The Wolfless Luna's Revenge: Returning With His Secret Twins-Chapter 282: Chaptter

~Samantha~

We should’ve left the basement alone but still, we went back.

That was my first thought when the chains started rattling in the corner of Black Moon’s old residence, right after Dominic had found those experiment notes upstairs.

My second thought was more along the lines of we’re all going to die down here.

"What was that?" I froze on the basement stairs, one hand gripping the rail so tight my knuckles went white.

"Probably rats." Killian was already at the bottom, flashlight sweeping the darkness. "Big ones, from the sound of it."

The chains exploded outward with a screech of metal on stone.

Something moved in the shadows. Big. The kind that made your brain scream to run even when your legs wouldn’t cooperate.

Then it stepped into the light and I wished it had stayed in the dark.

A werewolf. Or what used to be one. Its fur was patchy, half-rotted, skin pulled tight over bones that jutted out at angles that shouldn’t exist. Eyes glowed purple, not natural wolf amber, not human brown, just sick, toxic purple.

And the smell. Like death mixed with chemicals mixed with something I didn’t have words for.

"Experimental subject." Dominic’s voice was barely a whisper. "They kept one alive."

"Alive is generous." Killian had his claws out already. "That thing’s been down here how long? Ten years?"

The creature’s head snapped toward us. Its jaw unhinged like a snake’s, way too wide, and it let out this sound that wasn’t a howl or a scream but something worse.

Then it attacked.

Dominic shoved me sideways just as the creature crashed into the spot where I’d been standing. Stone cracked under the impact.

"Move!" Killian was already engaging, slashing at the thing’s exposed flank.

His claws connected but the creature barely flinched. Just spun around and backhanded him across the room like he weighed nothing.

Killian hit the wall hard. I heard the crack from where I stood.

"Killian!" I started toward him but the creature was already coming for me.

Fast. Way too fast for something that looked half-dead.

I dodged left and felt claws slice through the air where my head had been. Stone wall behind me exploded in a shower of dust and debris.

"Sam, don’t leave my side!" Dominic was shifting, his Alpha power rolling out in waves that made the air vibrate.

The creature hesitated. Just for a second. Like some deep instinct remembered what an Alpha was even if the rest of it had been twisted beyond recognition.

That second was enough.

Dominic’s wolf slammed into it full force, driving it back toward the chains. They grappled, all teeth and claws and inhuman snarling.

But the creature was strong. Unnaturally strong. It threw Dominic off and he hit the floor rolling, coming up on all fours with blood dripping from a gash across his shoulder.

My turn.

I let my wolf take over, and launched myself at the creature’s back.

My teeth sank into its neck and I tasted something so vile I almost let go. Not blood. Something chemical. Poisonous.

Shadow corruption mixed with something else. Something deliberately put there.

The creature bucked and twisted, trying to throw me off. Its claws raked down my side and pain exploded white-hot through my ribs.

I held on anyway.

Dominic hit it from the front, going for the throat. Between the two of us, we managed to drive it back into the corner where the chains had been.

But it wasn’t enough. The thing kept fighting, kept moving, like pain didn’t register anymore.

"Royal blood!" Killian’s voice, rough and pained from across the room. "Use your royal blood! It’s the only thing that’ll work!"

Right. Royal blood countered shadow corruption.

I shifted back to human, ignoring the way my side screamed in protest, and bit down hard on my wrist.

Blood welled up immediately.

The creature’s purple eyes locked onto it like a predator spotting prey.

Good. Let it look.

I stepped closer, blood dripping onto the stone floor. "Come here, you twisted science experiment. Come get it."

It lunged and I was ready.

I met it halfway, slamming my bleeding wrist directly against its open mouth.

The reaction was instant.

The creature seized up like I’d electrocuted it. Purple smoke poured from its mouth, its eyes, its wounds. The shadow corruption was burning out from the inside.

But it wasn’t dying quietly.

It thrashed harder, claws everywhere. One caught me across the arm. Another grazed my cheek.

"Dominic, now!" I yelled.

He was there in a heartbeat, his Alpha power wrapping around the creature like invisible chains. Forcing it down. Forcing it to submit.

The creature fought. God, it fought hard. But between my blood eating away the shadow corruption and Dominic’s Alpha dominance crushing its will to resist, it was losing ground fast.

Purple smoke became black. Black became gray. Gray became nothing.

The creature’s struggles got weaker. Slower.

Then it collapsed.

I stumbled backward, breathing hard, blood running down my arm from multiple cuts I hadn’t felt until now.

"Is it dead?" My voice came out shaky.

Dominic shifted back, moving cautiously toward the body. He pressed two fingers to its neck. "No pulse. It’s gone."

"Good." I slid down the wall, suddenly too tired to stand. "That was horrible."

"You okay?" Dominic was beside me immediately, checking my wounds.

"I’m still breathing, so yeah."

"Same." He looked over at Killian, who was still against the far wall. "Killian? You good?"

"Yeah." Killian pushed himself up with obvious effort. "Just got the wind knocked out. I’m fine."

But I caught the way he turned his head, the quick motion of his hand going to his mouth.

When he pulled it away, his palm had purple smeared across it.

Purple blood.

He saw me looking and his eyes went wide for a split second before he wiped it on his dark pants where it wouldn’t show.

"Killian." I started.

"I said I’m fine." His voice was firm.  "Let’s just get out of this death trap before something else wakes up."

He was already heading for the stairs before I could argue.

I looked at Dominic. "Did you see that?"

"Yeah." His face was grim. "I saw."

"Purple blood means..."

"I know what it means." He helped me stand. "We’ll deal with it later. Right now we need to move."

My phone buzzed as we climbed the stairs.

Text from Devon: Mom we felt something bad happening so we sent purification energy through the token to help! Did it work? Are you okay?

I stopped mid-step.

"What?" Dominic looked back at me.

"The twins." I showed him the text. "They sent purification power through the token. During the fight."

"Is that even possible?"

"Apparently." I thought back to the fight, to how the creature had suddenly gotten weaker near the end. How the shadow corruption had burned away faster than it should have.

The twins had helped. From miles away, they’d somehow channeled their power through that damn token and helped us survive.

"We need to get home," I muttered. "Before they try something even more reckless."

We made it outside and the fresh air felt like salvation after that basement’s stench.

I was halfway to the car when something made me look back.

The creature’s body was visible through the basement window. Now that it was still, I could see details I’d missed during the fight.

Scars covering its body. Old ones.

And on its shoulder, barely visible under the matted fur and rotting skin, was a mark.

I went back down those stairs before Dominic could stop me.

"Sam, what are you doing?"

"There’s something on it. A mark." I knelt beside the body, trying not to breathe through my nose.

I pushed aside the fur and there it was.

The Silver Claw Clan’s symbol.

"Oh god." My stomach turned. "This was one of them. One of the Silver Claw warriors."

Dominic crouched beside me, examining the mark. "You’re sure?"

"It’s the same symbol from the token. From all the outposts." I sat back on my heels. "Black Moon didn’t just betray my mother. They captured Silver Claw members and used them for experiments."

"That’s why the clan disappeared." Killian’s voice came from the stairs. He looked pale. Shaken. "They didn’t vanish. They were taken. Turned into these things."

The implications hit like a truck.

"How many?" I looked around the basement, suddenly seeing it differently. "How many Silver Claw warriors did Black Moon capture? How many experiments did they run?"

"The notes upstairs mentioned twelve subjects." Dominic’s jaw was tight. "Which means..."

"There could be eleven more of these things out there." Killian finished.

Silence dropped like a stone in water.

Twelve Silver Claw warriors. Twelve experiments. Twelve monsters created from people who’d sworn to protect the royal family.

"We have to find them." I stood up, legs shaky but determined. "We have to find the others and put them out of their misery. They don’t deserve to exist like this."

"Agreed." Dominic pulled me toward the stairs. "But not right here or now."

I let him guide me up and out of that basement of horrors.

But I couldn’t stop thinking about that mark. About the Silver Claw warrior who’d been trapped down there for ten years, tortured and turned into something unrecognizable.

About how many more might still be out there.

About how Black Moon had done this to loyal warriors who’d only wanted to serve and protect.