Chapter 16: Abnormal

Chapter 16: Chapter 16: Abnormal

After a shower that could only be described as "existentially cleansing," Azura emerged from the bathroom wrapped in a towel, her hair dripping, her soul slightly less soggy. She then proceeded to commit what would later be known as the Great Nut Massacre of the evening.

Every single snack she had failed to give Selena—specifically the ones containing nuts—she devoured with vengeful fury.

"Take that, you little crunchy bastards!" She shoved a handful of almonds into her mouth, chewing aggressively. "You think you can ruin my reputation?! You think you can make Selena think I’m trying to murder her with allergic reactions?! I’ll show YOU! I’ll eat you ALL!"

It was, objectively, the most pathetic act of rebellion in werewolf history.

After finishing her nutty revenge, she moved on to phase two of her coping strategy: drowning her sorrows in Jonathan’s secret stash of beer. She cracked open can after can, the golden liquid doing absolutely nothing to solve her problems but doing a fantastic job of making her feel warm and fuzzy.

She sat at the kitchen table, cheeks flushed, eyes glassy, surrounded by five empty cans like a tiny aluminum army of defeat.

"Huhu..." She sniffled, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "I regret only playing dating sims to win over handsome guys. If I’d known it would turn out like this, I would’ve played dating sims for guys too. So I could become an expert at winning women’s hearts. THERE’S A SKILL GAP I DIDN’T ACCOUNT FOR!"

She stared at the sixth can, contemplating her life choices.

"Selena looked at me like I was a walking biohazard. A health code violation. A ’do not approach’ sign with legs. If she hates me even more now... doesn’t that mean the days leading up to my bad ending are getting closer? More terrifying? More... sex-slave-y?"

She shuddered.

Then she stood up, gathered the trash with the grace of a sleep-deprived zombie, and shuffled to her bedroom. She tossed herself onto the bed with a dramatic flourish—

"AAAHHH!!! I don’t want to be a sex slave!! Please, anyone, help me!! Just send me to a deserted island with 30 puppies! Horny male leads, focus on your female lead—don’t even bother with me!! I’m not interested in your weird werewolf orgies or whatever Chapter 69 was supposed to be!! I JUST WANT TO LIVE A QUIET LIFE AND PET DOGS!!"

She screamed into her pillow, muffling her existential crisis.

What Azura did not know—what she could not possibly know—was that three of the four male leads she had just mentioned were perched in a tree right outside her window. Their enhanced hearing had picked up every single word. Every rant. Every drunken confession. Every declaration about puppies and sex slaves and nut-based revenge.

They sat in dead silence.

One of them blinked. Another rubbed his temples. The third looked like he had just witnessed a philosophical debate between a drunk squirrel and a confused raccoon.

The fourth figure—their beta, Oliver—had been fighting for his life for the past hour. His shoulders were shaking. His hand was clamped over his mouth. Tears streamed down his face from the sheer effort of not bursting into laughter.

She had been talking to herself. Eating nuts with violent intent. Drinking beer. Complaining about life. Wondering how to make a woman who had suffered a lifetime of bullying forgive a demon who used to bully her. Questioning whether handsome men who become harem members—despite being horny 24/7 and apparently sharing a woman like a group project—could be tamed with food.

And now, as Azura screamed about horny male leads and Chapter 69, Oliver finally lost the battle.

"A-Alphas..." He wheezed, doubling over on the branch. "Pffft—this girl... she’s a bit crazy..."

The three alphas sat in the tree like a very handsome, very frustrated flock of birds. They shared the same face—chiseled jawlines, high cheekbones, sharp eyes that could cut glass—but their expressions and auras couldn’t have been more different.

Caelian, the one with softer features, almost ethereal beauty that made him look like he belonged in a Renaissance painting rather than a tree at midnight, kept his gaze fixed on the window. His eyes seemed to pierce through the curtains, as if he could see through fabric and glass to the drunken mess currently sprawled on the bed inside.

"A little crazy?" He finally spoke, his voice smooth as silk but laced with disbelief. "I actually think she’s completely abnormal. Like, ’needs to be studied by scientists’ abnormal. ’Put in a museum labeled ’specimen of unique insanity’ abnormal. Is she really the girl we need to kidnap? Because I’m starting to think we’d be doing the world a favor by leaving her here."

The most muscular of the three—Caesar—scowled, his brow furrowed like a thundercloud. He looked like he could bench-press a car and then eat it for breakfast.

"Is she really the girl we’re looking for? I caught a glimpse of her when she was chugging beer like it was water in a desert. She has dark hair. Didn’t that woman say her daughter had silver hair?" He turned to the silver-haired alpha, his tone demanding. "Caelus. Thoughts?"

The third alpha, Caelus, stood still as a statue. His expression was cold, unreadable—like a glacier that had learned how to stand menacingly. He said nothing at first, letting the silence stretch long enough to make his brothers shift uncomfortably.

Finally, he spoke.

"That woman said she only has one daughter. She forgot the girl’s name—all she remembered was that her hair was silver. Seeing that only this... lively girl lives here, and earlier she was grumbling about her brother, Jonathan—that woman’s son, it’s safe to assume she’s the one." He paused. "As for her hair... she could have dyed it dark. Like Oliver."

Caelian nodded, then glanced down at their beta with a smirk. "Caelus is right. The hair could be dyed. At least she looks pretty. Oliver, on the other hand, looks ridiculous."

Oliver, who had been silently trying to recover from his laughing fit, immediately bristled.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, ALPHA CAELIAN?!" He gestured to his hair and outfit—a dark green ensemble that made him look like a very tall, very angry shrub. "Does this dark green not suit me?! When I’m spying or sneaking around, I can blend in with the trees! I’m like a tree spirit! An ELF!"

Caelian gave him a flat look. "Elves still look human. You look like a very fuzzy celery stalk."

"Alpha—"

"ENOUGH."

Caelus’s voice cut through the bickering like a blade. Both Caelian and Oliver fell silent.

"We will wait for half an hour. Until she is deep asleep. Then we enter."

His golden eyes—all three of them had them now, a telltale sign of their wolf stirring—fixed on the window. The mate bond pulled at them like an invisible rope, yanking their instincts toward somewhere else. It was intoxicating. Overwhelming.

And yet, every time Azura let out another drunken mumble about puppies enjoying beer or adopting male leads to become her grandfathers, the spell was broken just enough for them to remember why they were here.

For half an hour, they waited.

Caelus remained silent, a statue carved from shadow and patience.

Caesar, the playful, restless one, could not stay still. He shifted from foot to foot, sat on the branch, stood up, sat again, and kept glancing toward the direction their mate bond was pulling him—away from this house, toward somewhere distant. He looked like a golden retriever who had seen a squirrel but was told to stay.

Caelian, ever the composed one, chatted quietly with Oliver—though his eyes also wandered to where Caesar kept looking, curiosity flickering in their depths.

Then, without warning, Caelus moved.

He leaped from the branch, silent as a shadow, and landed gracefully on the balcony of Azura’s bedroom. His boots touched the railing with barely a whisper.

"It’s time."