The Alpha's Forbidden Heir
CRACK.
The sound was like a bone snapping. The entire building shuddered as if it had been struck by a giant hammer. The floor tilted, throwing them all off balance. The screeching of the system reached a crescendo, a final, guttural wail of dying machinery, and then—
Silence.
The lights went out. The persistent, low-frequency hum that had defined their existence for months vanished, leaving behind a silence so absolute it felt heavy.
Kael slumped forward, his hands dropping from the console as the glowing veins in his arms faded to a pale, ghostly white. He collapsed onto the cold grating, his chest rising and falling in shallow, desperate gulps.