?The psychic weight in the Kiva was a physical tide, a black ocean of Thomas's own regrets drowning him. On his knees, he saw the faces of the orphans he couldn't save, the wife he couldn't cure, and the Knights he had led to their deaths. He was a failure. He was a ghost in his own life.

  ?Beside him, Mary and Daniel were pinned to the stone altar, their bodies twisted in agony as Annie drew upon their ancient life force.

  ?"And this is where it ends," Annie said, her voice a triumphant peal that echoed through the mountain. She raised the bone dagger high over Daniel's throat, her eyes glowing with a sickly, borrowed light. "With the blood of the Storm, I am reborn."

  ?Suddenly, her expression shattered. The dagger slipped from her fingers, clattering against the stone as if she'd been struck by an invisible bolt. Her body jerked, her skin rippling as if the power inside her was being yanked away by a distant vacuum.

  ?"No!" she cursed, clutching her chest. "I need the power here! Who is touching the vessel?!"

  ?Miles away, in the chill of the second cave, the air screamed.

  ?Jill had reached the golden sarcophagus. With the last of her strength, she raised her silver dagger-not as a weapon of murder, but as a tool of desecration. With a final, ragged prayer, she brought the blade down, carving a jagged line through the eight-pointed cross engraved on the lid.

  ?The metal shrieked. A shockwave of pure, unholy light blasted outward. Jill fell limp, her dagger skidding across the tiled floor as she hit the ground, her task finished.

  ?The lid of the sarcophagus exploded open.

  ?From the golden depths, a skeletal horror pulled itself upright. It was draped in the rotted finery of an Egyptian princess-lapis lazuli and gold leaf layered over bones that glowed with a necrotic, pulsating light.

  ?"My power!" the thing moaned, its voice a dry rattle of a thousand years of hunger. "It leaks! It fades!"

  ?Sarah and Kim didn't wait. They launched themselves toward the explosion, two blurs of fur and fury aimed at the heart of the rot.

  ?Back on the mountain, Thomas felt the shift. The crushing weight of his shame didn't vanish, but it thinned. It became a choice rather than a cage. He saw Daniel's eyes-the black pits of animal rage-and realized the great wolf was looking to him in quiet desperation.

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  ?"Jesus, give me strength," Thomas whispered. He forced himself to his feet, his boots heavy as lead, and gripped his silver dagger.

  ?"Damn you!" Annie roared, her head beading with sweat. The effort to hold the Alphas to the altar was tearing her apart as her source of power was being attacked miles away.

  ?Mary and Daniel were no longer the "civilized" wolves Thomas knew. They had become hybrids-massive, knotty towers of muscle and burgundy fur. Their fangs were bared, their claws digging deep grooves into the stone as they fought the fading invisible restraints.

  ?In the tomb, Kim was a whirlwind of white. She moved on pure instinct, a creature of winter and ice. She lunged for the skeletal princess, only to be slammed back by a concussive blast of magic that sent her tumbling across the tiles.

  ?The skeletal thing raised a hand to finish her, but Sarah took the opening. The grey wolf struck the distracted horror from the side, teeth snapping at the glowing ribs. The creature shrieked, its focus fracturing.

  ?Kim didn't hesitate. She didn't stand up as a wolf; she rose as a hybrid. Her frame expanded, her claws lengthened, and she became the bridge between the girl who loved her friends and the predator who loved the kill. Every bit of her a werewolf. She launched herself back into the fray.

  ?Thomas closed the distance. Annie had her back to him, her hands trembling as she tried to force her bone dagger back down toward Daniel's chest. Desperate to draw on his power while she still had enough to hold the wolves down. She looked ragged, her stolen youth flickering like a dying candle.

  ?"I know you're there, Thomas," she said, her voice a jagged rasp. "Do you really think that little toy is going to do much to me?"

  ?She didn't turn around. She couldn't. She was pouring everything she had into the altar.

  ?Thomas felt the familiar wave of insecurity, the embarrassment of his own weakness, welling up inside him. He felt small. He felt human. Remembering Father Jeffery's prayer he anchored himself to what was true.

  ??As Annie brought her dagger down in a final, desperate plunge, Thomas drove his blade deep into her back.

  ?In the tomb, the skeletal horror roared, pinning both Sarah and Kim to the floor with what felt like a ton of invisible bricks so heavy that it cracked the tiles beneath them.

  ?"You cannot stop me, dogs!" it cursed, the blue fire in its eyes burning bright. "I am the Goddess! I am the end!"

  ?CRACK-BOOM.

  ?A sound like thunder rolled from the cave entrance. A line of lead tore through the air, shattering one of the blue-lit bones and peppering the skeleton's rotted finery.

  ?"You think bullets can harm me?!" the creature shrieked, turning its hollow gaze toward the shadows.

  ?"No," Macy's voice rang out, clear and absolutely delighted. She stepped into the light, her AR-15 leveled, Adam at her shoulder with his Glock. "But I'm betting they distracted you."

  ?In that split second of turned attention, the gravity snapped.

  ?Jill's silver dagger, no longer lying forgotten on the floor, was gone it's blade not sticking through the skeletal horrors chest at the exact same moment Thomas's blade pierced Annie's heart miles away. Jill, ragged and half dead collapsed.

  ?The twin avatars of Inanna screamed-a sound that spanned the distance between the cave and the mountain, a chorus of absolute terror.

  ?Then the werewolves were on them. Biting and tearing until there was nothing left to scream.