EPISODE 3: CEO BY DAY, WOLF BY NIGHT

Scene 1: Brother of Blood and Runes

The safehouse trembled as Adrian and Kieran clashed, their snarls echoing like thunder. Adrian, a colossal black wolf with golden runes blazing beneath his fur, pinned Kieran—whose crimson runes pulsed like open wounds—against the crumbling plaster wall. Dust rained from the ceiling as claws tore through wood and bone.

“You think playing hero will absolve you?” Kieran spat, his voice distorted between human and beast. He twisted free, slashing Adrian’s flank with silver-tipped claws. “The curse feasts on your guilt, brother. Give me the girl, and I’ll end your suffering.”

Elena pressed against a splintered bookshelf, the locket in her grip searing her palm. Its light cast grotesque shadows of the battling brothers—Adrian’s wolf form rippling with primal rage, Kieran’s hybrid shape flickering like a corrupted specter. A vision tore through her mind: Adrian, age twelve, weeping in a moonlit forest as Kieran thrashed on the ground, their father carving the first rune into Kieran’s chest. “You’ll bear this burden together,” the old Alpha growled. “Blood binds, blood breaks.”

“Stop!” Elena screamed, the locket’s chain snapping as she hurled it between them. The room erupted in blinding white light.

The brothers recoiled, their howls of pain harmonizing. The locket hovered mid-air, its glow revealing ghostly runes etched into the walls—ancient symbols of the Blood Moon Pact.

“You see it now, don’t you?” Kieran rasped, human again, blood trickling from his nose. “This house was Father’s first ritual site. He bound our family to the mafia here. To the Silverthornes.”

Adrian shifted back, his bare chest heaving. “Lies.”

“Is it?” Kieran grinned, nodding at Elena. “Ask her what she sees.”

Elena’s fingers brushed the locket. The vision sharpened: Her grandfather, a Silverthorne patriarch, shaking hands with Adrian’s father over the same marble table now splintered beneath them. A contract signed in black blood.

“Our families have always been connected,” Kieran hissed. “Which means she isn’t just your pawn, Adrian. She’s mine by blood.”

Adrian lunged, but Elena grabbed his arm. “Enough! There’s a third rune here—hidden. It’s… it’s a key.”

The brothers froze. Above them, the locket’s light burned the dust away, revealing a third rune carved into the ceiling—a twisted hybrid of their marks.

“Father’s fail-safe,” Kieran whispered, fear flashing in his eyes for the first time. “He knew we’d turn on each other.”

Scene 2: The Office of Claws and Lies

Neon City’s skyline glittered mockingly beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows of Volt Industries. Adrian, now clad in a tailored suit that hid his wounds, stormed into his penthouse office, dragging Elena behind him.

“Sit. Stay. Play human,” he snapped, shoving her into a leather chair.

“Bite me, Alpha,” she shot back, but her defiance faltered as a mafia enforcer stepped from the shadows—Luca, her uncle’s right-hand man, his grin revealing a gold-capped tooth.

“Miss Elena,” Luca purred, tossing a Silverthorne dossier onto Adrian’s desk. “Uncle Marcus sends his love… and a reminder.”

The dossier spilled open: photos of Elena’s childhood home burning, medical records labeled PROJECT LYCAN, and a blood-stained letter from her mother: “They know what you are. Run.”

“Your parents tried to hide you,” Luca said, tapping the PROJECT LYCAN file. “But your blood’s too valuable. Even now, Adrian’s scientists study it.”

Adrian moved faster than humanly possible, pinning Luca to the wall. “Leave. Before I forget our truce.”

“Truce?” Luca laughed, unfazed. “You broke that when you fucked up the Lunaire hit. Marcus wants the girl back. Or…” He nodded to the window.

Outside, a black van idled. Through tinted glass, Elena glimpsed hooded figures—witch hunters, their coats lined with silver blades.

“Your choice, Alpha,” Luca said. “The girl… or your empire.”

Adrian’s amber eyes flickered gold. “Get. Out.”

As Luca left, Elena whispered, “Project Lycan—what is it?”

Adrian hesitated. “A cure. Or it was supposed to be.”

Scene 3: Whispers in the Corporate Labyrinth

The Volt Industries underground archives were a maze of steel vaults and humming servers. Elena, guided by the locket’s pulse, navigated the cold corridors, her breath fogging in the sterile air.

“Access denied,” a robotic voice intoned as she approached Vault 7X.

Adrian materialized behind her, a keycard in hand. “You’re relentless.”

“And you’re terrified,” she countered. “Of what I’ll find.”

The vault hissed open, releasing a wave of frigid air. Inside: rows of black vials labeled LYCAN-X, security footage of forced werewolf transformations, and a lab journal with her mother’s handwriting: “The Alpha’s blood is the catalyst. My daughter is the cure.”

“They experimented on you,” Adrian said quietly. “Your mother injected you with my father’s blood hours after you were born. To hide you from the curse.”

Elena’s legs buckled. “That’s why the locket reacts to you. Why I see your memories…”

Adrian gripped a vial, his jaw tight. “The Lycan-X in your blood is the only thing keeping my curse at bay. But it’s fading. That’s why the runes are spreading. Why Kieran’s losing control.”

“And if it fails?”

“The curse consumes us. All of us.”

Scene 4: The Howling Boardroom

Midnight. The Volt Industries boardroom buzzed with suited elites sipping champagne, oblivious to the storm brewing in their CEO’s eyes. Elena, posing as a secretary, slipped USB drives into the conference table’s ports.

“Mr. Volt,” a board member sneered, “your marriage has cost us millions. Control your pet, or we’ll vote you out.”

Adrian rose slowly, his voice a lethal calm. “You mistake me for a politician. I’m a wolf. And this pack? Mine.”

He slammed his fist on the table. The USB drives activated, projecting PROJECT LYCAN files onto every screen—experiments, blood vials, mafia deals.

Chaos erupted. Kieran, disguised as security, lunged at Elena. “You die now!”

Adrian shifted mid-leap, intercepting him. They crashed through the windows, plummeting toward the neon-lit streets.

Elena sprinted to the shattered edge. The locket blazed in her hand. “Stop!”

Time froze. Adrian and Kieran hung mid-fall, their snarls silenced. The locket’s chain shattered, its light engulfing the city.

Seraphina emerged from the crowd below, her cackle slicing through the stillness. “The bridge has been crossed! The true curse awakens!”

The frozen brothers howled, their combined roar shattering every window in Neon City. Glass rained like dagers as the locket’s light morphed into a massive wolf silhouette—a third Alpha, its runes burning black.

“Mother?” Adrian breathed.

The spectral wolf howled, its voice Elena’s mother’s: “Run, child. They’re all coming.”

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