Cold air rushes upward from beneath the earth.
Industrial.
Sterile.
Wrong.
The smell alone makes Hannah go pale.
Because she remembers it.
I move beside her instantly.
“You don’t have to lead this.”
Her eyes snap toward mine immediately.
“Yes,” she says quietly.
“I do.”
And there it is again.
That terrifying strength growing inside her.
Not what Sentinel built.
What survived them. Who would have known Doctor Hannah Bower is this same woman?
Russ descends first into the darkness below.
Lucas follows.
Then Mason.
Gabriel motions for Hannah next.
I stop her gently before she steps onto the ladder.
She looks up at me questioningly.
The storm rages above us.
Rain dripping from both of us.
Gunmetal shadows everywhere.
Maybe terrible timing.
Actually definitely terrible timing.
Don’t care anymore.
My hand slides carefully along her jaw.
“You come back out of this bunker with me.”
Emotion flickers instantly across her face.
