Chapter 754: Chapter 754: Destroy The Wolves

Each of the remaining alphas glanced at one another, tension in their posture. A private meeting with the Alpha King was never delightful and they bet their ass they were going to regret this.

Elijah clasped his hands behind his back, deliberately weighing each of them in turn with those knowing eyes.

"I know you’re curious about this meeting. And you’re right to be uneasy because while the world is distracted by the virus, my concern lies elsewhere.... " he announced, "...With my heirs."

And there it was. The moment they had been dreading

"Have there been any developments," Elijah asked calmly, "regarding the whereabouts of the cardinal alphas?"

His eyes settled squarely on Irene.

"No," Irene answered without hesitation. "There’s been no sign. No trail. Nothing concrete."

Elijah studied her for a long moment. "So not even your priests or seers have spoken of my heirs’ location?"

Irene inhaled slowly. "The last time I consulted Alice, the seer, she told me only this: the boys are safe, and they will return when the time is right."

Elijah’s eyes narrowed. "She did not say where they are."

"No," Irene admitted. "She did not."

Silence pressed in again.

"And you," Elijah said quietly, "do not know where your son is."

Irene’s jaw tightened. "I’ve searched every place Griffin would reasonably go. And if he were able to return, he would have. Griffin would never torment me with silence." Her voice hardened. "That isn’t how I raised him."

Elijah hummed softly. "Mm. Is that so?"

He turned away, pacing once before stopping again. "Unfortunately, the times do not afford us patience. I need my heirs back. Now."

Once more the alphas shared a look, wondering how he was going to make that happen.

"To that end," Elijah said, "I will be employing witches to assist in tracking Patrick Elias Turner."

Heads turned up and stared at Elijah accusingingly. Werewolves and witches had never coexisted peacefully and associating with them was considered taboo at best.

But Elijah continued, unbothered with the looks on their faces, "And tomorrow, I will also ask those same witches to track down my heirs."

Irene stiffened. "Track them how?"

Elijah turned back to them. "with the help of each of your blood."

The reaction was instant.

"No."

"That’s not happening."

"You’ve lost your mind."

Their voices overlapped, filled with anger. Was Elijah kidding them right now?

Elijah raised his hand, his expression hardened. "Are you disobeying me?"

The room went cold.

Irene stepped forward first. "If you believe this demand is just, then make it publicly. Ask for our blood in front of our people, let’s see how that turns out, your majesty."

Leon shook his head. "I’m not a man of faith," he said, "but I believe in the goddess. And I will wait for my son to return when she wills it."

Caspian exhaled. "I would grant you any other request, your majesty. Any. But not this." He turned and walked away without another word.

Ezra didn’t speak at all, he simply shot Elijah a dark, dirty look, then turned and followed the others out of the hall.

The doors closed behind them one by one.

Elijah remained standing alone, staring at the empty space they’d left behind. His jaw clenched, his hands tightening at his sides.

Those ungrateful fools.

Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do in this case even with all his authority.

Meanwhile...

The forest which should have been quiet was alive with the sound of pursuit. The girl didn’t know how long she’d been running, only that stopping meant dying.

She screamed for help but none came.

Her family had been camping when the city wide alert was announced, and by the time they tried to flee, it was too late.

She was the only one left. Her parents had sacrificed themselves so she could escape. But now, it seemed like it was all in vain.

Behind her, shapes crashed through the trees. They were quite fast and many as well. There was nothing human about them, not with their wet and broken snarls. Not to mention, creatures like them should exist in movies and not in real life. Why was this happening to her?!

Right at that moment, she burst into a small clearing, and slammed straight into someone. The impact sent her sprawling backward and she hit the ground hard, pain flaring up her spine as she scrambled away on her hands.

Her heart leapt with fragile hope. There was someone.

"Please—" she sobbed, looking up.

And the hope died instantly.

The boy standing over her looked her age. But he was just like them, the infected. One side of his face twitched, the mouth pulling into a crooked smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

She screamed.

Immediately, the girl tried to get up and run but the infected emerged from the trees, forming a circle around her.

There were dozens of them, all with heads tilted at unnatural angles, and lips pulled back from teeth that looked sharper than they should be. They growled with such intensity you could feel their hunger.

"No," she whispered, shaking. "Please... please don’t."

They didn’t listen.

The boy stepped closer.

The girl’s chest heaved as she tried to crawl away, but his shadow swallowed her. He crouched, savoring the moment. Then he reached out, brushing down her cheek with unsettling gentleness.

"So beautiful," he murmured.

Her breath hitched. The voice was hoarse, and broken, but there was awareness there.

"Shh," he rasped. "Don’t cry."

She stared at him, confused, and terrified. For one fleeting second, she thought she saw something human in those eyes. Then his lips peeled back and pain exploded as his teeth sank into her flesh.

She screamed as he tore her flesh away and laughed manically. Then the others surged forward as if on command.

Hands grabbed and pushed her down, crushing her completely. The girl’s screams became muffled, frantic, then weaker as the infected descended in a frenzy of snarls and tearing sounds.

Noah straightened slowly as the last of the movement stilled.

He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, his chest rising and falling with satisfaction. Around him, the infected fed mindlessly, lost in their hunger.

Noah lifted his face toward the sky. The full moon watched him without judgment and he smiled.

The goddess made him for this purpose.

He’d destroy them all.