Chapter 18 Killian
Crane was pale as a ghost.
No color. Hollow. Empty.
“How is it possible?” she whispered, staring at the photo. “He lied…”
“What did he tell you? About his past, and yours?” Cade asked.
“Not much. I knew my dad had worked for Arca as a doctor, but he swore Command had always stationed him in Falcon City. They allowed him an honorable discharge so he could open a clinic for pregnant women. Birth rates were dropping, omegas becoming rarer. Arca needed better healthcare in the city. Supposedly, he met my mom shortly before he opened the clinic. I was born just a year after they met.”
“So he would have met her roughly twenty-seven years ago…” Cade said, “a year before you were born. That's right around the time Arca decommissioned this base and…” He paused, flipping through Melker’s notebook. “Melker dated his last entry right around that same time.”
Rowan grabbed a dusty stapler from the desk.
She smashed the picture frame’s glass with the butt.
Then shook the shards free and pulled out the photo to inspect.
“There’s a date on the back,” she said. “This picture was taken here, only a few weeks before I was born, at the exact time my father told me he was in Falcon City opening his clinic. He lied!”
“It seems so,” Cade said. “We need to check the personnel files and identify everyone in this photo. Names. History. Roles. All of it. But our time is up. We've gotten lucky not running into anything, and I'm not pushing it. We're leaving.”
Crane opened her mouth to protest.
Cade shot me a look.
So I stepped forward, scooped up Little Bird, and threw her over my shoulder.
No time for arguing.
“Killian, let me go! We can't just leave! I have so many questions!” she yelled, her small fists pounding on my back.
“No,” I grunted, tightening my hold. “We go. Now.”
“Put me down!” she snapped, kicking her feet.
I grunted. “You can question later. Alive.”
Crane growled in frustration.
I carried her out anyway.
Kicking and screaming.
We headed for the lab doors.
Moved the tables. Opened the doors.
Stopped.
A loud crash echoed through the hallway.
A growl followed.
I scented the air. Putrid. Foul. Metallic.
“Direworg,” I whispered. “Getting closer.”
It stood at the end of the hall.
Huge tusks.
Claws scraping stone.
Hungry eyes on us
Ryker raised his gun, about to fire.
Before he could pull the trigger, something barreled into the beast from the side.
Hard. Fast. Violent.
Both creatures tumbled out of sight, a blur of claws and screeches.
The direworg cried, high and broken, the sound echoing down the long hall.
Whimpering.
Then silence.
No one moved.
No one breathed.
The shadows at the far end shifted.
And the thing that killed the direworg stepped into view.
It slinked forward on all fours.
Muscles tight under stretched skin.
Bones hard as steel.
Claws long and hooked, sharp as blades.
Teeth gleaming like metal in the dark.
A predator of predators.
A wraith.
Sleek, muscled, silent.
Oily jet-black fur.
Long agile tail.
Six eyes to see everything in every direction.
All of them fixed on us.
Cade didn't hesitate shouting, “FIRE!”
Bullets hit, but not enough.
The hide was too dense.
Armor like skin.
The thing slipped between shots, crawling along the walls, skittering across the ceiling.
Fast. Stealthy. Impossible to track.
Talon shifted instantly and slammed into it.
Claws and teeth crashed together in a vicious blur.
I set Rowan down and signed, Hide. Stay. Do not come out.
She actually listened, rushing back into the science lab.
I sprinted to help Talon.
But movement flashed down the hall.
More Teeth. Six more eyes. A low hiss.
A second wraith rounded the corner.
“Another one!” Ryker yelled, firing.
Cade charged.
Ryker flanked.
They drove it back step by step down the hall.
“Light it up!” Cade barked.
They unloaded.
Black blood splattered the walls.
The wraith crumpled, convulsed, and dropped still.
Dead.
I turned back to Talon.
He had the first one nearly pinned, but it snapped at his throat.
I grabbed its shoulders, forcing it down.
Talon tore out its throat.
Blood splattered.
Dead.
“Two fucking wraiths?” Ryker said, wiping black blood splatter from his uniform. “Didn’t know they played nice.”
“They don’t,” Cade said, nudging one corpse with his rifle. “Look how thin they are.”
Talon shifted back, covered in gore. “They're starving,” he agreed. “I can taste it.”
“Crane,” I grunted, turning toward the science lab.
Something dropped from the ceiling.
Soft. Fast.
A long black tail curled around the door frame before sliding inside.
“Third one!” I yelled, running.
Needed to get to her.
Before I could, a scream echoed through the hall.
More screeching. Snarling.
“Rowan!” Cade yelled behind me.
Too late.
I rounded the corner just as orange fur collided with black.
Rowan’s wolf and the wraith rolled together in a blur.
“Don’t shoot!” Talon shouted.
The creatures locked together.
Rowan’s teeth sank deep into its neck.
Anchoring herself.
The wraith whipped her hard against the wall.
She whimpered.
But before any of us could move, she lunged again.
No hesitation.
No fear.
She bit deeper, clamping down harder on its throat.
The wraith tried to sling her again.
And tore its own throat out on her teeth.
It collapsed.
Dead.
Silence.
We stared.
At Little Bird.
Standing over the corpse.
Small wolf. Blood-soaked muzzle.
Chest heaving. Blue eyes, bright.
Cade frowned.
Talon’s mouth fell open.
Ryker whispered, “Holy fucking shit…”
Pride burned through me.
Rowan shifted back, wiping blood from her mouth with a shaking hand.
At first, she didn't move.
Stared in disbelief at the dead beast at her feet.
Then she lit up with a huge, wild grin.
“I killed it!” she yelled, throwing her hands in the air. “Whatever that thing is, I killed it myself! How’s that for helpless, Cade!? I killed it!”
Nobody corrected her.
Because she did it.
Rowan Mills had taken down a wraith.
Alone.
And in that moment…
Crane was becoming something new.
Something powerful.