Chapter 110 Chapter 110

Chapter 110 Chapter 110
The high school gymnasium smelled of floor wax, stale sweat, and the heavy rubber of basketballs bouncing rhythmically against the hardwood. The high windows near the ceiling let in long, dusty shafts of afternoon light, illuminating the microscopic particles floating in the air. To any regular human student, it was just the third-period gym elective. But the atmosphere inside the room was far from normal.
High up on the wooden bleachers, sitting entirely by himself in the dimmest corner of the upper rows, was The One. He sat with his back resting against the concrete wall, one leg lazily draped over the metal bench below him. His dark school blazer was unbuttoned, his white shirt collar open, and his stark, snowy hair fell forward, partially obscuring his sharp features. He didn't have a gym uniform. He didn't have a notebook. He simply sat there, a silent, predatory specter watching the human activity below with an expression of supreme, icy boredom.
Down on the court, the heavy double doors creaked open. Koda and Kai walked inside, their matching school bags slung over their shoulders. The two werewolf brothers were still tense from the morning's events at the breakfast table, their senses hyper-alert. The moment they stepped onto the polished wood, the hairs on Koda’s arms stood up. He didn't even have to look up at the bleachers to know the entity was there; the localized drop in temperature near the basketball hoops gave it away immediately.
Before the brothers could find a quiet corner to sit down, a group of varsity boys jogged over to them. One of the guys was spinning a basketball on his index finger, his face flushed from a previous scrimmage.
"Hey, Koda! Kai!" the boy called out, catching the ball and holding it against his hip. "Are you guys playing today? The regional school competition is coming up fast, and the coach is breathing down our necks. We still haven't even picked the team captain yet. We need to figure out who is running the floor."
Before Koda could answer, a tall, broad-shouldered senior named Scott stepped to the front of the group. Scott was the alpha of the human social circle—arrogant, physically imposing, and entirely used to getting his way. He wore his varsity jersey with a smug pride, a patronizing grin plastered across his face as he looked down at the brothers.
"Honestly, we don't even need to hold a vote," Scott suggested, crossing his arms over his chest. "It should just be me. I had the highest shooting percentage last season, and everyone knows I run the offense anyway. It's only logical."
Koda stopped dead in his tracks. He slowly tilted his head, letting out a loud, dramatic scoff before rolling his eyes so hard it looked painful. "Highest shooting percentage? Are you serious, Scott? If your stats include missing half your free throws because you refuse to pass the ball, then yeah, sure. You're a real MVP."
The surrounding boys let out a collective, quiet Oooo, their eyes darting between Koda and Scott.
Scott’s smug smile instantly vanished, his jaw tightening as a dark flush of anger crept up his neck. He stepped closer to Koda, trying to use his height to intimidate him. "You need to watch your tone, Koda. Seriously. I don't know what kind of attitude problem you brought back from that summer camp, but you should remember who you're talking to. I am not afraid of you."
Koda let out a sharp, mocking smirk. The irony of a human teenager trying to threaten a werewolf who had spent the last ten years housing an ancient demon was almost too funny to handle.
"Really?" Koda said, his voice dropping into a dangerously quiet register as he took a step forward, bringing his face inches from Scott's. "You're not afraid of me? That's funny, Scott. Because I seem to remember a distinct night in the woods behind the old stadium last semester where you and your little friends tried to corner me. And if I recall correctly, I beat the absolute hell out of all of you. You were crying on the gravel by the time I was done."
Scott’s face turned from red to a furious purple. The memory of that humiliation was a massive bruise on his ego, one he had spent all summer trying to bury.
"You know what? You're just a lunatic, Koda!" Scott uttered, his voice cracking slightly under the weight of his rage. "You and your whole damn circle. You're unstable."
"What did you say?" Koda scoffed, his golden werewolf eyes flashing with a dangerous, predatory spark for a fraction of a second. The insult sliced through his remaining patience. He walked forward aggressively, his chest colliding with Scott’s shoulder.
"Whoa, hey! Back off!" Scott yelled, shoving his hands forward to push Koda back.
Instantly, the gymnasium erupted into chaos.
"Koda, stop! Don't do it here!" Kai yelled, lunging forward to wrap his strong arms around his younger brother's torso, pulling him back before his claws could accidentally slip out in front of twenty human witnesses. "Calm down! He's not worth a suspension on day one!"
On the other side, the rest of the varsity players quickly swarmed Scott, grabbing his arms and holding him back as he tried to lung forward. "Scott, chill out! The coach is literally in the office next door! Don't throw a punch!"
"Let me go!" Scott barked, jerking his shoulders violently against his friends' grip. He glared over them at Koda, his voice echoing off the high gym ceiling. "You're not a big shot, Koda! Stop acting like you're more important than me! You're just a freak who thinks he owns this school!"
"Well... technically, he is."
The voice didn't come from the court. It didn't even sound like it came from a human throat. It was a smooth, melodic, and chillingly quiet utterance that somehow cut through the shouting, the squeaking sneakers, and the echoing basketballs like a razor through silk.
The entire group went dead silent.
The varsity boys slowly turned their heads, their grips loosening on Scott as they looked toward the center of the three-point line.
The One was suddenly standing right there. Nobody had seen him walk down from the bleachers. Nobody had heard his footsteps. One second the space was empty, and the next, he was occupying it, his tall, lean frame casting a long, unnaturally dark shadow across the polished wood.
Scott blinked, his anger momentarily replaced by confusion as he stared at the strange boy. "Who the hell is this?" he scoffed, wiping a streak of sweat from his forehead.
One of the varsity players standing behind Scott leaned in, his voice trembling slightly. "That's... that's the new guy. The transfer student. Koda and Kai's brother, I think. He registered this morning."
Scott narrowed his eyes. He took a slow, deliberate step forward, looking at The One from up to down. He took in the pristine, expensive fabric of the unbuttoned blazer, the pale, almost translucent skin, and the wild, snow-white hair that partially covered his face. To Scott, the guy looked like an eccentric freak who didn't belong in a sports facility.
"A brother?" Scott uttered, a nasty, derogatory sneer cutting across his face. "So... you're all lunatics in your family, then. Is that a genetic thing with you guys?"
Koda and Kai both held their breath, their hearts stopping in their chests. They knew exactly who—and what—The One was. They knew the unfathomable depth of his malice, and they knew that a single snap of his fingers could turn Scott into a pile of red dust. Koda braced himself, waiting for the bloodbath to begin.
But The One didn't attack. Instead, he slowly tilted his head, his white fringe shifting just enough to reveal the bottomless, terrifying black voids of his eyes. A faint, incredibly patronizing smirk played on his lips.
"As much as you all are pathetic people here," The One uttered, his voice carrying a heavy, vibrating resonance that made the water bottles on the nearby bench rattle. He took a slow, elegant step toward Scott, his aura expanding until the air in the gym grew so cold the boys could see the faint wisps of their own breath. "I still acknowledge my brothers to be better than you guys."
Koda's jaw practically dropped. He stood frozen in Kai's grip, his golden eyes wide with absolute, unadulterated shock.
Brothers?
The word echoed in Koda's mind like a physical blow. He knew how much the entity despised them. He knew that The One blamed Alpha Marcus for the destruction of his ancient family, for the murder of his mother, and for the ten long years of imprisonment inside Koda's own soul. The One had spent the entire morning threatening them, asserting his toxic, possessive dominance over Harper, and treating the entire pack like insects beneath his boot.
Yet here he was, standing in a human gymnasium, publicly claiming them. It didn't make any sense. Was it a trick? A sick, twisted game to gain their trust before he pulled the rug out from under them?
Scott, completely blind to the supernatural danger standing three feet away from him, felt his pride take a massive hit. To be called "pathetic" by a pale, white-haired transfer student in front of his entire basketball team was completely unacceptable.
With a furious grunt, Scott violently jerked his hands away from the people holding him, stepping right into The One's personal space.
"Who the hell are you calling pathetic?" Scott scoffed, his chest puffing out as he tried to look dominant.
"You," The One said simply, his voice entirely flat, devoid of any fear, any hesitation, or any human emotion whatsoever.
A sharp, collective Ooooiii! erupted from the back of the varsity crowd. The human boys were completely stunned by the new guy's absolute lack of survival instincts. Nobody talked to Scott like that on the home court.
"You want to fight or something, whitey?" Scott yelled, his fists clenching at his sides as he leaned in, his hot breath catching the icy air radiating off the entity. "You think because you're new you can just walk in here and insult my team? I will lay you out right on this floor."
The One didn't flinch. He didn't raise his hands, and he didn't drop his smirk. He simply looked down at Scott with the cold, detached pity of a scientist looking at a bug under a microscope.
"Oh, no," The One said coldly, his voice dropping into a register that was so dark, so ancient, it didn't even sound human anymore. The shadows along the gym walls seemed to stretch toward the court, mimicking his movement. "I don't think you will want to go down that road, little boy. Because some roads... end up leaving you entirely crushed."
The sheer, freezing malice behind the words was like a physical blow. Scott froze, the words dying in his throat as a sudden, inexplicable wave of primal terror flooded his system. He didn't know why, but looking into those black eyes, his instincts were suddenly screaming at him to run for his life.
The gym doors clicked open at the far end of the court, the coach's loud whistle echoing through the space, breaking the terrifying spell before a single drop of blood could fall.