Chapter 27 · Moonclaim - Chapter 27: Rena Makes Her Move

The alarm hit three seconds before the lights did.

Ivy was halfway down the sub-level stairs when the emergency floods kicked on, painting everything in that sick red glow. Her lab coat caught on the rail. She yanked it free and kept moving.

Behind her, Rena's voice cut through the sirens. "You shouldn't go down there."

Ivy didn't stop. The stairwell smelled like ozone and wet concrete and something else—something animal. Her hunter instincts were screaming, the birthmark on her neck hot enough to burn.

"He told you to stay upstairs," Rena said. Closer now. "He told everyone."

"Yeah, well." Ivy hit the basement door. Locked. She slammed her palm against the reader. "He's not great at asking nicely."

The lock clicked green. She shoved through.

The lab was chaos. Half the monitors were dead. The rest showed vitals spiking into territory that should've been fatal—heart rate over two hundred, core temp climbing, cortisol levels that would've killed a normal human an hour ago.