The dark sky over Bayou Mounds was finally quiet.

  No more green lightning. No more howls that split the night.

  Just silence — the kind that comes after chaos has finally burned itself out.

  The van sped down the empty highway, its headlights cutting through the lingering mist that still clung to the swamp air. Behind them, the ruins of Lycara’s palace flickered in the distance — the last echo of a war that had nearly ripped the world open.

  Derek kept his eyes on the road. The steering wheel vibrated lightly in his hands.

  “I’m glad this is finally over,” he said.

  “Me too,” Sheryl replied softly, her voice still hoarse from battle. “But I can’t help but wonder how the city… or the rest of the world will see this.”

  Derek gave a short, bitter laugh. “They won’t. Probably another cover-up. ‘Natural disaster,’ ‘chemical fire,’ take your pick.”

  “Who knows,” Sheryl murmured.

  The hum of the tires filled the van. The world seemed still again.

  Then — a voice from the back seat.

  “Who said it was over?”

  Derek’s hands tightened on the wheel. Sheryl’s head snapped around.

  Karen was sitting upright, eyes glowing a deep, eerie green. Her tone was not her own.

  “I’m still Lycara,” she hissed. “It’s not over until I say it’s over.”

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  She lunged forward, grabbing Sheryl by the throat. Olivia awoke with a gasp, confusion on her face — then rage. She swung at Derek, throwing off his focus.

  The van swerved. Tires screeched. The world flipped.

  Everything turned upside down.

  Then — silence.

  Derek’s eyes snapped open.

  He was sitting in a chair outside an emergency room. His hands were clean, no blood, no fur, no weapon. Just fluorescent light humming above.

  He inhaled sharply.

  It was over.

  For real this time.

  The television inside the waiting area replayed breaking news footage.

  “Officials continue to investigate the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that struck the Bayou Mounds region overnight. Early reports suggest significant structural damage across several parishes. Federal agencies are still assessing the scene…”

  Derek looked up as the nurse walked by. Beyond the double doors, Karen and Olivia were recovering. The doctors called their conditions miraculous—concussions, trauma, dehydration.

  No one mentioned werewolves.

  They never would.

  Sheryl stepped out of the room, now dressed in civilian clothes, her arm still bandaged from the fight. She caught Derek’s eye and nodded toward the exit.

  Outside, the sunset stretched across the horizon — a warm orange glow over the city that had survived another nightmare.

  They sat together on a bench, the weight of everything pressing down, but no words were needed at first.

  Finally, Derek broke the silence.

  “Mom, you know what? The city’s never been the same since that lab explosion. Two years of peace… and then this.”

  Sheryl sighed. “Crazy, right? A monster was buried beneath us the whole time.”

  Derek stared toward the skyline, his voice low. “Who knows what else is out there?”

  Sheryl looked at him — not as a mother this time, but as a soldier beside another.

  “We’ll have to keep our heads on a swivel,” she said. “The government may get involved. Or there might be more like us out there. But whatever happens…” She turned to face him directly. “I’m not letting you do this alone. We’re in this together.”

  Derek smiled faintly. “That’s what I was hoping you’d say.”

  She leaned back, closing her eyes for a moment, exhaling the weight of everything. “We’ll keep living our lives — the ones we fought to protect. But when the next storm comes…”

  Derek nodded. “We’ll be ready.”

  They sat quietly as the sun slipped behind the horizon, the faint hum of the city replacing the sounds of war. The world around them looked normal again — but nothing about their lives ever would be.