Chapter 113: 113 Cavalry in the Shadows

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113: Cavalry in the Shadows 113: Cavalry in the Shadows The SUV swerved violently, narrowly avoiding another lunge from one of the red-eyed creatures.

Mishka clung to Bruce’s unconscious form, her knuckles white with fear and tension.

The driver cursed under his breath, his superhuman reflexes barely keeping them on the road.

“What are these things?” Mishka shouted over the cacophony of snarls and screeching tires.

The driver’s eyes met hers in the rear-view mirror, his expression grim.

“I don’t know.

I’ve never seen anything like them.”

One of the creatures leapt onto the hood of the SUV, its claws leaving deep gouges in the metal.

Its red eyes locked onto Mishka through the windshield, a terrible intelligence burning in their depths.

The driver slammed on the brakes, sending the beast flying off, but more were closing in.

Just as Mishka began to lose hope, a thunderous howl split the air.

Through the rear window, she saw a group of enormous wolves sprinting towards them, led by a silver-gray form.

“What’s this?

Is that Graham in his wolf form?” she breathed, relief flooding through her.

The Pack members tore into the red-eyed creatures with savage fury.

Mishka watched in awe as Graham, large and very powerful in his wolf form, took on two of the beasts at once.

The air filled with snarls, yelps, and the sounds of supernatural combat.

The driver seized the opportunity, gunning the engine and speeding away from the fray.

But one of the red-eyed creatures broke free from the pack, giving chase with inhuman speed.

Suddenly, a massive black wolf – larger than any Mishka had seen before – leapt over the SUV, intercepting the creature in mid-air.

They tumbled to the ground in a blur of fur and fangs.

“The local Pack Leader,” the driver explained, his voice tinged with respect.

As they put distance between themselves and the battle, Mishka saw more wolf forms joining the fray in her side mirror.

The Pack had come out in force.

After several tense minutes of high-speed driving, the SUV finally slowed, turning onto a secluded dirt road.

They pulled up to a sprawling log cabin nestled deep in the woods.

“We’re here,” the driver announced, quickly moving to help Mishka with Bruce.

As they carried Bruce inside, Mishka heard the sounds of approaching footsteps.

She turned to see Graham, now back in human form and hastily dressed, jogging towards them.

Behind him, several other Pack members emerged from the trees, their expressions a mix of wariness and curiosity.

“Is he alright?” Graham asked, his eyes fixed on Bruce’s pale form.

Mishka nodded uncertainly.

“I think so, but he needs help.

He was saying something about a safe and a prophecy before he passed out again.”

Graham’s brow furrowed.

“Prophecy?

That doesn’t sound good.”

They got Bruce settled in a bedroom, where a woman Mishka assumed was the Pack’s healer immediately began tending to him.

Mishka reluctantly left his side, following Graham to the cabin’s main room.

The Pack Leader strode in moments later, his powerful presence filling the space.

“Report,” he commanded.

Graham quickly filled him in on Bruce’s condition and what Mishka had overheard.

The Pack Leader’s expression grew increasingly troubled.

“Those creatures,” Mishka interjected.

“What were they?

They didn’t seem like normal werewolves.”

The Pack Leader shook his head.

“They weren’t.

I’ve never encountered anything like them in all my years.

This is…

unprecedented.

They seem to be strange rogues.”

A tense silence fell over the room, broken only when the healer emerged from Bruce’s room.

“He’s stable,” she announced.

“But there’s something strange about his injuries.

They’re healing, but much slower than they should for one of us.”

Before anyone could respond, a commotion outside caught their attention.

Mishka rushed to the window to see Jean and Lucinda stumbling out of the forest, their clothes torn and bloody.

“We were attacked,” Jean gasped as Pack members hurried to assist them.

“On our way back to the city.

More of those…

things.”

Lucinda nodded, her usual composure shattered.

“They were looking for something.

They kept howling about…

about a key.”

The Pack Leader’s eyes narrowed.

“A key?

What key?”

Mishka felt a chill run down her spine as she remembered Bruce’s urgent words.

“The safe,” she whispered.

“Bruce was trying to tell me something about a safe in his study.

Could that be connected?”

All eyes turned to her, the weight of this new mystery settling heavily in the room.

Suddenly, Bruce’s agonized scream pierced the air.

Mishka sprinted towards his room, her heart pounding.

She burst through the door to find him thrashing on the bed, his eyes wide open but unseeing.

“The key,” he rasped, his voice filled with terror.

“They can’t get the key.

The fate of both worlds depends on it.”

As Mishka rushed to his side, trying to calm him, she noticed something that made her blood run cold.

Bruce’s normally blue eyes were now glowing with the same unnatural red as the creatures that had attacked them.

What was happening to Bruce?

What was this key he spoke of?

And how were they going to protect it from the monstrous forces that seemed determined to possess it?

As Mishka stood frozen, staring at Bruce’s glowing red eyes, the healer quickly ushered her out of the room.

“I need space to work,” she said firmly, closing the door behind them.

Mishka stumbled back to the main room, her mind reeling from what she’d just witnessed.

The Pack Leader approached her, his face etched with concern.

“What happened?” he demanded.

Before Mishka could respond, Graham burst into the room, his cell phone clutched tightly in his hand.

“I’ve got news,” he announced, his voice tense with urgency.

All eyes turned to him as he continued, “I’ve been making calls to some of my contacts in other packs across the country.

It took some digging, but I finally got some answers about those creatures we encountered.”

The Pack Leader nodded for him to continue.

Graham took a deep breath.

“They’re called Crimson Rogues.

They’re an incredibly rare type of werewolf that’s gone…

well, rogue.”

“Rogue?” Mishka asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Graham nodded grimly.

“According to the lore, they’re werewolves who’ve rejected their human side entirely.

They give themselves over to their most primal, savage instincts.

The red eyes are a sign of their corrupted nature.”

“But why haven’t we heard of them before?” Jean asked, wincing as another Pack member tended to her wounds.

“Because they’re supposed to be extinct,” Graham replied.

“The last known pack of Crimson Rogues was wiped out over a century ago.

They were too dangerous, too unpredictable.

Every major wolf pack in North America banded together to hunt them down.”

The Pack Leader’s eyes narrowed.

“And yet, here they are.

The question is, why now?

And what do they want with this ‘key’ Bruce mentioned?”

Mishka felt a chill run down her spine as she remembered Bruce’s terrified words.

“He said the fate of both worlds depends on it,” she said softly.

A heavy silence fell over the room as the implications of this sank in.

Suddenly, Mishka gasped.

“Bruce’s eyes,” she blurted out.

“When he woke up screaming about the key, his eyes…

they were red.

Just like the Crimson Rogues.”

The shock was palpable in the room.

The Pack Leader’s face darkened with concern.

“We need to figure out what’s happening to Bruce, and fast,” he declared.

“And we need to find this key before the Crimson Rogues do.

Whatever it is, it’s clear that it’s far more important than we realized.”

As the Pack members began to mobilize, discussing plans and strategies, Mishka felt overwhelmed by the weight of their new reality.

Just days ago, her biggest concern had been her singing career and navigating her feelings for Bruce.

Now, she was caught in the middle of an ancient supernatural conflict, with the fate of “both worlds” hanging in the balance.

“Good heavens!” she sighed heavily.

She glanced towards Bruce’s room, her heart aching with worry and fear.

Whatever was happening to him, whatever this key was, she knew one thing for certain: their lives would never be the same again.

Mishka steeled herself for the challenges ahead, as the Pack prepared for a battle against an enemy they thought long extinct, and a race to uncover the mystery of the key before it’s too late.