Her sob cracked.“Teachers.They ran from a staff meeting, tried to get back to their students.They met men in gas masks.Shifters fell fast.Humans too.Except—” she pressed a trembling hand to her chest— “I didn’t.One or two others didn’t.We aren’t shifters, but whatever this shit is, some of us are immune.I don’t know why.”
Kamon didn’t waste breath on comfort.He nodded once.“Stay behind us.We’ll clear the way.”
They ran.
The gym doors crashed open under Mason’s shoulder.Inside, silence first—then the muffled whimpers of children.They found most of the class huddled in a storage room, eyes wide, clinging to one another.Relief punched through the group, but it died quick.Eight children and two teachers—every one of them shifters—were missing.
Before Kamon could react, the comms in his ear exploded with overlapping voices from elsewhere in the city.Victor’s voice came first, rough with exertion.“We’ve got hostiles at the south entrance to St.Brigid’s Shifter Hospital.They’re trying to breach the emergency ward!”
Gunfire crackled in the background, followed by Ivan’s snarl.“They came heavy—gas canisters, rifles, masks.But we’re holding the line.”
Victor added,, “Kids and newborns inside.Nurses barricaded the ICU.If this door goes, they’ll slaughter them all.”
Violet’s voice snapped like a whip.“Hold.Reinforcements are on route.Keep that entrance secure.”
Mason growled into the comm, “We can split, send half to support the lions—”
“No,” Violet cut him off.“We need to secure this school first and send a couple of the team to find these missing kids.More sites are opening up, and fire fights are happening everywhere, we are being spread thin.The hospital has backup.Those kids you’re standing over don’t.”
The weight of her command pressed down, but Kamon’s gut twisted.He could hear the chaos through the comms—the thud of boots, the roar of lions in battle form, the screams of wounded men.The bears were giving everything they had to keep that entrance closed, and the Pride could do nothing but trust them.
Kamon forced his focus back to the gym.Missing children.He tapped his comm.“Klarissa, we need your eyes.Eight kids, two adults, taken from the gym.Likely targeted.”
Static hissed back at him.No Klarissa.
He tried again.“Klarissa, respond.Now.”Nothing.
Then a new voice, shaky, cut across the channel.Josie.“She’s gone.”
The room froze.
Josie’s voice trembled.“I—I went to the bathroom.Morning sickness.When I came back ...she was gone.”
The weight of her words slammed through Kamon’s chest like a blade.Klarissa—missing.Children—taken.The city—burning on every front.
And the war had only just begun.
