Chapter 37 Hunting Julian (Declan POV)
Julian attention suddenly fixed on something else… probably Rowan being spirited away by Winters. Good. That was the point of buying time. Didn't make the impact hurt any less.
My father was on Julian in seconds, full Alpha wolf, silver-gray and massive. Catherine and David flanked him, three Alphas working in coordinated assault. It should have been overwhelming. It should have ended the fight immediately.
Julian flowed between them like water, like he could predict their moves before they made them. No pack bonds meant no pack coordination for him to exploit, no hierarchy to manipulate. He was a singular entity, unpredictable and devastating.
He couldn't win. Not against three Alphas. But he didn't need to win. He just needed to escape.
Which he did, vaulting over Catherine's lunge, using David's shoulder as a springboard, crashing through one of the high windows in a shower of glass and disappearing into the night.
"After him!" Garrett barked, already shifting back to human form. "Full search teams. Campus-wide sweep. I want him found and contained within the hour."
Guards scattered. Alphas coordinated. The Eclipse Chamber became a command center in under two minutes... impressive, really, how quickly trained wolves could organize when the threat was clear and immediate.
I pulled myself up, checking the damage. Bruised ribs. Claw marks across my shoulder that were already healing. Nothing critical. I'd live.
Vivian appeared at my elbow. "You okay?"
"Been better. You?"
"Terrified but functional." She had her phone out, typing rapidly. "Jordan's coordinating Ironwood search teams. Meredith's with the younger students, keeping them calm. Bethany volunteered to help since she knows the art building's blind spots."
"And Rowan?"
"Winters got her out through the servant's passage. Should be in his office by now, secured behind reinforced doors and wards."
Should be. I didn't like that qualifier.
"I need to join the search," I said.
"Declan." Vivian grabbed my arm. "You just got your ass handed to you by a chimeric wolf. Maybe sit this one out. Let the trained security… "
"He's my nephew." The words came out harder than I intended. "Elena's son. My responsibility."
"He's nobody's responsibility except the people who created him." But Vivian let go. "Fine. But take backup. And for god's sake, don't try to fight him alone again."
I nodded. Grabbed my jacket from where it had fallen during the fight, checked that Elena's journal was still in the inner pocket. Still there, pages crumpled but intact.
The campus outside was surreal. Red emergency lights painted everything in shades of blood and shadow. Security teams moved in coordinated sweeps, rifles at ready, communicating through headsets in clipped, professional tones. Students watched from dorm windows, faces pressed against glass, phones recording everything despite the lockdown orders.
This would be all over social media within the hour. Videos of Julian shifting, of him fighting three Alphas, of the chaos in the Eclipse Chamber. So much for keeping pack business private.
I joined the search team assigned to the eastern quadrant… old academic buildings, mostly unused at night, lots of places to hide. The team leader was a Silvercrest senior named Marcus, built like a tank, who nodded when he saw me approach.
"Hale. You're with Rodriguez. We're sweeping the chapel ruins first, then moving to the old library."
The chapel ruins. Of course.
We moved in formation… standard search pattern, three-person teams checking every shadow, every alcove, every space large enough to hide a wolf. My ribs ached with every breath, but I pushed through it. Pain was just information. I could process it later.
The old chapel loomed ahead, bell tower dark against the darker sky. It had been abandoned for decades… too expensive to maintain, too historical to demolish, so it just sat there slowly crumbling while the academy built newer, shinier facilities around it.
Perfect hiding spot.
Rodriguez covered the rear. I moved through the center aisle, scanning the empty pews, the broken altar, the collapsed portion of roof that let moonlight spill across the stone floor.
"Baptistry clear," Rodriguez echoed from the back.
"Checking the basement," I said.
The basement entrance was hidden behind the old vestry… a narrow door, half-rotted, hanging off its hinges. The stairs beyond descended into absolute darkness that my phone's flashlight barely penetrated.
I descended slowly, every sense on alert. My wolf was close to the surface, ready to surge if needed. The air down here was stale, thick with the scent of decay and old magic that had been left to ferment for too long.
At the bottom: a single room, maybe twenty feet square. Stone walls. Dirt floor. And covering every available surface…
Evidence.
Papers tacked to the walls, pinned to boards, spread across makeshift tables constructed from old doors and sawhorses. Photos. Maps. Documents. A cork board with red string connecting various points like something from a detective thriller.
This was Julian's base of operation. His planning room. His obsession made physical.
"How long has he been down here?"
"Weeks," I said, moving closer to examine the wall displays. "Maybe longer."
The first wall was dedicated to Project Chimera… photocopies of the same documents I'd found in the Forbidden Archive, but also others I hadn't seen. Medical reports. Psychological evaluations. Funding records showing money transfers from all three pack treasuries to a shell company that no longer existed.
The second wall tracked the suppressed students. Fourteen faces stared out from photographs… some recent, some clearly from years ago. Under each photo: a name, a current location, a status report.
Hannah Kimura - Portland, OR - Suppression ended 3/15 - Awakening in progress
Jennifer Reyes - Sacramento, CA - Deceased (2019)
Rowan Ashford - Thornhaven Academy - Awakening in progress
Meredith Kim - Thornhaven Academy - Awakening in progress
Bethany Park - Thornhaven Academy - Awakening in progress
The list went on. Of the fourteen original subjects, three were dead, seven were "awakening," and four remained suppressed by choice.
The third wall made my blood run cold.
Campus maps marked with X's at specific locations. The commons where Tyler died. Hendricks' office building. The South dormitory where Carter was killed. Each X had a date, a time, and detailed notes about guard rotations, camera blind spots, entry and exit routes.
This wasn't spontaneous violence. This was surgical precision. Every murder planned down to the minute.
And in the corner of that wall: the Concordance ceremony schedule.
Venue locations. Security protocols. VIP seating arrangements. Guard positions. Everything someone would need to coordinate a simultaneous attack across multiple sites.
Seven red circles marked on the map, labeled with names: Hannah, Thomas, Sarah, Christopher, Marcus, David, and one that made my stomach drop… Bethany Park.
Bethany, who'd stood up in the Eclipse Chamber and confirmed her suppression. Bethany, who was currently upstairs helping with the younger students.
Bethany, who was scheduled to undergo forced awakening during the Concordance ceremony in exactly forty-eight hours.
"Rodriguez," I called up the stairs. "Radio campus security. Tell them to find Bethany Park immediately. Keep her under guard. She's a potential target."
"On it."
I turned to the fourth wall. This one was different. Personal.
Photos of Elena covered every inch. Young Elena, maybe nineteen, holding a baby… Julian. Elena at Thornhaven, laughing with friends. Elena with James Cross, their heads bent together over lab equipment. Elena pregnant, hand on her belly, smiling despite the fear in her eyes.
And in the center, larger than the rest: a recent photo.
Elena Hale, seventeen years older than her execution date, very much alive.
She was standing in front of a small cabin, surrounded by pine trees, silver threading through her dark hair but otherwise exactly as she appeared in her journals. Healthy. Whole. Alive.
Coordinates were written across the bottom of the photo in Julian's handwriting: 48.7128° N, 121.4167° W
North Cascades. Deep wilderness. Completely off-grid.
My hand moved to pocket the photo before my brain caught up with the decision. This was evidence. I should report it. Should tell my father, should alert the search teams, should coordinate a rescue or extraction or whatever the protocol was for discovering executed pack members were actually alive and in hiding.
I pocketed it anyway.
Because Elena was my sister. Because whatever she'd done, whatever choices she'd made, she deserved to tell her own story. Because the Alphas had lied about her death for seventeen years and I'd be damned if I'd let them control the narrative about her life.