Emma broke the silence first, her scientific curiosity momentarily outweighing her fear. "Can you tell me when this virus attack happened?" she asked, moving back to the examination table where the rogue's brain still lay exposed.
"Three weeks ago," Steve answered, his voice hollow. The memory of that morning—waking up to the sounds of agonized screams from his pack members—still haunted his nightmares.
"Do you know how it happened?" she inquired, her fingers hovering over the pulsing device embedded in the brain tissue.
Steve ran a hand over his face, feeling the rough stubble that testified to days without proper rest. "That's the problem, Emma. I just woke up like everybody else feeling like death. The whole pack woke up with it." Confusion and frustration warred on his face, carving deep lines around his eyes and mouth. "One minute we were fine, the next..."
"The day before it happened, did you notice anything unusual?" Emma pressed, her k
Steve spent the remaining forty minutes building things he never imagined he would construct in his lifetime. His hands trembled slightly as he worked, not from fear, but from a peculiar mixture of hope and desperation that coursed through his veins like electricity. The weight of responsibility pressed down on his broad shoulders, threatening to crush him beneath its immensity.He caught a glimpse of Emma from the corner of his eye, her delicate fingers working with surprising dexterity as she assembled components with unwavering focus. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined he would be standing shoulder to shoulder with the werewolf he had once coldly rejected, their past differences dissolved in the face of impending catastrophe. The irony wasn't lost on him—how quickly priorities shifted when survival hung in the balance.Steve Kane, proud Alpha of the Sterling Creek pack, never in a million years imagined all of his pack members would be infected and te
The weight of his past mistakes pressed against Steve's chest. How many others had he underestimated? How many potential allies had he alienated through his stubborn adherence to outdated pack hierarchies?"How exactly are these things supposed to work?" Marcus asked gruffly as he screwed components together, his powerful hands looking almost comically large against the delicate technological parts. Sweat beaded on his furrowed brow, betraying his anxiety despite his attempt at a stoic demeanor.Emma finished polishing the large round moon crystal, setting it carefully in its cradle. The workspace fell silent as she reached into her pocket and produced the tiny blinking device she had extracted from the rogue's brain. It pulsed with an ominous red light, sending shivers down Steve's spine."This is an implant connected to the brain stem of the rogue," she explained, holding it up so Steve and Marcus could see. The device looked innocuous—deceptively small
KILL SWITCH. III.Emma’s calves were burning from running up the mountains. Although she was not carrying anything, she was anxious because time was her enemy. And because she heard a plane rumbling over the pack.She did not believe in coincidences. She suspected that the plane was where the controllers were hiding.Marcus’ walkie talkie hissed to life and he dropped the generator to answer it.“How high are you?” Steve asked with urgency in his voice.“Very high, Alpha Kane, just a few more minutes till we reach the highest point, over,” Marcus answered as he breathed heavily.“Look into your binoculars,” Steve said. “And turn on the night vision.”Marcus did and sucked in a breath. “We have to hurry,” he said with a new sound of worry.“Let me see,” Emma stretched her hands and Marcus gave her the binoculars.“Goddess!” Emma exclaimed in fear. The Rogues, they were all standing still and watching Sterling creek from a distance. From the corners of her sight, she saw the small air p
The smell of metal burning woke Steve up. He was on his back and he was covered in entrails and blood. The ground felt very sticky and reeked of flesh. It was still night and the moon shined brightly. There was something very different in the atmosphere.He groaned in pain as he sat up. A wave of dizziness hit him and he almost fell on his back again. His head throbbed painfully as he looked around. His black van was upside down and he had no idea where his sniper was. He was trying so hard to remember what happened.He got to his feet unsteadily and looked around. Dismembered werewolves filled the whole mass of ground around him. The smell of burning metal was still in the air. His brain was still trying to fill in the gaps as he stumbled on rogue guts. His ears were ringing and his eyes were trying to regain focus.His throat was dry as he swallowed.It worked. His memory clicked back into place as he remembered Emma and the Lunar electromagnet
"Humans have no business knowing about this place," Steve said, his voice edged with tension, his expression brooding and worried. His sharp gaze scanned the dimly lit room, his jaw clenched in barely suppressed frustration.Emma understood what he meant all too well. The divide between humans and werewolves was vast, an unbridgeable chasm that had kept their worlds apart for centuries. That was how it was meant to be—how it had to be.Until last night.The discovery of two human bodies at an airplane wreckage site had shattered that fragile separation. Steve had found them, their lifeless forms sprawled amidst the twisted metal and charred remains, and the implications were horrifying."The only way they could have known about this place is if a werewolf told them," Emma mused, her tone thoughtful but laced with unease.Steve exhaled sharply, his fingers tightening into fists. The very idea made his stomach coil with dread. Betrayal of this magnitude wasn’t just reckless—it was treas
"We have company, Alpha Kane," Marcus' voice crackled through the Walkie-talkie on the table. The air in the room shifted instantly, tension creeping in like an uninvited guest.Both Steve and Emma turned to each other, their eyes mirroring the same concern."The Sentinel?" Steve asked, already reaching for the device, his voice a mix of urgency and suspicion."Negative, it's Lady Long," Marcus replied.Emma's frown deepened.Lady Long? What was she doing here? What could she possibly want?"How do you know it's her?" Steve asked, his fingers gripping the Walkie-talkie tighter."I would recognize that limousine anywhere, Alpha Kane," Marcus stated with certainty.Steve inhaled sharply, his jaw tightening. "I'm coming outside.""Over and out," Marcus said before the line went dead.Emma folded her arms across her chest, watching as Steve pulled on a shirt. A part of her wished he hadn’t. Even after all these
Steve was ready to flare up, his temper rising like a storm barely contained. His muscles tensed, his claws threatening to emerge, but a single warning look from Emma made him swallow the growl building in his throat. He exhaled sharply, forcing himself to stay in control. Now was not the time to let emotions cloud his judgment. Not when the stakes were so high.The silence that followed was thick, almost suffocating, as if the very air in the room had turned to lead. This was a revelation Steve had not been prepared for, a truth that slithered into his mind like a venomous snake."A dragon working with humans to hunt down werewolves," Steve finally said, his voice dangerously quiet. The accusation in his tone was unmistakable, laced with something far deadlier than anger—betrayal.Lady Long, standing with an air of effortless grace, did not flinch. Instead, she offered a slow, measured shake of her head. "You are mistaken, Alpha Steve," she replied, her voice smooth as silk, yet firm
Emma was still reeling from all the things she had heard from the Dragon Lady. Her head was spinning with the weight of the revelations, and she could hardly believe how deep the Sentinel’s influence ran.“Wow… that was a lot,” she murmured to herself, standing up to stretch her legs. Her muscles were stiff, her heart heavy with anxiety. She had always found solace in movement, in pacing—walking helped her clear her head, but right now, no amount of movement could shake the turmoil within her.Steve watched her with an intensity that made her stomach twist. “I would never let them get to you,” he said, his voice a quiet promise that sent a shiver down her spine. His words held a raw possessiveness that wrapped around her like a warm, invisible chain. It was comforting, yet dangerous.She swallowed hard, nodding slightly but offering no reply. She didn’t doubt his words—she never had. Steve had already proven his loyalty to her, saving her from four monstrous werewolves when she had be
“Nothing!” Marcus griped in anger and desperation. “There is not a thing I can use here.”“Do not lose your shit, Marcus,” Steve ordered. “If we are going to get out of this, we need to stay calm.”“Staying calm is not going to help us, Alpha Kane, we need a plan that will let us survive the next forty minutes,” Marcus replied.“Hide” Emma said. “We have to conceal ourselves, if we want to survive that thing,” She added.“How do we do that?” Marcus said. “That thing has our scents.”Emma reached into her leather coat and pulled out three small cans. They were the scent maskers.“How do you do that?” Steve asked.“The last time I checked, those things were in a suitcase,” Marcus said.“It’s the coat,” Emma replied. “It is enchanted and has infinite spaces inside it. All I have to do is put the image of something I have seen before in my mind and it appears in the jacket.”“That is genius,” Marcus muttered.“But its only things I have seen before and they must be at a certain size,” Emm
“We cannot possible hide from those…things for forty-five minutes, it is impossible,” Marcus said in a strained voice as he climbed up the long flight of stairs.“This way,” Steve led them to a door that led to a floor in the building. “This building has a helipad so we just need to stay alive till the rescue team gets here.”“Is the whole city overrun with those things?” Emma asked in a distraught voice.“That would seem like the case, a lot of werewolf pack are have been affected.” Marcus replied as they walked through the hall way of the unknown floor.“Are those think even killable?” Steve wondered aloud.Emma shook her head. “I looked into their anatomy with my wolf sight, the only thing alive is their brain, they have no heat in them except for the head.”“Mason really outdid himself?” Steve said in low angry voice. Emma felt that the Alpha’s voice held a promise of pain and torture.“It was all Grimkeeper,” Emma said. “Mason is just a tool,” she added.“You know, I have not hea
Emma’s jaw dropped open immediately she laid eyes on what was making the ground shake. It was a monstrosity her mind could not comprehend.“What the fuck is that?” Steve whispered as he took a fearful step back.“We need to get the fuck out of this city,” Marcus said as he watched the thing that walked towards them.“Wait I recognize it,” Emma said in shock. “It is the monster wolves that were chasing us from earlier!”“We need to run!” Steve said and pulled Emma by the arm. The thing was heading for them and it made no sense to wait around.The things began to chase them and the trio broke into a run. It was a werewolf but uglier and wrong. it had five heads and a massive body with four powerful legs that stomped the ground, breaking the asphalt. It was surprisingly fast and gaining on them.“How is that thing even functioning?” Marcus asked as they ran.There was no time to even answer the question because left and right was filled with dead rotting bodies of werewolves and people.
The first thing they noticed wasn’t the light.It was the smell.The stench of decay hit them like a wall the moment they stepped out from the rusted subway doors into the open. Rot. Burnt fur. Blood soaked into the soil. A smell so unnatural that even Marcus, whose senses had dulled under enchantments, took a staggering step back and retched into the overgrown weeds.Emma's eyes welled up—not from emotion, but from the sharp, acrid smoke still hanging in the air. The buildings near the edge of the city were no longer homes. They were carcasses. Entire blocks were blackened skeletons, burned out and hollowed by fire, claw marks and the rage of something worse than war—panic.Steve stood frozen. “What happened while we were gone?”No one answered him, because no one could.The streets were not just abandoned—they were wrong. Cars stood parked with doors flung open. Blood painted windshields. One had small handprints smeared across the glass—too small to be adults. No movement. No sound
Emma had her father's powers so she could see through his Chaos magic. The little time she had spent with Terra had showed her how to break and see through illusions."It is all a trick Steve," Emma said in a sad tone. "That is not your brother.""What?" Steve asked as he looked away from Grimkeeper."Your brother is here but he is not in prison or chained, Grimkeeper is just using your fears and bringing it to life," Emma revealed to him.Grimkeeper's growl caught their attention. "I do not appreciate the fact that you are getting in my way, daughter. Even though I do this for your own good. Did Terra not show you your fate?"Emma shook her head in disdain. "She only showed me the things that will happen if I let fear rule my heart. I have seen enough.""Emma, I am saving you from heart break, you will outlive him, watch him die, there is immortality in your blood, daughter," Grimkeeper said."That maybe so, but it is my life and not yours, I think I understand why you are doing all
Terra’s whip-tail lashed the floor, sparks flying as its razor-sharp tip carved through stone. Her eyes glowed like twin embers, the smile gone from her lips. Now there was only cold intent."You shouldn’t have walked away, Emma," the succubus murmured, claws sliding out from her fingers with a wet snikt. “You’ve defied the Garden. Defied desire.”Emma dropped into a stance—legs shoulder-width apart, arms raised in a balanced curve. Her breathing slowed. Soma Fang. Ancient werewolf martial art. Rooted in grace, ends in devastation. Her wolf stirred under her skin—quiet, but burning with clarity.“I didn’t defy desire,” Emma said. “I chose reality.”Terra lunged first. A blur of pale limbs and tail. Her claws arced for Emma’s throat, but Emma twisted beneath them and sent a crushing elbow into Terra’s ribs. The succubus hissed, twisting her head, horns slicing through the air like obsidian blades.Emma barely ducked, somersaulted backward, and launched a lightning-fast Fang Spear—two-f
Emma’s thighs clenched involuntarily. Her reflection was screaming in pleasure, being taken by Steve driving into her from behind, his hands holding her head, breasts, waist. He was worshiping her like a goddess, filling her every hole, every need, every fantasy. “I don’t…” Emma whispered, even as heat pooled between her legs. “You want to be devoured,” Terra whispered at her ear, now behind her. “You want to be fought over. Ruined. Made holy through pleasure.” “No, I—” But the mirror pulsed, and suddenly Emma wasn't watching anymore. She was inside. Black petals brushed her skin as she landed on all fours, her body naked and arched. A strong hand grabbed her hips—Steve’s growl echoed in her ear. “She’s ready,” he said. His cock pressed against her—thick, pulsing with heat. Steve entered her first, slow and punishing, his hands gripping her waist. Emma gasped. “Open for me,” he said in a voice like temple bells. She obeyed. The rhythm was brutal and beautiful. Each thrust f
The crimson door creaked shut behind them, muffling the ragged breathing of the man who now lay unconscious on the velvet rug. Terra walked ahead, her golden tattoos glowing faintly under the infernal red light. Her heels clicked like war drums as she led Emma deeper into the heart of the Grim Floors.Emma's senses were overwhelmed—moans echoed faintly from behind darkened doors, the air was thick with incense, sex, and suffering. The healer in her reeled, but the werewolf in her… watched, hungry and curious.“Welcome to the feeding ground,” Terra said, spreading her arms wide as they emerged onto a balcony overlooking a vast arena below. The chamber stretched impossibly wide and tall—at the center, a gigantic black lotus floated above a pit of writhing bodies. Feeding platforms encircled the arena like theater boxes.“And what is this place?” Emma asked, her werewolf sight picking up glowing energies being drained from the bodies below and channeled into the black lotus.Terra licked
The silence between them was suffocating."I am not leaving, Emma for any reason and certainly not because of you," Steve growled.Steve stared angrily at the towering, pale-skinned entity before him—neither demon nor god, neither dead nor alive. Grimkeeper’s long fingers trailed the edge of a glass case containing a rusted dagger wrapped in faded red cloth."What reasons make you think that I would ever leave Emma's side?" The Sterling werewolf demanded."Sit," Grimkeeper said softly, but it was not a suggestion. It was a command that made Steve's bones tremble.He obeyed, lowering himself onto a cold obsidian bench while Grimkeeper remained standing, his shadow stretching long across the marble floor like a living thing."You asked me for the reasons," Grimkeeper said, his voice low, haunting. "Let me give you a thousand."Steve did not respond. His jaw was tight, fists clenched on his lap. Every instinct screamed at him to walk away, but something ancient in Grimkeeper’s aura held