The forest was dead silent. Too silent. Ian wiped the sweat off his brow, his breath ragged. Did I really just kill a Demon Wolf? His Chaos Laser Eyes still sizzled faintly, the air around him thick with the stench of burnt fur and blood.
Okay, okay. Breathe. That thing attacked first. Self-defense, right? He kicked the massive corpse, half-expecting it to twitch. It didn't.
Then, wrong move.
A howl tore through the night, so deep it rattled Ian's bones. Not just any howl. That was the sound of something ancient. Something pissed.
Sigmund.
Oh, crap. Crap, crap, crap. Ian's pulse spiked. The Alpha of Alphas wasn't just some random monster. He was the monster. The kind legends whispered about in fear. The kind who'd torn armies apart for looking at him wrong.
And Ian? He'd just killed his kid.
The trees trembled. Shadows stretched unnaturally, twisting like they were alive. Then, him.
