Episode 3 – The Hunt We Share

The sting of the bite still lingered on Kael’s shoulder, a dull throb that made his heartbeat echo in his ears.

Lucien was still watching him like a cat who’d cornered a particularly beautiful mouse.

But then—Kael heard it.

A sound that didn’t belong.

Leaves rustled far to the east, heavy, clumsy footsteps crashing through the forest. Not human. Not demon. Something else.

Kael’s head snapped toward the noise. “We’re not alone.”

Lucien’s smirk didn’t fade, but his eyes narrowed. “I know. I could smell it the moment it entered my territory.”

“Your territory?” Kael scoffed. “You’re trespassing in my hunting ground.”

Lucien stepped close enough that their chests almost touched, his voice dropping into a low, dangerous purr. “Then maybe we should hunt together… Alpha.”

Kael didn’t answer, but the curse in his veins stirred restlessly. He should have told the demon to leave. He should have gone alone. But something in Lucien’s tone—like a challenge wrapped in silk—made him stay.

The two moved in silence, darting through the dark woods with predatory grace. Lucien’s steps made no sound, but Kael could hear the faint hum of his demonic energy, a heat in the air that seemed to bend shadows around them.

They found the source quickly.

A hulking beast, skin like cracked stone, its head crowned with jagged bone spines. Its eyes glowed a faint, sickly green, and its mouth dripped with black sludge that hissed against the earth.

“Hellspawn,” Lucien murmured. “Someone’s been careless with their summoning.”

Kael’s lip curled. “Then let’s kill it before it kills anything else.”

Lucien’s smile returned, sharper this time. “After you.”

Kael leapt forward first, claws raking across the beast’s flank. The smell of scorched stone filled the air as it roared, swinging a massive arm. Kael ducked under it, his movements fast, brutal, efficient.

But the beast wasn’t slow. Its tail whipped around like a battering ram, catching Kael in the ribs and sending him skidding across the ground.

Before he could recover, Lucien was already there—one hand raised, summoning a spear of black flame that shot straight into the creature’s chest. The beast howled in rage, stumbling back.

“You’re getting sloppy, Alpha,” Lucien called out without looking away from the fight.

Kael forced himself to his feet, wiping blood from his lip. “You talk too much.”

The two attacked in perfect sync after that—Kael tearing into the beast’s legs while Lucien drove it back with precise bursts of demonic fire. Their movements were unspoken, instinctive, as if they’d fought together a hundred times before.

Finally, Kael’s claws found the creature’s throat. He wrenched it open, hot black blood spilling down his arms. The beast collapsed, its body dissolving into ash.

Kael stood over it, chest heaving. His curse was satisfied for now, but the rush of the hunt left him raw, breathing harder than he wanted to admit.

Lucien walked toward him slowly, his crimson eyes glowing faintly in the moonlight. “Not bad,” he said, stopping just inches away. “For someone who was on their knees not long ago.”

Kael shot him a glare. “I was fighting, not kneeling.”

Lucien’s smirk was infuriating. “Keep telling yourself that.”

He reached up, brushing Kael’s jaw with a fingertip still warm from conjured flame. “You fight well, Alpha. But you’d fight better if you stopped resisting me.”

Kael’s pulse spiked, his body betraying him with that same, unwelcome heat. “And if I don’t?”

Lucien leaned closer, his voice a dark whisper. “Then I’ll just keep biting until you do.”

Before Kael could respond, Lucien stepped back, turning toward the forest as if nothing had been said. “Come on. That wasn’t the only thing prowling tonight.”

Kael watched him walk ahead, every muscle tight with frustration—and something he refused to name.

The curse inside him whispered again, softer this time.

Follow him.

And against his better judgment, he did.

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