CURSED LYCAN
Six corrupted lycans poured through the broken doorway.
Kael shifted before the first one crossed the threshold. Bones snapping, body expanding. In two seconds flat, he was the beast again—all muscle and fury and those piercing silver eyes.
Sera rolled off the table, ignoring the way her wounds screamed in protest. Her blade was gone. Lost in the forest. But Kael's cabin had to have weapons somewhere.
She spotted a cabinet in the corner. Limped toward it while Kael tore into the first corrupted lycan. The sounds were brutal. Wet. Final.
The cabinet was locked. Sera grabbed a chair, smashed it against the lock. On the third hit, it broke open.
Jackpot.
Three silver daggers, a short sword, and something that looked like a crossbow modified for close combat. She grabbed two daggers, tested their weight. Balanced. Deadly.
A corrupted lycan came at her from the side. She ducked under its claws, drove both blades up through its jaw. It gurgled, went limp. She pulled the daggers free and spun.
Kael had killed three already. But two more were coming through the door. And these ones looked different. Faster. More coordinated.
"They're adapting!" Sera shouted.
Kael's response was a roar that shook the cabin walls. He grabbed one of the new corrupted lycans mid-leap, used it as a weapon to slam the other one. Both went down in a tangle of limbs.
But they got back up.
"This is wrong," Sera muttered. "They shouldn't be able to take that kind of damage."
She was right. Normal corrupted lycans went down easy once you knew where to hit them. These were different. Stronger. Like something was pushing them beyond their limits.
Another one crashed through the window. Glass exploded everywhere. Sera threw one of her daggers—pure instinct, no time to aim—and caught it in the eye. It stumbled but kept coming.
She grabbed the modified crossbow, loaded the silver bolt already in place, and fired.
The bolt punched through the corrupted lycan's chest. It finally dropped.
"How many of these things are there?" Sera reloaded, hands moving on autopilot.
Kael didn't answer. He was fighting two at once, claws flashing. But she could see it—the way his movements were getting slower. Heavier. He was wearing down.
The full moon's effects were fading. And he'd already shifted twice tonight. That had to be taking a toll.
A corrupted lycan lunged at her. Sera fired, missed, cursed. It was on her in a second. She brought the crossbow up just in time to block its jaws from closing around her throat. Its breath was rancid. Death and rot.
She kicked hard, connected with its stomach. It barely flinched.
Then Kael was there. He ripped the thing off her, threw it across the cabin so hard it went through the wall. Literally through it.
Their eyes met. His were starting to flicker—silver to gold to something darker.
"You're losing control," Sera said.
He shifted back to human form. Stood there breathing hard, naked again, covered in blood that wasn't all his. "I know."
"What happens if you lose it completely?"
"I kill everything in a quarter-mile radius." His voice was flat. "Including you."
Great. Just great.
The remaining corrupted lycans circled outside. Sera could see their shadows moving past the broken door and window. Waiting. Planning.
"They're not attacking," she said. "Why aren't they attacking?"
"Because something's controlling them." Kael moved to the window, careful to stay out of sight. "They're testing us. Learning."
"That's impossible. Corrupted lycans don't have that kind of intelligence."
"These ones do."
A howl cut through the night. Different from the others. This one was clear, commanding. And close.
All the corrupted lycans went still.
Then they scattered. Just vanished into the darkness like they'd never been there.
Sera and Kael stood in the destroyed cabin, listening to the silence.
"What just happened?" she asked.
"Someone called them off." Kael's jaw was tight. "Someone who wanted to see what we could do."
"We're being watched."
"We've been watched since you entered the forest."
A chill ran down Sera's spine that had nothing to do with her injuries. "You knew?"
"I suspected." He turned to face her. "Why do you think I tried to get you to leave? This isn't random, Sera. The corrupted lycans, the attacks, all of it. Someone's orchestrating this. And now they know about you."
"So what, I'm marked now?"
"Probably."
"Fantastic." She sat down heavily on what was left of a chair. Her shoulder throbbed. The poison was mostly neutralized, but the wounds were still fresh. "Any other good news you want to share?"
Kael was quiet for a moment. Then he said, "The curse I mentioned. It's not just affecting me. Every full moon, I lose more of myself. More of my humanity. In three months, maybe four, I won't be able to shift back. I'll be stuck as a beast forever. Mindless. Rabid."
Sera looked at him. Really looked. The exhaustion carved into his face wasn't just physical. It was the exhaustion of someone fighting a losing battle.
"How long have you been cursed?" she asked quietly.
"Two years. Since the night my pack was slaughtered." His silver eyes were distant. "I was the only survivor. I thought it was luck. Turns out, it was part of the plan. Someone wanted me alive. Wanted me cursed."
"Why?"
"That's what I'm trying to figure out." He started gathering supplies from the intact parts of the cabin. Medical equipment, weapons, clothes finally. "But whoever did this, they're connected to the corrupted lycans. And they're building toward something big."
Sera processed this. A cursed lycan. Corrupted experiments. Someone powerful enough to orchestrate all of it. And now she was caught in the middle.
She should walk away. Should report back to the guild, collect her payment for whatever intel she'd gathered, and forget this ever happened.
But she kept seeing Kael fight beside her. Kept hearing the pain in his voice when he talked about his pack. Kept remembering how he'd saved her life when he could've just let her die.
"The person who hired me to kill you," Sera said slowly. "They paid triple the normal rate. Said you were dangerous. A threat to all lycans and humans alike."
Kael pulled on a shirt. "Who hired you?"
"Don't know. The contract came through a third party. Anonymous client. That should've been my first red flag."
"But you took it anyway."
"I needed the money." She met his gaze. "My sister died hunting lycans three years ago. Left behind a daughter. My niece. Medical bills aren't cheap."
Understanding flickered across his face. "So you hunt to pay for her care."
"I hunt because it's all I know how to do." Sera stood up, tested her legs. Better. Not great, but better. "But this job feels wrong. The setup, the timing, the way those corrupted lycans showed up right when I found you. Someone wanted us to meet."
"Or wanted us to kill each other."
"That too."
They stood in the ruins of the cabin, two people who should've been enemies, trying to figure out why they weren't.
"I have a contact," Kael said finally. "Another lycan. One of the few left who I trust. He's been investigating the corruption too. Thinks there's a facility somewhere in the northern mountains where they're creating these things."
"How far north?"
"Three days on foot. Two if we push hard."
"We?" Sera raised an eyebrow.
"You want answers. I want answers. And whoever's behind this just sent corrupted lycans to kill us both." He grabbed a pack, started filling it with supplies. "Seems like our interests are aligned."
"I was hired to kill you."
"Are you going to?"
The question hung between them. Sera thought about her niece. About the money. About the fact that killing Kael would be the smart play. The safe play.
Then she thought about fighting beside him. About the way he'd carried her when she was dying. About how his eyes stayed aware even when the beast took over.
"No," she said. "Not unless you give me a reason to."
Something that might've been relief crossed his face. "Fair enough."
"But I'm not doing this out of the goodness of my heart," Sera added. "Someone set me up. Used me as bait or a test or whatever. I don't like being used."
"Neither do I."
"So we find this facility. Figure out who's behind the corruption. Then we go our separate ways."
"Deal."
They shook on it. His hand was warm, calloused. Strong enough to kill her easily. But his grip was careful. Controlled.
Kael pulled away first. "We should leave before dawn. They'll send more corrupted lycans once they realize we survived."
"Where do we go?"
"I have a safe house. Twenty miles east. We can rest there, plan our next move." He paused. "Fair warning—it's rough. No electricity. No hot water. But it's secure."
"I've slept in worse places."
They gathered what they could from the cabin. Weapons, food, medical supplies. Kael pulled on a heavy coat and boots. Sera found a spare jacket that was too big but would work.
Just as they were about to leave, Sera noticed something. A symbol carved into the wall near the door. A circle with three lines cutting through it. She'd seen it before. Where?
"What's that?" she asked, pointing.
Kael's face went dark. "My pack's mark. The Bloodmoon symbol."
"Why is it here?"
"Because this cabin belonged to my brother." His voice was quiet. "He died the night of the slaughter. This was his safe house. His backup plan if anything went wrong."
"I'm sorry."
Kael didn't respond. Just stared at the symbol for a long moment. Then he turned and walked out into the night.
Sera followed.
They moved through the forest in silence. Kael led, his movements sure even in the darkness. Sera stayed close, every sense on alert. The corrupted lycans were still out there. Watching. Waiting.
After an hour of walking, Kael suddenly stopped.
"What?" Sera whispered.
"Do you smell that?"
She inhaled. Caught something on the wind. Smoke. Burning wood.
"Something's on fire," she said.
"The safe house." Kael's voice was tight. "They found it."
They ran.
Broke through the trees to see flames climbing into the sky. The safe house—what was left of it—was engulfed. Completely destroyed.
And standing in front of the burning building was a figure. Tall, hooded, watching the flames like it was the most beautiful thing in the world.
The figure turned. Looked right at them.
Then it laughed.
And Sera recognized that laugh. Knew it down to her bones. Because she'd heard it before. Three years ago. The night her sister died.
"No," she breathed. "It can't be."
But it was.
The figure pulled back its hood.
And Sera's world shattered.