Chapter Five: The Hunt Within and the Crystal’s Call
The boardroom on the top floor of BioFrontier smelled like betrayal.
Glass walls framed the Seattle skyline, cold and pristine, as if nothing monstrous had ever happened here. But I could hear it—the rapid heartbeats of fear, the metallic click of hidden weapons, the low growls barely restrained beneath human skin.
Gareth had turned my workplace into a war zone.
“He’s upstairs,” Victor said beside me, his voice steady but lethal. “Noah thinks humans can control monsters.”
I flexed my fingers. Silver light shimmered faintly beneath my skin. “He’s about to learn otherwise.”
The elevator doors slid open.
Noah stood at the head of the conference table like a king on a borrowed throne. Screens behind him showed live feeds—armed men stationed at every exit, silver-tipped rounds loaded, wolfsbane gas ready.
Olivia stood to his right.
She wouldn’t meet my eyes.
“You really should’ve stayed ignorant, Iris,” Noah said smoothly. “Your blood could have rewritten history.”
“Instead,” I replied, stepping forward, “you rewrote your own ending.”
That’s when Luna emerged from behind the glass wall.
Her eyes were red. Her hands were shaking.
“My father lied,” she said, voice cracking as she looked at Victor—and then at me. “Gareth murdered your parents. He used Noah. He used all of us.”
The room erupted.
Hunters lunged. Wolves shifted. Glass shattered.
Victor and Luna moved first, slamming into Gareth’s forces with raw fury. I felt the bond tighten between us as the plan unfolded without words.
Eli grabbed my hand. “Now.”
We ran.
Down emergency stairs, through smoke and screams, out into the night where the city pulsed unaware of the ancient war unfolding in its veins.
“The crystal,” I gasped as we reached the streets. “It’s calling me.”
Not a voice—but a pull. A silver thread tugging at my chest, guiding me north, toward the water.
The Space Needle loomed above us like a watchful guardian as we reached the old lighthouse hidden beyond the tourist paths. The air changed there—thick with magic, humming like a held breath.
“It’s here,” Eli whispered.
We descended into the stone chamber beneath the lighthouse.
The Moonlight Crystal hovered at the center, suspended in pure light. It was beautiful—and terrifying.
I stepped forward.
The moment my fingers brushed its surface, power exploded outward.
Silver light surged through the chamber, racing across the city like a living tide.
I felt it—hunters screaming as darkness was burned from their veins, wolves collapsing as centuries of corruption dissolved into moonlight.
Derek fell to his knees somewhere above us, crying out as the madness left his eyes.
Behind us, footsteps stumbled.
Olivia.
She lunged at me with a blade—but I caught her wrist without looking. One twist, and she was on the floor, sobbing.
“I didn’t want this,” she cried. “Noah threatened me. I was just a pawn.”
I looked at her—really looked—and saw nothing left but fear.
“Run,” I said coldly. “And don’t ever come near my pack again.”
She fled.
The crystal pulsed once more, softer now. Gentler.
Eli’s hand found mine. “You did it.”
“No,” I said, staring into the silver glow. “We did.”
Above us, the city breathed under a cleansed moon.
And for the first time since my parents died, I felt something unfamiliar bloom in my chest.
Hope.
But I knew one thing with chilling certainty—
This war wasn’t over.
It had only just begun.