Chapter 6

A metallic hiss echoed through the clearing as small glass canisters shattered against the asphalt and the sides of the vehicle. A thick, sickening violet mist began to spill across the ground, smelling sharply of copper and scorched Earth.

Wolfsbane gas.

The Frostwell warriors choked almost instantly, their wolf spirits burning under the toxic chemical. The driver collapsed to his knees, clutching his throat before falling unconscious against the front tire.

Liam swore brutally, tearing off a strip of his shirt to press over his mouth, his dark eyes ablaze with fury. “Lydia, stay down!” he yelled, but it was already too late. Two rogues tore through the mist, lunging straight for the open door.

Lydia didn’t cower. As the daughter of Alpha Mason Caldwell, she hadn’t been raised to be a helpless trophy—she had been trained in hand-to-hand combat from the moment she could throw a punch.

Using her petite frame to her advantage, she ducked beneath the first rogue’s wild swipe, driving the heavy iron wrench violently up into his jaw. The crack echoed off the mountain ridge, and the wolf crumpled to the pavement. Spinning on her heel, Lydia raised her leg in a lightning-fast sidekick, catching the second rogue directly in the throat and sending him stumbling back into the fog.

Beside her, Liam was a whirlwind of lethal precision, ripping two wolves off the back of the SUV with his bare hands despite the burning poison in his lungs. “You can fight!” he grunted in surprised approval, spinning around to snap a rogue’s neck.

“I told you I wasn’t delicate!” Lydia shouted, pulling her dress up above her knees to move more freely.

But the odds were stacked heavily against them. More canisters clattered across the pavement, engulfing the area in a dense, suffocating cloud of wolfsbane. The sweet, burning fumes seeped into Lydia’s nostrils, her vision swimming as her strength began to drain rapidly. Her knees buckled, her muscles feeling as heavy as lead.

Through the purple haze, a massive rogue sprang from the roof of the SUV, slamming his weight onto Liam from behind and dragging the Gamma down.

Before Lydia could move to help him, a pair of broad, scarred hands grabbed her from behind, pinning her arms to her sides. She kicked backward with everything she had, her heel connecting with an intruder’s shin, but another rogue stepped up in front of her, a blunt wooden club raised high.

Lydia opened her mouth to scream, but the heavy weapon descended fast, striking the side of her temple. White heat exploded across her vision, and the cold mountain air vanished into pitch-black darkness as her limp body was hauled into the shadows of the dense forest.

A throbbing ache beat a ruthless rhythm behind Lydia’s eyes as consciousness slowly clawed its way back. The air was frigid and heavy with the suffocating stench of damp earth, mildew, and ancient rot. When she tried to lift her hands to soothe the sharp pain in her temple, a brutal, searing heat bit deeply into her wrists.

A low gasp escaped her lips. The distinct, agonizing burn of silver.

She strained her eyes against the thick darkness, taking in her surroundings. She was lying on cold concrete in what felt like an abandoned underground cellar or dungeon. High stone walls pressed in around her, and heavy silver cuffs bound her wrists, chained tightly to an iron ring embedded in the masonry. Her wolf whimpered weakly beneath her skin, choked by the toxic metal. She was completely trapped, isolated, and with no idea where in the mountain wilderness she had been hidden.

Miles away on the mountain pass, Gamma Liam gasped awake, his lungs burning as he coughed out the lingering remnants of the wolfsbane gas. Blinking through blurry, bloodshot vision, he dragged himself upright against the side of the battered SUV.

“Lydia!” he barked out, his voice hoarse and raw.

He stumbled toward the open back door of the vehicle, but his heart sank. The leather seat was empty. A few drops of blood stained the floor mat alongside the bitter, metallic scent of rogue wolves. The surviving guards were groaning nearby, slowly regaining consciousness, but the future Luna was gone.

A dark, thunderous rage consumed Liam’s features. Cassius had sped off to clear the path, leaving them in an ambush so Lydia could be snatched without resistance.

“Get up! All of you, move!” Liam bellowed at the surviving warriors, his Gamma aura flaring through the mountain air. “We don’t have time to bleed. They took Lady Lydia!”

Ignoring the searing agony in his own limbs, Liam ordered the guards into the vehicle. The engine roared to life with a violent shudder, and the SUV tore down the winding highway toward the Frostwell territory—heading straight to Alpha Asher Frost to sound the alarm.