Prologue

Hugh’s panic was off the scale. What had started out as a perfectly normal day had in the blink of an eye descended into a nightmare. His mate was missing. How could she be missing?  They lived on the most secure pack territory in the United Kingdom. Aisling had never even been off the pack lands in all her twenty four years so the fact she was missing was inconceivable, he tried constantly to reach her through the mind link but to no avail. When the pack nursery called to say that Aisling hadn’t picked the pups up, he hadn’t panicked initially, maybe she just got held up somewhere. When he couldn’t reach her he had gone to pick the children up himself. Lyall, his daughter was only three years old, she was happily playing on the floor but his son Lennox was five and much older than his years, his little brow was furrowed with concern as Hugh walked through the door.

            Hugh took the children home and left them in the care of their nanny while he searched the house for her. He called her friends and her family but no one had seen her and by six in the evening search parties had been formed by the rest of the pack to find her. With his  panic now stratospheric, Hugh shifted into his wolf form and searched for her for hours blinded by the all consuming and desperate need to be with his mate. Wolf matings created a strong unbreakable life- long bond and wolves that lost their mate often never recovered from the loss and would grieve for the rest of their lives. Running the valleys and glens he was constantly sniffing the air trying to catch her scent until he was almost out of his mind with worry and exhaustion.

         Aisling was found in the early hours of the following morning by one of the tracker teams, her dismembered limbs scattered around the trail she liked to run. As an exhausted Hugh ran toward their location he heard the mournful howls of the trackers and searchers, howls that spread throughout the pack at the collective grief at losing one of their own. As he approached the scene his stomach lurched at the unmistakeable stench of rogues mixed in with blood and Aisling’s scent, there was another scent which filled him with horror, sex, he could smell sex. Fuck, they had raped her, his beautiful mate. 

       Hugh’s anger grew until it burned white hot, nothing could stop him now. He ran with the trackers as they traced the rogues to a glen on the edge of the territory where he stalked towards them growling, his anger and grief taking over. The trackers stood back, afraid to interfere as Hugh tore each rogue limb from limb until the grass was slick with blood and entrails. He ripped, bit and tore, not even giving them a chance to defend themselves. A few tried to run but Hugh chased them down and showed no mercy, he ripped their throats out as they tried pathetic attempts to beg for their lives, disembowelled and decapitated them with his strong jaws and claws until there was nothing left to do but lift his head towards the moon and let out a long pain filled howl, his heart broken.

For the next week or so Hugh spoke to or saw no one, not even his children. Sat in his office, covered in the blood and stench of the rogues he drank himself into a stupor until he puked and then started the process again. He saw the darkest depths of his soul, paralysed by his grief, no longer wanting to exist in a world where his mate was dead. But still, no matter how far he fell into the black hole of depression, no tears would come. In his desolation he considered the ways in which he could end his misery, shifters possess rapid healing so slashing his wrists wouldn’t work, he would heal before he had the chance to bleed to death. He thought about taking an overdose, but with his wolf’s fast metabolism his body would burn out any narcotics before they did any damage to his organs. The only thing that could really hurt a werewolf was wolfsbane and while he was considering where he could get some, there was a knock at his office door. He totally ignored it, he didn’t want to see anyone. The knocking sounded again, louder this time and Hugh responded by throwing his whiskey glass at the door, shattering the crystal into a thousand shards.

    Without him giving permission the door opened and his valet, Charles, entered the room.

“GET THE FUCK OUT” screamed Hugh through his drunken haze.

Charles stood in front of Hugh’s desk unblinking, not at all fazed by the outburst.

“Your children need you.” he stated calmly, and with that he turned and left the room leaving the door open.

Hugh sat in stunned silence. Since losing his mate he hadn't even thought about his children once, he was so wrapped up in his own grief he hadn’t given them or anyone else a second thought. The nanny walked through the open door with Lyall on her hip and leading Lennox by the hand as she gave Hugh a frightened glance. Both she and Charles were taking a chance here, never had either of them stepped out of line, done anything without permission or challenged their master, they were omegas and they knew their place.

“I need you to persuade Lennox to eat,” explained Charles calmly as he carried a plate of sandwiches into the room, “He’s not eaten in a week.” he said as he placed the plate on Hugh’s desk. Hugh looked at his son, he’d obviously been crying and he looked tired and pale, his eyes mirroring his own pain. Tears pricked Hugh’s eyes as his son let go of his nanny’s hand and silently walked around the desk, climbed onto his father’s lap and buried his face in his chest. Hugh instinctively wrapped his arms around his small son, his eyes closed as the dam finally broke and tears streaked down his face. Lennox didn’t move as Hugh hugged him tighter, grief crashing over him as Charles and the nanny left quietly leaving father and son to start the grieving process together. Hugh had no idea how long they sat there consoling each other but eventually he pulled back, looking down at his son.

“You hungry?” he asked gently, his voice croaky from crying. Lennox just shook his head.

“I’ll make a deal with you, I’ll eat a sandwich if you will.”

Lennox nodded so Hugh reached forward, grabbing a small triangle- shaped sandwich off the plate and putting it into his son’s little hands. Lennox looked at Hugh, waiting for him to get one for himself. Hugh reached over and grabbed one, taking a bite. Without taking his eyes off his father, Lennox lifted his sandwich to his mouth and took a small bite, each time Hugh took a bite, Lennox followed and they continued this way in silence until the plate was finished.

 The door opened and Hugh looked up to see Charles entering with a cup of coffee in one hand and a glass of juice in the other. He saw pure relief flood Charles’ face as he eyed the empty plate, placing the drinks on the desk, he collected the plate and Hugh saw tears brimming in his valet’s eyes as he left the room.

 Lennox watched as Hugh picked up the coffee and took a sip, then after a moment, Lennox picked up his juice and started to drink. Once the drinks were finished, Lennox touched his finger to Hugh’s face, wiping some of the grime off.

“I guess I need a need a shower huh?”

Lennox nodded.

“Let’s go and get cleaned up.” he said standing and carrying his son out of the room.