The night tastes like blood. It stains the air, thick and metallic, clinging to my tongue no matter how many times I swallow. Bodies lie everywhere: wolves, vampires, and witches, all broken, torn, and twisted at angles no living thing should bend.

This isn't a battlefield anymore. It's a graveyard.

I move from person to person, checking pulses, forcing my hands to stay steady even though they won't stop shaking. My dress or what's left of it, is stiff with blood and dirt.

Raven kneels beside a wounded witch, green magic pulsing from her palms, sealing gaping gashes. King is carrying bodies to a central area, each step heavier than the last. Even Brian is helping, dragging hybrid corpses away from the injured.

Everywhere I look, there's pain, shock and fear.

"We lost thirty-one wolves," Raven says quietly when I pass her again. Her voice is

raw.

My stomach twists. "And the others?"

"Twenty-eight vampires and thirty-four witches." She swallows. "More are critical."

It isn't just numbers. These were people. People I saw laughing an hour ago.

People who danced yesterday while setting up decorations for the ball. People with families.

My heart is breaking as I stare at the carnage the hybrids left behind. Tears fill my eyes, and I have to bite down on my lips to stop the sob from slipping past my mouth.

Alec appears at my side, clothes torn, blood streaked across his jaw, and eyes cold and focused. He looks like a man holding himself together by threads and I know if he lets go, he'll rip the world apart.

“We're meeting with the council in ten minutes,” he tells me softly. “They want answers."

Of course they do.

"I'll tell them everything," I whisper past the pain blocking my throat.

They need to know everything that has been happening. They need to know about Xena, about the curse, about Kaden and about the hybrid army Xena is creating for her imprisoned lover.

But Alec shakes his head, staring at me.

"Maybe we shouldn't just yet," he warns quietly. "I have a bad feeling about this."

I frown. "Alec, if they don't know about them, how will they fight them? This time they attacked your pack, what happens when they start going after other packs? Clans and covens? They need to know what they're dealing with so that next time they'll be ready."

No one is ever ready to fight hybrids, given how strong they are, but knowing about them is enough. If the rest knew what our warriors knew, maybe we wouldn't have so many casualties.

He brushes a thumb over my shoulder, grounding me. "I'm afraid their fear will drive them to panic. They might turn against us, or you. I can't allow that... Let me handle this."

I want to argue but the exhaustion inside me is so heavy it drags my voice down. So, I just nod.

It's Fine. For now.

We head into the pack house, into what used to be a peaceful meeting room and is now a storm of tension. Council members-witches in silver robes, vampire lords dressed in black, and werewolf elders with grim expressions-fill the space.

The moment Alec and I walk in, every eye shifts to us.

"Alpha Alec, I want to believe that you are just as surprised as us, but something tells me that you already know about the existence of this creature." Councilman Daelor says, standing.

He is the council elder representing wolves.

His tone isn't respectful. It's accusatory.

Alec doesn't flinch. "Yes."

Murmurs rise instantly.

"What are they?" He asks, his jaw tight.

"Hybrids."

"Impossible-"

"Hybrids don't exist "

"That's a myth-"

"They do," Alec cuts through their voices, his tone sharp and commanding. "You all saw them with your eyes and yet you think they are a myth?"

Silence falls again, and then

"Explain..." the councilman demands, his fist folded tightly.

Alec steps forward, shoulders squared. They are a fusion of two species created by force, not by nature. They are impossibly strong, don't die easily and are more vicious

than even rogues."

"And you know all this how?" another council member snaps.

Alec's jaw flexes. "Because we've fought them before."

Panic ripples through the room.

"You mean this isn't the first time!?"

"Why wasn't the council alerted?"

"You withheld information-"

"If I came to you with just words, would you have believed me?" Alec interrupts. "That's not an excuse..." another says,

"They revert back to their original specie once they die. We had no proof. Nothing that would have made you believe and take our words seriously."

Councilman Raphael leans forward, eyes narrowed like knives. “How did you even know of their existence?"

Alec glances briefly at me and I know what he's thinking... I'm the one that told him about them.

He looks back at them and instead says, "Because I fought one when it attacked me and my mate."

Technically true.

They all turn to me, as if now it's hitting them that I am his mate. Usually it's a cause for celebration when an alpha, especially one as strong and powerful as Alec, finds his mate, but this news couldn't come at the worst possible time.

The council erupts again.

"And you didn't INFORM US?"

“Alpha, this is a threat to the entire supernatural world!"

"You kept this to yourself!"

Alec slams his palm onto the table, the sound echoing like thunder.

"Like I fucking said, We. Had. No. Proof," he growls. "And I wasn't going to cause panic by telling you monsters might exist that no one. had ever documented. The council has enough on its plate without chasing rumors."

Daelor sneers. “So, you appointed yourself judge of what we should and shouldn't know?"

"No," Alec snaps. "But I am an Alpha and that meant protecting my people until I had something concrete to give you." He gestures to the battlefield outside. "Well, now you have it."

I hold my breath as the council look among themselves. No one speaks for a long moment.

Finally, Seraphine narrows her eyes. “Effective immediately, the council demands

full disclosure. No more secrets, Alpha Alec. If these... hybrids... appear again, we must be warned."

Alec nods stiffly. "You will be."

"And this failure to inform us sooner" Daelor's voice turns icy. "Will be addressed."

Alec's fingers twitch at his side, and I see Knox flash in his eyes.

"Addressed how?" he growls.

"We will discuss disciplinary action later."

Disciplinary action? Fuck, this is what I was afraid of. Brian turned out to be a good

seed, but maybe we should have handed him to the council the moment we captured him.

My blood boils, but Alec squeezes my hand behind the table, a silent warning not to escalate.

"We're done here," he says flatly.

He doesn't wait for permission. He just helps me up, takes my hand turns and

leaves, and I follow him, my heart pounding with anger and something far heavier:

Fear.

The council is spooked. Because hybrids have shown themselves to the world...

And when someone is spooked, they make decisions out of panic and not logic, and this might just cause more problems.