Alek

The elevator dinged as it came to a stop. I pulled Val close to me again, glass shard at the ready.

The door opened upon chaos. Two wolves in a vicious tousle yelped and groaned as they fought. They were a tumbleweed of flying fur, bur almost certainly, one of them was Verity.

From the opposite end of the corridor, Chip sprung, man bun flopping against his head as he ran past the elevator without giving us a glance. Mid sprint, his body contorted. He screamed like he'd been strapped to a medieval rack and had every limb dislocated.

"It's still light out," Flora said. "I thought his kind of werewolf couldn't transform during daylight hours."

"Oh my God," Val tried to push me to the back of the elevator. "He must have been juiced with a new formula. Him and his whole pack."

I fought the urge to step back, close the elevator doors, and save ourselves. "What does that mean exactly?"

"It's... not good." Her voice rose until each word seemed to be spoken by a panicked mouse. "We've been experimenting with ways to up our control over them. It should make people safer overall, but in this case..."

"Who has control over them? You?"

"No." Val's face paled. If I was to place bets, it would be on her projectile vomiting all over the elevator's control panel. "Norvin. He has an app on a tablet with a set of commands."

"Seriously?" Flora asked. "A werewolf mind control app?"

"You have to help us end this," I said as the faint outline of wolves appeared from a darkened room across from us. I nudged Val out of the elevator. "Or we all die here. And for what?"

From out of the shadows, two sets of eyes glowed golden. Chip may have been preoccupied with Verity's wolf fight, but these new wolves had nothing on their agenda other than us.

"Marietta, Lonzo, stand down," Val said, with exactly zero conviction in her voice. She shook so violently that I was afraid she'd end up slicing her neck with my shiv all on her own. The werewolves' ears perked at her words, but they continued to edge forward, mouths foaming, teeth bared.

"They'll eat us," she said. "Flora, get back in the elevator. We have to leave, now!"

"No," Flora shouted. "Not until we get Verity out of here. You seem to know everything about these werewolves. So, figure out a way to get them to stop."

"I can't!"

"I can." Norvin emerged from behind the wolves. "But I'm not sure if I will."

"Please, stop them, Norvin." Val folded her hands like she was willing to pray to him if that's what it took. "This is madness!"

"You're helping them now, Valerie?" He clucked his tongue. "I was wrong to trust you."

Val's heart beat rapidly against my wrist, but her shaking subsided. She cleared her throat. "Can you not see that Alek is holding sharp glass to my neck, Norvin?"

Norvin. The man responsible for orphaning me. For weaving a web of lies for me to fall into. It wasn't until I saw the bright red dripping from Flora's scarf that I realized I'd been gripping the glass hard enough that it cut me through the fabric. I imagined the blood was Norvin's instead. The desire to slit his throat open damned near made me senseless. Shoving Val to the side, I stepped towards him.

"Why this drama, Alek?" he said in that mockingly calm manner that made me extra ready to stab him. "You've done a great service for the world. How many times do I have to tell you that? I can still call off these wolves. Even stop Chip and Sam from killing your furry little sweetheart, and all you have to do is calm the fuck down."

"They won't."

He cocked his head. "Won't what?"

"Kill Verity," I told him. "You might let her kill them. That could even work in your favor. But Verity? She's no use to you dead. All this time, you made it seem like that was the goal, but it was just another lie."

Norvin opened his mouth, closed it. "How much do you know?"

"Everything I need to. You killed my parents."

The slightest of winces; the façade of hubris destroyed. "I had no choice. I did it for you, son."

"Don't call me that! Fuck!" I didn't need this glass shard. Rage would make me explode like a grenade. All he had to do was say one more thing to piss me off and the pin would be pulled.

I took a deep breath. If I lost control, I'd be no better than him.

Verity, where are you and your mom? Talk to me.

She answered immediately. I don't know... close-ish? Chip and his friend are relentless. Don't worry though. I'm kicking their asses.

Good. Bang on the wall.

Okay.

A dull thud sounded. She wasn't far.

I took another step towards Norvin. His wolves growled. "If you come any closer, Alek, I'll be forced to make them attack." He held up the tablet that I assumed gave him access to the werewolves' minds.

"That's not what's going to happen," I said. "I'm releasing Verity and her mom and we're walking out of this house. You and your wolves can stay down here forever or go howl at the moon. I don't care."

"You can't do that." His finger hovered over the tablet. "I can't let you take her."

Another flicker in his eye. Remorse? Despair? Shame? Or simply straight up anger that I'd betrayed him.

"I'm sorry, son."

His finger connected with the tablet, and the wolves charged. When they were mere feet from me, a white wolf with speckles of grey dashed from down the hall, colliding with them both.

Verity!

I'll buy you time, she said. Go!

I did what she instructed. "Flora, Val, get back in the elevator. If the wolves approach, close the door and get out of here."

Flora nodded and scrambled back inside, but Val pulled on my arm. "You'll need my hand."

With one wayward glance back at her daughter, Val followed me. Even with three wolves tearing up the hall, however, Norvin managed to maneuver around them. We stepped over the limp bodies and Chip and Sam, and there he stood, still insisting on being my biggest obstacle.

"Like it or not, I'm the only father you have, Alek, and this is what's right. For both of us. You need to let Verity go. It's in your best interest. I'm willing to forget everything; I swear to you." In his most audacious move to date, he had the nerve to grin at me. Unbelievable. He expected me to cave, to come back to the fold, where everything was safe and familiar, where lies were overlooked in exchange for a false sense of belonging.

I took a swing, smacking him hard in the jaw. He staggered back, and I shook out my fist, sore from the impact.

"You just programmed werewolves to attack me, Norvin, and now you're back to play paternal savior? Make up your goddamn mind!"

A piercing yelp from the wolves drew my focus down the hallway but it was impossible to tell what was happening.

Verity?

Hurry, she replied. I just took down two of them and now I'm outnumbered again. My leg... it's pretty messed up.

Another yelp.

Verity?

No response.

"This isn't looking so good," Val whispered.

I rounded on Norvin again, but instead of punching him, I pried his tablet from his hands.

"What are you doing? Give that back! Val, don't let him use that!"

"I'm not going to us it." I handed the tablet to Val. "She is."

Val looked at me. "What?"

"If you want even the dimmest hope that your daughter won't despise you for the rest of your life, then you need to do the right thing now. Those wolves are killing Verity. And Flora is only feet away from them. I told her to go, but you know as well as I do: she's as loyal to Verity as...well, as a wolf. Who do you think they're going to tackle next? Unless," I glanced in Norvin's direction, "you order them to attack someone else."

"Val, wait now." Norvin reached his hands out towards her. I shoved him away.

"Are you ready to end this, Val?"

One more moment of deliberation, and then Val got to work. Two wolf heads shot up, entirely uninterested in Verity. They turned in unison towards Norvin.

As much as I despised him, I didn't want to wait around to see what was about to happen. Val and I pressed on, towards a closed door. She placed her palm against the control pad and the lock released. Pulling the door open, Verity fell into my arms. Blood soaked onto my shirt.

I carried her back inside so we wouldn't have to see what was happening in the hallway.

A woman—Cora Hargrave, once the biggest monster in all my nightmares, came over and sat next to me as I held her daughter.

"She's dying," Cora said, her voice hoarse. Not a monster, just a woman, with the same nose as Verity and kind, sorrowful eyes.

I didn't know what to say to her; all I could think of was the bitter truth. "For so long, I've been searching for the wrong monster." And now, Verity might be sacrificed over my life-long futile quest for vengeance.

Maybe I had betrayed her after all. 

_____

Author's Note: Not gonna lie, I'm getting weepy here. The next chapter will be the very last. Our story is about to come to a close and Verity's fate is about to be sealed. What now? Will she pull through? What about Norvin? Chip? 

This has been quite the journey. I'm looking forward to seeing it all the way through with you.

XOXOXO