Chapter 51 Chaos Unleashed (Rowan POV)
The three that Bethany's pack had managed to reach were holding steady, visibly fighting feral instincts but maintaining enough control not to attack. But the three others… Hannah and two more I hadn't identified yet… were pure chaos.
I ran on four legs toward the nearest one, a wolf with sandy-colored fur who was cornering a group of terrified Silvercrest students against the amphitheater wall. From his size and the scent underneath the feral rage, I recognized him: Thomas Kim. Sophomore. Quiet kid who sat three rows behind me in History of Pack Law.
He'd had no idea he was suppressed.
Now he was seconds away from killing six people.
Security teams were converging, rifles raised, fingers on triggers loaded with silver. I had maybe ten seconds before they opened fire.
I put on a burst of speed… wolf-fast, faster than I'd known I could move… and slammed into Thomas's side. We went down in a tangle of fur and claws, rolling across the ground. He snapped at me, teeth catching my shoulder, tearing through fur and skin. Pain flared bright and immediate.
I didn't attack back. Didn't fight. Just pinned him with my weight and projected as hard as I could: Pack. Safe. Not enemy. PACK.
Thomas's wolf was pure instinct. No human thought left. Just hunt-kill-survive. He thrashed beneath me, trying to get leverage, trying to reach my throat.
I held firm. Let him exhaust himself fighting. And kept projecting: Pack pack pack not-threat pack safe pack.
The mate bond with Declan flared. His strength bleeding into mine. His wolf recognizing what I was trying to do and lending me power. Not just my presence anchoring Thomas. Declan's too, filtered through our bond.
Thomas's thrashing slowed. Not stopped, but less violent. His eyes… pure gold, no human consciousness visible… flickered with something that might have been recognition.
Pack? A question. Tentative. Confused.
Yes, I sent back. Pack. You're pack. We're pack. Safe.
He went still beneath me. Just breathing hard, chest heaving, but no longer fighting.
I carefully, very carefully, shifted my weight off him. Gave him space. Watched to see if he'd attack the moment I wasn't pinning him.
Thomas stood. Shook himself. Looked at the Silvercrest students he'd been about to attack… they were frozen against the wall, too terrified to run. His lip curled. Instinct still saying prey.
I moved between them. Blocked his line of sight. No. Pack protects. Not hunts.
Thomas's wolf whined. Confused. Frustrated. The instinct to hunt was strong. But the new connection… fragile, barely there… was stronger.
He turned away from the students. Looked at me. What now?
Good question.
Around us, chaos continued. I could hear Bethany's voice… human, she must have shifted back… shouting instructions to her pack. Sarah and Christopher were tag-teaming another feral wolf, trying what I'd just done. Marcus had positioned himself as a living barrier between the remaining feral wolves and the fleeing crowd, his massive wolf form intimidating enough to make even feral instincts reconsider.
The three Alphas were on their platforms, trying to restore order through Alpha voice commands that only worked on traditionally bonded wolves. The feral ones couldn't hear them. Had no pack structure to respond to.
Hannah stood in the center of the amphitheater, still calm, still controlled, facing the cameras that were broadcasting this disaster worldwide. She'd shifted back to human… naked, unbothered by it, clearly having planned this moment. When she spoke, her voice carried through the chaos with supernatural clarity.
"My name is Hannah Kimura. I am twenty-three years old. Seventeen years ago, I was taken from my parents and placed in Project Chimera… an illegal program run by all three pack Alphas to suppress wolf children and turn them into controllable assets. I was dosed with chemical suppressants from age six until age nineteen. I was told I was human. I was told the wrongness I felt was mental illness. I was lied to. Erased. Broken."
The remaining feral wolves… I could see them now, two more besides Thomas and Hannah, both being corralled by security and volunteer wolves… paused at Hannah's voice. Not calming exactly. Just... listening.
"These seven students shifting in front of you tonight were dosed without their knowledge," Hannah continued. "Given accelerants that forced their wolves to emerge whether they wanted it or not. Two are already dead, killed by security teams with silver bullets. The survivors will either be captured and imprisoned, or they'll be killed too. All because the pack system fears what it created. Fears the truth. Fears children who were made into weapons and then discarded when they became inconvenient."
Cameras zoomed in. This was being broadcast live. Millions of wolves watching. Humans watching. Everyone seeing the proof they couldn't deny.
Garrett Hale's voice boomed across the amphitheater, amplified by magic: "This is a terrorist attack. Julian Cross has orchestrated mass violence to destabilize the Concordance. Do not believe his propaganda. These students are victims of his manipulation, not ours."
"Then why did you suppress them?" Hannah shot back. "Why dose children for years without their consent? Why erase pack records so their families couldn't find them? Why murder the parents who discovered what you were doing?"
She pulled out a phone from wherever she'd hidden it. Held it up.
"This contains everything. Every document. Every file. Every piece of evidence proving Project Chimera existed and operated with full Alpha approval for two decades. Julian Cross was going to release it automatically. But I'm releasing it now. Uploading to every media outlet, every pack territory, every human government that regulates supernatural communities."
She pressed something on the screen.
"The world knows now. You can't bury this. You can't lie your way out. The system is exposed. And it's over."
Chaos erupted again… different this time. Not panic. Outrage. Pack members shouting at their Alphas. Delegates demanding answers. Human observers frantically recording everything. The carefully choreographed Concordance dissolving into accusations and anger and absolute systemic breakdown.
I felt Declan through the bond: Are you okay?
Physically yes. Everything else no. You?
Same. I'm with my father. He's... I've never seen him like this. Lost. The exposure is breaking him.
Good, I sent back. Maybe that was cruel. But Garrett Hale had ordered Elena's execution. Had participated in Project Chimera. Had lied for seventeen years. If this broke him, it was deserved.
Thomas nudged my shoulder. Still pack?
Still pack, I confirmed. Come on. Let's find the others.