Tyler sat hunched over the old wooden table, the faint smell of dust and parchment thick in the air. The library was quiet, save for the slow ticking of a clock somewhere near the corner. A thick leather-bound book lay open in front of him, its pages worn from years of being thumbed through by other wolves before him. It was a compilation of research wolf scholars piecing together every shred of knowledge they had on the vampire council: their powers, their habits, their strengths, and the rare cracks in their armor.
But Tyler's eyes weren't really on the words. For the fourth time that day, his thoughts slipped back to Sophia. It was like an itch in his mind he couldn't scratch. She had been so distant towards him lately like a shadow of herself. And then there was Redwill. The man was undeniably strong, probably the toughest among the gammas, but that didn't give him the right to glare at him the way he did. Tyler's jaw tightened.
Were Sophia and Redwill a thing? The thought came uninvited, and his hand curled against the edge of the shelf beside him until his knuckles went pale. No. That couldn't be it. But what if it was? Why should it even matter? She had her own life, her own choices. And yet… the idea sank in his gut like a stone, heavy and unwelcome.
He forced his hand off the shelf, dragging in a breath. His job was simple protect Bella until they were done at the Davidson estate. That was it. Nothing more, nothing less. So why was his chest tight.
Wiping a thin layer of sweat from his brow, he flipped another page of the book, letting the ancient paper whisper against his fingertips. But then his eyes froze on a name, and every thought of Sophia vanished. His stomach turned molten.
There etched into the ink was the vampire from Mugen, his picture. The one they'd fought in the chaos. The one who had killed Tengen.
Jiang.
Fourth-ranked council member. Powers: laser dark energy. Strengths: thrives in a one-on-one fight. Weakness: vulnerable when targeted by a coordinated pack.
Tyler's teeth ground together. He remembered the fight the way Jiang had pinned them down effortlessly, one after another, almost as if he had known that keeping them apart was the only way to win.
Tyler flipped through more pages, hungry for more details, but the name vanished after that brief mention, leaving only the silence of the library to answer him. His hand tightened on the book until the spine creaked.
"Jiang," he muttered under his breath, his voice low and sharp. I will end you.
He could feel the promise lighting in his chest. Mark my words.
The night hung heavy over the town, the kind of darkness that swallowed the streets whole. The moon was pale and distant, half-hidden behind a thin sheet of clouds, its light just enough to make the sky bright. The air was still, cool against the skin, carrying the faint chirp of crickets in the grass.
Bella, Tyler, Sophia, Jasper, James, and Henry moved in silence down the empty road, their jackets pulled tight. No one spoke, their footsteps soft against the ground, each of them lost in their own thoughts. It had been two weeks since their last patrol, and the quietness felt strange.
When they finally left the street and stepped onto the narrow path into the woods, the air shifted denser, colder. The trees loomed over them, their branches curling like dark claws overhead.
"Good to have you guys out here again," Henry said suddenly, his voice breaking the silence. A few murmurs rippled through the group.
Then something. A flicker of movement above. The soft flutter of flight in the air.
They stopped.
A heavy thud shook the ground, and a vampire landed in front of them. He was different. His face was sharper, crueler, eyes wide and bright in the dark.
"Going somewhere, humans?" he said with a grin that didn't reach his eyes.
"Actually, we are," Tyler answered evenly. "And you are getting in our way."
The vampire's grin widened. "Oh, I won't hurt you. You can pass."
Sophia's lips curled into a smile. "No one's stopping us."
In the blink of an eye, the pack shifted, their human shapes vanishing into fur and muscle. The vampire's smile twitched. "Wolves," he muttered. "This night's gonna be fun."
The pack lunged. The vampire moved just as fast, his kick catching Jasper and James square in the chest, sending them sprawling. Sophia's claws tore across his side, but he grabbed her while on the air and hurled her into Bella and Henry, three of them crashing hard.
Tyler blurred forward, slamming into the vampire and throwing him against a tree. The vampire rose, fingers cracking, a sick smile still on his lips. Tyler charged again, but the vampire slipped aside, and Tyler smashed into bark and splinters. A brutal kick to his back sent him rolling across the ground.
The others were up in a heartbeat Sophia, Bella, James, Jasper, Henry hitting him all at once, their speed and force snapping his body apart piece by piece until it was over.
Tyler shook himself, his fur shaking. You okay? Sophia's voice came through the mind link.
I'm fine, Tyler replied, though his tone was clipped.
"That one had serious strength," Henry said in the mind link.
"Yeah, but no special abilities like the others," James answered.
Guy's ,Bella's voice was sharp now. I can feel more coming, I can sense their aura it's stronger .
All eyes turned in the direction she faced. Shapes emerged from the darkness three of them. Two males, one female. The first stepped forward, his hair locked in thick strands, eyes burning gold.
The female was short with a black cloak, short hair and thin. The other male had a tall daunting figure, with a scar that made his face look even more grave
"What did you do to my brother?" the first vampire asked, his voice low and dangerous.