The echo of the door shattering

Rakar’s consciousness returned slowly, pulled from the abyss of darkness by a searing pain. It wasn't the pain of the silver poison, but a liquid fire spreading from his thigh throughout his entire body.

“ARGHHH!”

Rakar clenched his teeth tightly, his back arching off the cold floor. He opened his eyes. His vision was blurred. He saw Eldric’s face above him, his expression calm, his hand just pulling an empty syringe from Rakar’s thigh.

“Hold on, Rakar. Let the medicine burn out the silver,” Eldric said. His voice wasn't loud, but deep and resonant, as if coming from the bottom of a well.

“Ardan…” Rakar hissed, ignoring the pain tearing at his nerves. “Where is Ardan?”

“Safe, Boss. He’s with me.”

It was Daniel’s voice. Rakar turned his head. He saw his assistant standing near the operating table, holding a sobbing Ardan on his shoulder. Beside him, Revira stood frozen, her face as pale as a corpse.

One minute stretched into an hour of torture.

Slowly, the heat subsided, replaced by a sharp tingling sensation. His strength returned. His heart pumped blood with a strong, steady Alpha rhythm. Thump-thump. Thump-thump.

Rakar sat up, ignoring the dizziness in his head. He looked at his own hand, which had been crushed moments ago from gripping the drill—the skin had already closed, leaving only a faint pink scar that was slowly fading.

“Revira…” Rakar called.

His wife didn't answer. She just stared at Rakar with an unreadable expression. There was fear there, but also… confusion? Awe? Rakar couldn't decipher it.

“We don’t have much time,” Daniel said firmly. “The alarm has been sounding since you broke down the first door. I blocked the signal, but it won’t last long. We need to go.”

“Clean this place up,” Rakar commanded, his voice hoarse. He forced his legs to stand, using the operating table for support. “Leave no trace. Burn everything.”

“Understood.”

Daniel handed Ardan to Revira. “Hold him for a moment, Ma’am.”

Revira took her son with stiff, robotic movements. She hugged Ardan tightly, burying his face in her neck, shielding him from the gruesome sight in the room.

Daniel moved quickly and efficiently. He walked to the computer desk, his fingers dancing over the keyboard.

“Security system crippled. CCTV erased. Emergency call signals blocked for the next twenty minutes,” Daniel reported. He then picked up Nirael’s tablet from the floor, slammed it against the wall, and stomped on it until it shattered into pieces.

Meanwhile, Eldric took bottles of harsh chemicals—acetone and alcohol—from a shelf. He poured them over the operating table and the scalpels stained with Rakar’s blood.

“Fire,” Eldric said.

Rakar lit a match he had taken from the pocket of a stunned guard. He stared at the chemical liquid pooling on the operating table. There were traces of his blood, traces of his weakness.

He threw the match.

FWOOSH!

Blue flames erupted, instantly incinerating all traces of Rakar’s DNA. Black smoke billowed.

“Nirael and his men?” Rakar asked, looking at the three bodies lying on the floor.

“Leave them,” Eldric said. “When they wake up, they’ll have nothing but bad memories as proof. That’s a more painful punishment for an arrogant man like him.”

“Alright,” Rakar nodded. He approached Revira. “Let’s go.”

Revira flinched as Rakar approached. She took a step back, pulling Ardan closer.

Rakar stopped. His heart sank. “Revira, it’s me.”

“I know,” Revira whispered. But her eyes weren't looking at Rakar. Her eyes were fixed on Rakar’s recently healed hand. “Let’s… let’s go home.”

***

The drive home in Daniel’s black SUV felt colder than the laboratory had.

Silence. Tense.

Daniel drove at high speed, running red lights. Eldric sat in the front passenger seat, silent as a statue.

Rakar sat in the back seat on the left. Revira sat on the right, pressed against the car door as far away from Rakar as possible. Ardan was asleep from exhaustion in his mother’s lap.

Rakar tried to glance at his wife. Revira stared blankly out the dark window. Tears flowed silently down her cheeks, but she made no sound. Her hands held Ardan possessively, protectively. As if she were shielding her son from Rakar.

“Revira,” Rakar called softly.

Revira didn't turn. Her shoulders tensed.

“Drink this,” Rakar offered a bottle of mineral water. “You’re in shock. Your lips are pale.”

“I don’t need anything from you,” Revira replied coldly, her eyes still fixed on the dark road outside. Her voice was hoarse and sharp. “I just want to get home.”

“I’m sorry,” Rakar said, pulling his hand back. “You shouldn’t have seen any of that.”

Revira finally turned. Her gaze was vacant, but there was a fire of anger burning behind her tears.

“Shouldn’t have seen?” Revira gave a hollow laugh. “So I was supposed to remain blind forever, Rakar? To remain the stupid wife who knew nothing?”

“That’s not—”

“Then what is it?!” Revira hissed. “Did you think I wouldn’t find out? Did you think I would keep believing the ‘out-of-town project’ excuse every full moon? Did you think I never wondered why my husband never got sick, never got hurt, and healed from a scratch in minutes?”

Rakar fell silent. He hadn't realized Revira paid such close attention.

“I knew something was strange,” Revira continued, her voice trembling. “But I chose not to ask. Because I loved you. I trusted you.”

She looked at Rakar with a heartbreaking gaze. “And tonight… you destroyed that trust.”

Twenty minutes later, the car stopped in front of their house. A comfortable minimalist home, with a small garden that Revira tended. A place that had been their little paradise. Now, it felt alien.

Revira immediately opened the car door as soon as it stopped. She carried Ardan and walked quickly into the house without waiting for the others.

Daniel turned off the engine. “Boss, are you ready?”

Rakar rubbed his face roughly. “No. But I don’t have a choice.”

“Just be honest,” Eldric advised without turning around. “Your lies are over tonight, Rakar. Face the storm.”

Rakar nodded. He entered the house. Revira had already put Ardan to bed in his room.

Rakar waited in the living room. Soon after, Revira came out. She stood across from Rakar with the coffee table separating them.

“Who are they?” Revira asked, pointing to Daniel and Eldric who were guarding the door.

“Daniel is my assistant. You know him,” Rakar answered.

“No,” Revira cut in sharply. “Who are they really? Ordinary assistants can’t cripple mercenaries. And that old man… he has an aura that makes me want to kneel. Who are you people?”

Rakar took a deep breath. “They… they are the same as me.”

“The same as you?” Revira laughed again, this time full of despair. “And what are you? A mutant? An alien?”

“No.”

“Then what?!” Revira shouted, her patience gone. “Answer me, Rakar! Stop beating around the bush! Your eyes turned yellow! You caught a drill with your bare hands! You healed from a poison that supposedly kills elephants! Humans can’t do that! Tell me who I married!”

Revira stepped forward, her tears flowing again. She stared at Rakar, connecting all the dots she had ignored for so long.

“Oh, I remember… no wonder,” Revira whispered, her voice shaking violently. “You never ate vegetables. Every time we ate, you always wanted meat, just like Ardan. I used to think it was just because you really liked meat.”

She pointed at Rakar’s chest, her finger trembling.

“You’re allergic to silver. And every full moon you always disappeared with an excuse about work, and the next day you’d come home sometimes with bloodstains on your clothes.”

Revira took a step back, looking at her husband as if he were a stranger.

“I’ve been so stupid… truly stupid!”

Rakar looked into his wife’s eyes. His mask was shattered. There was no point in hiding anymore.

Rakar straightened his posture. For the first time tonight, he allowed a bit of his Alpha aura to emerge. Not to intimidate, but to be honest.

“You’re right, Revira,” Rakar said, his voice calm and deep. “I am not human.”

Revira shook her head, covering her mouth with her hand. “Say it. I want to hear it from your own mouth. What are you?”

Rakar looked straight into the eyes of the woman he loved, the woman who now looked at him like a predator ready to strike.

“I am not human,” Rakar repeated, his voice firm and filling the room. “I am the Alpha of the wolf nation.”