Chapter 71 72
Hours later, we were still talking. Well, mostly she talked, and I stuffed very tiny honey biscuits into my face like a starved cavewoman. (No sass here. Just crumbs. So many crumbs.)
Barbie—thirteen thousand freakin’ years old—sat on a branch like some ancient history professor in sequins and gave me the crash course of my nightmares.
She told me about the ASA—Anti-Supernatural Agency. Humans with labs, syringes, and no chill. People who kidnapped supernaturals, drained their blood, and experimented to get powers, immortality, or whatever else their fragile egos demanded.
“They dissect us like animals,” Barbie said softly, her tiny hands curling. “They call it research. They call it progress. But it is only greed.”
I stopped mid-bite of my biscuit. “Wait. Hold up. ASA. That’s real?”
Barbie’s glitter dimmed. “All too real.”
My stomach dropped. I’d heard whispers, rumors in packs and back alleys, but never anything solid.
“They’ve been at war with us since before your grandmother’s grandmother was born,” Barbie continued. “But now… the laws of the supernatural world are unraveling. The treaties between species are cracking. And the humans—they are no longer afraid to strike first.”
I swallowed, biscuit crumbs stuck to my fingers. “Well, that explains a lot. Like why Black Fang’s been so desperate lately. They’re not just cultists—they’re middlemen.”
Barbie tilted her head. “Middlemen?”
“Yeah,” I said. “They catch, they sell, they smuggle. Someone like you would be a goldmine.”
Her wings drooped faintly, and for the first time she didn’t look like a glitter bomb. She looked… tired. Ancient.
“I was the only one left,” she said quietly. “My kin are gone. Some fled to the Otherworld. Most… perished.”
And that’s when I looked into her eyes.
Not the Barbie eyes, not the glitter, not the attitude. The eyes.
Deep, endless, shimmering with too many lives. Eyes that had seen kingdoms rise and burn. Oceans dry. Stars shift. Blood spilled. Children born. Friends lost.
I knew she wasn’t lying.
“Thirteen thousand years,” she whispered.
I let out a low whistle. “Damn. I can’t even commit to a gym membership for more than a month.”
Barbie’s mouth twitched. “You are a very strange creature.”
“Yeah,” I said, leaning back on my elbows. “But you like me.”
She sniffed. “I tolerate you.”
I grinned. “Same difference.”
For a second, the forest felt almost peaceful. Just me, a wolf-girl high on magic Red Bull, and the last fae on earth sitting under a massive enchanted tree. It was weirdly… nice.
But in the back of my head, my wolf was pacing. Because if ASA was out here, WolfGand Pack and Black Fang were sniffing around, this wasn’t just a random meet-cute with a sparkly immortal.
This was fate’s warning.
And I wasn’t sure I liked where it was going.
A few hours later.
You know how some people have peaceful mornings? Like, birds chirping, dew glittering, maybe coffee and pancakes?
Yeah. Not me.
I’d been in the damn forest for one day and one night—ONE—and I swear I’d gone from half-dead, naked mud troll to wolf-powered fae sidekick with a caffeine addiction. Still no trace of Alpha Gregor.
Meanwhile, Barbie was fluttering ahead of me, muttering something about “mystical ley lines” and “not stepping on mushrooms of power,” while I was behind her trying to brush burrs off my jeans and pretending I wasn’t still traumatized by the whole being covered in blood and dirt thing.
“This forest needs a spa,” I grumbled. “Preferably one with Wi-Fi, blankets, and absolutely no man-eating assassins.”
“Your aura is loud,” Barbie said, glancing over her glittery shoulder. “You are attracting attention.”
I sighed. “Barbie, I am attention.”
And that’s when the smell hit me—metal, smoke, and… tech.
The hairs on my neck rose.
“Wait,” I whispered. “You smell that?”
Barbie stopped mid-air, wings stilling. Her glow dimmed, and I saw it too: red lights blinking through the trees, faint hums of engines, and the soft crackle of radio static.
ASA.
Not wolves. Not fae. Humans. The kind that carried guns loaded with silver rounds and holy water vials that burned through supernatural flesh like acid.
“Stay behind me,” I hissed.
Barbie raised an elegant brow. “Darling, I was slaying monsters before your species discovered fire.”
“Cool,” I said. “Then let’s slay these guys quietly before they turn us into science projects.”
But quiet? Yeah. That didn’t happen.
Because the moment I crouched behind a tree and peeked through the branches, I saw them—six of them, armored up like a low-budget Marvel team. Big guns, black vests, and shiny ASA logos on their chests. One of them even had silver piercings. Stylish, but idiotic.
They were scanning something on a tablet, muttering. I caught a few words: “Target confirmed… hybrid scent detected.”
HYBRID.
They meant me.
“Oh hell no,” I whispered.
Barbie floated beside me, eyes narrowing. “They should not be here. This forest is bound by ancient wards.”
“Well, clearly your ancient wards need an update,” I muttered. “Maybe download the new security patch?”
Before she could sass back, the hum of an engine got louder—a Black Fang convoy.
Fantastic.
Humans and werewolves. Together. The unholy alliance of my nightmares.
The first shot cracked through the trees—silver bullet, sizzling past my ear and hitting a log behind me with a hiss.
“Oh, it’s on.”
I stripped my jacket off, yanked my boots loose, and gave Barbie a look. “Don’t judge me. You know what comes next.”
Her lips twitched. “You’re about to get naked, aren’t you?”
“Listen, if I’m going to fight, I’m not ruining these jeans twice!”
And before the poor fae could answer, I was already stripping down. “Close your fairy eyes, glitterbug, I’m about to ruin some lives.”
Barbie covered her face delicately. “Mortals have no shame.”
“Damn right.”
Then I shifted.
Bones cracked, fur erupted, claws sliced into the dirt. My wolf came roaring to the surface, amped up from that blue elixir, and she wasn’t here to play fetch. My wolf howled. Maybe calling for some divine back up or just being happy to be out again.
In a flash, I tore out of the brush like a hurricane with teeth, slamming into the nearest ASA soldier. His fancy vest? Worthless. My claws shredded through like paper. He didn’t even have time to scream before he hit the ground.
The rest turned, shouting, firing their shiny little weapons.
Silver rounds whizzed. Two grazed my shoulder—burning—but it barely slowed me. My wolf was too wired, too strong, too alive. Too powerful from that blue redbull thingy.
One soldier tried to jab me with a silver blade. Cute. I bit his arm off.
Then came the Black Fang. Massive wolves.
Okay, I have to play this right, they were warriors, massive and expert.
They came from the opposite side—half-wolves, half-mercs, growling and stinking of wolfsbane and dark serum.
“Oh great,” I snarled. “Party’s full!”
That’s when Barbie decided to show off.