CHAPTER 61: ONLY FOR YOU

Lachlan didn’t remember getting to his feet.

One second, he was watching Sera pin a creature to the ground, blood streaking down her thigh and moonlight carving her into something ancient.

The next, he was outside.

Barefoot. Cold air hitting his skin like knives, but as much as his mind told him that he should be freezing, his body didn’t feel anything. His chest was bare, his breath sharp in the cold, and still, he wasn’t uncomfortable.

The horde turned.

A single, synchronized motion—as if the entire forest exhaled at once. Two hundred pairs of eyes fixed on him. Black eyes. Hungry eyes. And mouths that opened wider than any mouth should, revealing rows of gleaming, serrated teeth.

But Lachlan didn’t run. He didn’t scream. Instead, he froze, his breath caught halfway up his throat. Something under his skin stirred again, clawing toward the surface, screaming to get out. To determine who was actually stronger.

And the horde started to shift.

Not closer. Not yet. But the rhythm changed. The soft, swaying lullaby of waiting turned to a staccato twitch of tension.

They’d seen him.

They’d recognized him as one of their own.

Or maybe not quite.

Because they hadn’t moved yet.

Not until—

"He is mine."

Sera’s voice cracked like a whip through the air.

She was still crouched over the Alpha, her claws embedded in its chest, her teeth bared in a snarl that made even the wind pause. "Touch him," she growled, her voice feral, low, "and I’ll kill your entire horde."

The Alpha’s body twitched beneath her, but it didn’t retaliate. It didn’t rise. Instead, its throat flexed once and its head dipped in submission.

A nod.

One short, final nod.

Lachlan didn’t breathe.

He just watched as the horde—all of them—began to recede. No words. No sound. One moment they were there, blotting the edge of the woods like shadows grown solid—

The next, they were gone.

Melted back into the trees as if they had never been.

Only Sera remained.

She stood slowly, her claws dripping with dark blue blood, her tank top torn where the gash on her side still bled faintly. Her hair was wild, white against the night, her chest rising with slow, steady breaths as she turned to face him.

He took one step back.

Just one.

She held up both hands, fingers spread. "Shhh," she murmured, soft enough that it felt like a whisper against the storm in his chest.

Lachlan’s hands were shaking. He lifted one to look at it. He couldn’t see where he had injured himself before, but it was still covered in blue blood.

He turned it over, watching the veins pulse with something wrong. Something other. His breathing hitched as his eyes flicked to her—then to his mouth, where his tongue pressed awkwardly against the teeth that didn’t belong.

He tried to speak.

To ask what the hell was happening.

But the word caught in his throat—and the second his jaw moved, his own teeth sliced through the tip of his tongue.

He choked on the blood rushing down his throat.

Sera winced sympathetically. "Shhh," she repeated, stepping closer, her own body beginning to change again. The claws retracted. Her limbs thickened slightly, more human in proportion. Her mouth closed gently—and when it opened again, the rows of teeth were gone.

"You’re alright," she continued, as if talking to a wild animal. "You’re alright, Lachlan. Remember what I told you?"

He stared, dazed. His tongue pressed against his teeth again, slower this time. Careful.

Sera tilted her head, her voice dipping into something warm. "I told you, no matter what happened after the vaccine, I’d be here. You remember?"

He nodded.

Barely.

The blood in his mouth didn’t feel real. Neither did the fact that he wasn’t cold. Not really. He was burning and frozen at the same time.

She stepped closer.

His knees almost buckled.

"Let me see," she whispered, reaching forward. He flinched—but didn’t move away. She took his hand and turned it palm-up.

The wounds were gone; his skin completely undamaged. But the blood...

She let go and knelt by the small wet patch in the light dusting of snow where the tip of his tongue had fallen. For a long moment, they both stared.

But it didn’t move.

Didn’t grow.

Didn’t multiply.

"See?" she said gently. "You’re still you."

Lachlan’s breath hitched again. A sob trapped in his throat, or maybe a snarl. He didn’t know anymore. The thing inside him was still humming—still there. It wasn’t trying to push its way out of his body, but it was not gone either.

He reached for the side of his head like it might stop the sound.

"I need you to breathe with me," Sera said.

He looked at her.

"Breathe, Lachlan. You are in control. Not it. You." She took a long inhale through her nose and exhaled slowly, like she was showing him. "You don’t have to fight it. Not now. You just have to contain it."

He mimicked the breath. Shaky. Shallow.

"Again," she insisted.

He tried again. This one came easier.

The monster inside eased—barely.

Sera knelt in front of him, her hands still raised like she might need to steady him. Or herself. Her tone was clinical now. Focused.

"It’s not mindless. You aren’t like them. You didn’t go to the trees. You didn’t sway."

He nodded. Once.

"That means you’re different. Like me. You can think. You still feel." Her eyes softened. "It means you have a choice."

Lachlan looked down at his hands again.

Blue veins.

Jagged nails.

His tongue ached.

And still, he nodded.

Sera exhaled and gave him a small smile. "You’re handling this better than I expected."

He huffed something like a laugh, blood still on his lip.

"If it gets worse," she added, "if the hunger comes... I’ll take you out. We’ll hunt. I’ll show you how to kill."

He blinked.

She shrugged. "Better you learn from me than rip open the wrong person, yeah?"

Another shaky breath.

This time, when he looked at her, the panic had dulled into confusion. His jaw clenched again—but softer. No more blood.

No more words.

Just Sera, kneeling in the frost and waiting for him to decide.

Every so slowly, he nodded his head. The moment he did, he felt his teeth retreat, his nails becoming normal as the other thing... the zombie... trapped inside of him hummed in contentment.

"Alpha?" he muttered, his voice returning to something normal, even if it was a bit raspy.

"Something like that," Sera smiled tiredly. "But only for you... if that is what you need."