CURSED LYCAN
The cell was small. Eight by eight. Concrete walls, steel door, one flickering light overhead. No windows. No way out.
Sera tested every inch of it anyway.
She ran her hands along the walls, searching for weaknesses. Found none. The door was solid. Locked from the outside with something electronic. Her daggers were gone. Taken when they'd thrown her in here.
But they'd missed one thing.
She pulled the thin lockpick from inside her boot. Hidden in the lining. Old habit from her early days hunting. Never go anywhere without a backup plan.
Problem was, electronic locks didn't care about lockpicks.
Sera sat against the wall, breathing slowly. Trying to think. The blood bond pulsed with Kael's pain. He was close. Maybe two floors down. Still paralyzed. Still suffering.
She had to get to him.
The question was how.
Footsteps echoed outside. Sera stood, hid the lockpick back in her boot. The door opened.
Valeria walked in.
She looked different here. Less elegant. More dangerous. Her golden eyes swept the cell, landed on Sera.
"Comfortable?" she asked.
"I've had worse."
"I'm sure you have." Valeria leaned against the doorframe. "You're remarkably calm for someone in your position. Most humans would be panicking by now."
"Panicking doesn't solve problems."
"True." Valeria studied her with open curiosity. "You're an interesting creature, Sera Blackwood. Marcus says you're one of the best hunters he's trained. High praise from him."
"Marcus is a traitor and a murderer. His praise means nothing."
"He's a visionary. There's a difference." Valeria pushed off the doorframe. "You know, you remind me of someone. Another hunter who wouldn't quit. Who kept digging even when she should have walked away."
Sera's blood went cold. "You're talking about my sister."
"Riley. Yes. Brilliant woman. Such a waste." Valeria sighed. "She was close to exposing us. Too close. Marcus handled it. Cleanly. Efficiently. The way he handles all obstacles."
Rage burned in Sera's chest. "Why are you telling me this?"
"Because I want you to understand." Valeria took a step closer. "Your sister's death wasn't random. Wasn't senseless. It was necessary. Just like what's happening to Kael is necessary. We're building something greater than any individual. Something that will reshape the balance between humans and lycans forever."
"By turning lycans into mindless weapons."
"By giving lycans true power. Freedom from the moon. Freedom from their own weaknesses." Valeria's eyes gleamed. "Imagine a world where lycans and humans are truly equal. Where neither has to fear the other. That's what we're creating."
"Through corruption. Through murder."
"Through evolution." Valeria's voice hardened. "Nature is cruel, Sera. It makes lycans slaves to instinct. To the moon. To emotions they can't control. We're fixing that. Making them better."
"Kael doesn't want to be fixed."
"Kael is dying. The curse will consume him whether we intervene or not. At least this way, his death serves a purpose."
Sera's hands clenched into fists. "Let me see him."
"Why?"
"Because if you're going to kill him, he deserves to have someone there who actually gives a damn."
Valeria considered this. Then she smiled. "Very well. But only for a moment. And only because I'm curious to see what you'll do."
She led Sera out of the cell. Down a sterile hallway. Past guards with weapons. Past rooms filled with equipment Sera didn't recognize. The facility was massive. A maze of corridors and laboratories.
Through the blood bond, Sera felt Kael getting closer.
They descended two flights of stairs. Entered a section that felt different. Colder. The air here smelled like chemicals and something else. Something wrong.
Valeria stopped at a door with a small window. "Five minutes. That's all you get."
She opened the door.
Kael was strapped to a metal table. Arms and legs secured with restraints that glowed faintly blue. The same technology as Marcus's device. He was still naked, covered in sweat, shaking.
But his eyes were open. Aware.
"Sera." His voice was rough. "You shouldn't be here."
"Where else would I be?" She crossed to him. Wanted to touch him but the restraints crackled with energy. "Are you okay?"
"Define okay." He tried to smile. Failed. "They've taken three vials of blood already. Have about ten more extractions planned before the real work starts."
"What real work?"
"The curse extraction. They're going to pull it out of me. Use it to stabilize their corruption formula." His silver eyes met hers. "I'll die. But hey, at least it'll be quick."
"No." Sera gripped the edge of the table. "You're not dying. We're getting out of here."
"How? You're unarmed. Trapped. They have guards everywhere."
"I'll figure something out."
"Always the optimist." This time his smile was real. Small, but real. "That's what I like about you."
"Don't." Sera's voice cracked. "Don't do that. Don't say goodbye."
"I'm not saying goodbye. I'm saying thank you." Kael's gaze was steady. "For staying. For fighting beside me. For making the last few days less lonely than the last two years."
"Kael—"
"Time's up," Valeria called from the doorway.
"No. Wait. Just give me—"
Guards grabbed Sera's arms. Pulled her toward the door. She fought them, but it was useless.
"Remember your promise!" Kael called after her. "If I turn. If I become one of those things. You end it!"
"You're not going to turn!"
"Promise me!"
The door slammed shut. Sera was dragged back down the hallway. Away from Kael. Away from any chance of saving him.
Valeria walked beside her, calm. "You care about him. That's unfortunate."
"Go to hell."
"Love makes people stupid. Makes them take risks they shouldn't. Makes them vulnerable." Valeria stopped. Waved the guards off. They released Sera but stayed close. "Your sister made the same mistake. She fell in love with someone she was investigating. A lycan from the Silverclaw pack. Did you know that?"
Sera froze. "What?"
"Oh yes. Riley and a lycan named Thomas. Quite the scandal. That's why she was so desperate to prove the disappearances weren't natural. She knew Thomas's pack had been taken. Wanted to save them." Valeria's smile was cruel. "Of course, by the time she figured out where they were, it was too late. Thomas was already corrupted. She had to watch him die. Then Marcus killed her. Efficient, really."
The words were designed to hurt. To break her. And God, they almost did.
"You're lying," Sera whispered.
"Am I? Ask yourself why Riley was so obsessed with those cases. Why she pushed so hard. It wasn't just duty. It was love." Valeria leaned in close. "Love will be your downfall too. Just like it was hers."
She walked away, leaving Sera standing in the hallway with guards on either side.
But Valeria had made a mistake.
She'd confirmed that Riley had found something. Had figured out where the packs were being taken. Which meant there were records somewhere. Evidence.
And if Sera could find it, she could expose everything.
The guards led her back to the cell. Shoved her inside. The door locked.
Sera waited until the footsteps faded. Then she pulled out the lockpick again. Electronic locks might be immune, but the ventilation grate in the corner wasn't.
She worked carefully. Quietly. It took twenty minutes, but the grate finally came loose. The duct behind it was narrow. Barely big enough to squeeze through.
But it led somewhere. And somewhere was better than here.
Sera crawled into the darkness.
The duct system was a maze. She navigated by sound and instinct. Heard voices below. Guards talking. Someone screaming in the distance. The facility was alive with activity.
Through the blood bond, she felt Kael. Still below her. Still in pain. But alive.
She had to hurry.
The duct split. Left or right. Sera closed her eyes. Felt for the bond. It pulled her right.
She crawled faster. The metal creaked under her weight. She froze. Waited. No one came.
Keep moving.
The duct opened into a larger chamber. Some kind of mechanical room. Pipes everywhere. Generators humming. And a door marked with a symbol she recognized.
The Bloodmoon mark.
Sera dropped from the duct. Landed in a crouch. The room was empty. She approached the door carefully. It wasn't locked.
Inside was an office. And on the desk were files. Dozens of them. All marked with pack names.
Silverclaw. Bloodmoon. Nightshade. Iron Peak.
All the packs that had vanished.
Sera grabbed them. Shoved them into her jacket. This was the evidence Riley had died for. Proof of what Valeria and Marcus had done.
A noise behind her. She spun.
Marcus stood in the doorway.
"Clever," he said. "Using the vents. I taught you that, remember? First year of training."
Sera backed up. "You taught me a lot of things."
"Yes. I did." He stepped inside. Closed the door. "I also taught you when you're outmatched. This is one of those times, Sera. Stand down."
"No."
"Then I'll put you down. And I'd rather not. You were my best student."
"I was your alibi. Your cover story. You kept me close so no one would suspect you."
"That too." Marcus pulled out the device. "Last chance. Drop the files. Go back to your cell. Maybe you live through this."
"Maybe isn't good enough."
Sera lunged. Grabbed a pipe from the wall. Swung it at his head. He ducked. She followed with a kick. Connected with his ribs. He grunted. Stumbled.
But he still pressed the button on the device.
Nothing happened.
Marcus looked at it. Confused. Pressed it again.
Still nothing.
"Lycan paralysis device," Sera said. "Key word being lycan. I'm human, remember?"
She hit him with the pipe. Hard. He went down.
Sera grabbed the device from his hand. Smashed it against the floor. It shattered.
Marcus groaned. Tried to get up. She hit him again. He stayed down this time.
"That was for Riley," she said.
She ran.
Alarms blared. Red lights flashed. They knew she was loose. Guards would be coming.
But Sera had the files. And she knew where Kael was.
She navigated by the blood bond. Down two floors. Through corridors. Past startled guards who were too slow to stop her.
She burst into the extraction room.
Kael was still strapped to the table. But now there were machines hooked up to him. Tubes drawing blood. Monitors beeping.
And standing over him was a man in a white coat. A doctor. He looked up as Sera entered.
"Security!" he shouted.
Sera threw the pipe. It hit him in the chest. He fell.
She ran to Kael. The restraints were still active. Blue energy crackling. But there was a control panel on the wall.
She smashed it with her elbow. The restraints died.
Kael gasped. Opened his eyes. "You... came back."
"Of course I came back." She helped him sit up. "Can you shift?"
"Don't know. Haven't tried."
"Try now."
Kael closed his eyes. Concentrated. His body started to change. Bones shifting. Then he gasped. Fell back.
"Can't. They drugged me. Something to suppress the shift."
"Then we run." Sera pulled him to his feet. He was weak. Unsteady. She supported his weight. "Come on. We're getting out of here."
"The extraction. Did they—"
"Doesn't matter. We'll figure it out later. Right now we move."
They stumbled toward the door. Kael was getting stronger with each step. His lycan healing working despite the drugs.
Guards appeared at the end of the hallway. Six of them. Armed.
"Ideas?" Kael asked.
"Run and hope?"
"That's a terrible plan."
"You got a better one?"
Before he could answer, something crashed through the wall behind the guards.
A corrupted lycan. But not like the others. This one was massive. Ten feet tall. Covered in scars. And its eyes were ice blue.
It looked at the guards. Then at Sera and Kael.
Then it attacked the guards.
"What—" Sera stared.
"That's impossible," Kael whispered. "That's Thomas. From Silverclaw pack. But he should be completely corrupted."
The massive lycan—Thomas—tore through the guards like paper. When they were down, he turned to Sera and Kael.
And nodded.
Then he charged down a different hallway. Guards followed. Drawing them away.
"He just..." Sera couldn't process it. "He helped us."
"Some part of him is still aware. Still fighting." Kael gripped her shoulder. "But he won't last. Whatever Valeria did to him, it's eating him alive. We need to go. Now."
They ran.
Followed the path Thomas had cleared. Behind them, the facility descended into chaos.
They burst out into the night. Cool air hit Sera's face. Freedom. Almost.
But the compound gates were sealed. And between them and freedom stood Valeria.
She wasn't alone.
Twenty corrupted lycans flanked her. The new version. The smart ones.
"Going somewhere?" Valeria asked.