CHAPTER 33

JAYDEN

Catriona’s hand tightened on mine, her voice low but steady despite the tremor beneath it.

“Jayden… What's going on? Where is she? Where’s the witch?”

I exhaled hard, staring at the shimmer. “She’s here. That barrier—it’s hiding her house. She doesn’t want us in, doesn’t want to be found. But she’s watching. Trust me, she knows we’re standing here.”

Before Catriona could answer, the shimmer rippled. A surge of cold energy spread across the clearing, sharp as ice against my skin. Then she appeared—Selena Jones, draped in black, eyes like dark fire, her presence swallowing the air.

Her voice carried like a blade.

“I told you wolves. I promised if you dared show up again, I’d make you regret it. You thought I was joking?”

A current of magic coiled around her arms, the air crackling, the ground trembling as she raised her hands. She didn’t care that Abriel was clinging to Catriona’s side, didn’t care that we’d brought a child into her line of fire.

Before I could shield them, Catriona broke from me and stepped forward. Her knees hit the dirt as she knelt, bowing her head.

“Please,” she begged, her voice raw, desperate. “Help my child.”

Selena’s eyes narrowed, her words as merciless as the chill rolling off her body.

“Move out of my way, young woman.”

My stomach clenched. Seeing Catriona kneeling like that—my mate, my strength—it split me in half. I moved forward, ready to drag her back to her feet, when a sound cut through the clearing.

A laugh.

Not a child’s laugh.

But deep, rough, ancient.

We all turned—me, Selena, Gabriel, even Sandra gasping behind us. Abriel stood there, shoulders shaking as he laughed like the old man himself had crawled into his tiny lungs. His eyes gleamed with a cruel mirth no boy of three should ever carry.

Selena’s fury faltered, her brow furrowing as she studied him. For a heartbeat, I thought—hoped—she’d have a change of heart, that she’d see what we saw every day: our boy wasn’t just a boy anymore.

But then her expression hardened. With a flick of her wrist, the energy she’d conjured vanished into the air. Her voice rang cold as winter steel.

“Leave. Leave my property now. You won’t get what you came for.”

The shimmer pulsed, her boundary closing tighter.

Gabriel took a step forward, his eyes dark, his voice low and venomous.

“Enough of your games. We know you hate wolves—fucking everyone knows. But here we are, anyway.”

“Gabriel,” I hissed, the hair on my arms bristling. He was only making this worse.

But he didn’t stop. His gaze locked on Selena, daring her.

“You think hiding behind magic makes you untouchable? You think spitting on us changes the truth? There’s a child fighting a spirit war inside his body, and you—” his voice sharpened to a snarl—“you’re too much of a coward to face it.”

The air snapped like a whip.

Selena’s eyes flared, their black depths glowing with veins of red fire. Her raised hand curled into a fist, and the forest itself seemed to bow beneath her wrath. The ground trembled, branches cracking high above us as if nature itself wanted to flee.

“You dare,” she hissed, her voice echoing with the strength of something ancient and unyielding. “You dare call me a coward, wolf?”

Gabriel stood his ground, jaw tight, but the surge of magic that tore from her palm knocked him backward as though he were nothing more than a ragdoll. His body crashed through the underbrush, bark splintering as he hit a tree.

“Gabriel!” Catriona cried, starting forward, but the shimmering wall of Selena’s barrier pulsed, holding her back like invisible chains.

I stepped in front of her instinctively, my wolf clawing at the surface, my skin burning with the need to shield my family.

“Enough!” I roared, my voice laced with Alpha command.

Selena’s power hit me next—a wall of searing energy that drove into my chest and shoved me hard across the clearing. I landed on one knee, breath ragged, but I forced myself back to my feet.

She wasn’t holding back anymore.

“Did you think I would bend to wolves?” Selena’s voice shook the clearing, thick with disgust. “I should burn you both where you stand.”

Behind me, Abriel let out another laugh—low, mocking, ancient. My blood ran cold. His small hand tugged at Catriona’s dress, and when I glanced back, those weren’t my son’s eyes looking at me. They were hollow, ageless, cruel.

Selena froze, her gaze snapping to him. For the first time, she faltered. Her lips pressed together, fury twisting into something darker, warier.

“Not a child,” she whispered, more to herself than to us. “No… not a child at all.”

The forest went deathly still.

Abriel’s head turned slowly toward Selena. The laughter died, leaving only a sharp, bone-deep cold in his gaze. His tiny lips parted, and the voice that came out wasn’t his.

“Come on, witch,” he spat, his tone ancient and venomous. “Burn them. They’re nothing but a headache. I warned them not to come here, but they never listen.”

Selena’s nostrils flared, her lip curling with disgust.

“Fucking hate wolves,” she muttered, her voice raw. “Always dragging their messes to my doorstep.”

With a snap of her fingers, the shimmer rose again, her house vanishing in a swirl of light.

Abriel turned back to us, a cruel smile twisting his sweet face.

“Very well,” he said coldly. “Now let the fun begins.”

Before any of us could react, he bolted. His little legs moved with the speed of something far older, far darker than a child.

“Abriel!” Catriona screamed, her voice tearing out of her throat. She tore after him without hesitation, Sandra on her heels.

I lunged forward, but Selena’s voice boomed across the clearing.

“Fine,” she said sharply, reopening the shimmer with a wave of her hand. “I’ll help him.”

Gabriel cursed loudly, his eyes burning into her.

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you? The kid takes off and suddenly you change your mind?”

Selena’s gaze was unflinching, merciless.

“Then find him. Bring him to me. That’s the only way I’ll do what you beg for.”

“You’re sick,” Gabriel growled, fury etched in every word.

Selena tilted her head, her voice dropping like venom.

“So are you wolves.”

I didn’t waste another second. My bones cracked, my skin tore, and the black wolf ripped free of me. Muscles surged, claws dug into the soil. I shot forward in a blur of motion, determined to cut Abriel off before he vanished too far into the thick woods.

The air whipped around me, every beat of my paws striking the earth like thunder.

This wasn’t just a chase.

It was a battle for my son’s soul.

The chase was brutal—branches whipping my fur, the earth pounding under my paws. I could hear Catriona calling for Abriel behind me, her voice cracking with terror, Sandra stumbling after her, and Gabriel crashing through the underbrush on the other side.

Then—something flickered. A shadow? A trick of the barrier?

For the briefest instant, my eyes caught movement to the left. By the time I snapped my head back, Abriel was gone. No rustle, no flash of curls, no sound of tiny feet.

Nothing.

Catriona froze.

What happened, she asked, confused as everyone of us. Where is Abriel?

Her face drained of color, her breaths coming in shallow gasps until her knees buckled. I lunged forward, shifting mid-stride, bones breaking back into human form. But Gabriel was faster—his arm wrapped around her waist, holding her before she hit the earth.

The sight hit me like a blade.

Catriona’s limp weight against him. His hand steadying her. The picture bled into another—one my mind never let me forget—Gabriel’s child, the daughter Catriona carried and lost, a truth I alone kept buried. The thought of Gabriel ever stepping back into her life with that knowledge lit fire in my veins.

I shot forward, ripping her from his grip.

“I got her,” I snarled, voice rough with a possession I couldn’t temper.

Her wide eyes turned on me, confused, pained. She shook me off, her voice breaking.

“We need to find my son, Jayden. This is a foreign country—I can’t—”

I caught her hands and forced her to meet my gaze.

“Catriona,” I said, steady and sharp, “we will find him. I swear it.”

Gabriel stepped closer, his jaw tight.

“We need to split. I’ll go with—”

“With Catriona?” The words ripped from me like thunder. “Why? She’s my mate, Gabriel! Do you think if she gave birth to your child it gives you the right to take her from me?”

The forest went silent.

Catriona’s lips parted, her eyes widening in shock, the words sinking in before I could pull them back. Sandra stood frozen, horror etched across her face. Gabriel’s entire body went rigid, his stare locking onto mine like the world had just tilted.

I couldn’t stop. The fury, the fear, the truth—all of it clawed free.

“What?” I spat, my voice shaking with rage and exhaustion. “Why are you acting like you didn’t know? That child—Catriona’s daughter—was yours, Gabriel. Your daughter.”

The words cracked the clearing open, shattering everything between us.

Good job, Alpha.

The old man’s voice slithered through my skull like a blade dipped in poison. My head snapped toward Catriona—her eyes were glassy, hurt carved deep into them, her mouth parted in disbelief. The look gutted me.

Then my gaze shifted to Gabriel. He hadn’t moved. He stood rooted to the ground, shoulders stiff, eyes unfocused, as if my words had struck him into some other realm. Whatever storm boiled inside him, it was silent—but violent.

Before I could say another word, a scream shattered the forest.

Abriel’s scream.

High-pitched, raw, piercing through marrow.

Catriona jerked upright, her grief drowned in panic. She bolted, Sandra right behind her. Gabriel snapped out of his trance and took off as well.

I stood frozen for a heartbeat, my chest heaving. What have I done? The truth had spilled, and now everything was breaking—Catriona’s trust, Gabriel’s silence, my control.

But Abriel’s cry came again, tearing me from myself and sprinted after them.

When I reached the clearing, the world seemed to collapse.

Sandra was sprawled across the dirt, blood streaking her cheek, her eyes dazed. And in the center—Catriona and Gabriel—fighting, clawing, but being pulled back, dragged by creatures I’d never seen before.

Tall, thin, their limbs too long, skin pale like ash stretched over bone. Their faces twisted, hollow eyes glowing faintly, mouths stretched in eternal snarls.

I barely had time to process what I was seeing before the ground itself betrayed us.

The pale creatures tightened their grip, and instead of fleeing into the trees, they sank. Mud bubbled beneath their clawed feet, black and thick, spreading like a pit beneath them. In seconds, it swallowed their legs, then their torsos—pulling Catriona, Gabriel, and Abriel with them.

“No!” I roared, tearing across the clearing, my claws raking earth, my wolf desperate to reach them.

Catriona’s scream split the night as she thrashed, her arms stretching toward me. Gabriel snarled like a beast, ripping against the talons holding him. Abriel’s cry was muffled, choked by the skeletal hand pressed over his face.

I lunged—only feet away—when the pit closed.

The mud collapsed into itself, sealing with a sickening slurp, leaving nothing behind but solid ground. Hard. As if the earth had never opened at all.

I landed on that same earth, my claws scraping against it, my breath ripping from my chest. Nothing. No mud. No hole. No trace of them.

Gone.

My heart hammered like it would break through my ribs. The clearing was silent now, except for Sandra’s weak groan from where she lay sprawled, bloodied and dazed.

They had been taken right before my eyes—dragged into the earth by creatures I didn’t even have a name for.

And I had failed to stop it.