Water punched the walls, then fled—leaving only the collar, locked shut, and Kade's reflection fractured across the puddle's surface.
He dropped to his knees, claws scraping soaked pine.
"Lily?"
No echo. No breath. No scent trail the rain of grief could follow.
Behind him the twins sobbed into Sage's jacket, their small hands reaching for a mother-shaped hole that wasn't there.
Kade's fingers closed around the silver ring—cold, ordinary. He yanked; it didn't yield.
The elder knelt opposite, palm hovering. "Don't. It feeds on contact."
Kade's growl vibrated the floorboards. "She's inside."
"Or somewhere worse. We need the body it clings to. We need Victor."
"Victor's dead."
The elder's eyes slid to the red eye blinking in the puddle. "Death is a door. Someone left it ajar."
Kade stood, dripping. "Then I kick it shut."
He strode outside, wolves parting like mist.
Headlights carved the clearing. He stepped into their glare, arms raised. "Chains. Axes. Oil. Now."
No one argued.
Within minutes the truck bed held shovels, bolt cutters, a drum of diesel, road flares.
The elder tossed him a map. "Lake site. Ten miles. Road's half gone."
Kade swung up to the driver's seat. Sage lifted the twins toward him.
He buckled them in, wiping their noses with his thumbs. "We fetch Mom. You stay steel, understand?"
Two small nods, tears drying into determination.
Sage climbed in back with two armed wolves.
The elder tapped the hood. "Bring her home or burn the world trying."
Kade gunned the engine; wheels spat gravel.
Behind, three trucks fell in line, lights off, engines growling like a pack on the hunt.
Forest swallowed them.
Inside the cab, the collar lay on the dashboard, silver dull under passing moon.
Every mile it seemed to tighten, though no hand touched it.
Daisy whispered, "It's listening."
Kade's knuckles whitened on the wheel. "Let it."
The road narrowed to trail, then to scar.
He killed the lights, drove by wolf sight—silver trees, black shadows.
At the ridge overlooking the old observatory ruins, he braked.
Below, the crater still smoldered, moonlight glinting off broken telescopes.
But east of it, the earth dipped into a bowl now filled with water—new lake, quiet, impossible.
He descended, boots crunching ash.
The others fanned out, forming half-circle.
Kade approached the water. No wind, no ripples—mirror reflecting stars that weren't above.
He dropped to one knee, touched the surface.
Cold shot through bone.
Beneath his reflection, another face formed—Lily, eyes closed, hair drifting like seaweed.
His heart stopped.
He shrugged off his jacket, boots, prepared to dive.
The elder caught his arm. "Trap first, then swim."
Kade forced patience, teeth grinding.
Wolves set charges along the bank—diesel drums, fuses.
Others hacked at reeds, revealing concrete pipes spewing water from the ground—newly laid, human made.
Sage found a metal tag: MARWOOD INDUSTRIES.
She held it up, silent accusation.
Kade's growl turned animal. "He planned this—used my name, my funds."
The elder spat. "Burn it all."
They primed detonators.
Kade stepped to the edge. "Give me five minutes."
The elder hesitated, then nodded. "Five. Then sky turns orange."
Kade dove.
Cold punched lungs, stole breath, replaced it with liquid night.
He kicked deeper, following Lily's drifting image—real yet not, like moon on water.
Pressure built; ears rang.
At the bottom, pipes formed a ring around a black grate—collar sized.
He gripped bars, yanked. Rust held.
He shifted one hand—claw extending—slashed metal.
It parted, revealing a void pulsing blue.
Current grabbed him, sucking.
He let it, shooting through.
He landed hard on wet stone—different cave, same glowing moss.
Water cascaded behind, sealing.
He stood, dripping, human again.
Ahead, a corridor slanted down, walls carved with collar shapes—hundreds, all shut.
Each step echoed like breaking locks.
At the end, a round chamber—domed, silent.
Centerpiece: a stone chair.
Lily sat upon it, wrists and ankles chained with silver rope, head lolling, eyes closed.
Victor stood behind her, shirt bloodstained, throat unmarked, smile gentle.
"Welcome, husband," he said.
Kade's claws shot out. "Let her go."
Victor lifted a remote—small, blinking red. "One press, ropes tighten. She never wakes."
Kade stopped, chest heaving.
Victor circled the chair, fingers brushing Lily's hair. "She chose to wear it. Collar likes willing flesh."
Kade's voice cracked. "What do you want?"
"Trade. Your collar for hers. Silver for silver. Heart for heart."
He kicked a second chair forward—chains waiting.
Kade stared at Lily—lips blue, breath shallow.
Victor's thumb hovered over the button. "Tick tock. Lake burns in—" he glanced at a wall timer— "three minutes."
Outside, muffled—diesel drums rolling, fuses hissing.
Kade stepped toward the chair.
Lily's eyes fluttered open a slit, met his—pleading, afraid.
He swallowed rage, love, fear.
He sat.
Chains snapped around wrists, ankles, throat—cold, final.
Victor smiled, tossed the remote aside.
He lifted the original collar from Lily's neck; it opened like a flower.
He placed it on Kade.
Clasp shut.
Pain blazed—silver biting, burning, burrowing.
Kade's howl filled the chamber, bounced off stone, off memory.
Outside, the timer hit zero.
Explosion rippled—distant, then close—earth shaking, dust raining.
Water overhead thundered; the cave roof cracked, daylight punching through.
Lake poured in, a waterfall of fire and foam.
Victor backed away, arms spread, laughing as water swallowed his boots.
Chains held Kade fast.
Lily sagged, free but unconscious.
Water reached knees, then waist.
Kade strained, metal cutting skin, blood clouding.
Lake rose.
Victor's laugh turned to gargle as current dragged him under—yet his eyes stayed open, red, fixed on Kade.
Water covered Kade's chest, neck, chin.
He took one last breath before the world turned liquid night.
Above, through swirling fire-water, he saw Lily's hair drifting toward him, silver in the chaos.
Their fingers brushed—then lake slammed them apart.
Collar tightened.
Darkness won.
Somewhere above the inferno, wolves screamed his name.
No answer returned.
Only the collar, locked, feeding—
and the lake, boiling, hiding every secret it now owned.