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| Raphael, Wednesday, Tertium 24th, 1332(AG)—Aegisguard, Ascela, Greykin Valley |

As he stormed through the snow, an irritated scowl clung to Raphael's furred face. He didn't like Jackson or his pack, and the fact that they'd just disobeyed direct orders and gone a completely different way made him want to scream. Why was it so hard for them to listen? Why was Jackson such a disobedient brat? And why weren't Strămoş Luca and Zalith punishing him? He'd broken several laws in the past few days; anyone else would be dead or in Daevor.

He snarled angrily, dragging his paws through the snow. As much as he wanted to keep going, he knew that he shouldn't leave Jackson and his stupid little pack out there alone. But he didn't want to chase after them or make them think that he'd follow their orders. He was in charge. However, Jackson was too great an asset to finding a cure for the virus. Leaving him alone for too long wasn't in anyone's best interest.

What if they were going the wrong way, though? What if Raphael turned back to follow them and lost Luan's trail? He didn't want to make the wrong call, so with a frustrated huff, he stopped by a tree, shifted into his human form, and reached into his bag. Once he took out his phone, he checked to see if he had a signal, but he didn't, so he took out his hand mirror instead. He tapped the rune on the back, imbuing his ethos into it, and then he stared at the black glass, waiting for either of his Strămoş' to answer.

And to his relief, it was Strămoş Luca who appeared moments later.

"Vhat's vrong?" Strămoş Luca asked with a worried frown.

Raphael sighed and dragged his free hand over his face. "Jackson and his pack went a completely different way," he muttered. "I tried getting them to follow me, but—"

"Are you still vith zhem?"

"No, I stayed on course, and—"

"Zephyr, you know zhat ve can't leave Jackson alone!" Strămoş Luca exclaimed.

"I know that, but I didn't want to risk losing Luan's trail. We need those lycans."

Strămoş Luca exhaled deeply, looking aggravated.

"Should I follow them?"

"Vhat 'appened exactly? Vhy did zhey go a divverent way?"

Raphael pouted—he knew that he was going to get yelled at for what he was about to say. "Jackson said something about a feeling, like his instincts were telling him to go the way he went."

Strămoş Luca's aggravated stare thickened. "Zephyr...."

"I know, I just—" he groaned and growled irritably, "—I just don't like them, okay? Jackson's a brat, Ethan's a fucking—"

"Just go and vind zhem," Strămoş Luca interjected, shaking his head. "Ve all 'ave to put our veelings aside vor zhis mission, even you. Listen to Jackson's instincts; zhey've been accurate enough so var zhat ve should take zhem seriously."

Raphael pouted again and rolled his eyes. "Fine."

"What happened?" then came Strămoş Zalith's voice.

"Jackson vent off course," Strămoş Luca replied.

Strămoş Zalith sighed.

"Zon't vorry. Zephyr's going avter zhem," Strămoş Luca said as Strămoş Zalith sat beside him. He shifted his sights to Raphael. "Aren't you?"

Raphael nodded. "Yeah. I'll find them."

"Good," Strămoş Zalith said. "Be careful."

"I will," he mumbled, and then the mirror faded to black. He tucked it away into his bag, got up, and shifted into his wolf form. "I really fucking hate this job sometimes," he muttered to himself as he followed Jackson's scent through the thin woods.

He silently traversed the forest, keeping his senses peeled for cadejo, but the only thing he could smell among the pine and lavender was the lingering scent of smoke coming from the burning lab in the distance.

And blood.

Wolf walker blood.

But it wasn't coming from the same direction as Jackson's scent.

Raphael stopped in his tracks and stared in the direction that the blood was coming from. And then he looked in the direction of Jackson's trail. Could Jackson's pack have been separated? Had something happened in the short time Raphael had been away? He wasn't going to hang around and let it get worse.

He raced off in Jackson's direction—he was more important than whoever was bleeding. Raphael rushed deeper into the thicker woods, concentrating on the trail, but the stench of rotting flesh abruptly assaulted his senses. He frantically looked around, still running, but there was no sign of cadejo. The scent got stronger, though, so powerful that it started making him feel sick...sick and disorientated.

As he skidded to a halt, Raphael looked around, trying to grasp Jackson's aura, but he couldn't find it. He couldn't find anything. Just rotting flesh, weeks-old blood...and wolf walker blood. Now, the smell came from every direction. And snarls...yelps, panicked voices.

Raphael burst into action, following the sounds of struggle and battle. He attempted to locate Jackson's aura, but something was obscuring his senses, something familiar. Was there silver in these mountains? Or perhaps vendite. Either way, he couldn't use his sensory abilities.

He ran as fast as his legs would carry him, and the closer to the howls and snarls he got, the stronger the smell of blood grew. And among it was the conflicted scent of lycan and demon.

Hybrid blood.

With an irritated but determined snarl, Raphael focused his strength and ran faster, tapping into the power that his demon blood gave him. If Jackson was hurt, he'd be the one who was blamed for it; he was supposed to be supervising this mission, and he was the one who let Jackson take his pack in a completely different direction.

He ran, and ran, and ran, scouring ahead, and when he saw blood and pawprints in the snow, he huffed and sped up, dreading what he was going to find once he came to the end of the trail.

Through the snow and trees, he saw wolves fighting cadejo; he jumped onto the battlefield, grabbing the first cadejo he laid eyes on. But as he tore the monster apart, he glanced around at the struggling wolves. He didn't recognize a single one of them.

Except one. A lycan. The snow leopard with a thick black stripe stretching down from the top of her head and to the tip of her tail. She swung around, kicking up the snow, which transformed into blades, and then they impaled the cadejo charging at her.

That was Lusine, one of Luan's lycans.

"Help!" a child screamed.

Raphael took his eyes off Lusine and set them on a brown and beige-furred wolf; she was cowering behind a log with one child, reluctant to dart out and help the other pup, which was running from a cadejo.

The orange wolf pounced and clashed with the creature, pinning it to the ground before it could try fighting back, and then he tore it apart. He watched the pup run to join the hiding wolf, and then he turned his attention back to the battle. Two wolf walkers lay dead among the mangled corpses, but neither of them belonged to Luan.

Raphael helped clear out the rest of the cadejo anyway. He tore them apart, glancing at Lusine whenever he got the chance. She might not be Luan, but she was one of the Lyca Corp. hybrids, and he was going to bring her back to his Strămoş'.

Once the last cadejo was dead, Raphael let out a deep sigh, and he glanced around at the horrified wolves.

"T-Tokala?" the silver-black-furred wolf questioned, staring at him.

"No," he replied, looking her up and down. "How do you know Tokala?"

She frowned at him. "How do you?"

"R-Raphael?" came Lusine's shaky voice. "N-no!"

Before Lusine could try to flee, Raphael roared in her direction, and the girl was forced out of her leopard form. She stumbled in the snow, but he shifted into his human form and grabbed her wrist.

"Get off me!" she cried.

"Hey, let go of her!" one of the wolves shouted.

"Hey!" another yelled and tried to intervene, but Raphael used his free hand to shove the brown wolf away.

Raphael looked around at the startled, snarling pack. They knew Tokala, and he knew that Daimon's pack had split after an internal conflict. Could these wolves be them?

"Let me go!" Lusine cried.

He glared down at her. "Where's Luan and the others?"

"I won't tell you!"

"How do you know Tokala?!" the silver-black wolf demanded.

Raphael growled frustratedly as Lusine writhed around in his grip. He didn't have the patience for this. He pinned her against a tree, and then he glanced at the others. "My name is Raphael, and my mission is to find this girl and the rest of her clan. They're all key components in finding a cure for the cadejo virus. As for how I know Tokala, your little Zeta turned out to be the thing that started this virus in the first place," he explained.

Confused, horrified, and disbelieved murmurs spread around the pack.

"Tokala...was turned?" one of the kids asked shakily.

"Tokala died a very long time ago," Raphael replied. "Patient Zero steals bodies to survive, and Tokala was his latest victim."

"Bullshit," the silver-black wolf growled.

"Yeah? Why don't you ask your ex-boyfriend?" Raphael sneered. "Your beloved Tokala almost killed them all."

"Daimon?" she asked, wide-eyed.

The all-black wolf missing his right ear snarled and rolled his green eyes, standing beside her.

Raphael turned his attention back to Lusine. "Where's Luan?"

She grunted and struggled in his grip.

He tightened his grasp on her throat. "Tell me, or things will get incredibly uncomfortable for you."

The girl whimpered and squirmed around.

"She got separated from her pack," one of the wolves blurted.

"We found her," another added. "We were heading towards the smoke; we wanted to see what happened."

"That smoke?" Raphael questioned, nodding up at the thin smoke which was still spewing into the sky. "That's the lab where we found out who Tokala was."

"Is Daimon there?" the silver-black wolf asked desperately.

"No. He's somewhere secure. As for the rest of your ex-pack, they're out here somewhere searching for the rest of this one's clan," he said, nodding at Lusine. "Why were you separated?" he asked her.

"C-cadejo," she choked. "Hundreds of them."

"Where's Tokala now?" the other kid asked.

"Didn't you hear him? He's fucking dead," one of the wolves muttered.

"Can you locate your clan?" Raphael asked Lusine.

She scowled at him. "Even if I could, I—"

"I don't have time for this," he growled at her. "Where the fuck is Luan?!"

"Calm down!" the wolf guarding the two pups shouted. "You're scaring them!"

"We found her that way," the all-black wolf said, nodding into the trees. "Not even twenty minutes ago."

"Don't tell him!" Lusine wailed. "He's—"

Raphael put his hand over her mouth, silencing her. "Lead me there. I need to find the others."

"Is...is Remus with them?" one of the kids asked.

"No. He's at the same place as Daimon," Raphael told him, pulling Lusine away from the tree. He glared at the girl in his grip. "Listen closely. If you even think about trying to run, I'll know, and I won't hesitate to knock you the fuck out and drag you along like a rat. Got it?"

The girl pouted as tears formed in her eyes.

"And don't try any of your power shit, either. You know it doesn't work on me."

"Hold up," the black wolf insisted. "Why are you treating her like a prisoner?"

"Because in my eyes, she is one," Raphael snarled and shoved Lusine away. "Shift."

The girl did as she was told and shifted into her snow leopard form.

Raphael shifted, too. "Move it. We're wasting time."

Although who were clearly the small pack's leaders looked hesitant, they began leading the way deeper into the woods.

As Lusine walked, Raphael stuck close to her. He knew what she and her clanmates were like, and he wasn't going to risk her attempting to flee.

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