Published at 15th of December 2025 8:24 am

Chapter 1640: The First Meeting

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Jack was thinking back to that night. He had been in his office later than usual, the sky outside already pitch–black while most of the pack slept. These days, darkness had become more familiar to him than the light. It was the only time his wife, Lily, could move around freely.

During the day she was chained, sealed away in the furnace to endure whatever “treatment” they were forcing her through. At night, though, Jack always tried to give her some kind of normal life. If he kept her locked up around the clock, she would break long before any cure arrived. So he let her walk the streets under the moon, let her breathe the cool air, trusting that she could still control herself.

That trust was a constant weight inside his chest.

What if she got hurt again?

What if she hurt someone else?

Every time he thought about her stepping outside, those two questions clashed in his head. He wanted to protect the city. He wanted to protect her. And more and more, it felt like those two things were drifting in opposite directions.

He sat at his desk, paperwork unread in front of him, his eyes fixed on nothing. The only sound was the faint crackle of the crystal lamp in the corner. His body was exhausted, but his mind refused to shut down. He had barely slept properly in days, maybe weeks.

Which was why, at first, he thought he had finally started hallucinating.

Something moved at the edge of his vision. A shape, tall and twisted, like a shadow that had crawled up from the deepest part of the earth. Jack blinked once, slowly, telling himself it was just his imagination. But the figure didn’t vanish. It stepped forward, and with each step he heard it—the heavy, deliberate thud of feet against stone.

The air changed as well. It grew heavier, like the whole room was being pushed down. Jack’s instincts, the instincts of an Alpha who had led his pack through countless battles, screamed that whatever stood in front of him was dangerous.

It looked like a monster that had crawled out of hell.

“You must have a lot of questions for me,” the creature said.

Its voice was low, rough, echoing slightly, as if the sound came from somewhere deeper than its throat. It wasn’t shouting, yet every word filled the room.

“First,” it continued, “I haven’t hurt any of your pack to get in here. I came alone. I am here to speak to you, Jack Dem. I am here to solve all of your problems.”

Jack slowly stood from his chair. His muscles were tense, ready to transform at a moment’s notice if he had to, but he didn’t move just yet. His nose twitched. The scent was wrong, yet familiar. It was the smell of a Werewolf, but twisted, older, stronger—like the scent of an entire forest compared to a single tree.

“Who are you?” Jack asked.

The creature bared its teeth in something that was almost a smile.

“I am someone who can help you,” it said. “I am Unzoku... the first of your kind. The first of what you call Werewolves.”

The name meant nothing to Jack, yet the weight behind it pressed against his chest. From smell alone and from the presence radiating off this being, Jack could tell the other wasn’t lying about at least one thing: this was no normal Werewolf. This thing stood above them, beyond them. The way the Divine Being stood above ordinary humans.

He should have attacked. That was his first instinct. But another thought pushed its way in.

Has the answer I’ve been searching for... really just walked into my office?

He clenched his fists slightly, torn between caution and the desperate hope that this might all finally make sense.

“The reason everything is happening,” Unzoku said, lifting a clawed hand and pointing directly at Jack, “the reason your wife suffers, the reason Bornzeland is changing without you even knowing it... is because of you.”

The words hit harder than any punch.

Jack’s jaw tightened. “Because of me?” he repeated. “What are you talking about?”

“I am from a world beyond your understanding,” Unzoku replied. “Much like the being you call ‘Divine’, I answer to rules that were carved into this reality long ago. The world has a structure. A balance. There are laws that must not be broken.”

His eyes narrowed, glowing faintly.

“And you,” Unzoku continued, “have broken them.”

The first thing that came to Jack’s mind was the same thing he and Steve had argued about countless times.

“The rule that says the two Alphas have to clash?” Jack asked.

Unzoku’s lips pulled back again.

“Correct,” he said. “The world works the way it does for a reason. Two Alphas of your level, two leaders of that bloodline, cannot coexist peacefully. The system rejects it. Yet you and your brother have chosen to defy that rule. You refused the destined battle between you. And now the world is punishing not just you, but everyone around you.”

He took a step closer, and the temperature in the room seemed to drop.

“Just like the Dark Plague many years ago,” Unzoku said, “there is now a new disease, spreading unseen through the land. It twists humans into something else. It warps their bodies and their hunger. Your wife is not the only one who has been touched by it. She is simply the one you care about most.”

Jack’s hands were shaking, but he didn’t move them.

When had this disease started? Had it really begun the moment he and Steve decided to walk different paths instead of tearing each other apart? Could the world really work like that?

“If it is not stopped,” Unzoku went on, “it will keep spreading. Slowly at first. Then faster. Your pack, your allies, the people you swore to protect... they will all be dragged into it. Your wife is not the only one who can become like this.”

He lowered his hand and spoke his next words with absolute certainty.

“If you want to get rid of the disease that is spreading through Bornzeland,” Unzoku said, “then you must get rid of the other Alpha pack. Wipe them out completely. Cut their roots from the world.”

Jack’s eyes narrowed.

“And if I’m not willing to do that?” he asked.

“Then at the very least,” Unzoku answered, “you must allow them to get rid of you. One Alpha must fall. One pack must end. That is the price for restoring balance.”

Silence filled the room.

Jack wanted to ask a hundred questions. How did this “disease” actually work? Why blood? Why sunlight? Why Lily? Why now? Why Steve’s side? Why his? But when he opened his mouth, no sound came out. The words tangled somewhere between his chest and throat.

Unzoku didn’t wait.

He turned, his body already dissolving into shadow, the edges of his form fraying like smoke caught in a breeze.

“I have told you what you need to know,” he said, his voice already seeming farther away. “The rest, you must decide for yourself. Alpha of Red Wing... will you protect this world, or will you doom it to rot?”

And then he was gone.

No grand flash. No explosion. One moment he was there, the next all that remained was the heavy air and Jack’s thundering heartbeat.

Jack stayed standing for a long time, staring at the empty space where Unzoku had been. He didn’t believe the story. Not fully. Not yet. But the seed had been planted, and with every passing day it grew.

What if he was telling the truth?

What if his refusal to fight Steve really was the trigger?

What if the disease spread to his children? To Galdark? To the other Werewolves who trusted him with their lives? What if, somewhere in Steve’s camp, one of their own was already turning the way Lily had?

The more he thought about it, the more a gnawing fear dug its claws into his chest. He needed someone to blame. He needed a reason for all of this. And if that reason could be him... then maybe that was easier to accept than the world simply being cruel for no reason at all.

Back in the present, Galdark sat quietly across from him, having listened to every word. He could finally see why Jack had become so cautious about outsiders. Why he didn’t want people leaving the city. Why every decision looked like it weighed a hundred times more on his shoulders than before.

“I can only imagine what you’ve been carrying all this time,” Galdark said at last. “But I don’t think we’ve used all of our options yet.”

He straightened up.

“What about Lenny Steel?” Galdark asked. “You trust him, and he understands things about this world the rest of us don’t. If anyone can help, surely he can.”

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