His new stepsister His biggest threat (Claire and Elijah) novel Chapter 260

Chapter 260

Claire’s POV

65 vouchers

The truck slammed into a pothole so deep I thought my teeth were going to rattle out of my head. We were flying down a “road” that was basically just a suggestion of dirt and jagged rocks, surrounded by trees so thick they blocked out the moon.

“Ethan, slow down!” Felix yelled, clutching his tablet like a life preserver. “The suspension is screaming!”

“The suspension can cry me a river!” Ethan shouted back, his hands white on the steering wheel. “The Regency has thermal satellites. If we aren’t under the bunker’s lead shield in ten minutes, we’re sitting ducks!”

Ahead of us, the red taillight of Valerius’s motorcycle danced through the trees like a ghost.

She was leaning into the turns, her bike kicking up a roost of snow and pine needles. She looked like she’d done this a thousand times.

I leaned my head back against the seat, trying to ignore the pulsing blue light behind my eyes. Every time the truck jolted, the connection to the buried Well twitched. It was like a live wire was taped to my spine.

“Hey,” Elijah whispered. He took my hand, his palm rough and warm. “Look at me. Forget the road. Forget the helicopters. Just

breathe.”

142 bpm.

“I’m trying,” I said, my voice sounding like it was underwater. “But it’s so loud, Elijah. The mountain… it’s angry that we

buried it.”

“Let it be angry,” he said, his golden eyes burning with a fierce light. “It’s safe now. Nobody can touch it. And nobody is touching you.”

Suddenly, Valerius’s bike skidded to a halt in front of a massive rock face that looked like a dead end. Ethan slammed on the brakes, sending us all flying forward.

“What the hell is she doing?” Ethan growled, reaching for his gun.

Valerius hopped off her bike and ran to a cluster of frozen ferns. She pulled back a hidden panel and punched in a code.

With a heavy, grinding sound, a chunk of the cliffside slid backward, revealing a tunnel reinforced with thick steel ribs.

“Go! Go! Go!” she waved us in.

Ethan didn’t wait. He floored it into the mountain, the heavy stone door groaning shut behind us with a final, echoing thud.

The silence was instant. And heavy.

The bunker was old, smelling of grease and stale air, lit by flickering orange emergency lights. As soon as the door sealed, the pressure in my chest snapped.

The blue light behind my eyelids flickered and died.

98 bpm.

“Oh, thank god,” I panted, slumped against the door.

10:42 Wed, Jan 28 R

Chapter 260

55 vouchers

We all piled out of the truck. Silas looked like he’d aged a decade in the last hour, and Felix immediately scrambled for a workbench, trying to get a signal on his tech.

But Ethan? Ethan went straight for Valerius.

He marched up to her, his shadow towering over her. “Talk. Now. Why did you help us? Why did you blow up your own squad?”

Valerius didn’t flinch. She pulled off her helmet, her dark hair falling around her face in a mess of tangles. She looked exhausted, but her eyes were like flint. “I didn’t blow them up, Ethan. I neutralized them. There’s a difference.”

“You’re a Sentinel!” Ethan barked. “You just committed treason against the Regency. Why?”

“Because my father is insane!” Valerius snapped back, her voice echoing off the concrete walls. “He doesn’t want to ‘save’ the South anymore. He wants to weaponize the Anchor. He’s been working with the Citadel’s high-tech labs to create a conduit that can strip a Well of its power in seconds. If he gets his hands on Claire, he won’t just drain her. He’ll use her to hold the entire continent hostage.”

The room went dead silent.

“He’s not just a politician,” Val added, her voice shaking just a little. “He’s a warlord. And I’m not going to let him turn my home-or yours-into a battery for his ego.”

Elijah stepped up beside me, his hand still holding mine. “And we’re supposed to trust you? For all we know, this bunker is a trap.”

Valerius looked at Elijah, then at me. She reached into her tactical vest and pulled out a small, silver drive. She threw it at Felix, who caught it with a look of pure shock.

“That’s the encryption key for the Regency’s local comms,” she said. “It’ll let you see their drone paths and hear their orders. If I wanted you caught, I would have just let the helicopters finish the job at the clearing.”

Felix plugged it into his tablet. His eyes went wide. “She’s telling the truth. I’ve got their feed. They’re… wow. They’re calling in a full battalion. They’re declaring Red Pine a ‘Zone of Total Contagion.”

“That means they can kill anything that moves,” Silas said, his voice grim.

I felt a cold shiver run down my spine. “Because of me. All of this is happening because of my heart.”

“No, Claire,” Elijah said, turning me to face him. He put his hands on my cheeks, forcing me to look at him. “This is happening because they’re greedy. You’re just the one standing in their way And you’re not doing it alone.”

“We need a plan,” Ethan said, his voice finally dropping the hostile edge. He looked at the map Felix was projecting. “We can’t stay in this hole forever. They’ll find the entrance eventually.”

“We don’t stay,” Valerius said, stepping toward the map. “We go to the source. If we can get to the Citadel’s main relay, we can overload the system from the inside. We shut down their ability to track the Wells, and we buy the North enough time to seal the borders for good.”

“That’s a suicide mission,” Felix whispered.

“It’s the only mission,” Valerius countered.

I looked at all of them-Elijah, who was ready to fight the world for me; Ethan and Silas, who were protecting their legacy; Felix, the brain of the group; and Valerius, the girl who had just lost everything to save us.

“When do we leave?” I asked. My heart rate was steady now. 84 bpm. I wasn’t just a victim anymore. I was the Anchor. And it was time to start acting like it.

89

Chapter 260

Elijah smiled at me, a small, proud thing that made my stomach do a flip. “That’s my girl.”

“We move at dawn,” Ethan decided. “Get some sleep. It’s the last quiet night we’re going to have for a long time.”

55 vouchere

As the others moved toward the bunks, Elijah and I stayed by the truck. The orange light cast long shadows over the

concrete.

“You scared?” he whispered.

“Terrified,” I admitted. “You?”

“Only of losing you,” he said. He leaned down and pressed his forehead against mine. “But that’s not happening. Not today. Not ever.”

AD

Comment

Send gift

No Ads