Morning came violently.
Specifically through Ingrid screaming loud enough to nearly send Silas through the apartment ceiling.
"WHAT!?"
Silas jolted awake instantly in full werewolf form, fur puffing outward as he practically launched himself upright from where he had been sprawled across half the bed like an oversized dog.
"What!? What what what what!?" he panicked immediately.
Ingrid sat frozen at the edge of the mattress staring down at her phone with absolute horror reflected across her face.
Silas scrambled closer instantly.
"Are we dying?"
"No."
"Did I bite someone?"
"No."
Ingrid slowly turned the screen toward him.
"We're trending globally!!!"
Silas blinked once.
"…Is that bad?"
Ingrid stared at him like she was reconsidering every life choice leading to this exact moment.
Her notifications had become completely unusable overnight.
Millions of views.
Millions. Not thousands. Not hundreds of thousands. Millions.
The livestream had escaped containment almost immediately after ending. Clips flooded every platform imaginable while hashtags involving werewolves, monsters, hidden societies, and government conspiracies dominated trending pages across multiple countries.
News stations were already arguing live on television whether the footage was fabricated.
Experts were being interviewed.
Scientists looked exhausted.
Religious groups were panicking.
Conspiracy theorists were having the greatest day of their lives.
All in a single night.
Meanwhile the internet itself had fully descended into madness.
"Werewolves are real???"
"I KNEW IT"
"BRO THERE'S ACTUAL MONSTERS"
"Okay but he's kinda cute though"
"Imagine dating a werewolf"
"THE GOVERNMENT DEFINITELY KNEW"
"If werewolves exist then witches probably exist too"
"Aliens next"
"Aliens are fake idiot. Cryptids make more sense."
"HOW DO CRYPTIDS MAKE MORE SENSE"
"Can the werewolf legally pay taxes?"
Silas looked genuinely fascinated while scrolling as he shifted to his human form beside Ingrid.
"Oh, they like us. One person says they want to give belly rubs to werewolves."
Ingrid grabbed her phone back immediately.
"Nope. We're done reading comments."
Silas whined.
"But they're funny."
Ingrid dragged one hand slowly down her face before falling backward onto the couch cushions beside him.
Her camping vlogs normally struggled to pass ten thousand views on a good week. Twenty thousand if the algorithm randomly decided to be merciful for once. Most of her audience came from people who liked travel videos, bad survival decisions, and watching her complain about freezing weather while pretending she totally had everything under control. Nothing about her content had ever been important enough to attract serious attention before.
At first, the attention had honestly felt exciting.
Absurd.
Overwhelming in the fun kind of way.
Millions of views.
People clipping the livestream.
Memes already spreading everywhere.
Part of her brain still treated the entire situation like some bizarre internet miracle she accidentally stumbled into.
Then she opened another notification.
And another.
News channels, International broadcasts, and government officials making statements.
All in a single night of her posting? That was even more absurb.
One article mentioned "public safety concerns regarding unidentified biological entities."
Another talked about "investigating manipulated media involving dangerous misinformation."
One clip showed an actual politician refusing to answer questions about supernatural existence before immediately leaving the online interview.
The excitement drained out of Ingrid almost instantly afterward because that was when it finally hit her.
Governments were involved now.
Actual governments.
Not conspiracy forums.
Not internet weirdos.
Real people with real authority.
"…I might actually get arrested," Ingrid muttered weakly.
Silas tilted his head.
"Why?"
"I revealed you."
"Oh."
Silas thought about that for approximately three seconds.
"…Can we still get breakfast?"
Ingrid stared at him.
Then despite everything, she just huffed out a breath.
"You are unbelievably relaxed right now."
"I'm hungry."
Before Silas could defend himself, a loud knock suddenly echoed through the apartment.
Both of them froze immediately.
Another knock followed.
Heavier this time.
Ingrid slowly sat upright.
Silas' ears twitched instinctively.
"…Are you expecting someone?" he asked quietly.
"No."
The apartment suddenly felt far smaller than before.
Another knock.
Ingrid stood carefully afterward while Silas watched her nervously from the couch.
The moment she approached the door, she noticed something else.
The hallway outside had gone quiet.
Too quiet.
She opened the door cautiously.
A man and a woman stood outside dressed in dark formal suits.
Professional.
Clean.
Emotionless.
The woman smiled politely first.
"Ms. Ingrid Halvorsen?"
"…Yeah?"
"We're with a special branch under the Norwegian government. We would like to ask you several questions regarding your online activities from last night."
Ingrid immediately wanted to slam the door shut.
Unfortunately, before she could react properly, the man's eyes shifted past her shoulder.
Toward Silas.
Still sitting on the couch in a human appearance.
The woman's expression hardened when she saw him.
"…Based on our records," the man said carefully, "you do not possess a younger sibling nor a child..."
Silas slowly shrank slightly against the couch.
The woman reached beneath her coat.
"Ingrid Halvorsen," she said calmly. "Step away from the lycan."
A gun appeared.
Then another.
Silas froze but didn't bare no fangs nor claws. He just held his place on the couch, unmoving to prevent anything from happening.
Ingrid's heart nearly stopped.
"He's not dangerous!" she shouted immediately while stepping directly in front of him.
"Ma'am, move aside."
"He's literally a child!"
"He is a classified supernatural entity."
"He likes pancakes!"
Silas looked mildly offended from behind Ingrid.
Before the situation could escalate further, Ingrid suddenly did the worst possible thing she could have done.
She pulled out her phone.
The agents visibly paused.
"…What are you doing?" the woman asked carefully.
Ingrid immediately opened her livestream app.
"If I'm getting murdered by the government then people are watching it happen live."
"You cannot seriously—"
The stream started.
And instantly exploded.
"WAIT SHE'S LIVE"
"WHAT THE HELL"
"IS THAT A GUN???"
"NO WAY"
"ARE THOSE FEDS"
"THE GOVERNMENT FOUND HER"
"SHE'S GETTING BAN FOR NOT FOLLOWING REGULATIONS!!"
The viewer count climbed absurdly fast.
Again.
Ingrid pointed the camera wildly between herself and the armed agents before instinctively slipping into the same energetic tone she used for every upload.
"Hey guys, welcome back to the channel—"
The woman agent visibly blinked in disbelief.
"—so funny story, apparently the government is currently inside my apartment trying to take the werewolf child!"
"Ma'am turn that off immediately."
"No!"
Silas meanwhile peeked awkwardly from behind Ingrid toward the camera.
"Hi chat."
The livestream absolutely lost its mind.
"HE SAID HI"
"PROTECT HIM"
"THAT'S A WHOLE ASS CHILD"
"WHY ARE THEY POINTING GUNS AT A PUPPY"
"THIS IS INSANE"
The male agent moved first.
Fast.
He reached toward Ingrid—
Then suddenly collapsed face-first onto the apartment floor.
THUD.
The female agent barely reacted before another blur moved behind her.
A sharp strike.
She dropped unconscious beside her partner instantly.
Silence filled the apartment.
The livestream chat exploded so violently it became unreadable.
And standing behind the unconscious agents was an older man.
Tall.
Broad.
Grey streaks cutting through dark hair while sharp golden eyes calmly observed the room.
The man adjusted one sleeve casually like knocking out armed government agents inside someone's apartment happened regularly to him.
The livestream comments became even worse.
"WHO IS THAT"
"OHHHHH????"
"GILF"
"JESUS CHRIST IT'S JASON BOURNE"
"HE MOVED SO FAST"
"WAIT IS HE ANOTHER WEREWOLF"
Ingrid stared blankly.
"…Who are—"
"Alpha…"
Silas' voice came out small beside her.
Not scared.
Guilty.
The older man looked toward him afterward.
And sighed.