Peak Moon: The hunted Alpha

Episode 5

“Mr. President!” Markov stepped into the cabinet room. He’d been waiting on the bench outside.

“You’ll be promoted to General tomorrow,” President Ivanov said. General Martin grinned beside him, obviously not happy. “Gear up. You’ll lead the country’s secret efforts against the werewolves. Expunge them. Not one left.”

“Yes, Mr. President!” Markov saluted. Pride burned in his chest.

“That’s ungrateful!” Ema’s voice cut through. “You helped them win the war.”

“You’re right, child,” Hurtis said. “But men like that got to power through greed. They keep it by being ruthless. The moment they think someone might take it, that person disappears. No trace. No questions.”

“So President Ivanov is just scared?” one of the men asked.

“Something like that,” Matvey said. “He doesn’t trust us in the military. Our differences make him afraid.”

Ema chewed slowly, then looked up. “So… do we run for the rest of our lives?”

The room went quiet. Her question hit harder than any yelling.

“Yes!” Hurtis slammed the table. “Do we run all our lives, boys?”

“No! We fight!” the men roared back.

“Yeah, go fight tanks and rocket launchers,” Matvey deadpanned. The table burst into laughter.

They sat back down and kept eating.

“But for real,” Hurtis said, “we need a plan.”

“What can we do?” Matvey reminded them. “They have artillery. We have claws.”

“And teeth.”

“that can say ‘cheese’ to the cameras,” one man joked. Everyone laughed except Matvey and Ema.

“We have rage,” Matvey said loudly. “This isn’t a joke. They want us gone. We can’t laugh it away.”

“Laughter helps people cope,” the joker said.

“We have rage! We have rage!” another man mocked him. A few snickered.

“And what’s rage going to do, Mr. Rage?” someone laughed. “Shoot down an army helicopter?”

“Yes,” Ema said, clear and proud. “That’s exactly what my father did yesterday.”

Everything stopped. Forks paused midair.

“Tell us, kid,” Hurtis leaned in. “What did your father do?”

Ema explained, short and steady.

“Damn,” one man breathed. “Ice cold.”

“That was bold,” Hurtis said. He looked at Matvey with pride and worry. “But jumping at a helicopter on a mountain? If you missed, you could’ve fallen. You might not have made it.”

“Risks have to be taken,” Matvey said, slicing his steak. “If I didn’t, that helicopter would’ve followed us forever. We weren’t safe either way.”

“He’s right,” Hurtis admitted. “If they caught you, they wouldn’t wait for you to heal. And they’d hunt Ema too.”

“So teach us that jump,” Hurtis said. “When we were in the military, we learned how to push our abilities. We should be training. Like we’re at war. Because we are. One day we’ll deserve to live among people again. Not hiding here like prey.”

“Show some respect,” Hurtis laughed. “We’re eating prey right now.”

The men laughed again. But Matvey saw it. The humor was armor. Behind it was grief.

Most of them were cut off from their families. Their human families thought they were dead soldiers. They filed missing reports. They asked the army for their bodies to be buried. Only the army knew the truth: there was a secret war.

Only a few were as lucky as Ema, born to two lycans.

After breakfast, the men filed out. Hurtis, Matvey, and Ema walked together into the cold. Their boots left prints in the snow.

“What you said about training,” Hurtis started. “About treating this like war…”

“Yeah?”

“I built this place for that. Gym. Pool. Theater. Karate Dojo. I had the pack build a real settlement.”

“Show me.”

Hurtis led them. No phones. No laptops. Nothing that could be traced. That was the rule in every wolf settlement.

They reached the gym. Some of the men from breakfast were already warming up. The equipment was solid. Impressive.

Then they got to the dojo.

Inside the Dojo, a big man was sparring with a woman half his size. She matched him blow for blow. Size didn’t slow her down.

“Hey, Sasha!” Hurtis called.

She stopped and turned. Her eyes landed on Matvey and Ema first, curious. Then she smiled.

“Hi, Hurtis. Morning.” Half Cruss, half Chinese. Sharp eyes. Calm energy.

“Morning,” Matvey and Ema said together.

“This is Matvey,” Hurtis said. “You’ve heard of him.”

“The leader of our people,” Sasha said with respect.

“Something like that,” Matvey said. “They found my last cabin. Burned it down.”

“Did you use a phone? Did your daughter go online?”

“No computers in the house. I don’t know how. A month ago, some tourists came to ski on Mount Palma. Two women got too close to my cabin taking photos. I just told them to leave. I didn’t think anything of it.”

“Oh, Matvey,” Sasha said. “They were probably spotters.”

“I thought they were just on vacation,” Matvey said. “My gut said they meant no harm.”

“The army must’ve used their photos if they posted online,” Hurtis said, rubbing his chin.

“Could be,” Sasha nodded.

“Anyway,” Hurtis continued. “He’s here now. You’ve heard what he’s done. Hitting army units, taking them out before they could hit us.”

“Impressive,” Sasha said.

“The problem is we’re scattered,” Hurtis said. “Matvey was strong with his pack. But he’s lost most of them. The rest of us saw what happened to him and went into hiding.”

“What else can we do?” Sasha asked. “They have bombs. Tanks.”

“We do better,” Matvey said. “This morning I said it. RAGE. That’s our weapon. Why do we shift with fury and tear through anything? We need to use that. On purpose. We have numbers. We can train. That’s why Hurtis brought me to you.”

“We need structure,” Matvey added. “Not to attack first. To defend. To survive.”

“You’re right,” Sasha said.

“No, you’re wrong!”

A man stepped from behind and drove a fist into Matvey’s jaw. Matvey hit the floor hard.

“Leave my daddy alone!” Ema screamed.