Lord Of Beasts

The inside of the house was surprisingly normal.

It wasn’t lavish or rundown either, just modest and simple, the kind of home that had been lived in for decades rather than designed to impress anyone.

Family photographs lined the hallway walls, capturing birthdays, holidays, and smiling faces frozen in time. Old wooden furniture filled each room, its edges worn smooth from years of use. The decor looked dated, like it hadn’t changed much in over a decade, but everything was spotless. Dust was nowhere to be seen, the floors had been recently cleaned, and every object seemed to have its own familiar place.

Someone genuinely cared about this house.

Ethan instinctively took a slow breath, his nose twitching like a hunting beast catching a scent on the wind.

’Someone’s home.’

He was certain of it.

His sense of smell had been enhanced the longest since Wolfy was the first he acquired, but as he focused, he could almost feel tiny electrical currents flowing throughout the building.

They pulsed quietly inside the walls, travelled through cables beneath the floorboards and hummed faintly inside the lights overhead. They weren’t visible, yet somehow his senses traced them effortlessly, almost as though they formed glowing veins running through the house itself.

His eyes widened ever so slightly.

’At this point, I’m basically a beast myself, even without assimilation.’

Storm’s affinity with electricity, Spark’s mana sensitivity, Talon’s incredible eyesight, and Wolfy’s instincts.

Little by little, they weren’t simply lending him their power anymore.

They were changing him.

Carefully, Ethan made his way downstairs.

Without consciously thinking about it, every movement became controlled. His breathing slowed almost automatically, while each footstep was placed with deliberate precision. His weight shifted perfectly from one foot to the next, avoiding unnecessary movement, his body instinctively choosing the quietest path available.

He barely made a sound.

’I could be a fucking assassin.’

He impressed even himself, and it was almost unsettling, especially since it wasn’t something he had practised.

Unfortunately, there were limits.

The ancient wooden staircase looked like it’d survived multiple generations of the same family, and as soon as he stepped on it...

Creeeeak!

The next step...

Crrrk!

Ethan winced.

’I don’t think even an S Rank could sneak down these.’

Even so, nothing happened.

There were no footsteps, startled voice, or reaction whatsoever.

’That’s weird.’

Reaching the bottom floor, he slowly leaned around the corner and peered into the adjoining living room. An elderly woman sat comfortably upon an old sofa beneath the afternoon sunlight pouring through the windows.

She had grey hair, kind features, and simple clothes, and she looked completely at peace as she quietly read the book resting in her lap.

Then, something entered her peripheral vision.

She glanced up.

A warm smile instinctively appeared on her face.

For just a moment, she thought whoever had entered was someone she knew.

Then she saw Ethan.

The smile vanished, and her eyes widened.

She gasped before desperately trying to shout something, but the sounds were panicked and broken.

Ethan pieced it together immediately.

’She’s deaf.’

Slowly, he raised both hands, making every effort not to appear threatening.

*Calm down. I’m a friend of your son’s.*

He signed carefully, making each movement as clear and slow as possible.

It didn’t help.

The elderly woman was simply too frightened.

She wasn’t even looking at his hands and kept trying to shout despite knowing she couldn’t hear herself.

Ethan understood why.

Even standing perfectly still, something about him was intimidating. It wasn’t bloodlust, but a presence: the quiet aura of a predator. After fighting countless beasts, after killing, after surviving life-or-death battles over and over again, he wasn’t normal anymore.

People could sense that instinctively.

That was without accounting for the fact that his face had been plastered on the news numerous times.

Still, he cautiously took another step forward, keeping both hands raised peacefully while making sure to leave several metres between them. Eventually, her panic eased just enough for her attention to shift toward his hands.

Ethan signed again.

*I am your son’s friend.*

She frowned uncertainly.

*You know Darren?*

Ethan nodded.

*We met...*

He hesitated briefly.

*...in school.*

*School?*

The doubt written across her face couldn’t have been clearer, understandably so. Their back and forth continued awkwardly for several minutes, with Ethan patiently repeating himself and trying different ways of explaining who he was.

Eventually, he admitted the truth.

And adding that Darren had been the one who’d taught him sign language seemed to be enough to convince her.

Her shoulders relaxed, and her expression softened.

*He told me about you. He’s out running an errand and should be back soon.*

Ethan smiled.

That worked perfectly.

And right on cue, a sudden knock echoed through the front door.

The elderly woman instinctively followed Ethan’s gaze toward the sound despite being unable to hear it herself.

He frowned.

’That’s strange.’

If Darren lived here, why would he knock on his own door?

Surely, he’d have his own keys.

Then Ethan sighed.

He already knew who was outside and walked over to the front door before pulling it open.

Kaela stood there wearing her usual carefree grin.

Beside her, or rather dangling casually from one of her hands, was a mountain of a man. She held him by the back of his neck as effortlessly as someone carrying a kitten.

The man had to weigh well over one hundred and twenty kilograms, which was around two hundred and sixty-five pounds. Yet Kaela didn’t look remotely strained and casually held him out toward Ethan.

"This dude ran straight at us the second he spotted us outside."

She tilted her head.

"Is this the friend you’re talking about?"

Ethan looked at the battered, bald man and immediately smiled.

"Yeah. I’d recognise that ugly mug anywhere."

Kaela glanced down at the heavily tattooed arms hanging limply from her grip before looking back at Ethan. Several of the markings immediately stood out, especially the white supremacist symbols and gang markings.

She didn’t say anything.

Her expression asked the question for her, silently asking if he was sure.

Before Ethan could answer, the giant man slowly forced open one swollen eye.

"...Ethan?"

His voice came out rough and hoarse.

"Is that you?"

Ethan couldn’t help laughing.

"What does it look like, you big ugly fucker?"

The larger man barked out a laugh despite his condition.

"At least your attitude hasn’t changed."

The sarcasm, the cursing, the complete lack of a filter - that was definitely Ethan.

But everything else had changed.

He stood taller now, broader, and more muscular than he remembered. A quiet confidence surrounded him, one even more prevalent than before. More importantly, he wasn’t alone anymore.

Standing beside him were people who had willingly travelled halfway across the country with him on a whim.

Friends, family, and people who genuinely cared about him.

’I guess I was kinda like Storm back then.’

Ethan used to be alone, suspicious of everyone, and convinced the world was something to survive rather than something worth living in.

His gaze slowly drifted across Darren’s battered body, and something immediately felt wrong. The first thing Ethan noticed wasn’t the tattoos, the shaved head, or the prison-built physique.

It was the bruises.

Dark purple marks covered both arms, while a nasty black eye had almost completely swollen one side of his face shut. Those injuries weren’t fresh, which meant they definitely hadn’t come from Kaela.

Beyond that, Darren looked exhausted, more so mentally than physically. The kind of exhaustion that came from carrying problems for far too long without anyone to help shoulder the weight.

Even his eyebrows seemed permanently furrowed with stress.

He looked like a man barely holding himself together.

Ethan’s smile softened.

"We’ve got a lot to catch up on."

"Yes, we do."

But what Ethan didn’t realise was that this completely unexpected reunion with someone from his past would soon become deeply connected to his new life as an Enforcer...