Chapter 69 Moonsilver Rising
Twelve enhanced wolves. All programmed to kill me. All moving in perfect sync like they shared one mind.
The pack scattered. Chairs overturned. People screaming. Pushing toward exits that suddenly wouldn’t open. Locked from the outside.
A trap. Just like Elena had warned.
Shift, my wolf urged. Now. Or we’re dead.
I shifted. Bones breaking. Reforming. The pain is distant now. Familiar. My silver wolf stood ready.
The enhanced wolves attacked as one. Coordinated. Efficient. No wasted movement.
Lycian met the first three. His gray wolf is massive. Powerful. But they were enhanced. Stronger. Faster. They dragged him down. Teeth find flesh.
Through the bond, I felt his pain. Sharp. Overwhelming. He was losing.
Help him, I thought at my wolf. Please.
Can’t fight and protect. Choose.
I chose both.
Silver light exploded from my body. Brighter than before. Hotter. It slammed into the enhanced wolves on Lycian. They yelped. Stumbled back. The light burned away their programming like acid on metal.
Three wolves collapsed. Shifted back to human. Gasping. Confused. Free.
The other nine hesitated. Recalculating. Then charged faster. Harder. Learning from the first group’s mistake.
Elena appeared from nowhere. Her black wolf slammed into two enhanced wolves. Taking them down. Buying me seconds.
But seconds weren’t enough.
An enhanced wolf hit me from behind. Teeth sinking into my shoulder. The same shoulder Elena had injured earlier. Fresh agony tore through me.
I twisted. Snapped at his face. Missed. He was too fast. Too trained.
Another wolf joined him. Then another. They swarmed me. Claws and teeth. Ripping. Tearing. My silver fur is turning red.
Let me have control, my wolf demanded. Full control. No holding back.
What will you do?
What we were designed for. What they fear.
I surrendered. Slid into the passenger seat. Watched my wolf take over completely.
She didn’t fight as I did. Didn’t try to minimize damage. Didn’t hesitate.
She fought like the weapon the Collective had tried to create. Pure. Brutal. Unstoppable.
The enhanced wolves couldn’t match her. She moved like liquid silver. Impossibly fast. Her jaws found throats. Her claws opened arteries. No mercy. No hesitation.
Within seconds, three more enhanced wolves were down. Dead or dying.
The remaining six backed off. Reassessing. Even programming had limits. Even weapons felt fear.
Thaddeus’s wolf stood on the platform. Watching. Those blank silver eyes are calculating. Then he howled again. Different pitch. Different command.
The enhanced wolves stopped attacking me. Turned toward the crowd instead.
Toward the pack members huddled against locked doors. Defenseless. Terrified.
No, I screamed. But my wolf was still in control. Still focused on the immediate threat.
The enhanced wolves charged into the crowd. Chaos erupted. Blood. Screaming. People are trying to fight back with human hands. Human weakness.
Damien appeared. His wolf is smaller but fierce. He threw himself between an enhanced wolf and a group of children. Took the hit meant for them. Went down hard.
Cade fought beside him. Then others. Loyal pack members defending their own. But they were outmatched. Outpowered.
We have to stop this, I begged my wolf. They’re killing everyone.
Then use the power. All of it. Stop holding back.
It almost killed me last time.
Better you die than watch them slaughter innocents. Choose.
I chose.
Pulled control back from my wolf. Forced myself to the surface. Then reached deep. Deeper than I’d ever gone. To the core of the Moonsilver power.
It was vast. Endless. Like touching the moon itself. Cold. Pure. Absolute.
I pulled it up. All of it. Let it flood through me. Through the bond. Through everything.
Silver light erupted. Not from my body this time. From everywhere. The walls. The floor. The air itself. Blinding. Beautiful. Terrible.
It touched every enhanced wolf simultaneously. They screamed. Thrashed. Fought against the purification.
But Moonsilver's power didn’t ask permission. Didn’t negotiate. It burned away corruption wherever it found it. Relentless. Unstoppable.
One by one, the enhanced wolves collapsed. The programming was destroyed. The enhancements were purified. They shifted back to human. Gasping. Free. Themselves again.
All except Thaddeus.
He stood on the platform. Still wolf. Still those horrible blank silver eyes. The light touched him. Burned him. But he didn’t fall.
He’s different, my wolf observed. Not just programmed. He is the program.
What does that mean?
He’s not a wolf with Collective modifications. He’s something else. Something they built from the ground up.
I shifted back to human. Exhausted. Bleeding. But still standing. “What are you? You’re not Thaddeus. Not really.”
The wolf shifted. But what emerged wasn’t Thaddeus. Not anymore. The face was wrong. Sharper. Colder. The eyes are still that horrible silver.
“Impressive.” The voice was Thaddeus’s but wrong. Like someone imitating him poorly. “You purified all my assets. Broke years of programming in seconds. The Moonsilver bloodline truly is remarkable.”
“Answer my question. What are you?”
“I’m what the Collective creates when a wolf volunteers. When they give themselves completely to the cause.” He smiled. Nothing human in the expression. “Thaddeus Valor died thirty years ago. I’ve been wearing him since.”
Lycian made a sound. Pain. Betrayal. Grief. All tangled together. His father. Gone. Dead for decades. And he’d never known.
“Why?” Lycian’s voice broke. “Why take his place? Why pretend?”
“Control. The Valor pack is powerful. Influential. Having an Alpha under our control gave us access. Resources. Subjects.” The thing wearing Thaddeus’s face gestured at the crowd. “All these wolves. Potential experiments. Potential assets.”
“You were going to kill them. Your own pack.”
“They’re not my pack. They’re inventory.” He pulled out a detonator. “Inventory that’s no longer useful gets liquidated.”
My heart stopped. “The building. You rigged it.”
“Of course. Can’t leave witnesses.” His thumb moved toward the button. “Goodbye, Elowen Hale.”
I lunged. Too slow.
But Lycian was faster. His gray wolf launched. Jaws closing on the wrist. The detonator fell. I grabbed it. “How do I disarm it?”
“You don’t.” He laughed. “Five minutes. Press it and blow the building now. Or wait and it detonates anyway.”
“Then we evacuate.”
“The doors are locked. Reinforced. You lose either way.”
Elena appeared beside me. “There’s a third option.”
“What?”
“We contain the blast. Channel it upward.” She pointed at the ceiling. “Collapse the supports. Vent it through the roof. Most people survive.”
“Most isn’t good enough.”
“It’s better than none.” She grabbed my shoulders. “I can do it. My programming included demolition training. I know where to strike. But I need time. Three minutes minimum.”
The thing smiled wider. “This is entertaining. Watching you scramble. Knowing it’s futile.”
Lycian’s jaws tightened on its wrist. Crushing. The thing barely flinched.
I made the decision. “Do it. Elena, prep the beams. I’ll buy you time.”
She ran. Shifted mid-sprint. Her black wolf is racing up the walls. Impossible angles. Claws find purchase on exposed beams.
I turned to the crowd. “Everyone gets low. Against the walls. Cover your heads. Now.”
Some obeyed immediately. Others hesitated. Confused. Scared.
“NOW,” I roared. Alpha command. Not mine. My wolf’s. It worked. The pack dropped. Covered. Waited.
Four minutes.
Elena worked fast. Her claws struck precise points. Weakening structures. Creating controlled failure points.
The thing that Thaddeus watched. Amused. “Even if this works, even if they survive, the Collective continues. We have facilities in twenty countries. Hundreds of assets. Thousands of subjects. Killing me changes nothing.”
“It changes everything.” I walked to the platform’s edge. “Because now they know. Now they’ve seen what you really are. What do you do? They’ll hunt you. All of you. Until you’re extinct.”
“Bold words from someone who’s about to die.”
Three minutes.
Lycian released the thing’s wrist. Backed away. Positioning himself between it and me. Ready to protect. To sacrifice. To do whatever it took.
I love you, I thought through the bond. Whatever happens. I love you.
Don’t you dare say goodbye. We’re both surviving this. His presence wrapped around mine. Warm. Solid. Together. Remember?
Together.
Two minutes.
Elena howled. Signal. The beams were ready. Weakened. Waiting for the blast to do the rest.
The thing tilted its head. “Interesting strategy. Might even work. Approximately sixty percent survival rate by my calculations.” It smiled. “The forty percent who die? Their blood is on your hands.”
“Their blood is on yours. And the Collective’s. Not mine.” I raised the detonator. “Any last words?”
“Just one.” The thing’s smile widened. “There are two more leaders. Still hidden. Still operating. They’ll finish what I started. You haven’t won. You’ve just delayed the inevitable.”
One minute.
I looked at the pack. Damien is bleeding but alive. At Cade protecting the wounded. At hundreds of wolves who trusted me. Who followed me? Who deserved better than this?
“Everybody down!” I screamed. “Cover your heads!”
Thirty seconds.
The thing laughed. “See you in hell, Luna.”
“You first.” I pressed the button.
The world exploded.