THE SCALPEL AND THE CLAW 

Valkira stepped into the small boat. It rocked slightly beneath her heavy boots.

​"Alpha," Chris said, taking his place at the steering wheel. He looked out at the dark water. "What if Yana has been moved before we get to the hospital?”

"She is there," Valkira said, her eyes hard. "And if he has moved her, I will burn the entire mainland to ash until I find her."

Chris nodded, untied the dock lines, tossing them onto the deck, and started the engine. The motor roared to life, and the boat surged forward, catching the strong wind. 

Valkira stood beside Chris, looking at the empty horizon. Her inner wolf burned beneath her skin, demanding release. Behind them, the island slowly faded into the morning fog.

The hunt had begun.

The cold ocean spray hit her scarred face, but she did not blink. She gripped the wet rail until her knuckles turned completely white. Every single second felt like a long lifetime. 

She thought about the tiny, helpless baby she had lost so long ago. 

The sharp pain in her chest was like a heavy rock. She meant every word she had said earlier. She would tear the whole mainland apart to get her child back, and no one  would be able to stop her.

The dark waves crashed loudly against the boat, matching the wild, angry beating of her very own heart.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The room was small, and dark. With white tiles on the walls.  Heavy medical machines beeped in a slow rhythm.

Yana lay flat on the operating table. Her small wrists and ankles were strapped down tight with thick leather bands. A clear plastic tube ran from a bag of fluid into her arm.

The lead doctor stood  over her. In his right hand, he held a silver scalpel. Around him stood six medical staff. There were two assistant doctors and four nurses. 

"Begin," the lead doctor said.

A nurse  touched Yana's small chest. The little girl was completely asleep, her chest rising and falling. 

"Scalpel."

The nurse handed him the blade. He pressed the cold metal against Yana's lower ribs.

Suddenly, Yana's eyes snapped wide open. She screamed in absolute terror.

"Hold her down," the doctor snapped.

Two nurses grabbed her flailing arms. Yana kicked her legs hard, but the heavy leather straps held her body in place.

"She is awake," a nurse said, her voice shaking. "The anesthesia is not working on her."

"Then give her another dose immediately."

"I can't, doctor.” the nurse explained. “ Her body is fighting it, another dose could stop her heart."

"I can't operate on her like this, I need her to remain completely still." the doctor growled.

The nurse looked at his cold eyes. Then, she reached onto the metal tray and picked up a thick syringe filled with oily dark liquid.

Yana screamed through her tears, her voice echoing off the white tiles. 

"My mother is the mighty princess of the Crescent Pack! She will come for me! She will kill all of you!"

The medical staff laughed out loud.

"Your mother?" a doctor sneered, leaning over the table. "The princess of the Crescent Pack? That pack was destroyed five years ago."

"Her mother drowned in the sea," the nurse added coldly. "She is nothing but fish food."

Yana cried harder, her small body shaking. "No! She is alive!"

The nurse did not answer. She pushed the  needle straight into the I V tube. Within seconds, Yana's entire body went stiff. Her silver eyes rolled back, and her limbs froze.

"Paralytic toxin," the nurse stated, stepping back. "She won't be able to move a muscle, but she is still fully awake. That will do the job."

The doctor raised the silver scalpel once more. "Good," he said. "An underground casino paid a  fortune for her blood. Her royal wolf spirit is about to be cut right out of her chest."

As he brought the blade down toward her skin, the heavy door exploded with a deafening crash.

Two hours earlier

 Valkira walked casually into the crowded hospital lobby on the mainland. From the outside, it looked like a normal hospital. Sick patients sat in rows of plastic chairs, waiting for their turn. The sharp smell of cleaning chemicals hung in the air. No one paid her any attention.

Chris stayed close beside her, carrying a heavy leather bag full of maps, knives, and special medicine meant for creatures like her.

“There’s a hidden level beneath the basement,” Chris whispered, his eyes sweeping the hallway. “The main offices are on the third floor. But the lower levels aren't on the computer system.”

"Where are the keys kept?" Valkira asked.

"A security guard station near the ground-floor kitchen."

Valkira shifted her path smoothly. She walked past the busy nurses' desk, turned left down a narrow white hallway, and spotted the guard station. A single werewolf guard sat at the metal desk, reading a logbook.

"Excuse me," Valkira said, stepping into the booth.

The guard looked up at her. Before he could speak or raise an alarm, Valkira hit him once with a swift, heavy strike directly to his throat. The force crushed his windpipe, and he dropped to the floor instantly. She bent down, ripped the keys and the security badge off his belt, and signaled Chris.

 Chris quickly dragged the limp body into a nearby storage closet and locked the door.

They moved fast, entering a hidden concrete stairwell behind the kitchen. 

As they descended, the building stopped looking like a clean hospital. The walls turned into raw, stained concrete, the pipes were old and rusted, and the damp air smelled heavily of rot and old blood.

They found the hidden operating room at the end of the dark hall. A heavy iron door stood half-open. Through the narrow crack, Valkira's sharp ears picked up a child's frantic voice.

"My mother is the mighty princess of the Crescent Pack! She will come for me! She will kill all of you!"

Valkira stopped cold.

Her breath caught in her chest. She knew that voice. Not because she remembered it, but because something deep inside her recognized it. Something tied to her royal blood.

She threw her full weight against the door.

The door crashed open, slamming against the wall with a deafening bang.

Bright white lights flooded her eyes.

Then she saw them.

Six people wearing masks. And a small body strapped to a metal table.

Her daughter. Yana.

Valkira didn't stop to think. Her right hand changed instantly. Thick black fur pushed through her skin, and her nails stretched into hard wolf claws.

Chris drew his hunting knives. They moved as one.

She lunged across the room and grabbed the nearest assistant doctor by the throat. With one arm, she lifted him off the floor and threw him across the room.

He slammed into a glass medicine cabinet.

The cabinet shattered and crashed down around him. He lay still beneath the broken glass.

Two hidden werewolf guards suddenly stepped out from the dark corners of the room, raising their stun batons.

Chris's eyes flicked toward the operating table.

“I'll handle them. Get Yana.”

Chris leaped over a metal cart and met them head-on, driving his shoulder into the first guard, slashing his blade across the man's forearm and sending his weapon flying.

While Chris kept the guards busy, Valkira rushed to the operating table and stared down at Yana.

The little girl's eyes were wide open, but there was no life in them.

Valkira's wolf eyes caught a tiny movement. The lead doctor was trying to hide a big empty syringe behind his back. A single drop of dark liquid fell from the tip and hit the floor. 

They had poisoned her baby. 

The room turned cold as anger took over her entire body. She stepped up to him, pointing her claws at his chest.