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Rowan exhaled slowly, shifting beside him. “That’s not just a cave.”

Varek moved forward, crouching near the entrance, his fingers brushing over the edge of the exposed stone. He frowned, studying the way the rocks had crumbled inward, the unnatural smoothness of some of the broken surfaces.

“This was built,” he muttered. “This was a mine.”

I took a slow step forward, peering into the darkness, my heart hammering. The cave stretched deep, the blackness inside absolute. There was no light, no movement, no sound, but I knew something was in there.

We all did.

“This isn’t a mine,” Rowan said, his voice grim. “It’s a tomb. Our tomb.”

A chill ran down my spine.

Silas was still staring into the abyss, his expression inscrutable. Then he inhaled sharply, exhaling through his nose.

“They’re in there,” he said.

Varek smirked. “Well, that’s why we came all this way, isn’t it?”

No one answered; we knew what came next. We had to go inside. We had to find them, and somehow, we had to capture one. The only solace was that we weren’t going into that mine tonight, not without a plan and not this late in the day.

The anxiety in the group was palpable as we pulled back, retreating a mile up the rocky terrain to find a place safe enough to make camp for the night.

It wasn’t much, just a flat clearing tucked against the cliff side, half-sheltered by an overhang of rock. The air was still heavy with the scent of damp stone and old rot, but at least here we had a defensible position. The trees thinned enough that nothing could sneak up on us as long as one of us was on watch.

The fire that Ryan made was small, more for light than warmth, flickering against the rough, uneven stone as we gathered around it. No one spoke at first.

Then Varek exhaled loudly and stretched his legs out in front of him. “Well, that’s a fucking nightmare,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “So, what’s the play?”

Silas sat with his elbows braced against his knees, staring into the fire. “We need to get one to come out of there.” His voice betrayed no hint of unease, but I could see the way his hands flexed slightly, like the idea of whatever was in that cave had already put his wolf on edge.

Rowan nodded. “Setting a trap outside might be our best bet. If they hunt at night, there’s a good chance one of them will come out.”

Caleb, who had been quiet for most of the journey, finally spoke. “And what if they don’t come out? We waste a night waiting for nothing.”

Silas didn’t react. He just kept staring at the fire, the amber in his eyes flickering in the light of the fire.

Varek scoffed. “So, what? You want to go inside? Into that?” He gestured toward the direction of the mine. “Seems like a terrible fucking idea.”

“It is a terrible idea,” Ryan muttered, adjusting the knife on his belt.

Hale let out a breath. “Do we have much of a choice?”

The fire crackled between us, the only sound for a long moment.

We could wait, set a trap, and try to lure one out and hope it took the bait. The longer we stayed here, though, the worse our chances became. The terrain around the mine was harsh—rocky, barren, the air thin and each night colder than the one before. There were no animals left to hunt. No clean water except what we’d carried in. The ground was too riddled with stone for anything to grow, and even the birds had stopped flying overhead.

There wasnothinghere.

No food. No shelter. Notime.

If we waited, we’d burn through supplies in a matter of days. And if nothing came out of that cave? We’d be starving, thirsty, desperate, and still no closer to stopping what was waiting inside.

I looked around at the faces in the firelight—worn, dirty, anxious, and uncertain. Each one of us knew what the cost of going in could be.

But the cost ofnotgoing in?

That was worse.