Chapter 34: You think

Cole stood in the center of the room, his chest heaving. His smirk twisted into something dark, cruel.

“I should thank you,” he said, his eyes scanning each of them. “Dragging me here made this easier.”

Jack stepped forward, fists clenched. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Cole’s eyes gleamed silver. “I’ve known for a while now, about the pack, about Lydia. About what you all are. I just never cared… until you made it personal.”

“You’re lying,” Maya whispered, backing up. “You can’t be….”

“A hybrid?” Cole tilted his head, letting the faint shimmer of his skin ripple as if something beneath it was fighting to break free. “Oh, sweetheart. I’m much worse.”

Peter lunged forward, but Cole barely moved. With a single swipe of his arm, he sent Peter flying across the room. He crashed into the bookshelf with a grunt.

“Peter!” Damien shouted.

Cole turned toward him, his expression unreadable. “You all thought you were the predators… but you’ve been prey this whole time.”

Then he moved.

It was a blur, he moved too fast for human eyes. Damien barely dodged his claws, tumbling sideways as Cole struck. Neo and Nate sprang into action, shifting partially, their eyes glowing, his growls ripping from their throats.

Jack grabbed Maya’s hand and yanked her behind the couch. “Get out! Now!”

“oh no…I'm going to kill this bastard!” she screamed.

Cole laughed, ducking a punch from Nate, twisting around to land a blow straight into Neo’s ribs. The crack echoed through the room, Neo crumpled.

“You think you’re special because you are wolves?” Cole hissed. “You were all playing in the dark, I was born from it.”

Damien growled, shifting fully mid-run. His black wolf form slammed into Cole, and they both went down in a violent tumble. Claws tore, his teeth snapped, blood trailed down his lips.

Maya stood frozen, shaking. “We can’t win.”

“Yes, we can,” Jack said, pushing a silver dagger into her hand. “If he bleeds, he can die.”

As if hearing that, Cole flung Damien off of him and stood, panting slightly. His face was slashed, but the wounds already stitched themselves together.

“Cute,” he sneered. “But not enough.”

"I'm going to kill you." Bryce shouted, lunging an attack at him.

Cole flickered his wrist, Bryce flew backwards smashing into the doorway.

Damien moved fast, he extended his claws and duged it into Cole's skin but Cole caught it midair, inches away from his ribs. Their gaze met each other.

"I'm going to get back at you for what you did to Lydia." Jack barked, lunging an attack at him.

"Look at you, this is what makes you weak." Cole whispered then he heard butter jack. Jack dropped to the floor, groaning loudly.

Only Maya was left standing, her claws extended ready to attack."You're going to kill me with that sweetheart?"

" Gladly."she whispered but loud enough for him to hear.

He lunged at her just as his claws swiped for her, peter pushed her and tackled Cole from the side. Cole punched Peter's ribs and jumped out through the window

“He was right there…” Neo murmured, voice cracking. “He really is the hybrid.”

Maya pressed her hands to her cheeks, breathing fast. “Why didn’t we see it? All of it...”

Bryce’s fists curled. “He knew everything and he waited until tonight to reveal it.”

Peter hovered close, his eyes wide. “We thought Lydia’s death was... a tragedy, an accident but he planned it. This means he knew I was going to come get him."

Damien’s eyes furrowed, he felt the walls close in. It was supposed to be us hunting him not the other way around.

Nate’s voice trembled. “What do we do now?”

Damien eyes furrowed."first we find a way to kill this thing and we prevent it from killing other people.

"It's Cole we are talking about, we have to prevent him from letting people find out about your secret and his too." Jack muttered, he shook his head in disbelief.

"This is going to be bad, very bad." Nate panicked.

" Cole can't do this alone , there must be someone ordering him and that someone must be very close to us." Damien eyes widened, his fist clenched beside him.

"I knew it, From the way he did Cole couldn't control the power of a hybrid, he would have been dead by now." Peter muttered.

" So we need to find the person pulling the strings,"Nate said, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Hope it doesn't end up to be our new coach." Jack muttered.