013 - Kael

I paced around my office like a caged beast, as my wolf gnashed at the inside of my skin, wanting to come right out and rip someone into pieces.

Six hours.

It’s been six long, torturous hours since I was told they’d lost Ashina, and there was still nothing. No scent trail. No street footage. No damn whisper of her. Almost like she’d once again vanished into thin air.

Every tick of the clock made the fury in my chest grow hotter and tighter. My claws had already shredded the edges of my desk. The only reason no one had been torn in pieces yet was because the entire building had had the good sense to stay out of reach. Smart move.

I also knew that ripping someone into pieces would not help my situation, but even that school of thought was wearing thin.

The door of my office creaked open.

I spun around instantly with the rage flooding every vein and was very ready to unleash it, and demand the reason for the lack of answers in the past hours.

Tyro stepped in first, calm and steady as always, and right behind him was Lieutenant Dawn, my third-in-command, polished and unreadable as ever.

“What have you found?” I growled before they’d even closed the door. “Where is she?”

Tyro instantly raised his hands in a placating way, careful not to provoke the barely leashed anger rolling off me. “We’re still combing through surveillance and nearby sectors. But we’ve tracked her to a dead zone. It’s almost like she intentionally went into hiding."

The suggestion made something in my chest twist violently.

“And when the hell has a dead zone ever stopped us before?” I snapped, my voice slicing through the air. “We’ve hunted entire rogues through war zones blindfolded.”

“Never, Alpha. That’s why I…”

Dawn stepped forward, interrupting Tyro with a look of distaste and what looked dangerously similar to disappointment.

“You’re not thinking about this clearly, Alpha,” she said flatly.

A low growl vibrated from deep within me. “Tread carefully, Lieutenant.”

She didn’t flinch. “With all due respect,” she said with steel in her tone, “you’re about to undo five years of strategic work... for a woman you haven’t seen in just as long.”

I clenched my fists and snarled, "She was taken from me. That wasn’t her choice."

Dawn folded her arms. “Maybe. But this mission—our mission—is bigger than one ghost from your past. All the warriors you pulled off Order intel? They should be on recon, not playing find-the-ex. We have a war building, Alpha. You need to see that.”

“Watch your mouth.”

But she huffed and kept going, because of course she did.

“All I’m saying is how do we know to trust her? To leave everything we should be doing for her? It doesn’t seem right, is all I’m saying. She’s been alive for 5 years, but we don’t know where she's been, who she's been with, what she's become.”

I stepped closer, fury tightening every muscle in my body, narrowing my eyes at her. “What are you implying?”

She didn’t hesitate. "What if she’s working with them? With the Order? Like you, she was supposedly dead. Now she’s alive, suddenly. It is too convenient, Alpha. You have to see the danger and possibility of trusting her too blindly."

 Tyro tensed beside her with very clear discomfort in his eyes. He looked like he wanted to stop her, knowing she was dancing on a knife’s edge. Dawn, unfortunately, had never feared blades.

She was getting too much on my nerves.

“We just found out that she’s been suppressing her wolf. That kind of trauma of losing you and being thrown out or whatever could have made her turn on her own. Vulnerable and broken. She’s the perfect susceptible pawn to be used in The Order’s game.”

My vision blurred at the edges, and my pulse drummed in my ears.

"Dawn."

"You know it’s possible! You’re just being too blind in some mixed-up happiness to see her again, that you’ve thrown all caution into the wind.”

That’s when I snapped.

In one blink, I was across the room, slamming her against the wall, my forearm pressing into her throat with just enough restraint to keep her windpipe intact. Just enough to remind her she was walking the line between gutsy and dead.

Each word she’d said only just reinforced that guilt that has been eating me up. The fact that I’d left Ashina all alone, hurt, discarded, and left to fend for herself. I couldn’t blame her if she hated who she was as a wolf, after everything she’d been through.

If the Order had gotten to her, it was because I’d left her to them.

No one could possibly think that if she was being used by the order, I’d just stand by and let that happen. I thought I was saving her the last time and failed to do so. This time around, I was going to make sure I actually did right by her. No matter what.

"You don’t know a damn thing about her. One more word and I’ll rip your tongue out."

Dawn’s mouth twitched in a smirk despite the pressure on her neck. “You like my tongue,” she rasped. “You won’t.”

I tightened my grip. “You wanna make a bet on that?”

“Alpha,” Tyro’s urgent but low and cautious tone came right in, stopping me from adding even more pressure to my arm on Dawn’s neck.

"You’re about to make a decision you can’t take back. Breathe and stand down."

It wasn’t her tongue in particular, but the sharpness and smartness of it that had made her my third in command. Losing her would be a grave dent in everything we’d been putting together.

My anger still burned beneath my skin as I glared at her, but after a breath, I released her.

Dawn crumpled to her knees, coughing hard, one hand rubbing her neck. Even breathless, she met my gaze with defiance.

I turned away, with my jaw clenched and my hands still shaking from holding back.

 "You’re smart, Dawn. And useful. That’s the only reason you’re still breathing,” I paused. “But don’t mistake usefulness for immunity. Speak that way about her again, and I will remove you.”

She straightened, still rubbing her throat.. "I’m not spreading lies. I’m just saying we have to be careful.”

I faced them again with the anger I was feeling glowing bright in my eyes.

"Find her,” I ordered. “That’s your only priority. When you do, we’ll talk about safety or danger. Until then, I don’t give a damn what theories you’re brewing. I want her back. Now get out there and do your damn jobs."

Tyro nodded and tugged an angry Dawn toward the door, leaving me pining in my anger.