Chapter 115 - The Alpha's Gift

  Cerberus and I clashed again, trading blows that would have pulverized normal humans. I got in a solid hit to his ribs, but he just grunted and kept coming. His claws raked across my chest, not piercing my Natural Armor but leaving deep bruises beneath. We were locked in a deadly dance, neither of us able to gain the upper hand.

  The main thing I had to watch out for were those teeth. He hadn’t managed to sink a fang into me yet, and I was working hard to keep things that way. The last thing anyone needed was me sprouting extra facial hair in the middle of this fight.

  Then I heard footsteps rushing up behind me. I spared a quick glance back, worried, but it wasn’t more enemies. I had reinforcements arriving! I risked a glance. Dara and Ruiz were charging in, weapons ready. Both were tier five, some of Alex's best fighters. Against a normal opponent, they'd be a huge help. Against Cerberus, I wasn’t so sure.

  "Cameron! We've got your back!" Dara called out.

  "Stay back!" I shouted. "He's too—"

  Cerberus moved.

  One second he was focused on me. The next, he'd pivoted with impossible speed and launched himself at Ruiz. The man barely had time to raise his shield before the pack leader was on him. Cerberus's claws hooked over the top of the shield, and with a terrifying display of strength, he ripped it clean out of Ruiz's grip and flung it aside.

  "No!" I was already moving, diving forward to stop Cerberus’s lunge and save the hapless warrior. But I was too slow and too far.

  Cerberus's jaws clamped down on Ruiz's forearm.

  The scream that tore from Ruiz's throat was agonizing. Cerberus held on for just one terrible, endless second, then dropped him to the ground like a broken toy. Ruiz collapsed, clutching his arm, blood pouring between his fingers.

  I reached his side just as Cerberus turned away, already stalking toward Alex. I caught Ruiz as he fell, lowering him to the ground as gently as I could.

  “I’ve got you, Ruiz,” I said. “Just hang on. Marion can Cleanse this. You're going to be fine.”

  He was breathing fast, and I felt his pulse pounding as I held the man. Blood still poured from the wound, but it didn’t look that bad. I clamped a hand over the injury, trying to slow the bleeding some.

  Then he turned toward me, and I saw his face.

  Hair was already sprouting across his cheeks and forehead. His ears were elongating, moving up the sides of his head. His teeth were getting longer, sharper. For a moment I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Those other people I’d seen turn earlier in the infirmary, they’d been bitten hours before. Why was Ruiz changing now?

  "No," I breathed. "No, it's too fast, this is—"

  "Kill me," Ruiz gasped, his voice already changing, becoming more guttural. His eyes met mine. They were still human eyes, still aware, and filled with desperate terror. "Please, Cameron. Before I turn. Before I hurt someone. Kill me!"

  I raised my hands to deliver a killing blow to his skull. One strike. That's all it would take. I could end it quickly and painlessly, before the transformation completed. Before he became one of them.

  But I couldn't do it.

  My hands were shaking. Ruiz was a person. He was a good man. Alex's friend. One of the people who'd risked his life in that nightmare dungeon with us. How could I just execute him?

  "Please!" Ruiz begged, tears streaming down his increasingly inhuman face. "I can feel it! I can feel myself slipping! Cameron, please!"

  "I'm sorry," I choked out. "I can't. Marion can help! There has to be another way!”

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  Ruiz screamed. It wasn’t in pain, this time, but in rage. His body convulsed, muscles bulging, bones cracking and reforming. The last vestiges of humanity fled from his eyes, replaced by that terrible yellow glow.

  He shoved me away with shocking strength and staggered backward, clutching his head, howling. The sound was half-human, half-wolf, and completely tormented. Other werewolves were already moving toward him, drawn by the howl, ready to welcome their new pack mate.

  "Cameron!" Alex's voice cut through my horror. "Behind you!"

  I spun just in time to see Cerberus bearing down on Dara. She was backing up, firing Fire Bolts as fast as she could cast them, but they were barely slowing him down. He was stalking her, slowly advancing while she retreated. Another few seconds and he’d have her cornered. Then he’d bite her, turn her, too.

  Not if I could help it.

  I activated Flight and shot forward like a missile, closing the distance in a heartbeat. Cerberus had just positioned himself to lunge forward and bite her when I grabbed his arm and redirected the movement. His momentum carried him past Dara, and I used every ounce of Strength I had to swing him around and hurl him across the Yard.

  Cerberus flew through the air and slammed into the brick wall of a nearby building. The impact was tremendous. Bricks cracked and crumbled. The entire wall shuddered. Cerberus crashed to the ground in a heap of rubble and dust.

  I landed beside Dara, who'd fallen during the near-miss. "You okay?"

  "Yeah," she gasped, accepting my hand as I pulled her to her feet. "Thanks. That was way too close! Hey, where’s Ruiz?! What—“

  We both looked toward where I'd left Ruiz. The transformation was complete. Where a man had been moments ago, now stood another werewolf, brown-furred and snarling. He was running toward the other werewolves, already part of their pack, already lost.

  "Oh God," Dara whispered. "He turned so fast."

  "Get back to the line," I told her. "Stay with the others. Don't let that thing get close to you again."

  "Cameron, how do we beat this?” Dara looked more frightened than I’d ever seen her.

  “Together. But let Alex and I deal with the big guy. Go!"

  She went, sprinting back toward Alex's defensive formation. I turned my attention back to Cerberus, who was already climbing out of the rubble. He shook himself like a dog fresh out of the bath, dislodging brick dust and debris.

  But he wasn't coming for me. Instead, he moved toward a group of Harvard defenders who were trying to hold off three lesser werewolves. Before I could shout a warning or move to intercept, Cerberus was among them.

  He grabbed one of the defenders by the shoulder. The man tried to stab him with a spear. Cerberus didn't even flinch. He just pulled the man close and bit down on his shoulder. The man screamed loud enough to cut about the noise of the battle, but then his shout cut off abruptly. Cerberus released him and the defender collapsed. Within seconds, hair was already sprouting across his face. That same terrible transformation was already beginning.

  "No!" I was flying toward them, but Cerberus had already moved to the next defender. He grabbed an older woman this time. She was someone's grandmother, perhaps, pressed into service because they needed every able body for the defense.

  Cerberus bit her arm before she could react. She fell and started changing immediately.

  "Stop!" I screamed, rage and horror mixing in my voice. "Fight me, you coward! Leave them alone!"

  Cerberus turned to face me, blood dripping from his muzzle. That horrible smile spread across his face. “I make more pack. Make strong. You see now? This is gift. This is survival."

  Seeing all these rapid transformations, I realized the terrible truth I should have seen when Ruiz transformed in minutes instead of hours.

  The lower-ranked werewolves' bites took time to take hold. It seemed to take hours, usually. That was plenty enough time for Marion to Cleanse the curse before it took hold. But Cerberus was tier eight. His bite was special. Stronger. His curse worked faster, so much that by the time Marion could reach someone he'd bitten, they'd already be transformed.

  Which meant anyone Cerberus bit couldn't be saved. They were lost the moment his teeth broke their skin.

  "You’re a monster," I breathed. "You're not trying to save people. You're building an army."

  "Army is pack. Pack is family. All will join Cerberus. All will be strong. Even you, small one. Soon."

  He charged at me again, but this time I was ready for him. Fists up as he rocketed toward me like a living cannonball, I blocked his first strike then countered with one of my own. My blow struck hard enough to send shockwaves in all directions, the boom knocking back another werewolf who’d gotten too close to our battle. Bloodied, Cerberus staggered back a step, so I pressed my advantage and pounded home two more blows.

  Now, I understood what we were really fighting. Cerberus might think he was doing everyone a favor by warping humans into inhuman monsters, but he had to be stopped at any cost. There was no way humanity could co-exist with a threat like this. Cerberus could change someone into a werewolf in minutes with the smallest bite wound. So long as that threat hung over all of us, no one would ever be safe.

  I grabbed his shoulders and pulled him forward into my knee, driving the air from his lungs. Then, I fired my strongest punch into this throat as he struggled to stand upright again. I followed that with a devastating kick to his knee that dropped him to the ground.

  Cerberus was strong, fast, durable, and Regenerated quickly, but he was still mortal. I’d made him bleed.

  Now it was time to make him die.