Published at 24th of March 2026 7:07 am

Chapter 1785 The Pack's Burden

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The Howlers weren't exactly used to actively traveling around with hyper-aware, ancient vampires who could literally hear the frantic sound of the blood pumping through their veins and their hearts beating against their ribs.

Because of this terrifying biological advantage, whenever the Werewolves were genuinely surprised, shocked, or even possibly caught in a lie about something, they would instantly be caught out. The rhythm of their hearts would betray them before they even opened their mouths.

The tense question right now was, what the hell should they do? How were they practically supposed to answer the suspicious vampires without triggering a bloodbath? Even Kai’s brilliant, tactical mind wasn’t quite sure how to delicately spin this devastating revelation.

Gary stepped forward, deciding to take the burden onto his own shoulders.

“I told you before we came together, right?” Gary said, his eyes meeting Rowa's cold stare. “That my group and I were originally already on our way to this specific city. Well... there is a very specific reason for that.

“We had a specialized strike group of Werewolves that were stationed here in Centerfield, and we suddenly couldn't get in contact with them. We learned about the horrific situation that was taking place, so we desperately wanted to investigate, find our men, and try to help the innocent people trapped here,” Gary explained, keeping his voice deadly calm. “The dreaded name you just mentioned from the monster's memories... it’s a name we recognize. Because Midwak is one of our own. He’s technically part of my Pack.”

“I knew it!” Rowa snarled instantly, absolute scorn twisting his pale face as he bared his fangs. “I knew you filthy dogs were behind this entire invasion all along! It’s their damned Pack that’s the root cause of this city's destruction!”

“No!” Innu shouted, aggressively stepping forward with his axes drawn. “Do you have shit shoved in your ears, old man, or something?! If we were actually the ones orchestrating this bloodbath, then why the hell would we be risking our own lives coming here to help you fight them?!

“And do our bodies look anywhere near as ugly and mutated as those feral things we were just fighting?!”

Before Rowa could lunge at the teenager, Haylock quickly stepped in and firmly grabbed Rowa by the arm, holding him back.

“Calm your blood, Rowa. You should know just from listening to the steady rhythm of their hearts that they are telling the absolute truth, and that they have good intentions,” Haylock reasoned, his voice smooth and pragmatic. “They fought beside us with everything they had. They are here to help us clear the streets. Whether their kind is the biological cause of this horrific situation or not, that is a complicated political issue that we will need to find out and deal with later.

“Right now, let’s just use their impressive raw strength to our tactical advantage to deal with this immediate situation.”

It was a cold, logical point that Rowa couldn't really question without letting his pride ruin the mission. So, he slowly lowered his claws, deciding to let it go for now.

“If I see you ever pulling your punches against your former brethren, or if there is absolutely anything you do that purposely puts us in harm's way... then we will get rid of you all at a moment's notice,” Rowa claimed, his red eyes completely devoid of mercy.

Luzen just scoffed from the back of the group.

“Right. As if you leeches even could,” Luzen mumbled quietly under his breath. He knew perfectly well the vampires’ enhanced hearing could pick up his insult, but Luzen didn't care. After personally seeing Kai’s tactical brilliance and Gary’s overwhelming, monstrous Alpha strength, he firmly believed that the Howlers could fight their way out of this situation and win, even against the three ancient leaders.

“About that... I want you to do me a serious favor,” Gary said, his voice dropping an octave into an authoritative Alpha tone. “When the bloody situation finally comes down to it, I want to be the absolute only one that deals with Midwak.

“This city-wide massacre didn't happen because of my orders, but Midwak is one of us. He is my responsibility, and I want to personally take responsibility for his head.”

Rowa stared at him for a long moment. “If you don’t get in our way when the slaughter starts, then that’s fine.”

With some sort of fragile, tense understanding established between the two lethal groups, they continued to move. They ventured much further deep into the ruined city, this time with a definitive target and direction in mind: the White Rose district.

They traveled quickly, mostly staying strictly on the ground level rather than traveling up high across the rooftops. They had tactically figured that the mutated werewolves would logically be traveling across the elevated rooftops to aggressively scout the streets and see their fleeing prey a lot easier as they bounded from location to location. Staying low in the shadows was their best bet to remain undetected.

They didn’t bother trying to hotwire or take any vehicles. Not that there was any point; so many ruined, burning cars had been frantically abandoned in the middle of the streets that there was absolutely no physical space to drive anyway. The asphalt was a graveyard of twisted metal, many of the vehicles horribly smeared with dried blood and shattered glass.

What they did silently come across, however, were several chaotic locations where packs of Glutton Werewolves were actively moving about and hunting.

Luzen, utilizing his incredible senses, was always the very first to know exactly where the beasts were lurking ahead of time. Acting on his warnings, they purposely detoured and went in completely different, convoluted directions through the alleys in order to safely avoid engaging them.

It wasn't a city-wide hunt to wipe out every single Glutton Werewolf on the streets—not at the moment, anyway. Their strict primary objective was to infiltrate the base and stop the root cause of what was going on.

That was, until they had cautiously come across another location together and Luzen suddenly stopped in his tracks.

“A subway station entrance?” Innu asked, looking at the dark, descending concrete stairwell blocked by debris.

“Yes... but there are a large number of terrified human survivors that are currently holed up deep in the tunnels down there,” Luzen said, his eyes narrowing as he focused his hearing. “And worse... there is a large, coordinated group of Gluttons that are actively scouting this specific area. They have caught the scent, and they are heading exactly this way.”

Gary clenched his fists.

“If we just silently leave them be and walk away, all of those innocent people trapped down there will be brutally slaughtered,” Gary said, his Alpha resolve hardening. He looked at the vampires. “We have to head down there right now. We at least have to warn them and tell them to move.”

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