The Omega and The Arrogant Alpha (by Kylie) novel Chapter 370

The word tunnels settles into my chest heavier than the forest clash ever did, because open combat is visible and measurable, but underground movement is intimate and dangerous, and I do not allow myself even a second of anger before I turn toward the southern ridge.

“How many access points,” I ask Elias as we move quickly across the central grounds.

“Three primary, two secondary,” he replies without hesitation. “Designed as emergency evacuation routes during border sieges.”

“You mapped them.”

“Yes.”

“And you told no one outside command.”

“Yes.”

Varik learned them anyway.

The bond hums low and sharp, not fractured, not panicked, but intensely aware that this is no longer symbolic territory pressure, this is internal architecture weaponized.

“Seal upper exits,” I order. “No collapse until we confirm numbers.”

Layla is already relaying instructions, mixed units pivoting south with precision instead of chaos, because panic inside enclosed space kills faster than claws.

When we reach the southern ridge entrance, the ground is disturbed but not heavily, which means the diversion team moved quickly and quietly rather than crashing through.

“They are not large force,” Landon says.

“No,” I reply. “Extraction or sabotage.”

The bond pulses once, firm and cold.

“Water line or power relay,” Elias adds.

Yes.

Strike infrastructure.

Force resource strain.

We descend carefully into the primary tunnel, not in single file but staggered with sightline coverage, damp stone slick beneath boots, air colder and thicker than forest ground.

The passage smells faintly of earth and old mineral runoff, and the deeper we go, the more the outside world compresses into distant echo.

“They will attempt split movement,” Layla whispers.

“Yes.”

“Tunnels narrow after first bend.”

“Then we do not overcommit center.”

We move through the first turn, and the tunnel branches exactly as Elias described, one path sloping downward toward water channels, another curving left toward an older storage conduit.

“Sound,” Landon murmurs.

I still myself.

There.

A faint scrape.

Not echo from us.

Movement ahead.

“Left branch,” I say quietly. “Water access deeper.”

Layla nods and signals two units to hold rear security while we push left in controlled advance.

The bond hums steady, but tighter now, because enclosed combat narrows reaction margin.

At the second bend, we see them.

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