The explosion threw Kael across the street.

Glass rained down from broken windows as he rolled behind a burning car. His ears rang from the blast. Blood dripped from a cut on his forehead. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

"Death to all monsters!" someone screamed through a megaphone.

Kael peeked around the car. A group of humans in black masks stood in the town square. They held signs that said "HUMANS ONLY" and "KILL THE BEASTS." Some carried guns. Others held torches.

"Where are you hiding, wolf boy?" one of them yelled. "We know you’re here!"

Kael’s heart pounded. These weren’t Shadow Council soldiers. These were regular people from the town. People he had helped save just yesterday.

Mrs. Peterson, who owned the bakery, stepped forward without a mask. "The Blackwood boys protected my daughter from those vampires last week," she said firmly. "They’re good kids."

"They’re not kids!" shouted Mr. Williams, the pharmacist. "They’re animals! My brother died because we trusted supernatural freaks!"

"That’s not true," Mrs. Peterson argued. "Your brother died fighting the Shadow Council. The wolves tried to save him."

"Lies!" Mr. Williams raised his torch higher. "All supernatural beings are evil. They’re just pretending to help us."

More people gathered in the square. Some stood with Mrs. Peterson. Others joined Mr. Williams. Friends who had shared meals together yesterday now glared at each other with hate.

Kael’s phone buzzed. A text from Ronan: "Surrounded at the school. Humans with weapons everywhere. Some trying to help, others want us dead."

Another text from Darian: "Hospital under attack. Human doctors protecting supernatural patients. Human protesters trying to burn building down."

This was happening everywhere. The unity they had built was breaking apart.

A little girl’s scream cut through the shouting.

"Mommy!"

Kael saw her running down the street. Behind her, a group of masked humans chased her with baseball bats.

"Get the half-breed!" one yelled.

The little girl was Emma Santos. Her mother was human, her father was a werewolf. She was only seven years old.

Kael didn’t think. He ran.

He reached Emma just as the first bat swung down. Kael caught it with his bare hand. The wood cracked against his palm.

"Touch her and die," he growled.

"Look, it’s one of the Blackwood monsters!" the man sneered. "Kill them both!"

Before they could move, Mrs. Peterson appeared with ten other humans. They formed a circle around Kael and Emma.

"You want to hurt this child?" Mrs. Peterson asked calmly. "You’ll have to go through us first."

"Traitors!" the masked man spat. "You’re defending beasts!"

"I’m defending a scared little girl," Mrs. Peterson replied. "What are you doing?"

The crowd grew larger. More humans arrived. Some joined the protective circle. Others stood with the masked group.

Emma clung to Kael’s leg, shaking. "I’m scared," she whispered.

"I know, sweetheart," Kael said softly. "But these good people won’t let anything happen to you."

"My daddy says some humans hate us now," Emma said. "Why?"

Kael’s throat tightened. How do you explain hatred to a seven-year-old?

"Because they’re afraid," he said simply. "And sometimes scared people do mean things."

"But you’re not mean," Emma said. "You saved my cat from the tree last week."

"I remember." Kael smiled despite everything. "Mr. Whiskers, right? How is he?"

"He’s good. He likes you. Mommy says animals can tell who’s good and who’s bad."

A gunshot rang out.

Everyone froze.

Mr. Williams stood twenty feet away, pointing a rifle at the sky. "Enough talking!" he shouted. "We’re taking our town back from these freaks!"

"Put the gun down, Harold," Mrs. Peterson said firmly. "There are children here."

"That’s not a child!" Mr. Williams pointed at Emma. "That’s an abomination! Half human, half monster!"

Emma started crying.

Kael felt his wolf side rising. His eyes began to glow. His hands started to change into claws.

"Don’t," Mrs. Peterson whispered. "If you shift, you’ll prove their point."

She was right. If he turned into a wolf now, the scared humans would think he was attacking. It would make everything worse.

But how could he protect Emma without fighting back?

"Kael!"

He turned. Ronan and Darian ran down the street with a mixed group of humans and supernatural beings. They had escaped their own battles.

"The whole town is splitting apart," Ronan panted. "Half want to help us, half want us gone."

"It’s happening everywhere," Darian added, checking his phone. "Chicago, Atlanta, Denver. Humans are forming militias. Some to protect supernatural beings, others to hunt them."

"Just like the Shadow Council planned," Kael realized. "They knew showing those hospital attacks would divide humans against each other too."

Mr. Williams raised his rifle again. "I said no more talking!"

But before he could fire, someone unexpected stepped forward.

Emma’s mother, Maria Santos, walked into the square. She was human, but she stood directly between the gun and her daughter.

"You want to shoot a seven-year-old?" Maria asked quietly.

"She’s not fully human," Mr. Williams said, but his voice shook.

"She’s my baby," Maria replied. "She likes dolls and ice cream and cartoons. She cries when she sees hurt animals. She gives her allowance to homeless people. Tell me what makes her a monster."

Mr. Williams lowered the rifle slightly. For a moment, his anger seemed to crack.

Then a new voice cut through the crowd.

"Because her father is a beast!"

Everyone turned. A woman in a expensive suit walked forward. She had cold eyes and a cruel smile.

"Who are you?" Mrs. Peterson demanded.

"I’m Dr. Helen Cross from the Human Purity Foundation," the woman announced. "We’re here to help you cleanse your town of supernatural contamination."

Kael’s blood went cold. The Human Purity Foundation was one of the hate groups they’d been tracking. They turned frightened people into killers.

"Cleanse?" Maria asked, horrified.

"Remove all supernatural beings and their human allies," Dr. Cross explained calmly. "For the safety of pure humanity."

"You’re talking about murder," Mrs. Peterson said.

"I’m talking about survival," Dr. Cross replied. She pulled out a device that looked like a TV remote. "This will identify any being with supernatural blood. Even half-breeds."

She pointed it at Emma. The device beeped and flashed red.

"See? Contaminated."

Emma buried her face in Kael’s leg. "What does that mean?" she whispered.

Dr. Cross smiled. "It means you don’t belong here, little monster."

That was the last straw.

Kael’s control snapped. His eyes blazed gold. His teeth grew sharp. His muscles bulged.

"Call her a monster again," he snarled. "I dare you."

"There!" Dr. Cross shouted triumphantly. "You see? They can’t control their animal nature! They’re all dangerous!"

The crowd stepped back, frightened by Kael’s transformation.

But Emma looked up at him without fear. "It’s okay," she said softly. "I know you won’t hurt me."

Her innocent trust hit Kael like a punch to the heart. He forced himself to calm down. His wolf features faded back to normal.

"Smart girl," he whispered.

Dr. Cross frowned. She had expected him to lose control completely.

"Interesting," she mused. "The beast has more discipline than expected. No matter. We have other ways."

She pressed a button on her device.

Immediately, every supernatural being in the crowd screamed in pain. Kael, Ronan, and Darian dropped to their knees. Even little Emma cried out and collapsed.

"Sonic frequency," Dr. Cross explained to the humans. "Painful to supernatural ears, harmless to pure humans. Quite effective."

The sound was like needles in Kael’s brain. He could barely think, barely move.

"Stop!" Maria begged. "You’re hurting my daughter!"

"Your daughter shouldn’t exist," Dr. Cross replied coldly.

"Please!" Mrs. Peterson stepped forward. "She’s just a child!"

"She’s an abomination," Dr. Cross said. "But don’t worry. The cleansing will be quick."

More people in black masks emerged from the shadows. They surrounded the supernatural beings who were writhing on the ground in pain.

Kael tried to fight the sonic weapon, but it was too strong. His vision started to blur.

This was it. They were going to die here, in the town square, in front of people they had tried to save.

But then something amazing happened.

Mrs. Peterson grabbed a baseball bat from one of the masked men. "If you want to hurt these children," she said firmly, "you’ll have to go through me."

Maria Santos picked up a piece of broken glass. "And me."

One by one, more humans stepped forward. The mechanic who had fixed their truck. The teacher from the elementary school. The old man who ran the gas station.

"These supernatural folks saved my grandson," the old man said, pointing his cane at Dr. Cross. "I won’t let you hurt them."

Dr. Cross looked shocked. "You’re protecting monsters over your own species?"

"I’m protecting my neighbors," Mrs. Peterson replied. "Something you apparently don’t understand."

The sonic device was still hurting the supernatural beings, but now they weren’t alone. Humans formed protective circles around them.

"This is unexpected," Dr. Cross admitted. "But it changes nothing."

She pulled out a phone and made a call. "Send in the cleansing teams," she ordered. "All of them."

Kael managed to look up despite the pain. In the distance, he could see trucks approaching. Lots of trucks.

"What’s coming?" he gasped.

Dr. Cross smiled. "An army. Five hundred soldiers trained specifically to kill supernatural beings. They’ll be here in ten minutes."

"No," Maria whispered, holding her unconscious daughter.

"Oh yes," Dr. Cross said. "And the best part? They’re all human volunteers. People who lost loved ones to supernatural attacks. They have nothing to lose and everything to prove."

Kael’s heart sank. Five hundred trained killers, and they couldn’t even stand up because of the sonic weapon.

But then his phone buzzed with an emergency message.

It was from their mother, Elara.

The message had just two words, but they changed everything:

"I’m free."

Dr. Cross noticed his expression. "What’s that look for, beast?"

Kael smiled despite the pain. "You’re about to find out why you should never mess with a mother’s children."

The sound of roaring engines filled the air. But they weren’t coming from Dr. Cross’s direction.

They were coming from the sky.

Everyone looked up.

A figure was falling from the clouds, moving faster than anything human or supernatural.

"What is that?" someone screamed.

As it got closer, Kael could see who it was.

His mother. But she looked different. Her eyes glowed silver instead of gold. Her hair moved like it was underwater, even though there was no wind. Power crackled around her like lightning.

She landed in the town square with enough force to crack the concrete.

Dr. Cross’s sonic device exploded in her hand.

"Hello, boys," Elara said softly. "Did you miss me?"

But when she turned to face Dr. Cross, her expression was anything but motherly.

"Someone has been threatening my children," she said, and her voice made the air itself tremble. "That was a mistake."

Dr. Cross backed away, suddenly terrified. "You’re supposed to be in prison!"

"Prison?" Elara laughed, and the sound made windows crack. "Sweetheart, I haven’t been in prison for the last hour. I’ve been getting educated."

"What do you mean?"

Elara’s silver eyes blazed brighter. "I mean I just learned exactly what you people have been doing to supernatural families. And now..."

She stepped closer to Dr. Cross.

"Now you’re going to learn what happens when you make a mother angry."

But before Elara could do anything, Dr. Cross smiled.

"Too late," she whispered. "The real attack isn’t here."

"What?"

"While you were coming to save your precious sons, my people have been busy. Right now, five hundred supernatural children are trapped in schools across the country. Locked inside buildings that are about to..."

Dr. Cross pressed a button on a different device.

"Burn."