The city was still bleeding light when Kael crouched on the rooftop, the neon glow painting scars across his leather jacket. The rain had softened to a steady mist, falling like whispers over the sleeping streets. Beneath him stretched the compound — Vanguard Labs — its walls high and white, the kind that pretended to be clean but hid rot underneath.
Selene landed beside him, boots silent, eyes glinting gold beneath her hood. "Two guards at the south wing, infrared cameras on the west. Automated turrets on the east," she murmured. "Lucien's been busy."
Kael's gaze didn't leave the building. "Busy covering his sins."
She smirked slightly, though her tone held no amusement. "You say that like you're any cleaner, Alpha."
"Difference is," Kael said, sliding a knife into his belt, "I don't hide mine in labs."
He didn't need to look to know she was smiling faintly. That small tug at her lip — the one she did when she was nervous but pretended not to be — had become oddly familiar.
The city hummed below, engines and thunder merging in one endless growl. Kael inhaled, catching the sterile scent of steel, ozone, and faint blood drifting from the vents. It wasn't human blood.
"Whatever Lucien's doing in there," he muttered, "it's not science."
Selene straightened, her hand brushing his arm briefly before pulling back. "Then let's make him explain it."
---
They descended through the shadows, scaling the wall like predators bred for the night. Kael's boots touched the ground with barely a sound. The wolf in him stirred — impatient, restless, hungry.
Selene hacked the electronic lock, her fingers dancing across the pad. A soft click. The gate slid open, releasing a hiss of cool air.
Inside, the hallway was lined with glass walls and humming machines. Blue lights pulsed through transparent tubes. In one of the rooms, Kael caught sight of a shadow — a shape curled inside a pod, pale skin and wires running from veins.
He stopped.
"Selene…" His voice was low. "That's a wolf."
She followed his gaze — and froze. The figure inside wasn't shifting. The scent was faint, fading. Not alive.
The monitors displayed readings in erratic waves, labeled Subject 47-B: Lycan Sample. Beneath it, notes scrolled across a screen: Stabilization in progress. Hybridization ratio: 83%.
Selene's breath hitched. "They're… mixing them?"
Kael's jaw tightened. "He's building weapons."
She stepped closer, pressing her palm against the glass. The creature's face was twisted in agony, half-human, half-wolf, skin torn where claws had forced through. "This is wrong," she whispered, voice cracking. "Even for him."
Kael rested a hand on her shoulder, rough but steady. "We end this. All of it."
But before she could answer, a faint sound echoed — metal clanging, distant footsteps.
Kael signaled her to move. They slipped down another hall, deeper into the compound. The air grew colder, the walls thicker, as though the building itself was trying to hide its heart.
Then Selene stopped abruptly.
There — etched above a sealed door — was a symbol Kael didn't recognize: a crescent moon wrapped in thorns. Her face went pale.
"Selene?"
She didn't move.
"Talk to me."
"That symbol…" she whispered, voice trembling. "It's not Vanguard's. It's… my family's crest."
Kael blinked. "Your what?"
"I thought it died with my father. He was a researcher — before Lucien took him." Her eyes hardened. "I never knew he was part of this."
Something twisted in Kael's chest — confusion, anger, and something else he didn't want to name. "You think Lucien used your father's work?"
"I think he used my bloodline," she said quietly. "That's why he wanted me alive."
---
They forced the door open. Inside was a lab unlike the others — walls covered in papers, DNA charts, old family records. In the center stood a capsule, larger than the rest, humming with restrained power.
Kael stepped closer and saw it: a name burned into the console.
Project: LUNAR ASCENDANT.
And beneath it — Subject A: Selene Vale.
His heart stopped.
Selene stared at it, lips parting in disbelief. "That… can't be real."
Kael turned toward her, his voice low and steady. "He's been building you."
She shook her head. "No… no, I'm not—"
"You said your father worked for Lucien," Kael said. "What if Lucien used his research to—"
"To what, Kael?" she snapped, tears filling her eyes. "To make me some kind of weapon? To make me his next experiment?"
He didn't answer. He didn't have to. The hum of the machines, the sterile cold of the room, said enough.
Selene slammed her fist against the console, and the screen flickered — revealing rows of recorded logs. Voices filtered through static.
> "Subject A shows promise. Rapid regeneration, increased control under lunar influence. Her DNA carries dormant traits we've never seen before."
"If successful, she'll be the key to stabilizing the hybrid strain. Even Kael's pack won't stand a chance."
Kael's blood ran cold.
"That son of a—" he growled, but before he could finish, the lights dimmed. Red alarms flashed across the walls, sirens shrieking.
Security breach detected.
Alpha containment protocol initiated.
Selene's eyes widened. "He knows we're here."
Kael grabbed her hand. "Move!"
They sprinted through the hall, dodging laser grids and shattering glass. Guards poured in from the far corridor — armed, trained, soulless. Kael shifted mid-run, bones snapping, claws ripping through skin. His snarl shook the floor.
He tore through the first wave like smoke and thunder — claws slicing metal, teeth cracking armor. Selene moved beside him, her eyes blazing gold, movements precise and deadly. For the first time, Kael saw the raw power in her — untamed, perfect, terrifying.
As they burst through the final door to the roof, Kael skidded to a halt. Helicopter lights sliced through the rain. A voice boomed through the speakers, cold and familiar.
> "You always were predictable, Kael."
Lucien's voice.
Kael's eyes lifted, scanning the sky. "Show yourself!"
> "Oh, I will," Lucien's voice purred. "But first — you should know what you're running from."
Behind them, the building shook. The lab's upper floor split open, and from the smoke rose a massive figure — fur black as midnight, eyes burning red. The creature roared, chains snapping off its limbs.
Selene gasped. "That's—"
Kael didn't let her finish. "Run!"
But she didn't move. Her gaze was locked on the creature's face — the faint scar on its jaw, the same one she'd seen once before in an old photo.
Her voice cracked. "Kael… that's my father."
---
The helicopter blades screamed above, drowning her words in chaos. Kael turned slowly, disbelief flooding his face.
And then the beast lunged.