THE MIDNIGHT HOWLERS

Davao Region, Mindanao, Philippines

2021 — Two Months Earlier

Rain hammered the forests of Davao Region.

Thunder rolled across the mountains as wind ripped through the trees. Deep inside the forest, far away from the nearest highway and sleeping communities, an abandoned logging compound stood beneath the storm.

The place should have been empty.

Instead, bodies covered the ground.

Blood mixed with rainwater and flowed through the mud.

A dead werewolf lay against a rusted truck, his chest torn open. Another hung motionless over a broken wooden railing. Several more bodies were scattered around the compound.

In the middle of it all stood sixteen-year-old Vincent Davis.

His shirt was ripped. Blood ran from his forehead. Three deep claw wounds crossed his chest.

His eyes burned yellow.

He wasn't an Alpha.

Not yet.

Vince slowly raised his fists.

Across from him stood Alpha Marcus Valderama, a massive werewolf with glowing red eyes. Blood covered his claws.

Behind Marcus were six hostile werewolves.

Vince had only three people standing with him.

JR Mendoza stood to his right, breathing heavily with golden-yellow eyes.

Ryle Carter stood behind them, his hands covered in orange hellfire.

Shane Dudley wiped blood from his mouth as his silver eyes glowed through the darkness.

They were exhausted.

Surrounded.

And, somehow, still arguing.

JR: Vince.

VINCE: What?

JR: Please tell me you have a plan.

Vince stared at Marcus.

VINCE: I do.

JR waited.

JR: And?

VINCE: I'm gonna beat the shit out of him.

JR closed his eyes.

JR: That's not a fucking plan.

VINCE: It's technically a plan.

SHANE: He's got a point.

JR: You're the last person I need agreeing with him.

Ryle extinguished the flames around one hand and looked at the three teenagers.

RYLE: I'm twenty years old. How the fuck did my life become babysitting three idiots in a forest?

SHANE: You love us.

RYLE: I tolerate you.

VINCE: Same thing.

Marcus growled.

The jokes stopped.

Marcus had spent months hunting independent supernatural creatures throughout Davao. Omegas who refused to join him were murdered. Betas were forced into submission. Anyone protecting humans from his pack became an enemy.

Tonight, Vince and his friends had finally confronted him.

It hadn't gone according to plan.

Mostly because Vince had ignored half of JR's plan.

Marcus stepped over a corpse.

MARCUS: Look around you, boy.

Vince's jaw tightened.

MARCUS: This is what happens when children pretend to be warriors.

VINCE: You talk a lot for someone who hasn't managed to kill four children.

Ryle slowly turned toward him.

RYLE: I'm twenty.

VINCE: Not the fucking time, Ryle.

RYLE: You're the one who said four children.

JR: Can both of you shut up?

Marcus roared.

The sound shook the compound.

His six Betas charged.

JR: HERE THEY COME!

Everything exploded into violence.

JR ducked beneath a claw swipe and drove his elbow into a Beta's throat. He caught the werewolf's wrist, twisted it and kicked his knee sideways.

CRACK.

The Beta screamed.

JR: Shane! Left!

SHANE: I fucking see him!

Shane grabbed a rusted metal pipe from the ground and swung it into another Beta's face.

Blood sprayed across his cheek.

Shane looked at the pipe.

SHANE: Damn. Still structurally sound.

The Beta tackled him through a wooden wall.

SHANE: FUCK!

Ryle's eyes erupted fiery orange.

Flames crawled across his arms.

A werewolf jumped toward him.

Ryle grabbed him by the throat.

RYLE: Wrong fucking guy.

BOOM!

Hellfire engulfed the werewolf and blasted him backward through the side of a truck.

Vince charged Marcus.

Marcus swung.

Vince ducked.

He slammed two punches into Marcus's ribs before attempting a third.

Marcus caught his fist.

MARCUS: Too slow.

Marcus headbutted him.

Vince staggered backward.

Marcus kicked him through a wooden table.

It shattered beneath him.

JR: VINCE!

VINCE: I'M GOOD!

Vince rolled over.

VINCE: Fuck... maybe not completely good.

Marcus grabbed him by the throat and lifted him.

Vince clawed Marcus across the face.

Marcus roared and threw him against a tree.

The impact cracked the trunk.

Vince collapsed.

His hearing became distorted.

He could hear fighting around him.

JR screaming.

Shane swearing.

Ryle roaring.

Then he heard something else.

A heartbeat.

Not his own.

JR's.

Vince looked up.

One of Marcus's Betas had JR pinned against the ground.

The Beta raised his claws.

Vince's eyes widened.

VINCE: JR!

The claws came down.

JR twisted aside, but they tore across his stomach.

Blood sprayed across the mud.

JR: AAGH!

Something inside Vince changed.

He forced himself upright.

Marcus smiled.

MARCUS: You can't save everyone.

Vince stared at JR.

Then at Shane.

Then Ryle.

These weren't soldiers.

They weren't followers.

They were his friends.

His family.

And Marcus wanted them dead because Vince had refused to bow.

Vince wiped blood from his mouth.

VINCE: Maybe I can't.

Marcus approached.

MARCUS: Finally. You're learning.

Vince raised his head.

His yellow eyes glowed.

VINCE: But I'll fucking die trying.

Marcus attacked.

Vince met him head-on.

Their fists collided.

Marcus was stronger.

Vince was thrown backward again.

Marcus struck him across the face.

Then the stomach.

Then the ribs.

Vince dropped to one knee.

MARCUS: Stay down.

Vince stood.

Marcus punched him again.

Vince fell.

He stood again.

MARCUS: STAY DOWN!

Another punch.

Blood flew from Vince's mouth.

He crashed into the mud.

For several seconds, he didn't move.

Marcus turned toward JR.

Vince's fingers dug into the earth.

He remembered his father's stories.

Stories about their bloodline.

A bloodline older than the packs currently controlling Mindanao.

Royal blood.

Descendants of Ancient Werewolves whose names had almost disappeared from supernatural history.

Vince had always thought those stories were bullshit.

Bedtime stories designed to make a child feel special.

But something had been sleeping inside him his entire life.

Something ancient.

Something waiting.

Marcus walked toward JR.

Vince pushed himself onto his knees.

VINCE: Hey...

Marcus stopped.

Vince stood again.

His legs trembled.

VINCE: We're not fucking finished.

Marcus turned.

MARCUS: Why won't you stay down?

Vince smiled through bloody teeth.

VINCE: Because you're still standing.

Marcus charged.

Vince's heartbeat thundered.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Then everything became silent.

Vince could hear every heartbeat around him.

JR.

Ryle.

Shane.

Marcus.

The Betas.

He could hear the rain striking individual leaves.

He could smell blood hundreds of meters away.

He could feel something burning through his veins.

But it wasn't pain.

It was power.

His wounds began closing.

Marcus stopped.

MARCUS: What...?

Vince looked at his hands.

His claws extended farther.

His muscles tightened.

His bones shifted.

His yellow eyes flickered.

Yellow.

Red.

Yellow again.

Then—

Bright red.

The entire battlefield went silent.

JR stared at him.

JR: Vince...

Ryle's flames weakened as he watched.

RYLE: Holy shit.

Shane crawled from the wreckage of the wall.

SHANE: Why the fuck are his eyes doing that?

Marcus stepped backward.

For the first time that night, fear appeared on his face.

MARCUS: Impossible.

Vince slowly looked at him.

His eyes burned bright red through the rain.

MARCUS: You didn't kill an Alpha.

Vince breathed heavily.

MARCUS: No Alpha gave you their power.

JR's expression changed as he understood.

JR: He didn't need one.

Marcus stared at Vince.

MARCUS: Royal blood...

Vince's transformation intensified.

Fangs extended.

Claws lengthened.

Dark fur appeared along his arms and face.

His wounds disappeared completely.

Marcus whispered the words like they terrified him.

MARCUS: True Alpha.

Vince suddenly roared.

The sound was unlike anything the others had heard.

It wasn't simply loud.

It carried supernatural authority.

The trees shook.

Windows shattered across the abandoned compound.

Several Betas dropped to their knees.

Even Marcus staggered backward.

JR grinned.

JR: Oh, we're definitely winning now.

RYLE: Don't fucking jinx it.

Vince disappeared from Marcus's sight.

Marcus barely had time to react.

BAM!

Vince's fist smashed into his face.

Marcus flew backward and crashed through the rusted truck door.

Vince grabbed him before he could recover and slammed him into the ground.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

SHANE: Jesus Christ.

JR: That's my best friend.

RYLE: Your best friend is fucking terrifying.

Marcus clawed Vince's stomach.

Vince didn't stop.

Marcus kicked him away and transformed further.

His red eyes blazed.

MARCUS: I AM AN ALPHA!

He charged.

Vince charged too.

They collided in the center of the compound.

Marcus punched Vince.

Vince answered with two.

Marcus clawed him.

Vince grabbed his wrist.

CRACK.

Marcus screamed as Vince broke his arm.

Vince grabbed Marcus around the waist.

JR immediately realized what was coming.

JR: Oh, shit.

Vince lifted the Alpha completely off the ground.

SHANE: Is he seriously—

JR: Yep.

Vince slammed Marcus onto his back with brutal force.

The earth cracked beneath them.

Marcus coughed blood.

Vince mounted him and raised his claws.

Marcus stared upward.

MARCUS: Do it.

Vince froze.

MARCUS: Kill me.

Marcus laughed weakly.

MARCUS: Prove you're an Alpha.

Vince's claws hovered above Marcus's throat.

Everyone watched.

Vince could kill him.

After everything Marcus had done, part of him wanted to.

But that wasn't why he had stood back up.

It wasn't why his power awakened.

His power had awakened because he wanted to protect people.

Not because he wanted another man's blood.

Vince slowly lowered his claws.

VINCE: I don't need your death to prove shit.

Marcus's smile disappeared.

Vince stood.

VINCE: That's the difference between you and me.

One of Marcus's Betas suddenly charged Vince from behind.

JR saw him.

JR: VINCE!

Vince spun around.

Before the Beta reached him, Marcus unexpectedly grabbed the attacker's ankle.

The Beta fell.

Vince stared at Marcus.

Marcus coughed.

MARCUS: Don't misunderstand.

VINCE: Wasn't planning to.

Ryle walked toward them, hellfire still covering his fists.

RYLE: Are we killing anybody else tonight, or can I finally go home?

Shane looked around at the blood and bodies.

SHANE: Technically, several people are already dead.

RYLE: Thank you, Shane. Extremely fucking helpful.

JR held his injured stomach and walked toward Vince.

Vince's eyes returned to normal.

He nearly collapsed.

JR caught him.

JR: Easy, Alpha Boy.

VINCE: Don't call me that.

JR: Definitely calling you that now.

VINCE: I'll bite you.

JR: That's weird.

VINCE: We're werewolves.

JR: Still weird.

Ryle walked over.

RYLE: So... Bright red eyes.

SHANE: New transformation.

JR: Supernatural roar.

RYLE: And he just beat the living shit out of an experienced Alpha.

They all stared at Vince.

Vince looked uncomfortable.

VINCE: Why are you looking at me like that?

Shane grinned.

SHANE: Congratulations.

Vince frowned.

VINCE: For what?

SHANE: You're officially responsible for us.

Vince's face dropped.

VINCE: Oh, fuck no.

JR smiled.

JR: Oh, fuck yes.

VINCE: I didn't agree to that.

RYLE: Too late, Red Eyes.

VINCE: You're older than me!

RYLE: Doesn't mean I want responsibility.

Thunder rolled across the forest.

For the first time that night, the four laughed.

They were bruised.

Bloodied.

Exhausted.

And surrounded by death.

But they were alive.

Vince looked toward the mountains beyond the compound.

Something felt different.

Becoming a True Alpha hadn't simply increased his strength.

He could feel the others.

JR's heartbeat.

Ryle's supernatural heat.

Even Shane's strange Chimera presence.

A connection had formed between them.

A pack bond.

Vince looked at his friends.

Maybe Shane was right.

Maybe he was responsible for them now.

That thought was somehow more terrifying than Marcus had been.

VINCE: We need a name.

JR stared at him.

JR: For what?

VINCE: Our pack.

RYLE: Absolutely not.

SHANE: I like it.

RYLE: Of course you fucking do.

JR thought for a moment.

A distant wolf howl echoed through the mountains.

Shane looked toward the dark sky.

SHANE: Midnight something?

RYLE: That's terrible.

JR: Midnight Wolves?

VINCE: Sounds generic.

Another howl echoed.

Vince smiled.

VINCE: Midnight Howlers.

Silence.

Ryle sighed.

RYLE: Fuck me.

SHANE: That's actually good.

JR nodded.

JR: The Midnight Howlers.

Vince extended his hand.

JR placed his hand over Vince's.

Shane joined.

They looked at Ryle.

RYLE: Seriously?

They continued staring.

RYLE: Fucking teenagers.

Ryle placed his hand over theirs.

Vince grinned.

VINCE: Midnight Howlers?

JR: Midnight Howlers.

SHANE: Midnight Howlers.

Ryle sighed again.

RYLE: Fine. Midnight fucking Howlers.

Lightning flashed above them.

Four supernatural idiots stood together in the middle of a blood-soaked battlefield.

A True Alpha.

A Beta.

A Hellhound.

A Chimera.

None of them knew what was coming.

They didn't know that Vince's awakening had been felt far beyond Davao.

Across Mindanao, ancient creatures felt something they believed had vanished from the world.

Royal werewolf blood had awakened.

A True Alpha had risen.

And somewhere in the darkness, something opened its eyes.

UNKNOWN VOICE: So...

A shadowed figure stood before an old map of Mindanao.

A claw dragged slowly across Davao Region.

UNKNOWN VOICE: The Davis bloodline survived.

The creature smiled.

UNKNOWN VOICE: Let the boy enjoy his new crown.

Its eyes glowed in the darkness.

UNKNOWN VOICE: I'll tear it from his fucking head myself.

END OF CHAPTER 1