The dire wolf huffed once and turned his head toward the next hall like he knew the hunt wasn’t finished.

They moved fast now. Elias leading, Lachlan pacing him easy, Luci ranging ahead in low, quick bursts.

The next set of guards made the mistake of standing too close together at a junction.

Luci hit the first one before they knew he was there, weight slamming him to the floor, jaws closing on his throat. Blood went high against the wall.

Elias shot the second through the visor before he could even shout. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The third fired wild, panic making the rounds skip low and wide. Lachlan cut him across the chest before he got his aim back.

They kept moving.

Past labs with the lights still swinging from the ceiling. Past rooms where the doors hung half-broken. Past bodies cooling on the tile where Zubair and Alexei had already been.

The building felt hollow now.

Not empty.

Hollow, like it knew what was coming for it.

The last stairwell shook dust from the ceiling when they hit the landing.

More guards waited above.

Elias counted eight helmets in the flashes of light between swings. Too many rifles aimed too steady for men who had been panicking a floor ago.

Trained. These ones weren’t just standing between them and the exit—they were holding the line for the labs deeper inside.

"Want the left or the right?" Lachlan asked, turning the machete in his grip so the handle settled easy.

"Right," Elias said.

They moved before the soldiers could tighten their aim.

Elias hit the first with two quick rounds center mass before dropping behind a broken section of railing. Rounds chewed the concrete where his head had been a second ago.

Lachlan didn’t bother with cover. He charged the left flank straight on, boots shaking the metal stairs. Bullets hit the walls near him, two cutting cloth across his shoulder and ribs, but he kept coming.

He hit the first soldier with a shoulder to the chest, drove him back into the man behind him, and cut them both with the same backhand swing as he turned.

Elias moved up the right side fast and clean. His rifle barely jumped in his grip as he fired, every shot breaking armor or bone.

The center line started to fold.

The last two soldiers backed up toward the landing above, rifles jerking between Lachlan’s rush and Elias’s steady fire.

Lachlan closed first. He slammed one man into the wall hard enough to make the helmet ring, drove the machete into the gap under his arm, and let him fall before swinging for the last.

Elias didn’t give the final soldier time to choose a target. One round through the faceplate dropped him where he stood.

Silence took the stairwell again.

The smell of blood climbed the walls with the smoke.

"Whole damn army in here," Lachlan muttered, pulling the machete free from the wall.

"Was," Elias said. He changed magazines, the click loud in the quiet. "Not anymore."

Luci came up the steps slow, paws slipping in blood like it was ice. He shook his head once, ears flicking at the sound of shouting deeper in the building.

More guards.

Too many boots moving too fast for men who thought they were winning.

Elias glanced at Lachlan.

"Sounds like the rest of them," he said.

Lachlan rolled his shoulders and grinned. "Good. Hate chasing scraps."

They went toward the noise.

Past blown doors. Past smoking walls.

The guards had formed ranks in the next wide hall, rifles braced on overturned tables. They shouted orders at each other over the ringing in their own ears.

Elias crouched behind a section of wall just before the corridor opened wide. He counted rifles, positions, lines of fire.

Lachlan leaned in next to him, machete resting across his shoulders like a bat waiting for the swing.

"Want to go loud or quiet?" Lachlan asked.

Elias looked at the way the guards stood.

At the way the barrels of their rifles shook just enough to show nerves under the orders.

At the way one man’s head kept snapping toward the dark at their backs like he already knew nothing they were doing here would matter in the end.

"Loud," Elias said.

Lachlan’s grin widened sharp.

Elias rose first, rifle braced, rounds dropping two men before they finished turning their heads.

Lachlan went straight through the center line, boots hammering tile, machete taking the first rifle clean out of its owner’s hands before cutting the man himself.

The hall erupted under gunfire, steel and blood and shouting slamming off the walls until none of it made words anymore.

Elias moved the right flank steady, every shot finding armor or air between ribs.

Lachlan stayed left, faster, closer, the machete ripping open the men Elias didn’t drop.

The last guard broke and ran for the far door.

Luci hit him before he reached it, teeth taking him low.

Silence dropped hard when the last body stopped moving.

Lachlan leaned the machete on one shoulder and looked at Elias. "Think that’s all of them?"

Elias listened to the building breathe smoke through broken vents and didn’t hear boots anymore.

"For now," he said.

They turned toward the last set of doors together. The labs waited beyond them. So did Sera.

Luci, however, disappeared down a corridor, and neither men knew where he was going.

-------

The first door blew inward under Zubair’s shoulder, Luci already beside him.

The two men and dire wolf looked at the remaining two KAS soldiers, each man having a pleased smirk on their face.

"Having fun?" asked Lachlan, lowering his machete. "Cause I’m having a blast."

"Fun comes later," smirked Alexei. "Now is the time to finally find our center."

"Ready, willing and quite able," replied Lachlan as he and Elias fell into step behind Zubair. The team moved forward as one, Luci leading the way.

The building was too big for them to easily find Sera, but with Luci’s help, there would be no problem.

And this time, they weren’t letting her out of their sight ever again.