Reborn as the Lycan Beta

Chapter 7. Playtime Ends Here

On the Day of the Auction

Amsterdam

Duke POV

If there is one thing exciting about my entire life, it’s that what happens in my dreams also have more than a couple of situations happen in my waking life.

Remember hose dreams I got when one moment I was manning some shop and suddenly some s**t hits the fan no thanks to robbers? Well let’s just say I’ve had similar circumstances when things turn a hundred and eighty.

LIke, when I was a kid and I spent all the fun childhood getaways with my best bud Ori and suddenly one day he was just gone. Like we never got to say proper goodbyes. It was only later I learned his dad got him transferred from our pack out in the Far Eastern Kingdom to out here in the Central Kingdom so he could be formally introduced as his son.

Or that one time when Ori and I reunited and renewed our friendship? We were having fun times way back then — until some sick b**t**d colluded with another nobleman to kidnap and do stuff to me to get back at Ori.

And what about that thing in Algeria? Well I guess that one had been my fault. I have been careless.

Simply put, I’m actually used to all this sudden turn of events by now.

Or that’s what I thought.

You see, things had gone really smooth this morning. Today was the day of the Auction. I was looking forward to getting a good bid — hopefully one hot chick would pick me up and sponsor an entire weekend of romping wherever. I may sound like a sleazebag, but that’s Lycan singlehood for you. Meeting our fated mate is one in a thousand in one lifetime, and I am in no hurry to even get myself a chosen mate. So yeah, singlehood is life. Sue me.

Then suddenly, reports flooded in. First were some guys of our pack missing. We’d have dismissed it normally since we occasionally go bar hopping on our times off, but Doug and Jenna and a few others have not reported — not even a short script through our mana line — for more than twenty-four hours. That meant I had to send a couple of our scouts to track them down, just in case.

Then, just this afternoon when we were in the middle our operation and the Alpha-Luna, Gamma Ted, the Benningtons messaged me. Elle and Liz, Ori’s younger twin sisters, were kidnapped.

I was already done with my “strip tease” then. The auction part of the charity ball had begun, but I was still second to the last to be “auctioned off” — Alpha Paul won the evening’s honors for becoming the “ultimate auction” for the night — when we received the alarming message.

Status, Gamma Ted, please, came Alpha Paul or Luna Morrighan’s message through our leader’s communication or comm. He was just behind the exit door where I had been standing.

The charity auction was held at the rooftop of the biggest hotel in Amsterdam, the Intercontinental Crown. Half of the rooftop contained pension-type VIP rooms, of which a long hallway connecting the interior led out into the deck section where our event was being held.

No need to say please, Luna, Ted said.

Let’s skip the formalities. I need backup here in the top-floor indoor hallway. Orion is coming over and Prince Adolf is covering for him.

Okay, I’m sending over Raymond and Eric, Ted replied. Please stay — hold on, Alpha. We just got a message that Ron’s team had been ambushed.

Call all ground operatives to move up, Orion commanded, already growling. Give us a map of the hotel with Jack’s and Mateo’s MAT*.

I looked at the stage to see that there were still a couple more guys to be auctioned off before it was Tom’s turn, then mine, but —

BOOM!

A huge explosion rocked one side of penthouse section of the roof, stunning many of the guests who were not used to such battle tactics.

Ever since we’ve set this operation up within this building we’ had been monitoring them. You’d think you’ll no longer be surprised when they hit, but reality will always knock you off. Even I had to rub residual tinnitus off. The stage microphone wailed like a banshee in a concert with the screams of the civilians trying to get out of the roof deck. Our frontline operatives, though already oriented and prepared to handle such situation, struggled to keep things from turning into a disastrous stampede in the midst of angry growling, howling, ripping and claw

Growls, howls, and clawing sounds could be heard from the other side of the door I had been guarding. Alpha Paul, was inside, and ithe noise was definitely not from him.

Alpha, I’m heading over there, I called out via conference link and was about to open the door, but it was locked.

S**t.

I’ve locked the door here, Alpha Paul said. The explosion is from the side, so you should be able to see the holes there.

I swear I could’ve easily gone to his side faster through the door, but things really just don’t go the way things —

The rabid scent of rogue Lycans permeated through the air as more sounds of heavy landings could be heard near the makeshift stage. I turned to see a couple of them, one a wolf and the other a bipedal Lycan, wading through the piles of backstage costumes, props and other bits and bobs. Tom, however, beat me to them; he had already shifted into his bipedal form and was run-jumping at the floor and walls toward them.

Another wolf-biped team came from behind the first pair. On my peripheral vision, I saw several of these scallywags jumping into the building. From gliders.

I ran.

Of course, the i***ts thought I was about to escape. Riiight.

“You’ll regret it if you think I can only do one-on-one,” Tom sneered at them through his growls. Too bad for these guys; Tom may be more of an office dork these days, but he is still Wepawet. In a split-second, he already ripped the head off the wolf and was tearing through the arm of the second.

Not that I was distracted — the two behind the first pair that came onto us were already down — with just my hand claws.

Sixty more invaders incoming, Ted warned through the mind link. Here’s our live map scan. Jack’s and Mateo’s feeds have been included.

From our mind link feed I saw several maps layered together to appear three-dimensional. Portals opened at Stairwells A, B, C, and D with 3 enchanted wolves and 2 Lycans. 10 more Lycans and 15 wolves going up the back section of the hotel, and another 15 in gliders all the way to the top floor.

Gliders?! I groused. Oh h*ll yeah, I see one now. My second , in fact — F**k you— I roared a ton of expletives as more of these miscreants arrived.

All first fifteen intruders are now at the top floor, Ted said. 7 Wolves and 3 Lycans indoors. All Lycans outdoors. I’m heading over there.

No Ted, stay, Alpha Paul replied. Have two squads ready for rescue. I believe Brother Adolf has already mobilized his own troops as backup.

We are, Adolf said. And our first team to arrive is currently fighting the ground rogues.

Oh boy, this is going to be fun. I knew that the hotel would be our battlefield for this evening, but the civilians…

I nearly lost it, roaring another set of cusses as a wolf-Lycan pair cornered two young Lycans, most probably a young master and his Omega. You’d think they could’ve handled this easily, for the two had transformed as they tried to make their way out of the building.

The rogues on them, however, seemed veteran fighters from the way the moved and fought together. They seemed to disappear and reappear as they nipped at the two. Their skins, rather than furry, appeared to be that of a cork or some gnarled trunk of a Scots Pine.

Magic, Miles growled in warning.

Of course. I should’ve known from that smell. No wonder even the wolf half of their team are confident. These b**t**ds were using some sort of mambo-jumbo backup.

They’re using magic, I gruffly said over the link, cussing inwardly. Of all the things I hated when it comes to fighting Lycans, it’s these doped up ones whose only bragging rights were the mana layered on them.

Yep, mana layered. Crack those superficial magical boosters and underneath those mana eggshells are nothing but Lycan meat.

Let me at them! Miles said gleefully.

I let myself transform into my second form. As much as I wanted MIles to enjoy our Lycan wolf form, our size would be detrimental in close-quarter combat.

Which also held true for these rogues here. They may be midget compared to my wolf size, but they’re still occupying plenty of space for me to rip through — which was exactly what I did to him and his comrade a second later.

“Hurry and go,” I addressed the young master and his omega.

“T-thank you,” they said, bowing plenty of times. They appeared to have wanted to move towards to thank me, but I already turned away and met the next set of rogues. By their retreating footsteps, the swinging of doors, and the indoor airconditioning smell, they must be well on their way down to freedom.

These guys are nasty, Tom whined over the mind link. I’m fighting one with slime talent.

Sucks to be you, I huffed back. But I got a couple of gliders here… and they’re using not only skin spells but also…

Their gifts?

Nope, I smirked at the realization.

Whoever these guys are, not all of them seemed to well-attuned to their individual gifts.

Moonblade Pack Union members get to increase the effectiveness of their gifts as part of their training. When Luna Morrighan a.k.a. Alpha Paul arrived, our pack union went further by teaching us that our gifts weren’t just unique talents, but something we could make use of as much as we can so long as we knew how to link it to this world’s natural energy wells.

Simply put, we were introduced to Mystic Arts. Thanks to that, I have yet to fully unlock the true potential of my shields, which are now tougher and more malleable.

These guys only have basic and undeveloped talent, I said through the link. Even their fighting form is rough.

Militia? Tom said.

Exactly, I replied as I decimated two more wolf-humanoid duo.

—

S**t.

Our biggest fear had just gotten real.

With so many rogues nearly-simultaneously landing out here in the rooftop, by the time the side entrance was clear before me, the whole building suddenly shook and a growl reverberated all over the place. My head hurt as a loud growl rang through my mind link, as well.

Ori is in trouble.

Quick, hurry to Orion! His Highness the Crown Prince Adolf said. Use full power now if you have to!

No more play time. I instantly shifted to my higher form. Spikes grew over my face and snout, my wrists, shin, and spine. Bones cracked as my knuckles extended into additional claws.

I turned to a couple of bone-armored Lycan “dire” wolves, my latest opponents.

“Playtime ends here,” I growled. Before they could even move, I was already on the other side, their broken spines dangling from my claws. They lick sack of potatoes, blood oozing out on the floor.

I ran towards the door leading indoors. A while ago I could see ice; now the telltale ice was gone, indicating a dreaded fate for our Luna.

F**k.

I kicked the door open, its tough yet highly-secure make reduced to nothing to my adrenaline-fueled smash. Tom followed closely behind; he had already morphed into his dire phase.

—