention shifted throughout the chamber toward the covered body near the pillar.

Aric.

“So the wolves coming out of those tombs are what? Corrupted?”

Theron’s expression darkened. “Some were corrupted before they died. Others were buried after infection had already begun. The sealing rites were meant to contain all of them alongside the King himself.”

Matt stared toward the open stairwell. “How many wolves are buried down there?”

Theron answered without hesitation. “Thousands across the tomb network. And this is only one chamber within it.”

Silence held for a beat before one of the younger Valker agents muttered a curse. Matt honestly felt that was a reasonable response.

Vale faced Theron again. “Then we don’t have time to move carefully anymore.”

“No,” Theron agreed. “We don’t.”

Tension settled across the group. Fear hung beneath the smell of sweat, gun oil, and stone dust, but none of the wolves backed away from the stairwell. Whatever else they felt, training kept them moving.

Vale straightened. “Then we end this now.”

Theron’s eyes narrowed. “You say that as though it’s simple.”

“It doesn’t need to be simple.” Vale’s voice hardened. “It needs to work.”