Kira's POV
I ran toward the door.
"Kira, no!" Dane tried to grab my arm, but he was too weak. He fell back onto the couch, gasping for air.
"I'm not letting them die because of me," I said.
Maya crawled toward me. Her skin was turning gray. "Don't... trust them. They'll... kill you."
"Maybe," I said. "But if I stay here, they'll kill all of you. I can't let that happen."
I reached for the door handle.
"Wait." Dane's voice was barely a whisper. "If you go out there... use your power. Whatever you felt when you broke the chains... find it again."
I looked back at him. At all of them. Wolves who were dying because they'd given me shelter.
"I'll try," I said.
Then I opened the door and stepped outside.
The cold air hit me like a slap. The silver smoke was thicker out here. I could see it swirling in the air like fog. But it didn't hurt me. It passed right through me like I wasn't even there.
"There she is!" Scarface shouted. "Grab her!"
Two men rushed toward me. They had guns, but they weren't shooting. They wanted me alive.
I ran.
Not away from them. Toward them.
It was stupid. Crazy. But something inside me knew that running away wouldn't work. I had to face this.
The first man reached for me. I ducked under his arm and kept running. Straight toward Scarface and his machine.
"Stop her!" Scarface yelled.
More men came at me from the sides. I dodged one, jumped over another. My body moved in ways it never had before. Faster. Smoother. Like something was guiding me.
I reached the machine. It was about the size of a refrigerator, with tubes coming out of it that were pumping silver smoke into the air.
"Get away from that!" Scarface pointed his gun at me. "One more step and I'll shoot!"
I looked at him. Really looked at him. He was afraid. I could see it in his eyes. He was terrified of me.
"Why are you doing this?" I asked. "What did the wolves ever do to you?"
"They're monsters," Scarface said. "Beasts. They don't deserve to live."
"They're people," I said. "Just like you and me."
"They're NOT like us!" Scarface screamed. "They're animals! And you—" He pointed the gun at my chest. "You're an abomination. A freak of nature. The last of a bloodline that should have died out a century ago."
"You knew," I whispered. "You knew what I was before I did."
"Of course we knew," Scarface sneered. "We've been watching you your whole life. Waiting to see if you'd develop powers. And tonight, you finally did. So thank you for that. Now we can finish what we started all those years ago."
"What you started?" My hands were starting to feel warm again. "What does that mean?"
Scarface smiled. It was a cruel smile. "Your parents. We're the ones who killed them."
The world stopped.
"What?"
"Twenty-three years ago," Scarface said. "We found the last two members of the Jade Court hiding in this city. They fought hard. Almost got away. But in the end, we won. We always win."
My legs felt weak. "You're lying."
"Am I? Your mother's name was Lin Chen. Your father was Marcus Chen. They died on a cold February night, right after they dropped you off at that orphanage. We would have killed you too, but you were just a baby. We thought you'd never develop powers. We thought the bloodline was too weak."
Tears burned my eyes. "You killed them. You killed my parents."
"Yes," Scarface said simply. "And now I'm going to kill you. But first, you're going to watch as those wolves suffocate. Then we'll study your body and figure out how to use your blood to make weapons. Your death will help us wipe out every last werewolf on the planet."
Something inside me snapped.
The warmth in my hands exploded into heat. Not painful heat. Powerful heat. Like the sun was burning inside my chest.
"No," I said quietly.
Then I touched the machine.
Green light erupted from my hands. Not just a glow this time. A wave of pure, emerald energy that spread out like a shockwave.
The machine groaned. Cracked. Then exploded into a thousand pieces.
The silver smoke stopped.
Scarface stumbled backward. "What how"
I turned to face him. My hands were glowing so bright I could barely see them.
"You killed my parents," I said. My voice didn't sound like my own. It sounded older. Stronger. "You've been hunting innocent people for centuries. And you call them monsters?"
I raised my hands. The green light grew brighter.
"I am Kira Chen," I said. "Daughter of Lin and Marcus. Last of the Jade Court. And you will never hurt anyone I care about ever again."
The light shot forward like lightning.
It hit every gun the Coalition soldiers were holding. The metal turned green, then crumbled to dust.
The men screamed and ran.
All except Scarface. He stood his ground, even though I could see his hands shaking.
"You can't kill me," he said. "You're not a killer. You're too soft. Too weak."
"You're right," I said. "I'm not a killer."
I lowered my hands. The green light faded.
"But I'm not weak either."
Behind me, I heard the door to the Den burst open. The wolves came pouring out. No longer sick. No longer dying.
And leading them was a massive silver-grey wolf.
Dane.
He walked past me and stood between me and Scarface. His lips pulled back in a snarl, showing teeth as long as knives.
Scarface finally looked afraid.
"Call off your men," I said. "Leave this place. And don't ever come back."
"This isn't over," Scarface said. But he was backing away. "The Coalition is everywhere. We'll find you again. And next time, we'll be ready for your little light show."
"Let them come," Dane's voice rumbled. He'd shifted back to human form. "We'll be ready too."
Scarface turned and ran. His men were already gone, scattered into the night.
I stood there, breathing hard. My hands had stopped glowing, but I could still feel the power humming under my skin.
Dane walked over to me. "You okay?"
"I don't know," I said honestly. "I just found out who killed my parents. And I just... I just used magic. Real magic."
"You saved us," Dane said softly. "All of us. We would have died without you."
I looked up at him. "He said they've been watching me my whole life. The Coalition. They knew about me before I even knew about myself."
"Then we need to be more careful," Dane said. "They'll come back with reinforcements. Better weapons. We need to be ready."
Maya walked over. She looked better now, but still shaky. "Dane's right. But we also need to train you. Teach you how to control your power. Because what you just did that was incredible. But it was also unstable. You could have blown up the whole building instead of just the machine."
"I didn't know what I was doing," I admitted. "I just... felt angry. And the power came."
"Emotion triggers it," Maya said. "But emotion can't control it. You need proper training."
"I can help with that," a new voice said.
I turned around.
An old woman stood at the edge of the crowd. She had long white hair and eyes that glowed silver instead of gold. She wasn't a wolf. I could tell just by looking at her.
"Who are you?" I asked.
The old woman smiled. "My name is Mei. And a very long time ago, I was a member of the Jade Court. Your mother was my student."
My heart stopped. "You knew my mother?"
"I knew both your parents," Mei said. "I was there the night they died. I tried to save them, but..." Her voice broke. "I failed. I've been hiding ever since, waiting. Hoping that one day, their daughter would find her power."
"Why didn't you come find me?" I asked. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because the Coalition was watching you," Mei said. "If I'd made contact, they would have killed us both. I had to wait. Let you live a normal life for as long as possible."
"Normal?" I laughed bitterly. "My life was never normal. I was always alone. Always an outcast."
"I know," Mei said gently. "And I'm sorry. But now your power has awakened. And there's something you need to know. Something important."
"What?"
Mei's face went serious. "The Coalition didn't just kill your parents because they were Jade Court members. They killed them because your mother discovered something. A secret about the Jade Court's magic. A secret so dangerous that the Coalition would do anything to keep it hidden."
"What secret?" Dane asked.
Mei looked at me. "Your mother found out that Jade Court magic isn't just about breaking silver or healing wolves. It can do something much more powerful. Something that could change everything."
"What?" I whispered.
"It can break the curse," Mei said.
"What curse?" Maya asked.
Mei turned to face the wolves. "The curse that turned you into werewolves in the first place. The curse that's been passed down through your bloodlines for over a thousand years. Jade Court magic can cure it. It can make you fully human again."
Silence.
Every wolf stared at Mei with wide eyes.
"That's impossible," Dane said. But his voice was shaking.
"It's not," Mei said. "Your ancestors were cursed by a dark witch a millennium ago. She turned them into beasts as punishment. But Jade Court magic is older than her curse. Stronger. It can undo what she did."
"Can it undo it for all of us?" Maya asked. "Or just one at a time?"
Mei's expression darkened. "That's the problem. The ritual your mother discovered it's powerful enough to cure every werewolf in the world. All at once. But there's a cost."
"What cost?" I asked, even though I was afraid of the answer.
Mei looked at me with sad eyes.
"The life of the Jade Court member performing the ritual."
My blood went cold.
"So if I use this ritual to cure the wolves," I said slowly, "I'll die?"
"Yes," Mei said.
Dane grabbed my arm. "Then you can't do it. We won't let you."
"That's not your choice to make," I said.
"Like hell it isn't!" Dane's eyes were blazing. "You're my Kindred. I won't let you sacrifice yourself!"
"But"
A scream cut through the air.
We all spun around.
A wolf was standing at the edge of the property. But something was wrong. Its body was shaking. Convulsing.
"Oh no," Maya whispered. "Not now. Please not now."
"What's happening?" I asked.
The wolf fell to the ground. Its body twisted and bent in ways that looked painful. Then it went still.
Too still.
Maya ran over to it. She knelt down and put her hand on its chest.
Then she looked up at us with tears in her eyes.
"He's dead," she said. "The silver gas it must have damaged his heart. He held on as long as he could, but..."
More wolves started to collapse.
"No!" Dane ran to help them, but it was too late. One by one, they were falling.
"The damage is spreading," Mei said grimly. "The silver gas poisoned their blood. Even though the machine is destroyed, the poison is still killing them."
"Can't you heal them?" I asked desperately. "Can't the Jade magic heal them?"
"It can," Mei said. "But you don't know how to control it yet. If you try to heal them now, you might kill them instead."
I watched another wolf fall. A young one. He couldn't have been more than twenty.
"I have to try," I said.
"Kira, no" Dane started.
But I was already moving.
I knelt beside the dying wolves and put my hands on them.
"Please," I whispered. "Please work."
My hands started to glow.
And the world turned green.