LOGINThe snow continued to fall over the gardens of the Rurik mansion when Susan knocked lightly on the office door. No answer.She waited a few seconds, her hand still resting on the dark wood, before turning the knob and poking only her head inside.Dmitry was exactly where she had imagined. Behind the huge wooden desk, the computer on, maps spread out, reports stacked in piles that defied gravity.His phone vibrated from time to time, but he simply ended the calls with a dry tap and continued reading documents as if the entire world depended on it. Maybe it did.She entered without making a sound and closed the door behind her. Only then did Dmitry look up, and his serious expression softened almost immediately.“I thought you were resting.”“You should be too,” Susan replied, approaching slowly.He let out a small sigh, his shoulders tense beneath the dark shirt.“I have work. The intelligence reports on the Velesovs arrived this morning.”She stopped behind his chair and wrapped her a
Teams rotated at the cameras, others organized patrol schedules, while a silent tension seeped into every room and every corridor.But for Alexei, all that movement was just noise.He remained in the monitoring room, his eyes fixed on the screens. Dozens of cameras displayed different angles of the property — the main gate, the gardens, the corridors, the entrance to the underground level — while another screen remained frozen exactly on the segment where the footage had been tampered with. The moment the box appeared. Or rather, the moment someone made it disappear.Alexei ran his fingers through his hair and zoomed in on the segment again. Nothing. No shadow, no reflection, no blur. Whoever did this knew security systems. Very well.The door opened behind him.“I knew you’d still be here.”Alexei recognized the voice before he even turned. Susan entered carrying two steaming mugs, wearing a beige cardigan over a simple wool dress. Her red hair was tied in a thick braid over her shou
The phone was still in his hand, but his eyes were fixed on the open box on the desk.“I don’t like this.”“Neither do I,” he murmured, sitting down again.The photographs were carefully arranged in small piles across the desk. He didn’t want to fold them, much less damage them.They were the first real memories he had of his mother, concrete proof that Ulyana had existed, had smiled, had lived.He spent several minutes studying each one. Ulyana smiling during training, sword in attack position. Ulyana mounted on a black horse, her light hair loose in the wind. Ulyana laughing while a huge gray wolf rested its head on her lap, the animal’s eyes closed in absolute trust.“You really were different…” Alexei murmured, a small smile on his lips.He turned another photograph.In this one, Ulyana looked even younger, perhaps eighteen or nineteen, her cheeks still full with youth. Beside her was another girl. Brunette, with her hair tied in a long braid, clear eyes and a wide smile that cont
The door to Alexei’s private office closed behind him with a soft click. Inside, the silence was absolute.He placed the box on the dark wooden desk and took a deep breath before opening the lid again. Now without interruptions, without anyone watching, without haste.Photograph by photograph. Document by document. Each page seemed to tear away another piece of the image he had built of his own mother throughout his entire life — a vague, incomplete image, based on silences and half-truths.She looked happy. Vibrant. Full of life. Very different from the woman who existed only in the few fragmented memories from his childhood.Until he found a small black notebook hidden beneath the larger documents. It wasn’t a diary; it looked more like a contact book, the kind important people used to keep records of allies and enemies.Each page contained names, phone numbers, and small handwritten notes. Councilors, Alphas, clan leaders, members of the Lycan Council.Alexei slowly turned the page
The morning at the Rurik mansion seemed strangely peaceful.After days in which everything had collapsed at once, the silence hanging over the corridors seemed almost artificial. As if the entire house was holding its breath, waiting for the next blow.Alexei woke up before Carla. The clock on the nightstand showed a little after seven, but the light filtering through the curtains was already white and intense, reflecting the snow that continued to fall over Moscow.He stayed for a few minutes simply watching her sleep — her dark hair spread across the pillow, her lips slightly parted, her breathing slow and rhythmic. She was completely relaxed for the first time since the kidnapping.The bond between them had finally returned to normal. There was no longer that unbearable emptiness, that feeling of having half his soul ripped out. Only warmth. Only peace. Only her.The Lycan sighed contentedly inside him, a lazy and satisfied sound.“She’s here.”“She is,” Alexei replied mentally, hi
The sound of hot water filling the bathtub was the only noise besides their breathing, a liquid melody that filled the silence without demanding anything in return.Carla slowly turned to Alexei. He stood in front of her, shoulders slumped, his dress shirt stained with dried blood and dirt, his blond hair dull from accumulated dust.He looked exhausted. He looked like a man who had carried the weight of the world on his back and had finally set it down, but still felt the marks on his shoulders.She reached out to the buttons of his shirt.“Let me take care of you.”Alexei didn’t protest.He didn’t make a joke, didn’t look away, didn’t try to convince her that he was fine.He simply remained still while her fingers slowly unbuttoned each one, one by one, revealing the warm skin beneath the stained fabric.“You’re too quiet,” she murmured, pushing the shirt off his shoulders. The fabric fell to the floor with a muffled sound. “That scares me more than anything.”“I’m tired,” he replied
The minutes that followed passed in silence, but not uncomfortably. Lyra finished preparing the eggs and placed everything on the table with a care that made Sasha smile discreetly. They sat facing each other, he with the coffee mug between his hands, she with a generous plate of pancakes and bacon
Dmitry climbed the stairs with silent but heavy steps, as if each one was a sentence he himself had to serve. The corridor was dark, except for the faint light escaping through the crack of the door to the room where Susan used to stay.He stopped in front of the door, closing his eyes for a second
The entrance to Rurik Motors seemed more imposing than Susan remembered. The cold, modern architectural lines now carried a new weight. It wasn’t just a building. It was Lycan territory.She walked beside Dmitry. Her heels echoed on the marble floor like nervous little clicks, and his hand, holding
“This was only the beginning…” the scientist said, still trembling. “Norfir is the most… raw prototype. But there are others.”Sasha raised an eyebrow.“Show me.”The man typed a new sequence into the terminal. The laboratory lights flickered and a side compartment in the room opened with a muffled







