BACK IN THE CAMP OF THE LIZARD ALPHA.
The mirror showed him nothing he wanted to see.
Alpha Kayden stood alone in his chamber, running a clawed finger along the cracked glass. His scales caught the bioluminescent glow seeping through the window—moss green streaked with gold. His eyes, vertical slits of amber, stared back at him. They were empty, angry, exhausted and tired.
Three hundred years of this face.
He closed his eyes and breathed deep. Then he shifted.
The bones cracked first and his spine realigned. His jaw shortened and scales receded into skin like water disappearing into sand. Fur sprouted where there had been none. When he opened his eyes again, a man stared back from the mirror.
He had dark hair, pale skin and a face that women had once called handsome.
He touched his cheek. It was human skin. Warm, delicate and soft.
For three minutes, he was whole.
Then the scales crept back. The claws regrew. The man disappeared, and the monster returned.
Kayden slammed his fist into the wall and the stone cracked. He hid his face and his forked tongue came out in a hiss.
"I will find it," he hissed to no one. "The cure. The blood. The lycan. I will find it."
**********
The hunting party returned at dusk.
Kayden stood in the clearing—the same mossy floor where he had brought the virgin, Samantha, weeks ago. The same blue flames. The same hungry eyes of his people watching from the shadows.
Korvus, his grey-scaled lieutenant, stepped forward and bowed low.
"Five, my Alpha. All werewolf females. Taken from the northern packs at dawn."
Kayden looked past him. Five women knelt in the center of the clearing. They were bound, blindfolded and shaking. They had heard about the lizard Alpha too.
"Remove the blindfolds," he said.
Korvus obeyed.
The women blinked against the strange light. They were young. Too young. The smallest one could not have seen more than eighteen winters. Tears streaked her face. Another woman—dark-haired, sharp-jawed—glared at Kayden with hatred so pure it almost made him smile.
"You are here for one purpose," Kayden announced. He began to circle them slowly, his claws clicking against the stone. "Your blood. If it carries the ancient lycan gene, it will calm my beast and it will make me whole."
The dark-haired woman spat at his feet.
"You will never be whole, lizard. You are a curse wearing skin."
Kayden stopped circling. He looked down at the saliva on his claw. Then he looked at her.
"Korvus. Make her kneel properly."
Korvus grabbed her by the hair and forced her face into the moss. She struggled. He pressed harder.
"Do not resist," Kayden said softly. He knelt beside her, close enough that she could feel his breath on her neck. "Resistance makes the blood taste bitter. And I need it sweet."
He drew a claw across her forearm. She screamed. He collected the blood in a glass vial and handed it to a waiting attendant—a small, twitching lizard named Bryn.
"Test it. Now."
*******
The lab was a cave. It was dark, damp and filled with bubbling glass and ancient scrolls that crumbled at the edges.
Bryn worked quickly. He mixed the blood with a silver solution—watched it turn blue, then green, then it became grey and then black.
Then nothing.
His shoulders sagged. He had seen this too many times. Too many women. Too much hope. Too little lycan. All women had failed. Not once, bad any woman even showed signs that she had recessive Lycan genes inside of her.
He tested the second woman. It was gey. black and nothing.
The third was the ame.
The fourth was still the same.
By the fifth, Bryn's hands were shaking. He barely looked at the vial as he poured. The liquid turned grey and then nothing.
He did not bother telling Kayden. The Alpha already knew. The roar that echoed through the caves told him everything.
******
Back in the clearing, Kayden was destroying things.
A stone bowl shattered against the wall. A wooden chair splintered under his fist. His tail lashed so violently it knocked over a torch. The five women cowered and the servants fled.
Only Korvus remained.
"Three hundred years!" Kayden screamed. His voice was not human anymore. It was something older. Something broken. "Three hundred years of killing. Of bargaining. Of hoping. And for what? Nothing! Always nothing!"
Korvus said nothing. There was nothing to say.
Kayden stopped pacing. He looked at the five women. Their blood was useless. They were useless.
"Sell them," he said. His voice was flat now. Empty. "To the eastern markets. To the triplet Alphas. To anyone who will pay. I do not care. Just get them out of my sight."
The women were dragged away. The dark-haired one looked back at Kayden as they pulled her through the trees. Her eyes were not afraid anymore.
"Your curse will never break," she said. "Because you deserve it."
Kayden watched her go. He did not respond.
*****
Late night. The lizard pack was quiet. The Alpha wasn't in the mood for an orgy. Normally, everywhere will be filled with sex and arousal.
Kayden sat alone in his chamber. He had shifted again—human form, fleeting and fragile. He stared at his hands. His human hands for a few more minutes before the door creaked open.
Bryn entered. His scales were pale. Almost white. His hands trembled around a piece of parchment.
"Alpha Kayden," he said. His voice cracked. "I have some news. And you may not like it."
Kayden turned. His human eyes narrowed.
"Speak."
Bryn swallowed hard. He held out the parchment.
"It is about the first girl. The one from the river. The virgin. Samantha."
Kayden's expression shifted. Something flickered behind his eyes.
"What about her?"
Bryn's hand shook so badly the parchment rattled.
"The blood work we did before—the equipment was faulty. The ancient texts were wrong. We tested her against the wrong markers."
Kayden stood. He walked toward Bryn slowly. Each step was a threat.
"Speak plainly."
Bryn closed his eyes.
"Samantha is not just a werewolf, my Alpha."
He opened his eyes. They were filled with terror.
"She is a true lycan. The bloodline we have been searching for. For three hundred years."
The silence stretched. Kayden's human face went pale. Then red. His face suddenly became unreadable. What was he thinking?
"She is the one," Bryn whispered. "Her blood can calm your beast. Her blood can make you human."
Kayden stood frozen.
His human form began to shift. Scales crept up his arms. His face elongated and his eyes turned gold.
But he did not roar.
He smiled.
"Find her," he said quietly. "Whatever it costs. Whatever it takes. Bring her back to me."
Bryn bowed and fled.
Kayden looked at his hands one last time before the scales covered them completely.
"I am coming for you, little lycan."