Chapter 177: Wrath of the Hybrid

"I don’t have enough antidote to bring everyone back, Alpha," Nina stated, her voice shaking with fear and panic.

Her mind-link had been closed off when Dorian tried to reach her earlier. Jake had to reluctantly leave to get her personally, before dragging her back to a mansion filled with rows of unconscious bodies.

Now, standing over Pandora and Henna, the raw panic that had gripped her when Jake first delivered the news clawed its way back up her throat.

She looked into Dorian’s glowing golden eyes, slowly shaking her head. "It would take hours to make enough antidote to awaken everyone. And I don’t have the raw resources here."

"There has to be something you can do right now!" Jake snapped from where he sat on the edge of the bed, cradling Henna tightly against his chest. "There has to be!"

Nina recoiled from the blistering fury in his voice, having never seen the beta so furious.

"Jake, control yourself," Dorian commanded softly. In truth, he understood the panic tearing through his beta. If Alyssa were the one lying silent in his arms, he would have burned the territory to the ground.

At the sudden thought of Alyssa, his heart seized in his chest. In the chaos of everything, he had completely forgotten the Academy, the orientation, and the speech he was supposed to make.

He patted his pockets, searching for his phone. It was empty. That was when he remembered dropping it on the dining table before storming upstairs with Jake.

He swept his gaze across the horrifying scene: Jake holding his unconscious mate, his sister lying so still, his gamma and his best friend collapsed unconscious on the floor, and a furious Luna waiting for him at the Academy.

He forced his mind to lock onto survival mode. He knew what had to be done.

"Nina," he ordered, his voice cold and steady. "Begin brewing whatever antidote you can with the resources you brought. When the first batch is ready, revive Anthony and Alec first."

Jake’s head whipped upward, his eyes wide and bloodshot. "Alpha. What about Henna?"

"Jake, listen to me," Dorian stepped closer, gripping his beta’s shoulder. "Henna will be safe. But Nina needs all the help she can get to gather the remaining resources for a full cure. Anthony and Alec can help her get them."

He squeezed Jake’s arm, his expression softening with desperate understanding. "Nina has to make enough for everyone. Please, Jake. I know you’re terrified for your mate, but Nina will bring her back the moment the antidote is complete."

Jake closed his eyes, a suffocating agony crushing his chest. The potion had severed the connection of the mate-bond, leaving a hollow silence where Henna’s presence used to be. It felt as though she were slipping away into the dark.

Slowly, he nodded.

Dorian gave his shoulder a firm, reassuring squeeze before turning away. "Nina. Get to work."

"Yes, Alpha," Nina whispered, dropping to her knees to empty her medical bag.

"Alpha," Jake called out hoarsely from the bed. "What about the Luna?"

"I’m calling André to fetch her and bring her back here where it’s safe," Dorian muttered, moving toward the door. "Whoever orchestrated this... they might target her next."

Before he could step into the hallway, Jake’s phone buzzed against the nightstand. Jake snatched it up, staring down at the screen with a deep frown.

"It’s André."

Dorian froze dead in his tracks. He spun around, marching back to the bedside just as Jake swiped to answer.

"Yes, André? Is everything alright?" A brief, tense silence followed. "No, the Alpha never left the mansion. He’s right here." Another pause, then his face drained of all color. "What?!"

Dorian lunged forward, nearly ripping the phone from Jake’s grip. But he didn’t need to listen; Jake was staring up at him, his face a mask of terror.

"Someone who looked exactly like you took the Luna away," he whispered, and the final pieces of the puzzle slammed together in Dorian’s mind.

His expression cracked, his golden eyes instantly bleeding out into pitch-black coals. A bloodcurdling roar ripped from his throat, making the windows tremble as he bolted out of the bedroom, completely ignoring Jake’s desperate shouts behind him.

All he saw was a crimson haze. He didn’t need to guess who had taken her. Someone wearing his face? It was Pilate. The fucking shapeshifter was back.

He threw himself into the armored SUV, slammed his foot onto the accelerator, and tore out of the driveway with murderous intent screaming in his veins.

Miles away, André was pushing the Bentley to its absolute limit, trailing the red tracking icon pulsing on his dashboard.

After witnessing the bizarre, chilling way the false Dorian had behaved outside the Academy, André’s gut had screamed that something was wrong.

His initial calls to the Alpha to confirm went unanswered, and he ended up calling the beta, only to discover the Alpha King had never left the estate. That was when he realized that the man who had just driven off with the Luna was the shapeshifter.

He had sprinted back to the Bentley, and now, watching the GPS beacon move toward the northern outskirts, he prayed that he wasn’t too late.

...

Alyssa hit the ground with a bone-shattering thud that knocked every ounce of air from her lungs.

The violent momentum threw her into a rolling tumble, causing the rough gravel to bruise her elbows and scrape the side of her face. When her body finally rolled to a halt, she was covered in bruises, the other heel still clinging to her foot.

Gasping through the white-hot pain that shot through her body, she forced her head up, blinking through blurred vision just as the SUV veered off the road and slammed head-on into a tree.

For a split second, she hoped Pilate had died on impact. But that hope shattered instantly when the driver’s door kicked open with a metal shriek. He was still alive.

Gritting her teeth until her jaw ached, she scrambled to her feet, wrenched the last heel from her foot, and staggered blindly into the thick shadows of the treeline.

She had no destination. She only knew she had to widen the distance between herself and the monster hunting her. Her phone was gone; her voice was useless out here in the wilderness. She could only pray for a miracle.

Behind her, the forest echoed with a deafening roar of fury. Pilate had transformed into his real self, his voice snapping back to its harsh, guttural timbre as he thrashed through the dense underbrush after her.

"COME OUT, YOU LITTLE BITCH!" he bellowed, his voice echoing eerily as he violently hacked at the vines and branches blocking his path. "I’M GOING TO ENJOY RIPPING YOU APART!"

Blood streamed from the wound on his temple where Alyssa had stabbed him with her heel. His face was a mask of unhinged, bloody rage, and he favored his left leg with a heavy limp.

Alyssa forced her legs to move, pushing herself forward, despite her lungs screaming for air. He was closing the distance. She couldn’t let him capture her. If he did, that would be the end of her.

Just as her vision began to swim and her knees threatened to buckle, a dark figure suddenly crashed out of the dense brush directly in front of her.

She screamed in terror and swung the heel with all her remaining strength to defend herself.

"Luna! Luna, it’s me!"

The familiar voice broke through the panic haze locking down her brain. She jerked her arms back, blinking rapidly as her eyes finally focused on the face before her.

André.

Relief hit her with such hard force that her legs completely gave out, sending her crashing to the forest floor.

"André..." she gasped, clutching her bruised ribs. "We... we have to run. He’s right behind us..."

"I’ve got you, Luna," André panted, stepping defensively in front of her, his claws sliding out. "I will protect you."

"No, you don’t understand!" Alyssa protested, her terror spiking. "He’s insane. He will kill us..."

Another dark shadow suddenly lunged out from the surrounding bushes. Before André could pivot, Pilate leaped straight onto his back and stabbed a silver dagger into his throat.

"NO!" Alyssa shrieked, her entire body paralyzed with horror as she watched Pilate wrench the silver blade free and plunge it back into André’s throat, twisting it with sadistic cruelty before bringing his weight down to cleanly sever the man’s head from his shoulders.

A geyser of blood sprayed violently across the damp earth, painting Alyssa’s frozen, trembling form in crimson. She sat paralyzed, eyes wide and glassy, watching André’s headless corpse collapse to the ground while Pilate stood astride it, clutching the severed head by the hair and grinning down at her like a maniac.

"There’s no escape for you this time, little girl," he snarled, completely oblivious to the way her body started to vibrate and convulse.

Inside her veins, something dormant and feral snapped awake.

The tears streaming down her face abruptly turned to blood. When she slowly raised her head to meet his gaze, the soft blue of her irises had completely vanished, replaced by glowing blood-red crimson orbs.

Her fingers twitched convulsively against the dirt, sharp claws tearing out from her nail beds.

Before Pilate could process the sudden shift, a sound tore from her throat; a bone-chilling blend of a wolf’s furious howl and a demon’s shriek.

She launched herself off the ground, tackling him backward with crushing force. Power flooded her system, setting her blood ablaze.

In a fit of pure rage, she drove her claws straight through his chest, crushed his ribcage, and ripped his beating heart clean out of his body.