1. The Hunt

KAI

“Where is she?!” I roared at my useless pack, who had searched the entire werewolf territory without finding a damn thing.

Glaring down at the brand on my wrist that was stopping me from going after her myself, I contemplated removing it from my skin just to see if fate could be thwarted so easily.

She had been with her mother; there should be a scent, but there was nothing.

I smashed my fist into the concrete wall next to me, the mansion in serious danger of being pummeled to death if one more wolf came back without her.

The link was numb, but I wasn’t about to look too much into that, or I’d never come back from the edge.

“Kai. We’ll find her,” Brax tried to reassure me, but nothing would until I could feel her again.

I was empty, my chest heavy, everything inside me a storm growing stronger and stronger, ready to explode.

I turned and kicked my seat back from the meeting table. The council was trying to organize how to get her back, not because she was the essence I needed to breathe but because she was a winter born.

She had too much power to let her fall into the wrong hands, plus she carried the heir. But if she was so powerful, then why the hell couldn’t I sense her? Our connection should be strong enough.

I clutched my head again, closing my eyes and focusing on the feel of her, remembering the taste of her, the scent, pushing at all the corners of magic in my head. There was nothing.

“Fuck!” I growled as Derik barked orders at the pack.

Like always, he was much more put together than me. He was talking with the council, he was organizing the search parties, and I was falling apart.

I wanted to be out there, looking for her, destroying every human who smelled even a little like her until I found where she had been taken. But I couldn’t. I was a prisoner to a fucking brand on my wrist.

I wasn’t risking that; fate was a fickle bitch and would be petty enough to have me find my Little Human at the same time I mated with someone else. That would break her more than whoever had taken her.

I wasn’t mating. If I felt the bond, I’d sooner end my life. I was my human’s. I belonged to her, and she was ours. She carried our child.

I saw red again, turning to Brax, who was trying to sense her shadows, but I knew that wouldn’t work. Lorelai wouldn’t use them. Not after Tabby had said it would hurt the baby.

But she would survive. Because she was strong, and the alternative wasn’t something my erratic brain could handle.

I turned to Derik. “Anything?” I demanded, but he shook his head, his eyes glassy, his lips pursed. I snarled at that, my body vibrating in anger.

“Taylor says—”

“No! Don’t mention the females,” I growled, and Derik rolled his eyes. Easy for him to get annoyed when he wasn’t the one with the death sentence.

“You’re not going to mate from hearing their names, Kai. And I doubt it could happen if you just connect to the pack link.” He sighed, but I wasn’t risking it.

“No females. At all. And there’s no point connecting when you are. It’s an unnecessary risk,” I snapped, and Derik eyed me like he was deciding whether to push the issue or not.

I turned away from him, trying to find the link again. It was an empty void inside me that was almost painful. I wished it was more painful so it would drown out the burn from my wrist.

I rubbed over the bright red mark, wishing it was as easy as removing it. I had thought about it so many times, but I knew deep down it wouldn’t make a lick of difference. I was fucked.

But I was going to avoid it for as long as I could.

“Alphas,” Cain said, rushing in, out of breath.

Weak little hybrid. Helpful little hybrid, but still weak.

He relied on his magic more than his wolf, and I didn’t like it, but then again, it meant he might be able to find my human. Maybe there was a reason for everything.

“Did you find her?” I demanded.

He shook his head. “I can’t sense her. Something is blocking her. An herb or something, making it impossible for me to see much more than you can.”

“And Tabby?”

“I’m on my way there now.”

“I’m coming with you.”

“Kai,” Derik growled, “you are part of the pack. You are needed here.”

“Being here is doing fuck all to find her. I’m going to see if Tabby can help. She might be able to use the link or something,” I said, and before Derik could get in my head about it more, I shifted, ripping through my clothes, the burn of my wrist searing brighter, making me hiss as I did.

My muscles ached, the fur growing, my senses fine-tuning. And then I was a wolf, my mind immediately searching for her, whining when it felt nothing again.

“Let us know if you find anything.” Brax grimaced, his shadows darkening, swirling around him as he kept pushing to find hers.

I was going to do more than try. I was going to do whatever I had to; I was going to find her.

I snarled at Cain, who nodded and took off running. I’d give the little hybrid that: his lean body was fast. Much faster than a human and as fast as a wolf, for sure.

Not as fast as me, though.

I surged forward, running from the city toward Tabitha’s swamp. I beat Cain there, barely breaking a sweat, using my nose to drive me forward, refusing to open my eyes until I knew I wouldn’t see a single female.

I splashed through the swamp, ignoring Ruby, who wanted to play, and shifting as I came up onto the wooden porch of Tabitha’s cabin.

She opened the door with a frown, and I greeted her swiftly, a kiss on each cheek, before taking the pants she offered me. They were light and hung low, but they’d do.

“Tabby, please tell me you can help,” I begged.

“Come. I have tea ready,” she said and went inside as Cain came up onto the porch, breathing hard again and wiping his forehead.

I said nothing and went inside, sitting at the table and taking a customary sip of tea before waiting for Tabby to stop pacing.

She was frowning hard, holding her temple with one hand, the other clutching amethyst beads dangling down from her neck.

“Tabby,” I urged, not patient enough to wait. I needed answers.

She huffed and pursed her lips. “These humans have made the witches very angry.

Nothing good can come of this. What are they thinking?”

“So it is the humans? Which ones?” I asked, hope springing in my chest, but Tabby tsked and shook her head sadly.

“I don’t know, sweetie. The witches won’t let me get involved. We are sworn to not harm the humans.

“We can’t use our magic on them, not those of us protecting the balance anyhow.

Not without completely pure intentions, which I will not feign that mine are,”

Tabby explained.

This balance shit was really starting to get on my last nerve. We were the ones fighting the war for balance.

The wolves had protected the humans from the vampires for years, fucked so many virgins year after year to keep the magic renewed in the border that separated them, kept them from becoming dinner, just for them to turn on us?