Blood Moon Pact: The Werewolf King and the Immortal Caged Bird

The edge of the Shadow Forest is like a tattered cloth soaked in ink, and the moonlight has struggled to tear a few pale cuts through the tree crevices. Kane licked the congealed black blood on his front PAWS, and his silver-gray mane exploded in the wind into an upside-down steel needle. "Alpha, the left wing has been cleaned." Buck's Wolf howl came from the east side of the checkpoint, with the excitement typical of a young warrior. "The bones of those bat cubs are as brittle as dried branches!" Kane didn't respond, his amber-colored vertical eyes fixed on the stronghold embedded in the rock wall ahead. The half-werewolf tail hung on the stone door of the Blood-toothed checkpoint, swaying in the wind like a provocative flag. Among the twelve people abducted three days ago, there were weaned cubs and the old Omega who was in charge of recording the family tree - vampires never know what it means to leave a living mouth. "Remember the signal." He growled in a wolf-like throaty voice, as rough as a ground stone, "When you've saved someone, blow up the entrance to the silver mine. Don't kill." The twenty huge wolves behind them simultaneously bowed their bodies, their claws digging into the soil, making a fine creaking sound. Lila, on the far left, shook her pale brown tail. She was a size smaller than her kind, but her ears were the most agile: "Do you hear me? There was the sound of chains inside, more than twelve people." Kane didn't say a word, and suddenly bowed his hind legs. The next second, the silver-grey figure shot out like an arrow leaving the bowstring, and the moonlight in the woods flowed over his fur, leaving a fleeting streak of silver light. Two vampire guards at the entrance of the checkpoint were leaning against the stone wall to gamble, and one of them held up a blood-stained silver coin: "I bet that among the blood slaves tonight, that little Wolf cub tastes the best --" Before he could finish his words, his head rolled to the ground. Scalding black blood splashed all over his companion's face, and just as the vampire was about to scream, Kane's fangs pierced through his throat. "First group, follow me!" Kane shook the blood drop on his head and kicked open the creaking stone door with his PAWS. The stone passage inside was as narrow as a coffin, with torches on both sides shining on the skulls hanging on the walls, and some of the tarnishes still bore the scratches of Wolf claws. "Alpha, this way!" Buck's roar came from the right side of the road, accompanied by the crisp sound of broken bones, "Find three! All alive!" Kane rushed over and saw Buck prying open the bars of the cage with his claws. The three werewolves in the cage were huddled together, the youngest still trembling, with deep, bone-visible marks on its hind legs. "Bite my tail and don't open your eyes." Buck lowered his head and swept his tail lightly across the cub's face. Kane's gaze swept over the depths of the stone cell, where there were seven cages, one of which was empty, with blackened bloodstains on the ground. A threatening growl came from his throat - one was missing. "Alpha! There's a hidden door over here!" Lila's voice, with a rapid gasp, "seems... It's Old Glen's grandson! They dragged him into the altar!" Kane turned and charged towards the end of the stone path, his claws tapping on the stone slabs with a clattering sound. Turning the corner, he saw three black-robed vampires surrounding the young man on the stone platform, one of whom was holding a silver dagger, the tip of which had touched the young man's carotid artery. "Put him down." Kane's voice was brimming with b********y, his mane standing up. The vampire, holding the dagger, slowly turned around, his hood slipped off, revealing a wrinkled face. His eyes were murky red and he had a sticky smile at the corner of his mouth: "Wolf cub, just in time." Kane recognized him - a vampire elder, an old man who had lived for at least five hundred years, said to have silver poison in his nail crevices. "Do you think you can save him?" The elder shook the dagger in his hand, the silver blade shining cold under the torch. "Twelve for one, a very good deal." The young man on the stone platform suddenly struggled and reached out his hand towards Kane: "Alpha! Leave me alone --" Just as Kane was distracted, the elder moved. He moved as fast as a shadow, not at all like an old monster. Kane turned sideways subconsciously, but heard a sharp pain in his left shoulder, as if it had been pierced by a red-hot iron. "Uh --" he grossed and looked down to see the silver dagger had sunk into his shoulder, with vampire runes on the hilt glowing. "Silver poison and moonlight grass juice," the elder laughed, showing his fangs. "How does your werewolf Nemesis taste?" Kane tried to pounce and tear his throat, but suddenly his limbs became heavy. The silver venom, like countless small snakes, crawled down the veins towards the heart, and the muscles twitched wherever it passed. He shook his head, his vision began to blur, and the light of the torch turned into a jumble of flickering spots. "Alpha!" Buck's roar came from afar, with a deafening Wolf howl, "We're coming!" The elder made a TSK and suddenly pulled the young man on the stone platform back to the hidden door: "Next time we meet, remember to bring the remaining chips." Kane watched him disappear behind the hidden door, the silver dagger still stuck in his shoulder, and with every movement it felt like shards of glass were scraping his bones. He tried to catch up, but his front legs gave way and he fell heavily to the ground. "Alpha!" Lila was the first to rush in and, upon seeing the dagger on his shoulder, let out a short cry, "Don't move! I'll pull --" "Don't touch." "Silver..." Kane panted, his paw pressed tightly against the wound. Poisonous." His vision grew darker and darker, and the howling of wolves and the screaming of vampires in his ears became distant. Just as consciousness was about to sink, he suddenly felt a strange warmth - not the body temperature when wolves gather, but the tenderness like moonlight falling on the skin, coming from far away, with a faint pulsation, like... Like a heart shining in the darkness. "What is that..." He muttered to himself, involuntarily raising his head in that direction. The sharp pain in his shoulder was still spreading, but the warmth was growing clearer. He could even smell a faint fragrance, like some kind of flower blooming in the night, a little sweet and a little cool, flowing through his nostrils into his mind and suppressing a little of the confusion caused by the silver poison. "Alpha, we have to get out!" Buck had gathered the rest of his people and held the youngest cub in his arms. "The vampire reinforcements are coming!" Kane struggled to his feet, his silver-gray wolf-like figure trembling slightly in pain. He took one last look in the direction where the hidden door had vanished, then turned his head and looked towards the place where the warmth was coming - deeper into the Shadow Forest, veiled by layers of trees, seeing nothing. But he knew that something was waiting for him there. "Go." He let out a low growl and, enduring the excruciating pain, turned out. The silver dagger on his shoulder was still stuck there, dragging long bloodstains with each step, but his eyes were astonishingly bright, staring fixedly at the thick darkness ahead that could not be dispelled. "We'll be back." " He said to himself and to his people who had vanished behind the hidden door, "double what they owe." Buck bit off a thick vine with his fangs and wrapped it around Kane's shoulder a few times, trying to stop the black blood that was seeping out. "Alpha, this won't do. The silver poison is climbing towards the heart." His wolf-like claws were shaking and his teeth were cracking as he spoke, "I'll carry you on my back!" Kane shook off his head sharply, his mane sweeping across Buck's face with unquestionable intimidation: "Take your claws away." His voice was more hoarse than before, and every word he spoke felt like a grain of sand scraping his throat, "The people... All followed?" Lila ran from the back of the line, her light brown wolf-shaped back carrying the legless cub, whose head was buried in her neck hair, making a whoozing sound as thin as a gnat. "Counted, nine are alive, three..." She paused, her voice lowered, "couldn't bring it out." The smell of blood in the stone path grew stronger and stronger, mingled with the typical decaying scent of vampires. In the distance came the flapping of wings, thick and dense, like a downpour hitting iron sheets. Kane looked up at the stone door, where the moonlight was blocked by something, casting large, wriggling shadows. "It's a swarm of bats." Lila's ears pressed against her scalp. "The elders are calling for reinforcements." "Do you remember where the explosives are?" Kane suddenly turned and patted Buck on the cheek with his uninjured right paw. Buck was stunned for a moment, then came to his senses: "In the wooden box at the entrance of the silver mine! But none of us can run faster than you --" "I'll go." Kane interrupted him, his amber eyes shining terrifyingly in the dimness. "You lead the people to the secret passage on the east side to meet at Crescent Spring." "What about you?" Lila was so anxious that she spun in place, her tail sweeping the pebbles on the ground, "You can't even stand now!" "I went to blow up the silver mine," Kane repeated, his right paw already at his waist - where there was a flint he had picked up from the corpses of human hunters. "Vampires want to hold us back with the silver mine? Dreaming." He moved his legs deeper into the stone path, leaving a bloody claw mark on the ground with each step. The hilt of the silver dagger was still swinging over his shoulder like a mocking mark, and with each swing, the burning pain went deeper into his bone marrow. "Alpha!" Buck caught up and blocked his way with his body. "Are you crazy? That's a vampire trap! They deliberately left the explosives there --" "I know." "But we have to let them know that the wolves' blood is not in vain," Kane said, looking down at him. He shook his head and signaled Buck to get out of the way. "If we don't go, no one will go." Buck gritted his teeth, his Wolf claws digging five deep grooves on the ground. Finally, he lowered his head sharply and rubbed his forehead against Kane's front leg - that was the Wolf gesture of obedience. "We'll wait for you at the Crescent Spring. If I don't see you before dawn, I'll bring men back and blow up this broken checkpoint." "Get out." Kane groaned, but did not push him away again. Buck turned and rushed back to the line, giving a low command from his throat. Lila gave Kane one last look, her eyes brimming with concern, and then, carrying the cubs, followed the main group into the corner of the stone path. The stone path fell silent in an instant, with only Kane's heavy panting and the sound of wings approaching in the distance. He took a deep breath, forcing himself to ignore the sharp pain in his shoulder, and headed towards the entrance of the silver mine. The torches on both sides of the passage had gone out at some point, leaving only the moonlight seeping through the crevices of the rocks above his head, piecing together broken patches of light on the ground. Kane's shadow was stretched long, like a wounded python, wrigbling slowly in the darkness. After walking about fifty steps, he smelled sulfur. The entrance to the silver mine was ahead, and a rusty iron door was ajar, with a faint light coming through the crack. Kane crouched down and approached silently, his ears turning warily - there were breathing sounds inside, more than one. "... The old man said that once the Wolf king dies, the Shadow Forest will be ours." A shrill voice, with a smirk, "the silver sand in the mine is enough to quench a thousand daggers, and when the time comes, all the Wolf cubs will be skinned --" "Shut up." Another voice was more steady, "The elder said wait for his signal and don't make things worse." Kane's claws dug into the wood of the doorframe, and his knuckles turned white from force. He counted and there were five vampires inside, all with quivers on their backs and short silver knives at their waists. He suddenly broke through the iron door, and his silver-gray figure darted in like a bolt of lightning. Before the vampire closest to the door could react, his head was crushed in one bite and black blood splashed all over the wooden box piled up in the corner. "It's the Wolf King!" Someone screamed, and silver arrows whizzed over. Kane rolled on the ground, dodged the rain of arrows, and with his right claw, he snapped another vampire's waist. He could feel the wound on his shoulder cracking open, the silver poison burning all over his body like wildfire, his vision darkening, but that mysterious warmth came again - clearer than before, as if a hand was gently holding his heart.