Chapter 1 - The Breach
Dr. Elias Thorne stared at the glowing security monitor, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the vacuum-sealed evidence pouch. The thermal feed showed a massive heat signature idling just beyond his reinforced steel gates. It was a heavy-duty truck, its engine radiating a bright orange bloom against the freezing blue of the blizzard.
Julian Vance had not waited for the storm to break. He was here, hunting his own blood.
"Marta," Elias said, his voice dropping into the absolute, clinical calm he used when an artery ruptured on the operating table. "Take the children to the subterranean wine cellar. Now. Lock the reinforced door behind you and do not open it, not even if you hear me screaming."
Marta dropped the phone. The 911 dispatcher’s voice was still crackling through the receiver, promising a snowcat that was at least an hour away. She didn't argue. She scooped the two infants into her arms, wrapped tightly in thermal blankets, and nudged Maya off the leather sofa.
Maya stumbled, her eyes wide and terrified. "Uncle Elias... the monster is outside."
"I know, Maya," Elias said, kneeling to meet her eye level. He placed a warm, steady hand on her trembling shoulder. "But this is my house. And in my house, monsters don't get past the front door. Go with Marta."
As the heavy oak door of the cellar clicked shut, Elias moved with ruthless efficiency. He strode to the keypad on the wall and punched in a seven-digit override code. Heavy steel shutters slammed down over the floor-to-ceiling windows, sealing the estate in an armored shell.
He walked into his study, bypassing his medical texts, and unlocked the heavy iron safe hidden behind his mahogany desk. He hadn't fired the 12-gauge shotgun in five years, but as he loaded the heavy tungsten buckshot into the magazine, the muscle memory returned.
May you like
CRASH.
The sound vibrated through the floorboards. Julian had just used his reinforced steel bumper to ram the front gates. The estate’s perimeter alarm shifted from a warning chime to a blaring, deafening siren. Elias pumped the shotgun, the metallic clack echoing in the dark hallway, and walked toward the foyer. Let the wolves come.
