The Matchmaker - The Arrax Saga Book 1 Chapter 219

The compound’s outer ring was theirs.

Saphira crouched at the central ridge, her breath steady but shallow, each inhale tasting of frost and pine. Ahead, the main building loomed, stone and pure white, its silhouette stark against the paling sky. Windows stared back like blind eyes. No movement. No light. Just silence.

And that silence was louder than any alarm.

Behind her, the pack had regrouped in the tree line, crouched low in the underbrush. Mud streaked their boots, frost clung to their coats, but their eyes were sharp. No one fidgeted. No one spoke. They were past nerves now; this was the stillness before impact.

Nikolas knelt beside her, his shoulder brushing hers. His gaze swept the structure, calculating. “No movement. No lights. Either they’re asleep… or they’re waiting.”

Saphira nodded once, then spoke through the mind-link, her voice calm but commanding.

*“Everyone, listen up. We breach now. Once we’re inside, we’ll be separated. Hallways, stairwells, locked doors, it’s a maze. Stay with your group. Take out or isolate any staff you find.”*

*“What about the participants?”* Finn asked, his tone clipped but steady.

*“Leave them,”* she replied. *“They’re not the target. If they’re awake, keep them calm. If they resist, contain them, don’t harm.”*

*“Copy that,”* Jed said. *“North entrance is clear. We’ll take the west wing.”*

*“South team ready,”* Raven added. *“We’ll sweep the lower levels.”*

*“East team moving,”* Jasper said. *“We’ll take the upper floors.”*

Nikolas turned to her, his voice low. “You ready?”

Saphira met his gaze. “Always.”

They moved.

The front doors gave way with a soft click, unlocked, as if daring them to enter. Saphira stepped through first, her team close behind. The air inside was colder than the forest, sterile and still. The memory of the place hitting her hard, but she couldn’t think about that now, it was where she met Nikolas after all.

They split at the first corridor.

Saphira and Nikolas veered left. The others peeled off, disappearing into the dark like smoke.

*“Stay linked,”* Nikolas reminded them. *“If you lose contact or your group, fall back to the entry point. No one gets left behind.”*

They moved in silence, checking rooms, disabling cameras, isolating staff where they found them, sleeping, confused, or too slow to react. No one screamed. No one fought. Most blinked up at them in stunned disbelief, caught between dreams and reality.

Saphira knelt beside one man, his hands trembling as she tied them. He looked barely older than her. “We’re not here to hurt you,” she said quietly. “Stay down. Stay quiet.”

He nodded, eyes wide, breath shallow.

She pressed a hand to the nearest wall, feeling the pulse of the building. It was too quiet. Too easy. Her instincts prickled.

*“Status updates?”* she asked.

*“West wing secure,”* Jed replied. *“Four staff contained.”*

*“Lower levels clear,”* Raven said. *“No resistance. One tried to run, he’s now out cold.”*

*“Upper floors are a maze,”* Jasper muttered. *“But we’re moving. No issues yet.”*

Saphira turned a corner and froze.

A young woman in staff uniform stood at the end of the hall, eyes wide, hands trembling. Her mouth opened, then closed. She didn’t run. She didn’t speak.

Saphira stepped forward slowly, her voice soft. “You don’t have to fight. Just sit down. Stay quiet.”

The woman nodded and sank to the floor, back against the wall. Her tears didn’t fall, but they shimmered, held tight behind her lashes.

Saphira knelt and bound her wrists gently. “You’ll be safe. We’re not here to hurt you.”

The woman nodded again, lips pressed together, shoulders shaking.

Saphira stood, her heart heavy. She looked back at Nikolas who was checking rooms beside them.

*“We’re almost through,”* Nikolas said through the link. *“Keep moving. Quiet. Clean.”*

The building was nearly theirs.

And somewhere deeper inside, the Core waited.

The deeper they moved into the Matchmaker’s heart, the colder it became, not just the air, but something beneath it. A stillness that didn’t feel like peace. It felt like waiting.

Saphira walked beside Nikolas through a narrow corridor of pale stone and flickering lights. The light danced across the walls, casting long, shifting shadows that seemed to breathe with them.

She glanced sideways at Nikolas. His jaw was tight, his eyes scanning every shadow, every corner. He hadn’t spoken in minutes, but she didn’t need words to feel the tension radiating off him. It mirrored the unease coiling in her own gut.

“It’s too quiet,” she said to Nikolas. “Too easy. No resistance. No traps. No alarms. It doesn’t feel right.”

Nikolas gave a single nod. “I’ve been thinking the same,” he murmured. “It’s like they wanted us to get this far.”

Saphira slowed, her fingertips brushing the wall. The stone was smooth and cold, but beneath the surface, she felt something, like a pulse. Magic, maybe. Or memory. “What if this is the trap?” she whispered. “Not the fight. The silence.”

He didn’t answer right away. Then, softly, “Then we walk through it together.”

They pressed on.

The architecture shifted as they moved, subtle at first, then unmistakable. The walls grew taller; the ceilings arched into vaulted curves. The air changed too. It smelled of incense and old paper, something floral and cloying layered over something sour. The kind of scent that tried to hide decay.

They passed a long hallway lined with portraits, figures in formal dress, their painted eyes following them with eerie stillness. Saphira didn’t look too closely. She didn’t want to know if they blinked.

Then they saw it.

At the end of the corridor stood a pair of tall double doors, dark wood, carved with intricate patterns that shimmered faintly in the low light. Gold inlay traced the edges like veins. The handles were shaped like twin serpents, their eyes set with tiny red stones that glinted like blood.

Saphira stopped, breath catching in her throat.

Nikolas stepped beside her, his voice barely above a whisper. “This is it.”

She nodded but didn’t move. Her fingers twitched at her sides, the weight of everything pressing down on her shoulders. The silence here was different, thicker, heavier. Like the building itself was holding its breath.

Saphira mind-linked the inner circle members, her inward voice urgent. *“We’ve found something. Deep corridor, east wing. Double doors. We’re holding position.”*

*“On our way,”* came Jed’s reply.

Moments later, footsteps echoed softly behind them. One by one, the inner circle emerged from the shadows, Jed, Raven, Asher, Zafira, Anastasia, Finn, Jasper, Talia, Sam. Their faces were pale with tension, their movements sharp with adrenaline. No one spoke until they were all in place.

“All staff are accounted for,” Raven said quietly. “Either taken out or locked away. No casualties. No alarms.”

Saphira nodded, her eyes never leaving the doors.

“Then this,” she said, voice low, “is what’s left.”

And for a moment, no one moved. The air around them stilled completely, as if the entire compound had gone silent to listen.

As if it, too, was waiting.