Chapter 102

Cameron

Something darts through the bushes.

"Now! Go after them!" I command, my voice cracking across the clearing like a whip. The wolves surge forward in an instant, bodies shifting mid-leap, claws ripping through underbrush.

The rogues scatter, using the dense tangle of trees as shields from the morning sun, but the pack is relentless. Growls echo like rolling thunder, a chorus of vengeance closing in.

I, however, stroll. Lazily.

Lenora’s arm is hooked around my bicep, and I let her weight rest against me as we walk behind the chaos. Her silver hair catches the pale light filtering through the canopy, her presence making this ruined forest feel almost regal.

"Aren’t you an overachiever?" she says, her voice amused, soft but carrying in the hush between snapping branches.

I chuckle. "Am I?"

She tilts her head, eyes sharp, lips curving. "You were supposed to patrol with the mercenaries. Instead you’ve decided to hunt them all down."

I shrug like it’s the easiest thing in the world. "I saw an opportunity and I took it. That’s how I built my wealth. My decisiveness."

Which, surprisingly, makes me a little sad.

All that pain they’ve gone through—months of fear, starvation, bodies in the dirt—only for it to start unraveling in a single night.

I exhale, heavy.

"My, aren’t we lucky, having such a m—" Lenora begins, teasing, but the words die on her lips as the air shifts.

We both spring apart. Instinct.

The tree behind us doesn’t just splinter,it’s carved through clean, a hole the size of a wolf’s chest burned right through its trunk. Sap and smoke hiss out like blood.

This one is different.

It steps from the treeline, calm as a priest, clean as a noble. No wild stench of rot, no shredded clothes, no bestial crouch. His shirt is buttoned, his hair combed.

His skin is pale, yes, but not corpse-gray—smooth, polished, almost glowing. His eyes gleam a faint crimson, not the savage scarlet of the rogues, but a colder shade.

"Well, little Alpha," he drawls, his voice cultured, amused.

"Aren’t you a pain. Do you have any idea how long it took me to grow them?"

He gestures lazily toward the bloodied trail, the piles of corpses Cameron had left behind. His children. His brood.

I square my shoulders, my claws sliding out without thought. "So you’re the leader of those rats."

The vampire smiles a wide, white, too perfect. "Rats? That’s rather rude, don’t you think? To call someone’s children vermin?"

I meet Len’s eyes across the clearing. She’s on the opposite side, her stance defensive but calm, her silver hair bright against the shadowed wood.

"Quite fitting," I say, stepping forward, claws itching just beneath the skin. "Given how invasive, ugly, and annoying they were."

The vampire’s grin doesn’t falter. His pale face is too composed, too human compared to the feral rogues I cut down last night. This one is different. Clean clothes, sharp words. A leader, not a grunt.

"Well," he says, tone light, casual, as if we’re discussing the weather.

"I would love to fight, truly. But since I’ve been found out, my orders were to retreat. Orders are absolute, you know."

He pivots smoothly, back to us, unconcerned.

"Oh no you don’t—"

But he’s already running.

The air splits with his speed, a blur between the trees, his laughter trailing like a curse.

Bastard.

I take off after him. Branches whip past my face, the ground blurring beneath my boots. He’s fast but something in my chest screams that if I let him slip away, I’ll regret it. Deeply.

Then I realize the direction he’s heading.

Shit. Straight toward the pack grounds.

I push harder, heart slamming against my ribs. Every step feels like it should close the gap, but he’s pulling farther and farther ahead, a phantom between shadows.

"Hey, buddy," a voice in my head rumbles—my wolf, the beast that has clawed at me since the day I set foot in White Stone. "It’s time."

My lungs burn. My legs ache. The distance is growing. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

"You know we’re the Alpha. You know we can’t let this happen."

I grit my teeth.

"Then help me."

Now.

I push, but what comes out is pathetic—a half-shift. My limbs twist awkwardly, claws half-formed, spine burning like it might snap in two. A grotesque echo of what I should be.

No.

Now.

The command booms in my skull, primal and absolute. My vision sharpens, the trees blurring into streaks, every scent and sound spiking sharp.

I leap.

And midair, it happens.

The bones break and reform in one fluid wave. Skin tears and seals, replaced by black fur that shimmers faintly under the bleeding dawn. My vision splits, narrows, then expands into the clarity of a predator unleashed.

The vampire glances back—just once. His perfect composure fractures. His smile dies.

Good.

Because now the hunt has really begun.

I’m getting frustrated. I’m unable to catch up with him.

He’s so fast it’s annoying me.

I growl, and head faster.

My paws pound against the forest floor, dirt kicking up behind me in dark clods.

The vampire’s pale form flickers between the trees ahead never closer. Every time I think I’ve gained ground, he finds another burst of speed, another angle, another shadow to slip through.

How is he this fast?

I’m the Alpha. I just shifted—fully shifted—for the first time under my own will. I should be faster. Stronger. More.

He glances back.

Once.

That perfect, arrogant face twists into something almost like disappointment. Like he expected more from me. Like I’m boring him.

Bastard.

The trees thin ahead. Light breaks through—not dawn anymore, but full morning, golden and unforgiving.

And I realize where he’s going.

The pack grounds.

No.

He’s not running from me. He was never running from me.

He’s running to them.

The helpless ones. The pups, the elders, the wolves who can’t fight. The ones I swore to protect the moment I accepted that damn mantle.