Chapter Five

Leo’s POV

In our world, an Alpha who rules a single pack has power over a few hundred people. But I am Prince Leo, the Royal Alpha of the High Court. My rank is far above a normal pack Alpha. A pack leader commands wolves, but my royal bloodline commands pack leaders. When I speak, even the strongest Alphas are forced to bow down and obey.

My family rules the Silver Kingdom, the largest, most powerful kingdom in the region. We control the armies, the economy, and the laws that keep all werewolf packs from turning on each other.

To the outside world, royal business is all politics and grand ceremonies. But the real work happens in the dark.

Three weeks ago, intelligence reached the High Court that a deadly black-market compound called Blood Rage had resurfaced. It was a vile, forbidden potion that gave a normal werewolf ten times their usual physical strength, but at a catastrophic cost: prolonged use destroyed the wolf's brain, driving them permanently mad until they turned into mindless slaughtering beasts.

The reports traced the distribution center straight to the heart of the Ashworth Pack territory ruled by Alpha Marcus.

Because Marcus was known to be a slippery, prideful leader who would cover up any illicit activity within his borders to save face, I didn't send a formal royal delegation. I took my Beta, Sam, and my master spy, Cole, and slipped into the Ashworth territory on a covert investigation mission to smoke out the cartel ourselves.

Cole stayed on the ground to plant surveillance and infiltrate the pack's inner circle, while Sam and I spent two brutal days tracking secret supply lines through the local border towns.

By the third night, after securing some evidence against the distributors. Exhausted from days of tactical planning and itching to dull the restless, edge-of-violence aura my wolf had been carrying, I commanded my men to retire for the night while I went down to the dim, secluded hotel bar for a glass of top-shelf bourbon.

I was expecting a quiet drink in the shadows. Instead, fate handed me a miracle.

That was the night I met Ivy.

She had walked in heartbroken, delicate, and entirely unaware of who I was. In my entire life, no woman had ever managed to calm my wild Alpha spirit the way she did.

Usually, my wolf was a restless, territorial beast, but standing next to her…holding her through the night…felt like pure, unadulterated peace. And then, before the sun had even fully risen, she had vanished into thin air like a dream, leaving behind only her intoxicating scent on my sheets.

Now, two weeks later, I was back in the capital, sitting at the head of a long glass table in our high-tech war room, listening to my top advisors wrap up the final reports on the Blood Rage bust.

"Prince Leo, the reports from the border packs are getting worse," Sam said, pulling up holographic images on the main screen. “These men are professionals, they know how to cover their tracks. A few stray pack leaders have even resorted to using food items as a means of transporting these chemicals.”

I leaned forward, resting my chin on my hands, my voice cold and lethal. "Find out who is making the remaining supply and cut them off at the neck. I won't let dangerous potions ruin our kingdom."

As the advisors kept talking about updated border security protocols, my mind inevitably drifted away from the meeting. I couldn't stop thinking about the mystery girl from the hotel bar. Cole was still stationed in Marcus's territory finishing up loose ends, and I had quietly tasked him with keeping an eye on the estate after I discovered who she was.

Suddenly, my phone vibrated on the glass table. It was a private, encrypted call from Cole.

I picked up immediately. "Cole. What's the update?"

"She's pregnant, Prince Leo," Cole said, getting straight to the point. "Two weeks."

My heart skipped a violent beat. She had been locked inside her room under house arrest since the night she ran out on me... which meant the baby was definitely mine.

A wide, uncontrollable grin spread across my face as my wolf let out a triumphant howl that echoed in the back of my head. A child. She is carrying our pup.

"But Prince Leo, there's a huge problem!" Cole’s voice suddenly sounded frantic over the speaker, cutting through my joy like a blade. “I think she’s in immediate danger!”

The smile vanished from my face. In a fraction of a second, pure, unadulterated rage flooded every vein in my body.

"Send me your exact GPS location right now!" I barked into the phone.

I slammed my hands down onto the glass table and stood up so fast my heavy leather chair flew backward, shattering against the wall.

"Sam! Get the royal helicopter ready now!"

"What happened?" Sam asked, snapping to attention and rushing out right behind me.

"No time to explain! Move!"

We sprinted up the spiral stairs to the rooftop helipad, threw ourselves into the royal transport, and the pilot pushed the twin engines to maximum output, tearing through the sky toward Marcus's pack territory.

Ten minutes later, the heavy thrumming of the rotor blades vibrated over the estate’s outer gates. I slammed the side door open and peered down into the dirt below.

My heart slammed into my throat.

Ivy was on her knees in the rough dirt, bruised, bleeding, and crying desperately as she wrapped her small frame into a tight ball to protect her stomach while two heavy guards loomed over her.

"Stop! I'm pregnant!" her desperate scream reached my ears even through the roaring wind.

My eyes snapped instantly from icy blue to a lethal, glowing red. My wolf didn't just roar…it exploded with a terrifying, bloodthirsty rage, desperate to tear apart anyone who dared touch my mate and my unborn child.

"Ready when you are, Leo!" Sam yelled over the thunder of the helicopter.

"On me!" I roared.

Instead of waiting for the aircraft to land, I channeled my raw, royal Alpha power and leaped straight out of the hovering helicopter, plunging thirty feet through the open air.

BOOM!

I slammed onto the dirt road right between Ivy and the guards, the impact cracking the hard ground beneath my combat boots and kicking up a cloud of dust.

Before the first guard could even process the sudden air-drop, I lunged forward, grabbed him by the throat with an iron grip, lifted his heavy body effortless with one hand, and hurled him twenty feet through the air into the dense tree line. Sam touched down a split second behind me, throwing a brutal right hook that knocked the second guard stone-cold unconscious before he even hit the dirt.

I stepped directly in front of Ivy, shielding her battered, fragile body completely from her evil stepsister.

Slowly, I turned my glowing, murderous red eyes toward Elena, baring my fangs as I let out a deafening, bone-rattling Alpha roar that shook the surrounding forest, shattered the glass windows of the guardhouse, and instantly forced every weak wolf in the vicinity straight to their knees in terror.

"Touch her again," I growled, my voice echoing with the absolute authority of the High Court, "and I will break every single bone in your body!"