Screams tore through the air like a thousand jagged knives. Outside the command tent, the ground thundered with a new rhythm—hundreds of pounding feet, snarls echoing through the forest’s veil. The shriek of gunshots met the howls of beasts as the world outside turned to blood and smoke.The werewolves came from every direction, spilling into the camp like a living flood. Some bounded on all fours in monstrous wolf form, fangs glinting and eyes alight with primal fury. Others, still in human shape, loosed arrows from sleek recurved bows, each shot finding its mark with lethal precision. Others still wore gauntlets bristling with claws or wielded curved blades that danced with a deadly grace. They struck with purpose, cutting down the stunned JANEERAD agents who scrambled for their weapons, their panic betraying their unreadiness.A soldier stumbled backward, firing blindly, only to be seized from behind by a dark-haired warrior who rammed a gauntlet into his side and drove him into th
Kael took a slow, deliberate step back toward the center of the tent, his boots brushing against the dirt-smeared canvas. The air was thick with tension, so sharp it could slice flesh. Outside, the world was still, save for the distant bark of a command or the faint scrape of metal. Inside, the silence was more volatile than sound.He stood upright, spine rigid, eyes fixed on Justine. Calm on the outside, but within, a storm churned with fury and disbelief. His hands, curled into tight fists, trembled faintly at his sides.“So this is what it’s come to?” Kael’s voice was low, even, but each word struck with force. “You’re using your soldiers—your dogs—against me?”Justine didn’t flinch. His eyes narrowed, the lines of age and ambition deepening across his face. “It doesn’t have to be this way,” he said coolly, though a muscle twitched in his jaw. “You’re letting emotions cloud your judgment. Don’t forget who you are. Don’t forget your place.” He took a step forward, gesturing to the s
The tent had grown still again, the air thick with things unsaid. Kael’s question lingered like smoke, curling through every ear and eye in the room: Where is my mother, Justine?Justine turned toward him slowly. His eyes, usually polished and unreadable, were now flat—hard, cold chips of stone. He held Kael’s gaze with the authority of a commander and the scorn of a disappointed father.“Why are you interrogating me?” His voice was clipped, the calm edge of someone reining in rising irritation. “You’re interfering in matters you don’t understand, questioning things that aren’t under your authority. I said I want that prisoner out of my sight.”He motioned briefly toward Thane, who was still kneeling, restrained, blood drying on his skin, a ghost of a sneer hovering on his mouth.Kael didn’t blink. His voice remained steady. “I just want to know about my mother.”The moment sharpened. The air itself felt tight. Everyone watched now—not just with curiosity, but with the hesitant stilln
The tension in the command tent was palpable as the men stared down at Thane. The morning sun, though bright outside, barely pierced the interior, casting only thin, pale ribbons of light through seams and gaps. Maps lay forgotten on the central table, corners curling upward, as if recoiling from the intensity around them. Boots scraped faintly against the hard ground, but no one spoke. The soldiers stood like statues. Even the soft breeze outside had stilled.Thane's chin lifted, despite the bruises. He jerked his arms against the hold of the men, sneering at Justine. “Go ahead,” he spat. “If you want to kill me, better get on with it. There'll be no need for gloating, so save yourself the effort. Just kill me and be done with it.”Justine, his confidence fully returned, tilted his head, the predator amused by the defiance of his cornered prey. “Kill you?” he said softly. “No. You’ll live. You’ll watch as I release my Kyrexin-X. And you—Alpha Thane—will be the first to feel it work.”
The darkness pressed heavily on Kael’s tent. Its fabric rustled faintly in the night breeze, casting elongated shadows that danced with every flicker of the torch just outside. He sat still on his cot, but his mind refused to settle. Angela’s words still echoed in his head like an unwelcome refrain: “Are you sure you’ll survive it? Do you even know where your mother is?”Justine’s face—so familiar, so resolute—kept flashing before him, interchanging with distant childhood memories of Lylah’s smile. He hadn’t thought of his mother for a while now. He’d assumed she was safe in New York, far removed from all this. But why would Angela say it like that? What did she know?He stood, then sat, then stood again. The walls of the tent seemed to close in with every breath. His thoughts coiled tighter around the knot in his chest. He walked in circles, palms pressed together, his jaw clenched. The cot’s sheets were kicked halfway off, a testament to his unease. When he finally collapsed back on
Thane sat slumped against the cold earth, his back resting against the canvas wall of his makeshift cell. His once-proud shoulders sagged under the weight of defeat, and his matted hair hung over his brow, soaked with sweat, dust, and something darker. He looked like a man unmade. The air inside the cell was damp and musky. Though shaped like a tent, the cell bore no softness. Reinforced steel rods lined the corners of the structure, buried deep in the ground, and the canvas was layered with an inner mesh of titanium netting to prevent tearing. A crude metal door stood bolted in place at the front, secured with a thick digital lock and monitored by motion detectors along the sides. The ground was barren and uneven, scattered with stones and gravel, the kind that gnawed at the flesh when one tried to sleep.It was not meant to be a permanent prison, yet it was harsh and cruel. An insult to any dignity the prisoner might have once carried.From beyond one of the mesh-covered sidewalls,