BACK TO THE CAMP OF THE LIZARD ALPHA KAYDEN
The gates swung open.
Kayden walked through them like a king returning from war. His human feet pressed into the mossy ground. His human hands hung relaxed at his sides. His human face—dark hair, pale skin, golden eyes—caught the glow of the swamp and seemed to shine with it.
He was still human.
Thirty-two hours.
Thirty-two hours of walking among them. Eating their food. Breathing their air. Feeling their sun on his skin.
And not once—not once—had he glitched.
The lizard folk gathered at the entrance of the camp. Dozens of them. They lined the paths and climbed the woven pods and hung from the glowing vines. Their snake-like eyes watched him with a mixture of awe and hunger.
They wanted what he had.
"Alpha!" Korvus pushed through the crowd, his grey scales gleaming with sweat. "You are back! You are still... you are still..."
"Human?" Kayden smiled. It was a wide, genuine smile. The kind of smile his people had never seen on his reptilian face. "Yes, Korvus. I am still human."
The crowd erupted.
Cheers bounced off the scaled trees. Claws clacked together in applause. Some of the younger lizards—those who had never seen a human up close—pressed forward, reaching out to touch him.
Kayden let them.
"Feel my skin," he said, holding out his arm. "Soft, yes? Warm? No scales. No claws. This is what we are fighting for."
A young female lizard touched his forearm with trembling claws. Her eyes widened.
"It is so... smooth," she whispered.
Kayden laughed. "That is skin, little one. Human skin. And soon, all of you will have it. Your Alpha is working hard."
More cheers.
Korvus stepped closer, his voice low with excitement. "Thirty-two hours, my Alpha? Truly?"
"Thirty-two hours," Kayden confirmed. "And I have sixteen more before the shift returns. I walked through their cities. I sat in their restaurants. I rode in their metal carriages—they call them automobiles, Korvus. Fascinating things."
"Automobiles," Korvus repeated, tasting the word.
"The humans have evolved," Kayden continued, raising his voice so the crowd could hear. "They have technology now. Devices that fit in your palm and let you speak to someone on the other side of the world. Machines that fly through the air. Buildings that touch the clouds."
His people listened with rapt attention.
"I saw a moving picture on a wall," Kayden said. "A screen, they called it. It showed me images of places I have never seen. Oceans. Mountains. Cities of glass and steel." He paused, letting the wonder fill his voice. "We have been hiding in this swamp for three centuries, telling ourselves the surface is too dangerous. But the surface has moved on without us. The humans have built a world we cannot even imagine. I feel so ashamed that I had been hiding in that terrible skin."
A murmur rippled through the crowd.
"But we will get there," Kayden promised. "We will walk among them. We will build our own cities. We will hold their devices in our human hands. We will be more than monsters hiding in the dark."
His people roared their approval.
Mira watched from the shadows.
She stood at the edge of the clearing, half-hidden by a hanging vine, her thin arms wrapped around her chest. She had heard the cheers from inside the chamber. She had come to see what the fuss was about.
Now she wished she had stayed inside.
Kayden was beautiful as a human. Painfully beautiful. The kind of beautiful that made her heart ache and her stomach turn. He moved among his people like he had been born in that skin, laughing, touching, promising.
She loved him and he didn't notice her. She knew that allowing him to be fully human would be one of the most terrible mistakes she would ever make. He would be so pompous. He would live his life and forget her. She couldn't allow that happen! She would rather he be a monster forever!
He walked past the spot where she stood without even glancing in her direction. His golden eyes swept over the crowd—over Korvus, over Bryn, over the warriors and the servants and the hatchlings.
But not over her.
Mira shrank deeper into the shadows.
"He has forgotten me already," she thought. "I served him for two years. I warmed his bed. I listened to his fears. And now that he has a taste of humanity, I am nothing."
Kayden climbed onto a platform near the center of the clearing. He raised his arms and the crowd fell silent.
"I know you are all wondering," he said, "what comes next. The test was a success. But it was only a test. We need more of the lycan's blood to complete the cure. To make this permanent."
He held up his human hand. Wiggled his fingers.
"To make this our reality forever."
Korvus stepped forward. His expression had changed. The excitement was gone. In its place was something heavier.
"My Alpha," Korvus said carefully, "there is... news. Bad news."
Kayden's smile faded. "What news?"
Korvus glanced at the crowd. Then back at Kayden. "Perhaps we should speak privately, my Alpha."
"Speak now," Kayden commanded. "I have no secrets from my people."
Korvus swallowed hard. "We sent a small party to the borders of the Cunningham triplets' pack to scout. To see if we could establish contact. Maybe even negotiate for the lycan."
Kayden's jaw tightened. "And?"
"They did not even allow us to get close enough to talk, my Alpha. The moment our scouts crossed into their territory, the warriors pounced."
"How many did we lose?"
Korvus's voice dropped. "Three, my Alpha. Maybe four. We are still waiting for word from the others."
The crowd went silent.
Kayden's human hands curled into fists. His knuckles went white. For a moment—just a moment—his form flickered. Scales crept up his neck. Then they receded.
He took a breath.
"Three," he repeated. "Maybe four."
"Yes, my Alpha."
Their names rose in Kayden's throat. He did not speak them. He could not. The loss was too fresh, too sharp, too personal.
"Wrath," he finally said. The word came out like a curse. "Wrath upon them. Wrath upon the triplets and their pack and their bloodline."
The lizards hissed their agreement. Claws scraped against the ground and tails lashed.
But Kayden did not move.
He stood on the platform, frozen, his golden eyes staring at nothing.
"War?" he thought. "Do I declare war?"
The triplets were powerful. Too powerful. Their Lycan forms could tear through his warriors like paper. A direct attack would be suicide.
"Negotiation?" he thought. "Do I try again?"
The triplets had already killed his scouts without asking questions. They would not listen. They would not talk. They would only kill.
What do I do?
He looked out at his people. Their faces were turned up toward him, waiting, trusting, hoping.
He could not give them false hope.
"The triplets will not listen," he said quietly. "They will not negotiate. They will not trade."
Korvus stepped closer. "Then what, my Alpha? What do we do?"
Kayden was silent for a long moment.
"I do not know," he finally admitted.