Tex’s POVI waited until the guard yawned. It was the third time in less than ten minutes. He was bored, sleepy, and stupidly overconfident exactly what I’d been hoping for. His keys jingled lazily at his side, and his steps had grown slower, sloppier.My wrists were raw from silver. My muscles ached from days of cold stone and damp shadows but I wasn’t broken, not yet, I can't let this monster win, I can let him use me to get what he wants. Not when Genevieve was out there not when I knew Alpha Theo planned to use me like a weapon against her. So I waited. One breath. Two. Then I lunged.The silver cuffs scraped against my flesh, but I gritted through the pain, launching myself at the bars just as the guard leaned in to glance at my water bowl. My hands shot out snatched the key ring from his belt and twisted hard.He shouted, I didn’t care I just have to get out of here. I shoved him back with everything I had, adrenaline overriding the agony searing up my arms. He hit the wall with
Tex’s POVAt first, I thought he was just another cold-blooded Alpha. Cruel. Arrogant. Power-hungry, but Alpha Theo wasn’t just that, he was precise. He was calculated. And worst of all he was patient. He didn't do anything in a hurry he took his time.I’d been trapped in this stone-walled cell for what felt like days. The food was barely edible. The torchlight flickered like it was mocking me. I couldn’t shift the silver shackles burned into my skin, dulling my wolf, forcing him into silence.But it was the visits that wore me down the most. Theo never screamed, never hit me, he just came… and talked. As if this was some polite conversation.This morning, he brought a chair and sat across from me like we were at a tea table instead of a dungeon. His pale eyes studied me like I was a chess piece.“How’s the shoulder?” he asked, motioning to the bruises where his guards had tossed me against the wall.I glared. “Spare me the sympathy act.”He smiled faintly. “Oh, I’m not sympathizing.
André’s POV The moment the maid dropped the black-sealed letter in my hand, Ikneww something was wrong because black letters always means war in our world. The scent was unfamiliar cloaked, masked but beneath it lingered the faint, rotting trace of something old and treacherous, Alpha Theo, my enemy. An envious man who has always wanted what I have but has never gotten it no matter how hard he tried. I didn’t even sit before I ripped the seal and read the note. “Your woman's brother is with me. Tell her, if you dare. Or don’t. Either way, if I don’t get what I want soon, I’ll send him back piece by piece.” My vision burned red, if it was at first I wouldn't have cared, I'd have let him die but now I can't because I know Tex means the world to Genevieve, and if I let him die, it'll break Genevieve. My claws extended before I could stop them, slicing the wood of the table I gripped. “Tex…” I whispered. Genevieve’s younger brother. The boy she had spoken of in quiet moments,
Tex’s POVI hadn’t heard from Genevieve in weeks.And when silence drags on too long, it stops sounding like peace it starts to sound like something’s wrong.I’d sent messages. Called. Emailed. Nothing. Not even a text. The last time I heard her voice, she sounded tired. Hollow. Afraid. And then… gone.She had told me that she’d been taken. That a man had claimed her. That she was locked away in some wolf pack, used like a possession.No.Not my sister.She was fire. She was stubborn, untamed, fierce. No man would cage her unless he broke her first. And I refused to believe that had happened.So I did what I had to.I packed my bag. Dropped out of my final semester. And left everything behind to go find her.To bring her home.I didn’t have a plan. Just instinct. And rage. I followed whispers. Shadows. Rumors of Alpha André deep in the southern territories dangerous, ruthless, They say he always had a woman by his side. A woman with eyes like Genevieve’s. I remember she said it was Al
André’s POVThe knock on healer's door was softer than it should’ve been.I wasn’t here to demand answers. I was here because something inside me something old and aching needed to understand.She opened the door with that calm, knowing look in her eyes, like she’d already sensed me coming. The scent of herbs and wolfsbane clung to the air behind her, grounding and earthy.“Alpha,” she greeted gently. “Or are you just André today?”I gave a small, tired smile. “Just André.”She stepped aside and motioned me in. “Then sit. And tell me what’s eating you alive from the inside out.”I didn’t speak for a moment.The fire crackled in the hearth. The windows were open to the breeze. And still my chest felt like it was carrying a weight I wasn’t meant to bear.“I connect with her” I said finally.Marala raised a brow. “Genevieve.”I nodded. “It wasn’t just a connection, It was… it was lightning. Like something in me cracked open. Like I’ve been asleep for years and just now woke up.”Her eyes
Genevieve’s POVThe air had changed.I noticed it that morning subtle but electric. Like the quiet hum in the atmosphere before a thunderstorm, only this storm wasn’t in the sky. It was between us.André stood across the training field, speaking with his Gamma about border patrol shifts, but my eyes wouldn’t leave him. The way his muscles flexed when he moved. The way his jaw tightened when he thought. The low timber of his voice carried to me even with the distance and every word sent a ripple down my spine.He wasn’t even trying, and yet my wolf stirred with interest.No… not just interest. Need.As if finally, after all the danger, after the pain and survival and blood, something sacred had been given permission to bloom.The mate bond.It sparked like a live wire between us.When he turned to look at me, his gaze lingered.And the moment our eyes met, it hit.Hard.My heart skipped. My breath stuttered. Heat pooled low in my stomach, and I felt it that unmistakable pull. That ache