CURSED LYCAN
Three days until the full moon. Three days until Kael either found a cure or lost himself forever.
And three days until Valeria's mass corruption event.
Sera stared at the crude map spread across the cave floor. Thomas had drawn it in the dirt outside, and she'd copied it onto salvaged paper. The main research facility. Valeria's stronghold.
Their target.
"Fifteen," Thomas said, crouching at the cave entrance. His massive corrupted form barely fit. "Fifteen of us still aware enough to fight. Others are too far gone."
"Fifteen is enough," Kael said. He was sitting against the wall, one of his last two medicine bottles in his hand. He hadn't taken it yet. Rationing. "If we're smart."
"Smart would be running," Sera muttered. But she didn't mean it. Running wasn't an option anymore.
Thomas shifted his weight. The movement was painful to watch. His body was fighting itself constantly. "We're dying faster now. Valeria knows some of us broke free. She's accelerating the corruption in the others. Punishment."
"How long do you have?" Kael asked.
"Week. Maybe less." Thomas's ice-blue eyes were steady. "Doesn't matter. Rather die fighting than in a cage."
Sera looked at the map again. The facility had three entry points. North gate—heavily guarded. East loading dock—fewer guards but exposed approach. And the underground tunnels that fed into the lower levels.
"The tunnels," she said, pointing. "That's our way in."
"They'll be watching them," Kael said.
"They'll be watching everything. But the tunnels give us cover. Element of surprise." She traced a path with her finger. "Thomas and his people hit the north gate. Draw their attention. We go through the tunnels, find the research, destroy it."
"And find Emma," Kael added quietly.
Right. Emma. Sera's chest tightened. Marcus's deadline was tomorrow night. If they didn't move soon, he'd make good on his threat.
"Valeria will use her as bait," Thomas said. "Keep her somewhere central. Somewhere she can watch."
"The ritual chamber," Kael said. His face had gone hard. "That's where they'll do the mass corruption. And that's where Emma will be."
Sera's hands clenched into fists. "Then we hit them during the ritual. When they're distracted."
"That's suicide," Thomas said. "The full moon. Every lycan there will be at full strength. Including Kael."
"I'll manage," Kael said.
"You have two doses of medicine left. Two. That's not enough for a full moon."
"Then I guess I better not shift."
The silence that followed was heavy. They all knew what that meant. Kael going into a facility full of lycans during a full moon without being able to defend himself properly. He'd be slaughtered.
Unless he did shift. And if he shifted without medicine, without control, he'd become the monster Valeria wanted him to be.
Lose-lose.
"There has to be another way," Sera said.
"There isn't." Kael stood up, joints cracking. "This is our shot. Our only shot. We take it or we spend the rest of our short lives hiding."
Thomas nodded slowly. "My people are ready. We die anyway. Might as well make it count."
"This isn't about dying," Sera snapped. "This is about winning."
"Sometimes they're the same thing," Thomas said quietly.
Before Sera could respond, footsteps echoed outside the cave. Multiple sets. Moving fast.
Everyone tensed.
Kael moved to the entrance, partially shifted. Claws out, eyes silver. Ready.
A figure stumbled into view.
Marcus.
He looked like hell. Face bruised, arm in a makeshift sling, limping. Blood soaked through his shirt.
And he was alone.
"Don't." He held up his good hand. "I'm not here to fight."
"Then why are you here?" Sera's blade was already in her hand.
"Because Valeria's insane." Marcus collapsed against a tree. "And I'm out."
"Convenient timing," Kael growled.
"Not convenient. Desperate." Marcus looked at Sera. "She found out I kept some of Riley's research. Your sister's notes about the corruption. I was using them to refine the process. Valeria found out and decided I was a liability."
"Good instinct on her part."
"She sent corrupted lycans to kill me. Her new batch. The ones that follow orders." He touched his ribs, winced. "I barely got away. Three of my people didn't."
Sera studied him. Looking for the lie. The angle. Because Marcus always had an angle.
"Why come here?" she asked.
"Because you're planning something. I can feel it. And whatever it is, it's going to hurt Valeria." He met her eyes. "I want in."
"You killed my sister."
"Yes."
"You cursed Kael. Destroyed his pack."
"I helped. But that was mostly Valeria."
"You threatened Emma."
Marcus flinched. "That was a bluff. I'd never actually hurt a kid. You know that."
"I don't know anything about you anymore."
"Fair." He pulled something from his pocket. A small vial filled with silver liquid. "This is the last batch of stabilization medicine. The stuff that keeps Kael's curse in check. I stole it before I ran. It's yours."
Kael's eyes locked on the vial. "That's at least six doses."
"Seven, actually. Enough to get you through the full moon and a few weeks after. If you're careful." Marcus held it out. "Consider it a peace offering."
"We don't want your peace," Sera said.
"Then consider it payment. For Riley. For everything I took from you." His voice cracked. "I know I can't make it right. But I can help you end this. Help you stop Valeria before she turns every lycan in the region into one of those things."
Sera wanted to say no. Wanted to drive her blade through his chest and watch him bleed out. For Riley. For Kael. For every life he'd destroyed.
But they needed every advantage they could get.
She looked at Kael. He was staring at Marcus with those silver eyes. Weighing. Calculating.
"If you betray us," Kael said quietly, "I'll make sure your death takes days."
"Understood."
"And you follow our orders. No questions. No arguments."
"Deal."
Kael took the vial. Held it up to the light. The liquid swirled, definitely real. He pocketed it carefully.
"Thomas," Kael said. "Your assessment?"
Thomas had been watching Marcus silently. Now he moved closer, sniffing. "He's telling the truth. About Valeria trying to kill him. Can smell his fear. His desperation."
"Fear and desperation make people do stupid things," Sera said.
"Also make them useful," Thomas countered. "He knows the facility. Knows Valeria's patterns. We need that."
Sera hated that he was right.
"Fine," she said finally. "But you stay where I can see you. And if I even think you're playing us, I'll gut you myself."
Marcus nodded. "Wouldn't expect anything less."
They brought him into the cave. He gave them everything. Guard rotations. Security codes. The layout of the ritual chamber. Valeria's plans for the mass corruption event.
It was worse than they'd thought.
"She's not just corrupting lycans anymore," Marcus said, pointing to a crude sketch. "She's found a way to corrupt humans too. Turn them into something new. Faster, stronger, completely obedient."
"How many?" Kael asked.
"She's planning to corrupt fifty during the ritual. Twenty lycans, thirty humans. All at once using the full moon's power and your blood." He looked at Kael. "The extractions we did. She's been refining it. Concentrating it. One vial of your blood can now corrupt ten subjects."
"We took at least three vials," Sera said, doing the math. "That's thirty subjects."
"She took five total. Before you escaped." Marcus's face was grim. "The last two extractions happened while you were unconscious."
Fifty corrupted soldiers. All created at once. All loyal to Valeria.
It was an army.
"Where's Emma?" Sera asked, voice tight.
"Ritual chamber. Center platform. She'll be the first one corrupted. Valeria wants you to watch."
Sera's vision went red. She launched herself at Marcus. Her blade pressed against his throat before anyone could react.
"Give me one reason not to kill you right now," she hissed.
"Because I can get you to her." Marcus didn't flinch. "I know a way into the ritual chamber that Valeria doesn't. An old maintenance shaft. It leads directly to the platform."
"Why would you help us?"
"Because I'm tired." His voice was hollow. "Tired of the killing. Tired of becoming the monster. Riley wouldn't have wanted this. Any of this."
Sera held the blade steady for another heartbeat. Then she pulled back.
"You get one chance," she said. "One. Don't waste it."
They spent the next hours planning. Thomas left to gather his people. Marcus provided details that filled in gaps in their strategy. Kael studied the map, memorizing every corridor.
And Sera tried not to think about Emma. About her niece scared and alone in that facility. About what Valeria would do to her.
When Thomas returned, he brought the fifteen aware corrupted lycans. They looked like nightmares. Rotting flesh, hollow eyes, bodies that moved wrong. But when Thomas spoke, they listened. When he gave orders, they obeyed.
They were still in there. Still fighting.
"We attack tomorrow night," Kael said, addressing the group. "During the ritual. Thomas, your people hit the north gate at exactly midnight. Make noise. Draw every guard you can."
Thomas nodded.
"Marcus, you guide Sera and me through the maintenance shaft to the ritual chamber. We grab Emma, destroy the concentrated blood, and get out."
"What about Valeria?" Sera asked.
Kael's smile was cold. "Leave her to me."
They dispersed to prepare. Sera checked her weapons. Sharpened her blades. Tried to keep her hands busy so her mind wouldn't spiral.
Kael found her an hour before dawn. He'd taken one of the new medicine doses. His eyes were clearer. Steadier.
"You should rest," he said.
"Can't. Too wired."
He sat beside her. Close enough that their shoulders touched. The blood bond hummed between them.
"We're going to get her back," Kael said quietly. "Emma. I promise."
"Don't make promises you can't keep."
"I'm not." He turned to face her. "You saved my life. Multiple times. Let me return the favor."
Sera looked at him. This cursed lycan who'd become everything she never knew she needed. "If something happens to me tomorrow. If I don't make it out—"
"Don't."
"Listen." She grabbed his hand. "If I don't make it, you take Emma. You keep her safe. You give her the life Riley wanted for her."
"Sera—"
"Promise me."
His jaw tightened. Then he nodded. "I promise. But you're making it out. We both are."
"How can you be sure?"
"Because I'm not done with you yet." His thumb traced circles on her palm. "We break the curse, stop Valeria, save Emma. Then we figure out what this is. What we are."
"And what are we?"
"I don't know yet." His smile was soft. Real. "But I want to find out."
Sera's chest ached. She leaned forward, pressed her forehead to his. "Me too."
They sat like that as dawn broke. Two people who'd found each other in the darkness. Two people who might not survive the coming night.
But who would fight like hell to try.
When the sun fully rose, they moved out. Thomas and his corrupted lycans headed north. Marcus led Sera and Kael east, toward the hidden entrance he'd mentioned.
The maintenance shaft was exactly where he said it'd be. Rusted, forgotten, barely wide enough for Kael to squeeze through.
"This leads directly under the ritual chamber," Marcus whispered. "We'll come up inside. But we need to wait for Thomas's distraction."
They descended into darkness. The shaft was tight, claustrophobic. Sera's heart hammered. Through the blood bond, she felt Kael's steady presence. His calm.
It helped.
They reached the bottom. A grate above their heads. Through it, Sera could see lights. Hear voices.
"We're under the platform," Marcus breathed.
Sera looked up. And her blood ran cold.
She could see Emma.
Her niece was strapped to a metal frame. Unconscious but breathing. And surrounding her were vials. Dozens of them. Filled with silver liquid.
Kael's blood.
"Midnight," Marcus said, checking his watch. "Thomas should be starting any second now."
As if on cue, an explosion rocked the facility.
Then screaming.
Thomas and his corrupted lycans had begun their assault.
"Now!" Kael hissed.
They burst through the grate.
Right into hell.