Chapter Seven

Jack’s POV

The room was too quiet without her.

The moment the door clicked shut behind Nova, silence settled thick and suffocating, like a blanket made of stone pressing against my chest. Her scent still lingered silver rain and soft pine but fading, thinning with every passing second. The more it disappeared, the harder my wolf thrashed inside me.

~Go. Mate hurt. Go now.

Ryder snarled, pacing like a storm trapped in bone. He wasn’t wrong. I felt it too something sharp pulling deep in my ribs, a tug through the mate bond so intense I could hardly breathe.

She was hurting.

I didn’t need to see it to know. I felt it .. like claws scraping across my chest from the inside. Fear, shame, exhaustion. Her emotions bled through the bond like a wound with no dressing. My vision sharpened, senses heightening painfully fast.

She was scared. She was tired. And she had left me alone to face punishment.

Because of me.

I dragged a breath into my lungs, every inhale burning. “I need to get to her.”

My muscles protested the moment I shifted even an inch, a sharp flare radiating down my spine. Wolfbane left deep damage, melting through nerves long after it entered blood. But pain meant nothing right now. Not compared to her.

Not compared to what I felt through the bond.

“She’s mine,” I murmured to the empty room, fingers curling into the sheets. “I won’t let her suffer alone.”

I swung my legs over the edge of the bed. My knees nearly buckled under me instantly, and a low growl rumbled from my chest.

Damn wolfsbane. Damn rogues. Damn whoever thought they could come for me and get away with it.

My teeth clenched as I forced myself upright, hands gripping the bed frame until wood creaked beneath my fingers.

One step. Breath. Pain. Two steps. Breath. More pain.

But I kept moving.

The bond tugged harder the farther from the bed I got, like an invisible thread pulling me through the room. I followed it, chest rising and falling in ragged pulls. Sweat broke across my forehead. My wolf snarled at every tremor, every weakness.

~Mate alone. Pack hurting mate. Go.

“I am,” I ground out. “Trying.”

I stumbled toward the door, vision swimming. The wall steadied me. Barely.

Nova’s pain spiked again a flash so sharp I gasped, fingers digging into my chest as if clawing at the invisible wound she felt. My heart lurched.

They hurt her.

Someone put their hands on her. Someone made her cry.

A tremor of rage shook me so violently I had to shut my eyes. My canines lengthened, claws threatening to burst through skin.

Who touched her?

A growl built, low and murderous. “If anyone lays a hand on her again”

The threat burned through me hotter than fever.

I reached the door, fingers curling around the handle

It jerked open before I pulled.

Two warriors stood there, their scents heavy with dominance and suspicion. Their eyes widened the moment they saw me standing, half-naked and very much conscious.

“What… Alpha Sinclair, you shouldn’t be standing…”

“I don’t need your orders,” I snapped, voice cold, eyes ice.

They swallowed in unison.

One stepped forward hesitantly, palms up. “Your body isn’t healed. The wolfsbane…”

“Move,” I ordered, voice a growl barely restrained. “I’m leaving.”

Their gazes flickered to one another. Fear and confusion mixed in their scents. They didn’t understand. They didn’t know she was mine.

Mine.

“I can’t allow you to leave the infirmary,” the bolder one said, though his voice trembled. “Alpha Darius needs to be notified….,”

“I don’t belong to your pack,” I snapped. “You don’t command me.”

“Still… you’re injured…”

I stepped toward him. He automatically lowered his eyes. His wolf, even if unknowing, bowed to mine on instinct.

“Try to stop me,” I murmured, voice low enough to be deadly. “And your Alpha won’t find enough of you to bury.”

He flinched. They both stepped aside. As they should.

Nova’s pain echoed again, a faint whine resonating across my ribcage. My wolf pressed hard against my skin, rattling to get out.

~Mate bleeding. Go now!

I almost shifted right there in the hallway just from that thought. “I know, Ryder. Hold still.”

My bare feet dragged across cold tile as I moved. Every step felt like knives tearing muscle. But pain was nothing.

Pain was manageable.

Losing her would not be.

I followed her scent …it trailed toward the back training grounds. Dirt. Blood. Sweat. Omega fear. My stomach tightened.

They made her shift.

They made her run.

I tasted copper … fury so sharp it felt like biting metal. When I finally reached the edge of the training yard, I halted.

Warriors lingered. Laughing. Whispering. A few glanced at the ground where her blood stained dirt. And just beyond them, hidden by trees, her fading scent called to me.

She’d gone into the woods to cry alone.

It felt like a hand around my throat.

A memory hit … something old, something buried. Me, young, forced to stand bleeding after training while my father watched, saying nothing. Learning pain was part of being Alpha. Learning silence was survival.

I had never felt small but I remembered being quiet.

She must have learned the same.

A flicker of movement caught my eye

.. a female wolf near the training pit. Luna Seraphine. Watching. Cold. Poised. Smug.

My chest rumbled.

I stepped forward

“Alpha Sinclair.”

I stopped.

A young warrior, breathless, sprinted toward me. He blanched when he saw my expression.

“A messenger from your pack arrived. Your Beta demands audience immediately. He say… he says it’s urgent.”

Of course.

Politics. War. Recovery. Responsibility.

Everything I had been raised to prioritize.

Everything that suddenly felt meaningless compared to the ache inside me.

“Where is he?” I asked through clenched teeth.

“In the pack house. He… he’s waiting for you.”

A long silence stretched. My wolf snarled, trying to drag me toward the trees where my mate hid. Shaking. Alone. Bleeding.

But duty clawed the other direction … home, pack, crisis.

Two worlds. One heart.

One choice.

I turned toward the woods anyway.

“He can wait,” I growled, voice like broken stone. “My mate comes first.”

The young warrior paled. “Your… your what?”

I ignored him and took a step

My vision swam.

The world tilted violently. I gripped the tree beside me, body shuddering. The wolfsbane pulse flared again … angry, hot, venom twisting through my veins.

“Not now,” I hissed. “Not now…”

My knees hit dirt.

~Get up. Mate. Go. RUN.

“I WILL.” I roared inside my skull. But my body trembled, refusing to obey.

Hands grabbed me …. too many.

“Get him back to the infirmary!”

“No,” I snarled. “Let me … go … I need…”

Nova.

Her name ripped through me.

Everything blurred voices, hands, ground. My wolf howled as they dragged me back.

I fought. But my traitor body gave in to the poison's grip again, vision collapsing into black edges.

Before consciousness slipped, I whispered one vow raw, blood-deep, violent:

“I’ll come for you, Nova. No one touches what’s mine.”

Then darkness swallowed me whole.