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| Luan—Aegisguard, Ascela, Greykin Valley |

Luan's instincts warned him to remain vigilant. He stared at Jackson, trying to read him, but he didn't feel like he had to be cautious of him...but something had him on edge. Whether it was the looming cadejo threat—the massive horde they'd faced and lost Lusine—or the fact that they were heading to the Caederian temple, he wasn't sure, but he'd not let his guard down.

He glanced at his clan, examining their expressions; of course, they were all just as anxious as he was. But Jackson was right. If there was even a scrap of hope that the cadejo virus could be cured and stopped, he'd do what he could to help...so long as he wasn't going to find himself on an operating table or locked inside another compound.

"You're gonna help us find Lusine before we go to Lord Caedis, right?" Judith asked.

Jackson looked back at her. "We can try," he said with a nod.

Wesley growled, clearly speaking to Jackson.

And then Jackson asked, "Where and when did you lose her?"

"About twenty minutes ago, that way," Luan answered, nodding to his left.

"Okay, we'll veer left," Jackson told his pack, but it almost sounded as if he was asking for their permission. Was this guy not their Alpha?

Wesley nodded and growled, speaking again.

The wolves then turned left.

Jackson glanced at Luan. "Why uh...why can't you understand everyone?"

"We were all created and crafted to only understand our own clans," Luan answered bitterly. Thinking about Lyca Corp. and everything they did made him feel aggravated enough, but talking about it made him feel worse.

"Why?"

"To prevent the clans from exchanging conflicting information if they ever came across each other, and to keep us from understanding the lycans we ended up hunting down."

"Oh..." Jackson drawled. "I don't really know much about your situation, but Lord Caedis really does just want to help."

Luan wasn't going to let his guard down and agree. "We'll see."

They continued through the forest in silence, searching for any sign of Lusine, but the longer they travelled without even a hint, Luan's worry grew. There was no way she'd been torn apart—he could still sense her life force somewhere within the woods—but where could she have gone? What if that antlered beast had found her? He scowled and tried focusing harder on her life force, but they weren't connected in a way that would allow him to track her.

But then it hit him.

Like a cold, jagged fist to his face.

Blood.

The nerve-racking, disgusting combination of living and dead blood.

And Jackson and his pack clearly picked it up, too.

"Come on!" Jackson insisted, racing in the direction of the scent.

Everyone ran deeper into the woods, following the smell of blood, and it wasn't long until they emerged into an abandoned battlefield. In the small glade between the trees lay the bodies of cadejo...and wolf walkers.

Jackson's wolves started whining and crying as they ran to the dead wolves. Luan wanted to know why, but he pieced it together pretty fast. They knew these wolves.

"Who are they?" Mani asked.

"They're...well...our pack split up a little while back," Jackson answered. "These wolves were part of the half that left."

Luan watched them mourn for a few more moments, but time was of the essence. "We need to keep moving. Lusine made this ice," he said, nodding at the icicles protruding from some of the dead bodies. "She can't be far."

Jackson shook his head and mumbled, "Just let them grieve."

With a quiet sigh, Luan sat down. Grief was an old friend to him, something he'd carried around with him since the day he lost his brother. He knew what Jackson's wolves were going through, but the fact still remained that they needed to find Lusine before something else did. So he waited a few minutes longer, and then he urged, "We need to move. We can't risk losing the trail."

"Guys, we gotta move," Jackson said.

A series of despondent whines and growls followed.

"We can't lose the trail. And the sooner we find Lusine, the sooner we can get back to the temple...and the sooner we'll know whether Daimon's okay or not," Jackson continued.

His pack were disgruntled, but they all slowly moved away from their fallen packmates and grouped up around Jackson.

Luan sniffed around, trying to pinpoint Lusine's scent, and when he located it, he rushed in its direction. "She's this way," he called.

Everyone hurried through the woods, following behind and beside him. As they got closer, though, Lusine's scent became entangled with something familiar—a scent that Luan never wanted to detect again. But there it was...the smell of Cyrus' little crony.

Raphael.

Luan sped up as panic ensnared him. Had Cyrus found Lusine? Was he running into a trap? He didn't care. He had to save her.

"Raphael," he warned his packmates.

Jackson's pack questioned who that was, but Luan didn't have time to wonder why.

He ran faster and faster, swerving past the trees, leaping over the logs and rocks, and when he spotted movement up ahead, he prepared himself for a fight. "Lusine!" he called, spotting her thick, spotted tail swaying between two wolves.

The wolves up ahead stopped and turned to face him—he didn't recognize a single face...except Raphael's.

"Get away from her!" Luan yelled as he charged forward.

"Wait!" Jackson shouted.

But he wouldn't wait. He wouldn't stop. Luan crashed into the three wolves who moved to block Lusine from him, but when he tried to pull her away, Raphael smacked his muzzle and made him stumble.

He wasn't going to waste time brawling. With a furious scowl, he opened his mouth to summon Raum—

"Wait!" Jackson yelled again, jumping and standing between Luan and Raphael.

Luan scowled angrily, but as he watched Jackson's wolves unsurely approach the wolves who stood with Raphael and Lusine, he frowned. These wolves were obviously the survivors of the battle not far behind them, but why was Raphael with them?

"You told me that Cyrus had nothing to do with this!" he growled at Jackson.

"He doesn't!" Jackson insisted. "Heir Zephyr is here because Lord Caedis ordered him to be. He's just here to help us in case the cadejo turn up."

"Luan!" Lusine called desperately.

"Yeah? Then why's he holding Lusine hostage?" Luan challenged.

Jackson looked at Raphael, who snarled angrily. "She's not a hostage, right?" he asked unsurely. "We're all here now...and Luan's agreed to speak to Lord Caedis. You can let her go."

"You...agreed to talk to him?" Lusine asked Luan.

He nodded. "Just to hear what he has to say. We might be able to do something about the cadejo virus."

"Let her go," Jackson repeated.

Raphael huffed but shoved Lusine away from himself.

She quickly joined Luan and their clan, hiding behind Deimos.

Luan stood defensively in front of his clan. He didn't trust anyone, least of all Raphael, and seeing him there with the wolves who were supposedly taking him to see Lord Caedis made him suspect otherwise.

"Please, trust me," Jackson insisted calmly. "I promise, you'll see Lord Caedis and Lord Caedis only. The moment we get to the temple, Heir Zephyr is gone."

He glanced at Raphael, shifted his eyes to both wolf packs—who were cautiously and quietly snarling and growling—and then he glared at Jackson. He could tell that he wasn't lying, but that didn't make him feel any less cautious. With a defensive snarl, he set his scowl on Raphael.

Before Luan could snap, though, a twisted, distorted growl echoed through the trees.

Everyone looked in its direction.

"What the fuck was what?" Judith whispered.

"We need to move," Jackson said firmly. "Or do you wanna end up fighting a horde of cadejo?"

Luan stared into the trees, watching as the shadowy outline of a massive horde of undead got closer and closer, seething a snarling. The stench of rotting flesh and dead blood filled the air, making him feel sick. He wanted to fight, but Judith was still injured, and she wouldn't be able to defend herself—any by the looks of it, there were too many corpses inbound for them to manage, even with two wolf packs.

His clan was more important right now. He had to get them out of there. So he snarled frustratedly and said, "Fine."

Jackson looked at Raphael.

Raphael didn't immediately react; he took a moment, standing there and staring, but then a sizzling, burning round portal cut through the air and appeared a few feet from where they were standing.

Luan had never seen anything like it before, but inside, he saw a hellscape, and at the other end, another portal that led into what looked like a large hall. That had to be the Caederian Temple.

"Let's go!" Jackson insisted.

With a nod to his clanmates, Luan followed Jackson, Raphael, and the two wolf walker packs inside. He glanced at his clan, seeing the anxious looks on their faces. He was admittedly anxious, too, but if he could do something to help stop the spread of the virus that had taken his friends away, then he'd do it.

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