Page 33 of Their Mate
She hesitated again, her body tensing as though preparing for a physical blow. “You ever heard the stories? About wolves who aren’t wolves at all, but something older, stronger, maybe even cursed?”
Edward’s gaze darkened sharply and his brows met in a scowl. “You’re talking about lycans. We’ve already dealt with lycans. They’re dangerous, but we’ve survived worse.”
She shook her head sharply, almost violently, frustrated. “No. Not just lycans. A creature more dangerous than anything you’ve ever faced. There are feral wolves, then there are lycans… and then there’s him.”
A chill crawled slowly down my spine, unease prickling beneath my skin at the haunted intensity in her eyes. Logan exchanged tense looks with Edward and me, clearly as unsettled as I felt.
Logan’s voice dropped lower. “Who is he?”
She stared up at us, expression fierce yet haunted, the reluctant truth emerging from her perfect lips in a tight whisper.
“My group—the Watch—we’re fully aware of lycans. We’ve studied them, hunted them, contained them where possible. But the game has changed.” Her gaze turned briefly distant. “They were just rumors at first, just fragments of intel here and there that we dismissed until the bodies started piling up.”
“What rumors?” Edward asked quickly, his military discipline guiding his questions like precision bullets. “Who’s responsible for the killings?”
She blew out a breath, visibly frustrated at having to share her secrets, but knowing the time had passed for concealment. “We call him the Elder Lycan. There were whispers and old stories about him. He didn’t just shift into a lycan; he mutated into a monster.”
Edward focused intensely on Sera’s face. “Explain.”
“The first true lycan,” she clarified, her voice grim. “Not just part man, part wolf. This one was monstrous. When he bites—human or shifter—his victims transform into lycans, twisted into creatures that are no longer wolves nor humans, but mindless killing machines. They’re completely feral.”
I exchanged a tense glance with Logan, dread twisting in my gut. “We’ve seen lycans. Vicious, strong, but we’ve taken them down.”
“You haven’t seen him,” she snapped. “He’s not like the others. He can think, use reason. He’s intelligent and is still in complete control of himself. He’s strategic, methodical, capable of planning, patience, and restraint. He’s been building an army.”
Edward frowned deeply. “An army?”
She shook her head sharply. “That’s the problem. His bite transforms the victim—human or wolf—but they don’t survive long. Three, maybe five years at most before their bodies burn out. It’s the only reason he hasn’t overwhelmed us yet. But even without a stable army, at least notyet,he’s still too powerful to ignore.”
Logan’s expression darkened. “Then what does he want?”
She hesitated briefly, uncertainty flickering again in her gaze. “We’re not entirely sure, but from everything we’ve gathered, he seems fixated on destruction and chaos. And now he’s here, right in the heart of Ireland, turning wolves and humans alike into lycans, feeding his madness and leaving a trail of death and destruction.”
Edward studied her carefully, clearly reassessing her entirely. “And your group, this Watch—you’ve made it your job to protect humanity from threats like him?”
“We have,” she answered steadily, holding his gaze. “We’re the last line of defense. We contain threats. Neutralize them when we must. I’ve spent years hunting wolves because they threatened human survival. But this…” She trailed off, her voice catching briefly before regaining its iron steadiness.
I blew out a long breath, exchanging quick looks with Logan and Edward. This night had taken a dark, complicated turn. “Sounds like we’ve got a shared enemy,” I murmured, meeting her gaze seriously.
She nodded slowly, clearly still conflicted, but recognizing the truth. “If we want any chance of stopping him, we’ll need each other.”
Edward’s expression turned grimly determined. “Then we’d better get to work. Starting with finding out exactly where this Elder Lycan is hiding.”
Logan released her arm slowly, his eyes locked firmly on her face. “You have any leads?”
“A few,” she admitted softly. “And one of them points right into the bowels of the city.”
Silence fell briefly among us, the weight of the revelation settling heavily. Logan stepped closer, expression intense. “If you’re really with us now—no more secrets. Agreed?”
She met his gaze squarely, fire briefly flaring in her eyes before grudgingly nodding. “Agreed.”
“Is there anything else you know that we need to know?” I pressed.
She hesitated for a moment, glancing between the three of us warily, as though fighting every instinct she had. Eventually, she sighed audibly, reluctantly giving in. “This creature, this Elder Lycan thinks, reasons, strategizes. But more important, his bite is different.”
Logan narrowed his eyes sharply. “Different how?”
She glanced away briefly, tension visible in every line of her frame. “When he bites someone—human or wolf—they turn lycan. No exceptions. It’s not like a regular wolf bite or even a normal lycan bite. There’s no resisting, no fighting it off once you’re bitten.”
