> "When you meet the devil, don't pray. Dance like the fire can't burn you."
---
Selene stood frozen before him.
The Devil Alpha.
The Butcher of the Frost Plains. The Black Fang. The one who single-handedly annihilated five packs in a single lunar cycle. The monster children were warned about. The legend no one lived long enough to confirm.
And he was real.
He was right here.
And he was smiling at her.
Not the comforting kind of smile. The kind you see before the ground gives way beneath your feet. The kind that says, "This world belongs to monsters, and you're only just learning the rules."
> "Kill me then," she managed, voice cracking.
"No," he said. "You're not ready to die."
"Why not?"
"Because I want to see how far you'll crawl before you beg me for death."
---
He lunged.
Not like the others—not wild or chaotic.
Precise. Fluid. Effortless.
His hand closed around her throat before she could even move. He lifted her off the ground as if she weighed nothing.
Selene clawed at his arm. Kicked. Her vision blurred.
He leaned in.
"I smelled you in the ashes," he whispered. "Blood of the Hollow Moon Pack. The cursed ones. The dreamwalkers. Your kind died for a reason."
Her hands sparked.
She didn't know why. She didn't care.
She let it happen.
---
FLASH.
A blast of silver light surged from her chest.
The Devil Alpha dropped her—not screamed, not cursed—just let go, as if she'd stung him with something long forgotten.
She hit the ground hard, coughing.
He stood back, staring at his burned hand.
The smile was gone.
Now, there was only interest.
"Ahh," he said softly. "You're not just a runt."
He flexed his claw. Flesh regrew where the light had scorched it.
"You're a rift."
---
Selene backed away.
"What the hell does that mean?" she demanded.
He didn't answer.
Instead, he turned to his remaining soldiers. Six wolves—bloodied, half-wrecked from their hunt.
He pointed at her.
"Break her legs. But don't touch her heart."
Selene ran.
---
They followed like hounds unchained.
Selene dove through branches, clawing her way uphill. She didn't think. She didn't plan.
She survived.
A blade slashed across her back—she spun, elbowed the attacker in the throat, grabbed a rock and crushed his skull. Another grabbed her arm—she bit his ear clean off. Blood sprayed her face.
She laughed.
> "You want to break me?" she shouted into the chaos.
"You'll have to bury me!"
And then—
She heard it.
A distant, rumbling howl.
Not hers.
Not theirs.
But someone else.
---
A second pack.
Unknown.
Unseen.
Uninvited.
The forest began to shift again.
And the Devil Alpha's smile returned.
"Interesting," he whispered.