Lycans Don't Lie

Chapter 3 Silver Veins

POV: Elara (Hybrid Transition)

The cafeteria smelled like burnt popcorn and blood. My tray clattered to the floor. Twenty-seven heartbeats throbbed in my skull - too loud - especially the girl laughing by the ketchup dispenser. Her jugular pulsed just so.

"Breathe." Caden's knee pressed against mine under the table. His warmth usually grounded me, but today it burned. "Stop staring at Heather like she's a juice box."

I blinked. Silver strands fell across my vision. Since when is my hair this long?

"Problem, scholarship kid?" Heather flicked a fry at me. The ketchup splattered like - no, don't think about blood -

Caden's phone buzzed with a pack alert:

LYCAN COUNCIL VERDICT: Human female E.R. guilty of assault. Kill on sight.

Below it, Marcus's edited video played on loop.

POV: Third-Person (Underground Safehouse)

The half-breed witch slammed her palm onto the rusted sink. "You ate a covenant scroll? That's like swallowing a grenade!"

Caden blocked the doorway, ears twitching for pursuers. "Can you stabilize her or not?"

"Depends." The witch yanked up Elara's sleeve. Silver veins branched beneath her skin. "Ever heard of the Silvertongue hybrids? Nasty business in the 1800s..."

Flashback POV: Caden's Ancestor (1892)

The human woman's scream cut off as her teeth sharpened. My fault. I'd only bitten her to save her from the hunters.

"Abomination!" The Lycan elders raised their silver-tipped spears. My mate's new claws scraped the dirt as she crouched over our squirming infant - its eyes already gleaming like poisoned mercury.

POV: Elara

Heather's laugh morphed into a high-pitched whine. Prey sound. My canines itched. The cafeteria lights flickered - no, that was my vision darkening at the edges.

"Elara." Caden gripped my wrist. His touch sent electricity up my arm. "We need to -"

Heather screamed.

I looked down. My fingernails had shredded the Formica table. Five perfect grooves oozing... silver?

POV: Marcus (Bloodsinger Heir)

Marcus adjusted the surveillance drone disguised as a campus security camera. Perfect. The footage of Elara's eyes flashing silver would send the Lycan elders into hysterics.

His phone lit up with Mother Lycan's encrypted message:

"The hybrid must reach the Underground before moonrise. Our deal stands."

He smirked and typed back:

"Keep your son away from the old church. My hunters need their fun."

POV: Caden

I smelled the trap before seeing it. Bergamot and decay - Bloodsinger perfume. The "safe route" to the Underground was littered with silver-coated bear traps.

Elara panted beside me, her silver veins pulsing in time with the distant chapel bell. Moonrise in twenty minutes.

"Change of plan." I kicked open the janitor's closet. "We're taking the Lycantrain."

Her eyebrows shot up. "The what?"

I yanked the mop sink handle. Pipes groaned as the entire wall slid open, revealing a tunnel stinking of wet dog and diesel. "Think supernatural subway. Last ran in the 1920s."

POV: Elara

The train car was a time capsule of ripped velvet seats and vintage "No Biting" posters. Caden wrenched the lever, sparks flying as rusted gears screeched to life.

"Next stop, Mixed-Blood District." His jaw tightened. "Where my family's laws don't apply."

Something howled in the tunnels ahead. Not wolf. Not human. The tracks trembled.

Caden suddenly pinned me against the shuddering wall. "Whatever happens," his breath scorched my lips, "don't let the silver take over. It's not you."

The headlights illuminated the horror on the tracks - a writhing mass of fur and too many limbs.

The last Silvertongue hybrid.

POV: Third-Person (Mother Lycan's Plot)

The pearl necklace snapped in her grip. "You promised me the girl!"

Marcus sipped his blood martini via Zoom. "And you'll get her corpse. After my hunters film Caden's death defending her." He zoomed in on the chapel's stained glass - now shattered by the hybrid's rampage. "Such a tragic accident."

POV: Elara

The creature's howl shook dust from the ceiling. Six glowing eyes. Twelve snapping jaws. And around its neck - a tattered wedding veil.

Caden shifted, his bones cracking sickeningly. "It was my great-aunt," he growled through elongating teeth. "First hybrid experiment."

The train brakes screamed. The monster lunged.

I moved faster than possible -