CURSED LYCAN
Sera woke to white walls and the smell of antiseptic.
Her head throbbed. Her body felt heavy, drugged. She tried to move. Couldn't. Restraints held her arms and legs. Medical grade. Unbreakable.
She reached for the bond. For Kael.
Nothing.
Panic clawed at her chest. The bond had been constant for two years. A heartbeat inside her own. And now it was just... gone.
"He's alive."
Sera's head snapped toward the voice. Helena stood in the doorway, tablet in hand. Still wearing that damn white coat.
"Where is he?" Sera's voice was hoarse.
"Three rooms down. Sedated. The gas I used doesn't just disrupt the bond—it forces both participants into a comatose state until the connection can be safely severed." Helena approached. "You've been unconscious for eighteen hours."
"Emma. Where's—"
"Safe. For now. My people extracted her from the compound before your lycan friends even knew we were there." Helena pulled up a screen on her tablet. Showed footage.
Emma. In a cell. Pacing. Alive but trapped.
Relief and rage warred in Sera's chest. "If you hurt her—"
"I won't. She's insurance. As long as you and Kael cooperate, she remains unharmed." Helena set down the tablet. "Now. Let's talk about what happens next."
"I'm not helping you."
"You will. Because the alternative is watching Emma die slowly while I pump her full of corruption serum." Helena's voice stayed pleasant. Professional. Like she was discussing a research paper. "I don't want to do that. Children make poor test subjects. Too many variables. But I will if you force my hand."
Sera wanted to scream. To fight. To do anything. But she was trapped. Helpless.
"What do you want?" she asked finally.
"Your bond with Kael. I need to study it. Understand how natural blood magic differs from my artificial version." Helena pulled out a syringe. Clear liquid. "This will allow me to access the bond. Map it. Replicate its exact structure."
"That'll kill us."
"Possibly. The procedure is experimental. Survival rate is about forty percent." Helena shrugged. "But Emma lives either way. That's the deal."
Forty percent. Less than half.
And even if they survived, Helena would have everything she needed to create an army of perfectly bonded soldiers.
"There has to be another way," Sera said.
"There isn't. I've explored every option." Helena moved closer with the syringe. "This is happening, Sera. The only choice you have is whether Emma watches you die or whether she's spared that trauma."
The door exploded inward.
Kael stood in the doorway. Fully shifted. The beast in all its fury. His silver eyes locked on Helena.
He wasn't alone.
Marcus burst in behind him. Armed. Bleeding from a dozen cuts but moving. Behind him, Kira and five other lycans.
"Step away from her," Kael growled.
Helena didn't move. Didn't even look surprised. "You escaped. Impressive. The sedative should've kept you down for another six hours."
"Blood bond." Kael's voice was barely human. "When Sera woke, I woke. When she felt fear, I felt it. You can disrupt the bond but you can't break it."
"Fascinating. That's incredibly useful data." Helena actually pulled out her tablet. Started typing notes.
"Are you insane?" Marcus shouted. "There's a lycan about to rip your head off and you're taking notes?"
"Science waits for no one." Helena finished typing. Then she pressed something on the tablet.
The walls opened. Panels sliding back. Revealing dozens of figures in pods. The bonded pairs. All of them waking up simultaneously.
Their eyes snapped open. Glowing blue. They moved as one. Breaking free of the pods. Stepping forward in perfect synchronization.
"I told you," Helena said. "Fifty pairs. One hundred soldiers. All bonded. All connected. All absolutely loyal."
She pointed at Kael and his team.
The bonded pairs attacked.
It wasn't a fight. It was a massacre.
The bonded pairs moved like water. Every attack coordinated. When one fell, another filled its place. They anticipated every move Kael's team made.
Because they thought together. Fought together. Were together in a way that made them unstoppable.
Kael tore through three. Five. But more kept coming. They dogpiled him. Brought him down through sheer numbers.
Marcus fired. Took down four. Ran out of bullets. Grabbed a blade. Fought hand-to-hand. He was good.
They were better.
Kira shifted mid-leap. Her claws found throats. Hearts. But the bonded pairs didn't react to pain. Didn't slow down. Just kept coming.
In two minutes, Kael's team was overwhelmed. Restrained. Down.
Helena walked through the carnage like she was inspecting a science project. "Impressive. They performed even better than expected."
She stopped in front of Kael. He was pinned by six bonded soldiers. Snarling. Fighting. Losing.
"The blood bond is powerful," Helena said. "But artificial bonds are controllable. Predictable. Superior." She looked at Sera. "Your love makes you strong. But it also makes you vulnerable."
"You don't know anything about love," Sera spat.
"I know it's a chemical reaction. Evolutionary programming designed to ensure reproduction and offspring protection." Helena turned back to her tablet. "And I know how to replicate it without the messy emotional component."
She was wrong. So completely wrong. But Sera couldn't make her understand.
Some things couldn't be explained. Only felt.
Helena gestured. The bonded pairs dragged Kael toward Sera. Forced him into a chair beside her table. Strapped him down.
"Since you're both awake, we might as well begin the procedure." Helena prepared two syringes. "This will hurt. Significantly. The bond will fight the intrusion. But eventually, it'll surrender. Everything does."
She moved toward Kael first.
Sera felt her heart stop. Felt desperation claw at her throat. "Wait. Please. Just—just tell me why. Why are you doing this?"
Helena paused. "Because I can. Because someone has to push humanity forward. Because the world is chaotic and broken and the only way to fix it is through unity. Forced unity if necessary."
"That's not unity. That's control."
"Same thing." Helena raised the syringe.
A gunshot cracked through the lab.
Helena stumbled. Looked down. Blood bloomed across her white coat. She turned.
Emma stood in the doorway. Holding a gun that was too big for her hands. Shaking. But her aim was steady.
"Get away from them," Emma said.
Helena laughed. Blood on her teeth. "Clever girl. Just like your mother. But you don't have the stomach to finish this."
"Try me."
Emma fired again. This time hitting Helena's shoulder. The woman went down.
The bonded pairs moved instantly. Converging on Emma.
"No!" Sera screamed.
Kael roared. Found strength he shouldn't have. Tore through the restraints through sheer force of will. Shifted fully. The primal form erupting.
Twelve feet of ancient fury crashing toward Emma. Getting between her and the bonded pairs.
Marcus rolled to his feet. Grabbed a fallen weapon. Started firing. Cover for Kael.
Kira and the others recovered. Joined the fight.
And Emma. Emma kept that gun steady. Kept firing. Taking down bonded soldiers with precision that shouldn't have been possible for a thirteen-year-old.
But she was Riley's daughter. Blackwood blood. Born for this.
Sera fought her restraints. Useless. They were too strong.
Then something changed.
Through the bond—faint, muted, but there—she felt Kael's awareness. His consciousness reaching for hers.
Together, he thought. Like always.
I'm restrained. Can't help.
Yes you can. The bond. Use it. Pull my strength. Use it as your own.
Sera had never tried that. Didn't know if it was possible.
But she reached through the bond. Pulled.
Power flooded her. Lycan strength. Lycan speed. Not a transformation. Just borrowing Kael's abilities through their connection.
The restraints groaned. Bent. Snapped.
Sera rolled off the table. Grabbed a scalpel from Helena's medical tray. Turned to face the bonded pairs.
She moved like Kael. Fast. Lethal. The borrowed strength singing through her veins.
She took down five bonded soldiers before they realized she was free.
Kael felt it through the bond. Felt her using his power. And he sent more. Everything he had.
They fought as one. Two bodies. One purpose. The bond connecting them in ways Helena's artificial version never could.
Because this wasn't just magic. Wasn't just biology.
This was love. Trust. Connection forged through fire and loss and choosing each other every single day.
And that was unbreakable.
The bonded pairs fell. One by one. They were strong. Coordinated. Perfect.
But they weren't connected by choice. By love. By anything real.
They were just puppets. And puppets could be broken.
In ten minutes, the lab was silent. Fifty pairs. One hundred soldiers. All down.
Helena lay against the wall. Bleeding out. She looked at Sera with something like wonder.
"How?" she gasped. "You shared his abilities. That's not possible. The bond doesn't work that way."
"Your bond doesn't," Sera said. "Because you built it wrong. You focused on control. On perfection. On eliminating emotion."
"Emotion is weakness."
"Emotion is the point." Sera crouched beside her. "The bond works because we chose it. Because we choose each other. Every day. That's what you can't replicate."
Helena laughed. It turned into a cough. Blood. "Poetic. But ultimately meaningless. Someone else will figure it out. Continue my work."
"Maybe. But they'll fail too. Because this—" Sera touched her chest, where the bond hummed warm and alive, "—isn't science. It's magic. Real magic. The kind that doesn't come from labs."
Helena's eyes glazed. Her breathing stopped.
Doctor Helena Cross, who'd tried to play god, died on a lab floor surrounded by her broken creations.
Sera felt nothing. No satisfaction. No relief. Just exhaustion.
Kael shifted back to human. Pulled Sera into his arms. The bond flared bright. Whole again. Unbroken.
"You okay?" he asked.
"No. But I will be."
Emma ran to them. Still shaking. Still holding that gun. "Is it over?"
"Yeah, kid." Sera pulled her into the hug. "It's over."
Marcus limped over. "The council needs to see this. All of it. The bonded pairs. Helena's research. Everything."
"Burn it," Kael said. "All of it. This knowledge is too dangerous."
"Agreed." Marcus looked at Helena's body. "She was brilliant. And completely insane."
"Most brilliant people are," Kira said. She was hurt. They all were. But alive.
They gathered Helena's research. Every note. Every formula. Every piece of data.
And they burned it.
Watched it turn to ash while emergency services arrived. While the council took custody of the facility. While the world spun on, ignorant of how close it had come to a nightmare.
Three days later, Sera and Kael stood at the Bloodmoon compound. Emma was inside. Safe. Finally safe.
The bond between them hummed. Stronger than ever. The intrusion Helena had attempted had somehow made it more resilient. More complete.
"She was right about one thing," Kael said quietly. "The bond is evolving. Growing. We're sharing more than we used to."
"I know. I used your strength in that fight. Felt your power like it was mine."
"And I felt your determination. Your absolute refusal to quit." He smiled. "It was inspiring."
"Sappy."
"True." He pulled her close. "What happens now?"
"Now?" Sera looked at the compound. At Emma visible through a window. At this life they'd built from ashes. "Now we live. Really live. No more hunting. No more fighting. Just... existing."
"Sounds boring."
"Sounds perfect."
They went inside. Emma had made dinner. It was slightly burned. She was getting better but still had a ways to go.
They ate together. Laughed about nothing important. Told stories. Emma showed off a drawing she'd made—all three of them, standing together against a sunset.
"That's us," she said. "Family."
"Family," Sera agreed. Her throat tight.
That night, after Emma was asleep, Sera and Kael sat on the porch. The bond pulsed between them. Steady. Eternal.
"Thank you," Sera said quietly.
"For what?"
"For not giving up. On yourself. On us. On any of it."
"Same to you." Kael kissed her forehead. "We saved each other."
"Yeah. We did."
They sat in comfortable silence. Two souls bound by magic and choice and love that had literally changed the world.
And for the first time in years, Sera felt something she'd almost forgotten.
Peace.
Real peace.
The kind that came from knowing you were exactly where you belonged.
With exactly who you belonged with.
Forever.
THE END
FINAL EPILOGUE: FIVE YEARS LATER
Emma was eighteen. About to start college. She'd decided on biochemistry. Wanted to study the science behind lycan abilities. But ethically. Carefully. Right.
Riley would've been proud.
Sera watched her pack. The girl—no, the young woman—moved with confidence. With purpose.
"You sure about this?" Sera asked.
"Completely." Emma looked up. "Someone has to make sure no more Helenas happen. Might as well be me."
"You sound like your mom."
"Good. She was smart."
Emma hugged Sera tight. "Thank you. For everything. For raising me. For keeping me safe. For showing me what real strength looks like."
Sera's eyes burned. "You're going to change the world, kid."
"Learned from the best."
Kael appeared in the doorway. "Car's packed. Ready when you are."
They drove Emma to campus. Helped her move into her dorm. Met her roommate. Did all the normal parent things.
It felt surreal. Normal. Good.
As they drove away, Sera felt the bond pulse. Felt Kael's contentment matching her own.
"We did it," she said. "Raised a functional human being."
"Mostly functional. She has your stubborn streak."
"And your protective instinct."
"Poor kid never stood a chance."
They laughed. Drove home. To their house. Their life.
Marcus called that night. He'd finished his community service. Was working with the council full-time now. Helping rebuild packs. Reconnecting families.
Making amends. One day at a time.
"Emma get settled?" he asked.
"Yeah. She's good."
"Good. That kid's going to do amazing things."
"We know."
After they hung up, Sera and Kael sat on their porch. Watching stars. The bond hummed between them. Stronger than ever. Inseparable.
"Any regrets?" Kael asked.
Sera thought about it. Really thought.
About Riley. About the years of hunting. About the pain and loss and impossible fights.
About finding Kael. About the bond. About choosing love over survival.
"No," she said finally. "No regrets."
"Good." He pulled her close. "Because I'm not done with you yet."
"How much longer?"
"Forever sounds about right."
Sera smiled. Felt the bond pulse. Felt their hearts beating in sync.
Forever sounded perfect.
They'd fought monsters. Stopped conspiracies. Saved the world more than once.
But their greatest achievement?
Building a life worth living.
Together. Always together.
And that was more than enough.
It was everything.