THE ALPHA'S BURDEN

Dmitri stood outside the bell tower, staring at the closed door. Grey light spread across the monastery grounds, turning the snow silver. He'd been standing here for ten minutes, maybe longer, trying to force himself to walk away.

He couldn't.

His wolf was going insane inside him, clawing at his ribs, howling to go back inside. To wake her. To claim her properly in the daylight and make sure every wolf in Russia knew she belonged to him.

But he couldn't do that either.

She was sleeping. Exhausted. Her body curled up on that old bed, wrapped in his coat, her ash-blond hair spread across the bed like silk. She'd looked so peaceful when he'd finally pulled away from her an hour ago. So beautiful.

He didn't even know her name.

Dmitri ran a hand through his hair, frustration burning in his chest. This wasn't supposed to happen. He'd come to this gala for politics, not to find his mate. Not to lose control completely and claim a woman he'd just met.

But the bond had been undeniable. The moment he'd touched her, everything else had ceased to matter.

His phone buzzed in his pocket.

Dmitri pulled it out, frowning at the screen. Irina. His beta. She wouldn't call unless it was important.

He answered. "What is it?"

"Alpha." Irina's voice was shaking. That stopped him cold. Irina never shook. "You need to come home. Now."

Dmitri's grip tightened on the phone. "What happened?"

"It's your father." She paused, and in that pause, Dmitri's world tilted sideways. "He is no more ."

The words didn't make sense at first. His father was sick, yes too weak. But not at the verge of dying Not yet.

"What?" His voice came out flat and empty.

"Murdered," Irina said, and now he could hear the barely controlled panic underneath her usual calm. "Someone got into his room last night. Tore his throat out. Your brother tried to stop them. He's dead too."

Dmitri couldn't breathe. I couldn't think. The phone felt like lead in his hand.

"The pack is falling apart," Irina continued, speaking faster now. "Challengers are already circling. They're saying you abandoned us to go to some party while enemies killed our Alpha. If you don't come back *right now*, we're going to lose everything. The pack. The territory. All of it."

Dmitri looked back at the bell tower door. Behind it, his mate was sleeping. The woman his wolf had claimed. The woman he'd promised without words, but promised all the same that he'd protect.

"Dmitri." Irina's voice sharpened. "Are you listening? Your father is *dead*. We need you."

He closed his eyes. Drew in a breath that felt like swallowing glass.

"I'm coming," he said.

He ended the call and shoved the phone back into his pocket. His hands were shaking. His voice had been steady. But inside him, everything was screaming.

His father was dead. His brother was dead. His pack was in chaos.

And he had to leave her.

Dmitri took one step toward the tower door. Then another. His hand reached for the handle.

He stopped.

If he went back inside, he wouldn't be able to leave. His wolf wouldn't let him. And while he stayed here, his pack would tear itself apart.

*Duty or mate. Choose.*

It wasn't a choice. Not really. He was the Alpha's son. His responsibility to the pack comes first it has always had been.

But gods, it hurts.

Dmitri pulled his hand back and turned away from the tower. His wolf howled in protest, clawing at him, begging him to go back. He ignored it.

He walked to his car, got in, and started the engine.

As he drove away from the monastery, he looked in the rearview mirror. The bell tower grew smaller and smaller. Then disappeared behind the trees.

He didn't even know her name.The drive north took four hours.

Four hours of snow-covered roads and empty forests. Four hours of his wolf raging inside him, demanding he turn around. Four hours of Dmitri gripping the steering wheel so hard his knuckles turned white.

He tried to memorize everything about her. The way she'd looked at him with those ice-grey eyes. The way she'd fit perfectly against his chest. The sound of her breathing when she'd fallen asleep in his arms. Her scent is pine and winter air and something uniquely ”her”.

He told himself he'd find her after this. Once the pack was stable. Once he'd dealt with whoever killed his father. He'd go back to Velgorod and track her down.

He told himself that.

But deep down,there is a part of him that knew how pack politics worked, he knew it was a lie.

He didn't know her name. Didn't know what pack she belonged to. Didn't know if she was promised to someone else or mated already.

All he knew was that he'd claimed her and then abandoned her.

His wolf snarled at him, furious and heartbroken.

Dmitri kept driving,The Volkov stronghold sat deep in the northern forest, surrounded by pine trees older than the packs themselves. It was built like a fortress with stone walls, iron gates, guard towers at every corner.

Right now, those gates were open. And there were too many cars in the courtyard.

Dmitri parked and got out. The air smelled like blood and smoke.

Irina met him at the entrance. She looked exhausted, dark circles under her eyes, her short dark hair messy, blood spattered across her jacket.

"It's bad," she said without preamble. "We've contained the immediate threat, but we lost twelve wolves in the fighting. The ones who killed your father escaped before we could stop them."

"Where is he?" Dmitri's voice was calm. Too calm.

Irina gestured toward the main hall. "We laid them both out in the great room. The pack is waiting for you."

Dmitri walked past her without another word.

The great room was packed with wolves. They parted as he entered, creating a path to the center where two bodies lay on stone slabs.

His father,His brother.Both of them were covered in blood. Both of them with their throats torn out.

Dmitri stopped in front of them. His father's eyes were closed, but his face was twisted in a grimace he'd died fighting. His brother looked younger in death, almost peaceful.

Something cold and empty settled in Dmitri's chest.

He didn't cry. Didn't rage. There was no time for that.

"Who did this?" he asked, his voice carrying across the silent room.

"We don't know yet," Irina said from behind him. "But we have suspects. Three wolves have been making noise about challenging your father for weeks. They disappeared right after the murders."

Dmitri turned to face the crowd. Hundreds of wolves stared back at him. Some looked loyal. Some looked uncertain. Some looked hungry.

"Does anyone want a war?" Dmitri asked.

Silence.

Then three wolves stepped forward from the crowd.

The first was a massive brute named Viktor, one of his father's old rivals. The second was a younger wolf named Sergei, ambitious and stupid. The third was a woman, Zoya, who'd been his father's beta before Irina.

"The pack needs strong leadership," Viktor said. "Not a boy who runs off to parties while his Alpha dies."

Murmurs of agreement rippled through the crowd.

Dmitri looked at each of them in turn. His wolf, still raw from leaving his mate behind, was more than ready for this fight.

"Come on, then," Dmitri said quietly. "All three at once. Let's make this quick."

The crowd pulled back, forming a circle.

Viktor smiled and shifted first bones cracking, fur sprouting, his body twisting into a massive grey wolf. Sergei and Zoya followed, both of them smaller but faster.

Dmitri waited until all three were in wolf form.

His wolf burst out with all the rage and pain and frustration he'd been holding back since dawn. Black fur. Amber eyes. Larger than all three of them combined.

Viktor attacked first,Dmitri caught him mid-air, jaws clamping around his throat. He threw Viktor into the stone wall hard enough to crack the ancient rock. Viktor didn't get up.

Sergei came at him from the left. Dmitri spun and raked his claws across Sergei's face, blinding him. Sergei yelped and stumbled back, blood pouring from the wounds.

Zoya was smarter. She went for his legs, trying to hamstring him. But Dmitri was faster. He pinned her to the ground with one massive paw and leaned down until his teeth were inches from her throat.

She went numb and shocked, accepted her defeat and submitted herself.

Dmitri released her and stepped back, shifting back to human form. He was breathing hard, covered in blood, some his, most not. His shoulder was bleeding where Sergei had gotten a lucky hit.

He didn't care.,He looked at the crowd. "Anyone else?"

No one moved."Then bow," he commanded.

As one, the entire pack dropped to their knees. Even Viktor, limping and defeated. Even Sergei, blind and broken.

Irina was the first to speak. "Alpha Volkov."

The words echoed through the hall. *Alpha Volkov.*

Dmitri stood over his father's body, now Alpha, now alone.

After the challenge, after the pack had scattered, Dmitri stood in his father's office “his” office now and stared out the window at the forest beyond.

Irina knocked and entered without waiting for permission. She carried a first aid kit.

"Sit," she ordered. "That shoulder needs stitches."

Dmitri sat. He didn't argue as she cleaned the wound and stitched it closed. The pain was almost welcome, something real to focus on besides the hollow ache in his chest.

"What do you need?" Irina asked when she finished.

Dmitri was quiet for a long moment. Then, "Find her."

Irina looked up. "Her?"

"Ash-blond hair. Grey eyes. She was at the Velgorod gala last night." His voice was flat. Empty. "Find out who she is."

Irina studied his face, and he saw the moment she understood. "Your mate."

He didn't answer. I didn't need to.

"I'll do what I can," Irina said carefully. "But there were hundreds of alpha's,beta's, Omega ,single wolves at that gala. It might take time."

"I don't care how long it takes." Dmitri looked at her. "Find her."

Two weeks passed.Two weeks of hunting down the wolves who'd killed his father. Two weeks of rebuilding the pack's structure. Two weeks of meetings and politics and blood.

Two weeks of feeling the mate bond fade from a sharp pull to a dull ache.

Irina finally knocked on his office door with news.

"I searched the Morozova pack registry," she said. "No unmated females matching that description. I checked the Baranovs, the Petrovs, every pack that attended the gala."

Dmitri's jaw tightened. "And?"

"Nothing." Irina looked genuinely sorry. "Either she's not registered with any pack, or she's using a different name. It's like she vanished."

Dmitri stood and walked to the window. From here, he could see south toward Velgorod, toward the city where he'd met her and lost her in the same night.

"Keep looking," he said.

"Dmitri—"Said Irina

"Keep looking."Dimitri said 

Irina nodded and left.

Dmitri pressed his hand against the cold glass and closed his eyes.

She was gone. Disappeared like smoke. And it was his fault.

He'd left her alone in that tower. Hadn't even stayed long enough to know her name. He had chosen duty over the mate bond.

His wolf whimpered, mourning the loss.

Somewhere out there, she was alive. He could still feel a faint thread connecting them, so thin it might snap at any moment.

But alive.

"I'll find you," Dmitri whispered to the empty room. "I swear it. I'll find you."

Even if it took the rest of his life.