(BLUE’S POV)
(FLASHBACK CONTINUATION)
Jeremy’s grin flashed—sharp, confident, a little dangerous.
“Yeah.
That’s me.”
My heart kicked harder, caught somewhere between impressed and slightly terrified.
“Then… if you’ve been out here with me this whole time—who’s running everything?”
Sofia answered without missing a beat.
“Our Beta.
Alex.
He’s got it handled.” She paused, then, with quiet certainty she added, “He always does.”
Jeremy’s tone shifted, turning serious as the miles flew by.
“Listen, Blue.
Don’t be shocked if they don’t roll out the welcome mat.
Werewolves and vampires… we’re natural enemies.
Our scents alone make each other want to rip throats out.
Some of them might try to kill you on sight.
But you have to persevere, you have to show them who you really are, and it’ll be fine.”
Sofia nuzzled my arm with her large nose, her voice fierce with promise.
“We’ll protect you.
No matter what.
You’re not walking into this alone.”
I nodded, but deep down I knew the truth.
Wherever they were taking me, I was stepping into a battlefield.
My life would be on the line from the second we crossed the border.
Still… Jeremy and Sofia were my only family left in this screwed-up world.
They’d chosen me.
I’d fight for that.
I’d bleed for it.
The territory hit us like a wall of raw power—vast, ancient woods carved into something organized and alive.
Paths wound between massive oaks like veins in a living beast.
Cabins and longhouses blended into the trees, smoke curling from stone chimneys.
It was beautiful.
Intimidating.
Mine, if I survived it.
The first wolf caught my scent before I even saw him.
He was this big guy, he was built like a tank, eyes cold as stone.
He locked onto me mid-stride and came in fast, lips curled, claws sliding out like blades.
My gut dropped.
But Jeremy didn’t even flinch.
“Stand down.”
Just two words.
Sharp.
Final.
The charging wolf stopped so abruptly it was like he’d hit a wall no one else could see.
No hesitation.
No argument.
One second ready to tear me apart, the next—still.
Submissive.
I blinked, stunned.
That… was power.
By the time we reached the heart of the pack, the clearing was already packed tight with about forty of them.
Bodies shoulder to shoulder, eyes glowing like embers in the dark, every muscle coiled and ready.
Half were already growling—low, rumbling sounds that vibrated through my chest and settled somewhere deep in my bones.
The other half just stood there, dead silent, staring at Jeremy like the next words out of his mouth would decide whether the whole world kept spinning.
He didn’t make them wait long.
“Gather around!” His voice cracked through the air like a whip made of thunder.
The pack surged forward in one rippling wave, the growls dying down into this thick, restless quiet that felt like it could snap at any second.
Jeremy stood tall in his wolf form—massive, shoulders like boulders, every inch of him screaming alpha.
Sofia stayed glued to his side, her fur brushing against his, steady as stone.
And me?
I was planted right in the middle of it all, heart hammering so hard I could taste it in the back of my throat.
Exposed.
Raw.
Like I’d just walked into a den of wolves wearing a sign that said “dinner.”
“This is Blue,” Jeremy said, his voice steady, unshaken, carrying that calm power he always had.
“He’s our adopted son.
A new member of the Stormroot Pack.”
For one heartbeat… nothing.
Just the wind whispering through the trees.
Then it exploded.
“What the hell, Alpha?!”
“A vampire?
Here?!”
“Have you lost your damn mind?!”
“You can’t just do this!”
The words slammed into me like a wall of ice water—sharp, freezing, suffocating.
Raw hatred rolled off them in waves, so thick I could almost smell it, metallic and bitter.
My skin prickled like needles.
My fangs throbbed behind my lips.
I’d never felt anything like it before.
Not even when my own family looked at me like I was broken.
This was different.
This was centuries of blood and grudge packed into forty pairs of glowing eyes.
Then Sofia moved.
She stepped right up against me, her warm fur pressing solid into my side.
She didn’t budge.
Didn’t flinch.
Just lifted her chin, eyes blazing like twin fires, daring anyone to take one step closer.
It was a silent warning that hit harder than any roar: touch him and you’ll answer to me.
Jeremy didn’t let the chaos drag on.
His roar ripped through the clearing like a physical force—deep, guttural, shaking the ground under my feet.
“Silence!”
Everything stopped.
Every voice cut off mid-sentence.
Every growl choked out.
Heads dropped instantly, ears flattening, like invisible strings had been yanked.
The silence that crashed down after was so heavy it felt like it could crush bones.
“I know the old hatred,” Jeremy growled, low and commanding, the kind of voice that didn’t ask—it demanded.
“Vampires and werewolves have been spilling each other’s blood for centuries.
I get it.
But Blue is a good kid.
I vouch for him with my life.
Open your hearts.
Get to know him.
That’s an order.”
No one dared say a word.
But I felt it anyway—that electric tension humming in the air like a storm cloud about to burst.
Eyes lingered too long on me.
Shoulders stayed bunched tight.
Breathing came sharp and shallow.
This wasn’t acceptance.
This was a lid slammed down on a boiling pot.
It wasn’t over.
Not even close.
And yeah… I was right.
That same night, the Alpha’s residence—my new home—went up in flames.
It happened fast.
Too fast.
One second the house was quiet, the fire in the hearth crackling softly while I stood in the bathroom scrubbing the day’s grime off my skin.
The next—wood popping and cracking like gunshots, heat roaring up the walls, smoke pouring in thick and choking, like it had a mind of its own and it was pissed.
Sofia’s voice sliced through the chaos first—urgent, sharp, cutting through the roar of the fire.
Then Jeremy’s snarl hit right behind it.
The door didn’t open.
It exploded inward as he kicked it clean off the hinges, splinters flying everywhere.
They’d been expecting this.
Of course they had.
Jeremy and Sofia were always one step ahead of everyone, even the ones who wanted them dead.
We bolted out into the night, coughing hard, eyes stinging and half-blind from the smoke, but alive—barely.
The cold night air slapped me in the face, sharp and biting, dragging me back to focus.
Behind us, the house burned like a beacon, flames licking high into the sky, crackling and hissing like some kind of warning written in fire.
Jeremy and Sofia didn’t waste a single second.
They moved like shadows—fast, precise, no panic, no hesitation.
They stomped out stray flames, cut off the spread before it could jump to the trees.
Just pure, controlled focus.
The kind that comes from surviving worse than this a hundred times before.
In the distance, the pack was already stirring—voices rising, shadows moving through the dark like they smelled blood in the water.
Jeremy didn’t even glance their way.
“Alex.” Just one word, barked out like a command carved in stone.
That was all it took.
Alex appeared out of the trees like he’d been waiting in the wings the whole time—tall, late twenties maybe, sharp jawline, eyes too calm for the inferno behind us.
The kind of guy who looked like he could snap you in half and still crack a joke about it afterward.
Jeremy didn’t waste breath.
“With me.
We’re hunting.” Simple.
Final.
And yeah—I followed.
No hesitation.
No way in hell I was sitting this one out.
Not after they’d just burned down the first real home I’d had in forever.
We tracked them quick.
Whoever torched the place wasn’t half as clever as they thought they were.
The trail led us straight to a hidden ravine, eight of them waiting there like cowards in the shadows—five men, three women.
No apologies.
No excuses.
Just the sickening crack and pop of bones as they shifted, exploding into massive wolves with eyes glowing murder-red under the moonlight.
Jeremy didn’t even blink.
He shifted in a blur—that enormous gray beast, horse-sized and terrifying, teeth already bared in a savage promise of what was coming.
Alex shifted right beside him, turning into a sleek black shadow of pure muscle and fury.
Together they became a two-wolf apocalypse.
I stayed back with Sofia, heart lodged in my throat, watching as the ravine turned into a slaughterhouse.
Jeremy was ruthless.
The same guy who’d laughed with me by the fire pit the night before tore through them without mercy—claws ripping, jaws snapping, blood spraying black and hot across the rocks.
Alex matched him move for move, a whirlwind of cold precision and raw power.
Not one of the eight walked away.
Not one.
When it was over, the ground was slick and dark with blood.
The night air reeked of death and victory, thick enough to taste.
I stood there, chest heaving, staring at the father who’d just painted the entire forest red for me.
In that moment, I finally got it—what it really meant to be Jeremy and Sofia’s son.
It wasn’t just safety or stories around a campfire.
It was this.
Blood.
Loyalty.
Standing in the wreckage and knowing they’d burn the world down before they let anyone touch me.
It was going to take a lot more blood before this pack ever accepted me.
But I was ready to spill every last drop.