LILAAlthough my leg below the knee had lost all sensation, I kept dragging it through the heavy snow, determined and relentless. My eyes, blazing with rage, were locked on Arika, stumbling ahead of me. She was in worse shape—her wounds weren’t healing because she didn’t have the benefit of werewolf regeneration. That worked in my favor.Her blood loss was more severe than mine, and it was draining her strength quickly. This was my chance—my moment to strike, to unleash everything I had bottled up.Despite the fury raging inside me, tears flowed freely from my eyes. I couldn't stop crying. The image of Lucas’ lifeless wolf form haunted me, flashing repeatedly in my mind and stabbing at my heart. My chest throbbed with a pain so deep, it felt like I would collapse. Was it grief over losing him?“My Lucas…” I wept. But even my sorrow couldn't douse the fire burning within me. My anger surged hotter. Arika would pay dearly. I was going to make her suffer in a way she'd never imagined.Th
The moment was shattered by a feral roar.From the ruined stairwell, a blur of black thundered through the smoke—massive, fast, and terrifying. A beast forged in vengeance and desperation.“Lucas?” Lila gasped, eyes widening.The black wolf launched into the fray, claws scraping against steel, jaws wide in a snarl of pure fury. Arika turned too late. He crashed into her with bone-cracking force, sending her skidding across the floor.Sparks erupted from broken wires as Arika slammed into a power conduit, her body twisting mid-air, blood flying from her mouth. The detonator clattered away.Lucas stood over Lila protectively, teeth bared, fur bristling like an obsidian flame. His presence was raw power—wounded, defiant, unstoppable.“Lucas!” Lila screamed.He glanced at her briefly, a flicker of recognition in those gold-scarred eyes. Then he leapt again, intercepting Arika as she reached for a fallen blade.“Get out of here, now!” Lila shouted at him.But he didn’t listen. He never did
The sharp sting of the moment returned. His blood on her hands. His body slumping against her. Her scream echoing against metal walls. And still—still—he tried to protect her.And she had left him. Had walked away to finish what he started. To end this. Even if it meant sacrificing herself.“I’ll never hear his voice again.”The thought stabbed deeper than any wound. Her wolf snarled in helpless grief, tail tucked, ears low. It wasn’t just death. It was the severance of something eternal. The loss of something never fully born.“We never mated.” Lila closed her eyes, silent tears streaming down her cheeks. “He died with nothing of me… not even a mark.”That was when she heard movement. The crunch of boots—unsteady, dragging.Arika stumbled into view, clutching her wounded arm, blood dripping from her sleeve. Her face was pale, hair matted to her cheek, and eyes cold—but not unreadable.Lila stiffened. Her fingers instinctively brushed the blade at her belt. But Arika didn’t raise her
Countdown to Ruin: "You're not walking away from this, Arika. I swear it."Lila’s voice trembled with fury as she stared down her sister, the screen flashing "00:00" behind her like a death knell. Her chest heaved, blood matting her clothes, but her eyes never blinked."Oh, Lila," Arika cooed mockingly, her pistol still trained on the servers, "You always did have a flair for dramatics.""It should've exploded by now," Lila muttered, eyes flitting nervously to the screen. The container trembled faintly beneath her feet. She braced herself, swallowing hard, heart hammering like a war drum."Tick, tick," Arika sang, the countdown at zero. The silence that followed was suffocating.Then—nothing.No explosion. No fire. No death.Lila’s shoulders sagged, confusion and a trace of hope battling in her expression. "What... what is this?"Arika's laughter cut through the tension like a knife. Cold. Sharp. Cruel. "You really thought I’d kill myself just to spite you? Please, sister. That count
Another scream, this one raw—grief and fury in equal measure. The sound sliced straight through the fog in Lucas’s mind. It was like hearing the moon shatter.“NO!” Jake dropped to his knees beside him, skidding in the snow. His hands, warm and trembling, lifted Lucas’s head slightly. “No. No. No. Don’t you dare—don’t you dare leave me, brother—”Lucas’s mind stirred at the word. Brother.He wanted to tell Jake he was still here. That he could hear him. That he hadn’t given up—not yet. But even a twitch of a finger was beyond him.“Look at you,” Jake whispered, his voice broken. “Silver to the head—who the hell uses silver like that? You weren’t supposed to be here. You weren’t supposed to—”He cut off with a sob, lowering his forehead to Lucas’s chest. “I was supposed to protect you.”Lucas could feel the weight of him there, could feel Jake’s shaking breath against his coat. It took every ounce of willpower just to hold on to the sound, the warmth, the moment. His heart thumped slug
“I’m sorry,” Lila whispered, her breath catching between sobs. “I should’ve never let you come. This is all my fault…”Lucas’s eyes fluttered, barely able to focus. His lips parted but no sound came. The burning pain behind his temple pulsed with each beat of his slowing heart.“Don’t talk. Just stay still,” she pleaded, pressing her hand against the wound as if she could will the silver out. “Please, Lucas… you’re going to be okay. You have to be.”He wanted to believe her, but the cold was already creeping in.The world dimmed around the edges, the ringing in his ears drowning out the shrill of distant alarms and the crackling countdown still echoing through the shipping yard. The snow beneath him was warm with blood. His blood. Silver burned like fire through his nerves, twisting every inch of his body into paralysis. He couldn’t move his fingers. Couldn’t shift. Couldn’t fight.“I should’ve told you everything,” Lila whispered, her hand trembling as she brushed a blood-matted stra
"Did you hear that?" Jake’s voice cut through the static in Lucas’s comm."The scream? Yeah. I’m going," Lucas replied, urgency flaring in his tone."Wait! We need backup first—""There’s no time, Jake! That was Lila!""Damn it, Lucas, think for a second!"But Lucas had already ripped the comm out of his ear and tossed it into the snow. One heartbeat later, he let the transformation take him.Bones cracked. Skin split. Fur surged through pores like wildfire. In a matter of seconds, where the man once stood, a massive, ash-gray wolf tore through the blizzard.The scream echoed again—closer now. Female. Desperate.Gunfire barked through the night like a string of firecrackers.Lucas’s paws slammed into the snow, muscles bunching and stretching with every bound. His lungs burned with cold air, but he didn’t care. The scent of blood, gunpowder, and fear led him like a trail of fire.Lila.His mind seared with the image of her bruised face from weeks ago. Her cracked ribs. Her whispered ap
"Lucas?!"Jake’s voice cracked through the storm, louder than the wind. "Lucas, answer me!"He skidded around a corner, boots slipping on blood-slicked snow. His breath came in ragged gasps, adrenaline roaring through his veins. The scent of death was heavy—copper and ice, thick enough to choke on.He stopped.Blood. So much blood.Spattered across the snow in grotesque patterns, already starting to freeze in the frigid air.Lucas’s wolf form lay crumpled near a collapsed shipping crate, motionless. His silver-gray fur was matted red, steam rising faintly from his body in the cold."No, no, no…" Jake stumbled forward, falling to his knees beside his brother. He reached out, fingers trembling, pressing against the still flank.No breath.Jake’s heart pounded louder than the howling wind. He looked around, eyes wide and wild."Lila!" he shouted again. "LILA!"But there was no reply.Her scent had vanished—erased by the snowstorm sweeping in like a vengeful ghost. The wind stripped every
“You’re sure this is where she came?”Jake’s voice cut through the howling wind, low and tense, barely audible over the shrieking gusts and biting snow. His eyes scanned the fractured skyline of the abandoned port, every sense on high alert.“Yes,” Lucas answered, brushing snow off the small tracking device clutched in his glove. The screen blinked weakly beneath a layer of frost, its signal sputtering in and out like a dying heartbeat. “She couldn’t have gotten far with that injury. This is where the trail ends.”“I don’t like it.” Jake’s nostrils flared, his wolf stirring beneath the surface, restless. “The air’s too still. Even the crows are gone.”“They don’t linger near death.” Lucas muttered, adjusting the rifle slung over his shoulder. His jaw was tight, eyes sweeping across the jagged silhouettes of forgotten shipping containers buried in snow. “Neither should we.”Jake crouched, brushing aside a layer of snow with his palm. “Footprints. Hers. But…” His hand hovered over a sec