Chapter 98: The Signal That Never Came

Kaine waited near the apartment building with his men spread through the surrounding streets and side alleys.

No signal came from Garrick.

Minutes passed. Then more. The streetlights flickered against parked cars, and the upper windows of the building stayed quiet.

Traffic moved in the distance, but around this block the air felt tighter, as if the whole street was holding its breath. One of his subordinates finally stepped closer, restless.

"Boss, what happened? We still haven’t gotten any signal from Garrick."

Kaine kept his eyes on the upper floors.

"How long has it been?"

"Too long," the man said. "That woman is still inside. What are they still talking about?"

Kaine smiled, and the smile turned ugly.

"Idiot. Do you think he’s talking with her?"

His men fell quiet.

"Garrick’s impotence was cured," Kaine continued. "He’s a new man now. He’s probably enjoying his ex-wife a little. Leave him for some time."

A few of the men exchanged looks, but no one argued. None of them wanted to question Kaine when his mood turned sharp.

Before the subordinate could leave, Kaine raised a hand.

"Wait. Put two men at the front and two at the back of the building. If anything feels suspicious, alert us immediately. No mistakes. If she tries to leave alone, stop her. If Garrick moves strangely, report it at once."

"Yes, Boss."

The subordinate nodded and moved out at once, already signaling the others into position.

Footsteps scattered across the pavement as the group tightened their net around the building. Watchers took corners. Communicators stayed open. Every exit was covered.

Once Kaine was alone enough to speak freely, he muttered under his breath.

"Garrick... I almost pity you. You had such a beautiful wife and couldn’t even touch her properly."

His expression twisted further.

"Maybe before I hand her over to the lord, I can taste her myself."

The thought lingered in his eyes like hunger.

Inside the apartment, the air had already changed.

Garrick stood before Roxanna as an eight-foot beast. Thick fur covered a body that no longer looked human. His shoulders filled the room.

Claws scraped faintly against the floor as he shifted his weight. His shadow stretched across the carpet and climbed the wall behind her until it covered half the space.

The old furniture, the faded curtains, even the ceiling light looked smaller under him.

Roxanna stared, unable to hide the shock.

"What happened to you?"

The creature that had once been her ex husband tried to speak. His voice came out rough and low, half-animal, like sound forced through a throat that no longer belonged only to a man. Even so, she could understand him.

"Roxanna... we don’t have time," Garrick said. "I’ll tell you shortly."

"Then talk," she said. "Now."

He took one heavy step closer. The floorboards creaked under the new weight of his body.

"After you left... after we separated... I got an offer from a secret organization. They invited me in. They said they could change me into this form and give me supernatural power."

Roxanna’s eyes hardened.

"And you accepted that?"

"I wanted to refuse," Garrick continued. "At first, I did. But they told me this would cure my impotence. They made it sound simple. One change, one new body, one solution. So I took the shortcut."

Before he could go further, Roxanna cut him off.

"Garrick, your impotence was never the real problem." Her glare did not soften. "You were the cause of our separation. You need to understand that."

The beast went still.

For a moment, only his breathing filled the room.

Then Garrick lowered his head slightly.

"Yes. I think I understand it now. That’s why I want to help you."

"Help me how?" Roxanna asked.

His breathing was heavier than before, but his words stayed clear enough.

"There is a man named Kaine. He runs this organization here. I think he has a boss above him, but I never saw that person.

All I ever dealt with was Kaine. He gives the orders. He chooses the targets. He handles the people who get pulled in."

Roxanna listened carefully now.

"What do they want?"

"Their targets are young people who are still pure... and powerful people who have awakened," Garrick said. "This organization has numbers.

Even strong hunters have been taken down by them. How strong they truly are, I still don’t fully know.

But they are not ordinary criminals. They plan. They surround. They wait until the target has no clean way out."

His glowing eyes locked on her.

"And their current target is you. After the media spread your SS-Rank awakening everywhere, their focus turned to you. They found information about us and approached me."

Roxanna’s fingers curled slightly at her side.

"So this meeting was a trap."

"Yes," Garrick admitted. "From the beginning. At first, I wanted to show you my new power. I also..." He hesitated, shame roughening the animal edge of his voice.

"I also wanted to control you and keep you. I wanted you to come back to me. Or maybe I just wanted to hurt you for leaving."

Silence pressed between them.

"And now?" Roxanna asked.

"After we talked, I changed," Garrick said. "I understand now. I’m sorry, Roxanna. I was never once good to you. We had almost fifteen years together, and I still failed to see the real you."

For a moment, Roxanna’s expression softened.

At least he had changed this much. At least the man inside the beast could still recognize what he had done wrong. That did not erase the past, but it gave her one clear path forward.

"Leave all of that aside," she said. "We have to escape this place. And I need to tell Daemon and the others about these people."

Before she could open communication, Garrick’s head snapped toward the window.

He sniffed the air once.

Then again.

His ears twitched. His claws flexed. Every part of the beast body tightened as if the night outside had suddenly filled with hostile scent.

"They’re coming."

Roxanna barely had time to respond.

"Garrick—"

He seized her, turned, and smashed through the window in one violent motion. Glass exploded outward into the night air as he leapt from the twentieth floor with her locked against his chest.

Cold wind rushed past them. The city lights blurred. Below, Kaine’s men stationed around the building stared upward in shock as the massive silhouette cut through the dark.

One of them raised a communicator at once, voice sharp with panic.

"Boss! Contact confirmed! Garrick jumped from the twentieth floor with the woman!"