CURSED LYCAN
One year after Helena's death, the world looked different.
The council had implemented new laws. Protections for lycans. Regulations on genetic research. Background checks on anyone purchasing equipment that could be used for experimentation.
It wasn't perfect. But it was progress.
Sera stood in the kitchen of their new house—bigger than the old one, with a yard where Emma could practice combat training—and stared at the letter in her hands.
Official council letterhead. Sealed with wax.
Kael appeared behind her. She felt him through the bond before his arms wrapped around her waist.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Job offer. From the council." Sera turned the letter over. "They want us to lead a new task force. Hunting down remaining corruption facilities. Stopping black market lycan experimentation."
"Us. Together."
"That's what it says." She leaned back against him. "What do you think?"
Through the bond, she felt his hesitation. His concern. But also his interest. His need to protect others from what he'd endured.
"I think," he said slowly, "that we spent years fighting alone. Maybe it's time we fought with support. Resources. Legal authority."
"You want to take it."
"I want whatever keeps you and Emma safe. If that means working with the council, then yes."
Sera thought about it. Really thought. They'd built a good life here. Quiet. Peaceful. Normal.
But people like Helena were still out there. Still experimenting. Still trying to play god with lycan genetics.
Someone had to stop them.
"We take it," Sera decided. "But on our terms. We don't report to bureaucrats. We have final say on operations. And Emma's safety is non-negotiable."
"I'll call them. Set up a meeting."
They met with the council three days later. The chamber was different from the old one. More modern. More humans mixed with lycans. Progress in action.
The council leader was a lycan named Victor Steele. Former Ironclaw pack. He'd survived Valeria's purge by sheer luck.
"Thank you for coming," Victor said. His handshake was firm. Respectful. "We need people like you. People who understand the threat."
"What's the threat level?" Kael asked.
Victor pulled up a map. Red dots scattered across it. Dozens of them.
"Each dot represents a suspected corruption facility. Some are confirmed. Others are rumored. All of them need investigation." He zoomed in on one cluster. "We've been monitoring increased activity in the northwest territories. Equipment purchases. Strange disappearances. The pattern matches Helena's operations."
"How many facilities?" Sera asked.
"At least fifteen confirmed. Maybe twice that unconfirmed." Victor's face was grim. "Helena's research was supposed to be destroyed. But copies always exist. People who worked for her are selling information. Techniques. We're fighting an invisible war."
"So you want us to make it visible," Kael said.
"We want you to end it. Permanently." Victor looked between them. "You've proven you can stop these operations. You understand how they think. How they work. You're our best option."
"What about resources?" Sera asked. "Team? Support?"
"Full access to council intelligence networks. A team of your choosing. Equipment. Legal authority to operate across territories." Victor slid papers across the table. "You'd essentially be autonomous. We provide support. You provide results."
It was more than Sera expected. More authority. More freedom.
"What's the catch?" she asked.
"No catch. Just reality." Victor leaned back. "If you fail, if these facilities continue operating, we're looking at a future where corrupted lycans outnumber natural ones. Where humans see all lycans as threats. Everything we've built—the peace, the cooperation—it all collapses."
"No pressure," Kael muttered.
"Exactly the right amount of pressure." Victor smiled slightly. "So. Do we have a deal?"
Sera looked at Kael. Through the bond, she felt his determination. His readiness.
"We're in," she said. "But we need two things first."
"Name them."
"Emma gets full protection. Round-the-clock. Best guards you have."
"Done. And the second?"
"Marcus Vane. He worked for Helena. Knows her people. Her contacts. We want him on the team."
Victor's expression hardened. "Marcus is still paying for his crimes. Community service for another fifteen years."
"Then transfer his service to us. He's useful. And he's trying to make amends." Sera met Victor's gaze. "Everyone deserves a second chance. Even him."
Victor was quiet for a long moment. Then he nodded. "I'll arrange it. But he's your responsibility."
"Understood."
They shook on it. Left the council chamber with new purpose. New mission.
Emma was less thrilled.
"Guards? Are you serious?" She paced their living room. "I'm eighteen. I can take care of myself."
"You're eighteen and someone might try to kidnap you to get to us," Sera said bluntly. "Again. So yes, guards."
"This is because of your new job."
"This is because we're fighting people who don't play fair." Kael's voice was gentle. "We're not trying to control you. We're trying to keep you alive."
Emma stopped pacing. Looked at them. "How dangerous is this?"
"Very," Sera admitted. "But we're good at what we do."
"You better be. Because if you die, I'm going to be really pissed." Emma's eyes were bright. "And I'll hunt down whoever killed you and make them regret it."
"That's my girl."
They assembled the team over the next week.
Marcus was first. He arrived looking healthier than he had in years. The community service had been good for him. Given him purpose.
"You sure about this?" he asked. "Working together again?"
"No," Sera said honestly. "But you know Helena's network. Her people. We need that."
"I'll help however I can. But Sera—if you ever doubt me, if you think I'm slipping back—"
"I'll put you down myself."
"Fair enough."
Kira joined next. She'd been leading a small pack in the northern territories. But when Sera called, she came immediately.
"About time you asked," Kira said. "I've been bored out of my mind playing politician."
They recruited four more lycans. All survivors of corruption experiments. All with personal reasons to stop the facilities.
And one human. A tech specialist named Ava Chen. David Chen's younger sister.
"My brother died stopping Helena," Ava said during her interview. "I want to finish what he started."
Sera looked at this young woman—mid-twenties, brilliant, angry—and saw herself three years ago.
"You understand this is dangerous," Sera said.
"I understand my brother became a monster and still found a way to be a hero. I understand that's a legacy worth fighting for." Ava's jaw was set. "I'm in. Whether you want me or not."
"We want you," Kael said. "Welcome to the team."
Their first mission came fast.
A facility in Oregon. Small. Supposedly shut down. But council intelligence suggested otherwise.
They went in at night. Sera and Kael leading. Marcus and Kira flanking. The others securing perimeter.
The facility looked abandoned. Dark windows. Overgrown parking lot. But Ava's scans showed power signatures. Heat. Activity.
"Someone's home," Ava said through comms.
They breached quietly. Found a lab in the basement. Active. Running experiments.
But no test subjects. Just equipment. And one scientist working alone.
He looked up as they entered. Mid-fifties. Terrified.
"Please," he said. "I'm just cataloging. I don't—I'm not experimenting. I swear."
Sera grabbed his laptop. Scrolled through files. He was telling the truth. Just documentation. Recording what Helena had done.
"Why?" Kael asked.
"Because someone needs to remember. Someone needs to know what happened here." The scientist's hands shook. "These people. The ones who became corrupted. They had names. Lives. Families. Helena erased them. Made them things. I'm just—I'm just trying to give them back their humanity."
Sera looked at Kael. Through the bond, she felt his understanding. His approval.
"What's your name?" she asked.
"Dr. James Whitmore."
"Dr. Whitmore, you're coming with us. The council needs to see this documentation. But you're not in trouble." Sera closed the laptop. "You're doing good work."
They secured the facility. Confiscated the equipment. Dr. Whitmore came willingly.
The council praised the mission. Clean. No casualties. Information gathered.
But Sera felt unsettled.
"It was too easy," she said to Kael that night.
"Maybe we just got lucky."
"We don't get lucky." She paced their bedroom. "Something feels wrong."
Through the bond, Kael felt her unease. Shared it.
"Then we stay alert," he said. "Watch for patterns."
The second mission confirmed Sera's instincts.
Another facility. This one in Montana. Supposedly active.
They breached. Found it empty. Cleared out weeks ago. But left operational. Like bait.
"Trap," Marcus said immediately.
They started to retreat. Then the building locked down. Doors sealing. Windows shuttering.
Gas flooded the ventilation system.
Not the bond-disrupting gas Helena had used. Something else. Something that made Sera's vision blur. Made her limbs heavy.
Through the bond, she felt Kael's alarm. His fury. He shifted, tried to break through the doors.
Nothing. They were sealed with magic. Old magic.
"Someone knew we were coming," Kira gasped. She was down. The gas affecting lycans worse than humans.
Sera's mind raced. Fought the fog. Thought.
Helena was dead. Her research destroyed. But her people weren't. Her network wasn't.
And someone was hunting the hunters.
Through fading consciousness, Sera reached for her comm. "Ava. Emergency extraction. Now."
"On it. Thirty seconds."
The walls exploded. Ava had driven their armored vehicle straight through the facility wall. The gas dispersed. Fresh air flooded in.
They scrambled out. Collapsed in the vehicle. Ava drove. Fast. Away from the facility. Away from the trap.
Back at base, they regrouped.
"Someone's targeting us," Sera said. The team was gathered. Everyone bruised. Angry. Alive. "They knew our mission. Knew our approach. Set a trap specifically designed to take down lycans and humans."
"Inside information?" Marcus asked.
"Maybe. Or they're just watching. Waiting." Kael's eyes were silver. Angry. "Either way, we're compromised."
"So what do we do?" Kira demanded.
Sera looked at her team. At these warriors who'd chosen to fight beside her. Who'd risked everything for a cause that might get them killed.
"We adapt," she said. "We stop being predictable. We stop following patterns. We become what Helena's people can't anticipate."
"And what's that?" Ava asked.
"Unpredictable. Creative. Chaotic." Sera smiled. It wasn't pleasant. "They want to hunt us? Fine. Let's show them what it's like to be prey."
Over the next months, they changed tactics.
Hit facilities at random times. Varied approaches. Sometimes stealth. Sometimes direct assault. Sometimes they just burned the buildings down and walked away.
They found twelve more facilities. Shut them all down. Arrested seventeen scientists. Confiscated enough equipment to fill a warehouse.
And slowly, the red dots on the council's map faded.
But Sera knew. Deep down, through instinct honed by years of hunting.
This wasn't over.
Someone was still out there. Still watching. Still building.
The question was: who?
The answer came six months into their operations.
They received intel about a facility in Alaska. Remote. Heavily guarded. Big operation.
It felt wrong. Too obvious. Too convenient.
"It's bait," Marcus said during planning.
"Probably," Sera agreed. "But what if it's not? What if this is actually their main base and we're just being paranoid?"
"Then we scout it first," Kael said. "No full assault until we know what we're dealing with."
They sent drones. Ava hacked their security. What they found made Sera's blood run cold.
The facility was massive. Underground. And it wasn't abandoned.
It was full of people. Hundreds of them. All in pods. All being transformed.
"They're creating an army," Ava whispered. "A full corrupted army."
"How long?" Sera asked.
"Based on the transformation stages? Three weeks. Maybe four. Then they'll all be active."
Four weeks until hundreds of corrupted lycans were unleashed on the world.
Sera looked at her team. At Kael. Through the bond, she felt his determination matching her own.
"Then we have four weeks to stop them," she said.
"How?" Kira asked. "We're ten people. They have hundreds."
"We find whoever's running this. We cut off the head." Sera pulled up schematics. "And we burn the rest to the ground."
It was suicide. Probably.
But it was also the only option.
They planned for three days straight. Every angle. Every contingency. Every possible outcome.
And through it all, the bond between Sera and Kael hummed. Steady. Unbreakable.
Whatever came next, they'd face it together.
Just like always.