CHAPTER 7

DOMINIC’S POV

The mahogany doors groaned open, and I didn't bother lifting my gaze from the whiskey glass I'd been nursing. The ice had melted an hour ago, leaving the amber liquid as bitter as my fucking mood.

"This better be good news," I growled, my voice carrying that edge that made grown men piss themselves. "Because if it's not, somebody's going to bleed."

Marcus stepped forward with his usual pack of incompetent wolves trailing behind him. Their scent reeked of exhaustion and failure—two things I had zero tolerance for.

"Well?" I finally looked up, letting them see the storm brewing in my eyes. "Where is my mate?"

"Alpha," Marcus began, his voice careful as a man walking on glass, "we've searched everywhere. Bus stations, train terminals, every highway leading out of—"

"I didn't ask for a fucking travel guide," I snarled, cutting him off. "I asked you a simple question. Where. Is. She?"

The silence stretched between us like a noose waiting to tighten. Marcus swallowed hard, and I could practically taste his fear.

"We lost her trail at the airport, Alpha. Her scent just... vanished."

The crystal glass exploded in my grip, shards biting into my palm as whiskey and blood painted my desk. The pain was nothing—absolutely nothing—compared to the rage clawing at my insides.

"You lost her?" My voice dropped to a whisper that made the temperature in the room plummet. "You actually lost my mate?"

"Alpha, please understand—" one of the younger wolves stammered.

"Understand what, exactly?" I roared, surging to my feet. "That you're all worthless pieces of shit? That my mate is out there somewhere, possibly warming another man's bed, while you stand here making pathetic fucking excuses?"

The thought of her with someone else makes me want to tear the world apart with my bare hands.

Marcus raised his hands like that would somehow placate me. "We can expand the search. Contact other territories—"

"Contact other territories?" I laughed, and the sound was sharp enough to cut. "So they can all know that Dominic Blackwood can't even keep his own woman? That she'd rather run than submit to me?"

"That's not what happened—"

The first gunshot cut him off beautifully. Marcus dropped, clutching his shoulder as blood seeped between his fingers like spilled wine.

"Anyone else want to tell me what didn't happen?" I asked conversationally, smoke still curling from the barrel. "Because I'm just getting warmed up."

The remaining wolves backed toward the door like the cowards they were. But I was faster—I was always faster. The shots rang out in perfect succession, bodies dropping until only Marcus remained, crawling desperately across my marble floor.

"Please, Alpha," he gasped, leaving a crimson trail behind him. "Give us more time. We can find her—"

"Time?" I stepped over the bodies like they were furniture. "She's had three days to get further away from me. Three days to find another pack, another man." I pressed the gun barrel to his temple, cold metal against hot skin. "Do you know what that does to me, Marcus?"

"Alpha—"

"It makes me want to burn down everything until there's nothing left but ash and the memory of screams." The final shot echoed through the room like a period at the end of a sentence.

The rage is still there, still eating me alive from the inside out. Violence used to satisfy it, but now? Now nothing feels like enough.

I stepped over the carnage and made my way to the bar, grabbing two bottles of my finest whiskey. No ceremony tonight—just raw, burning need.

The amber liquid scorched my throat as I drank straight from the bottle. Alcohol had never been my solution before, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

"Where are you, little wolf?" I muttered to the empty room, taking another long pull. "Think you can hide from me forever? Think you can just disappear?"

My wolf is pacing beneath my skin, demanding action, demanding blood, demanding her.

By the time I'd emptied both bottles, the rage had only intensified. I stripped off my blood-stained clothes and shifted, bones cracking as my massive black wolf took control. The French doors splintered as I burst through them, leaping from my balcony to the grounds below.

The night air filled my lungs as I raced through the forest, seeking something—anything—worthy of my fury. When the scents hit me—two female wolves on my territory without permission—my lips pulled back in a savage grin.

I found them by the old oak tree, young and foolish enough to approach an enraged Alpha.

"Well, well," the blonde purred as I shifted back, not bothering to cover my nakedness. "If it isn't the big bad Alpha himself. Looking absolutely delicious, as always."

Her companion, a brunette with hungry eyes, stepped closer. "We heard you've been having some... frustrations lately. Maybe we can help relieve that tension?"

"Is that what you heard?" My voice was silk wrapped around a blade. "What else did the rumor mill tell you?"

"That some pathetic little bitch ran away from you," the blonde said with a smirk that sealed her fate. "Can't imagine why. You're everything a she-wolf could want—powerful, dangerous, absolutely devastating."

"We're not runners," the brunette added, pressing her naked body against my chest. "We know how to appreciate an Alpha's... needs."

They dare mock my mate? They dare suggest they could replace her?

"You think you can replace her?" My hands moved to their throats, fingers tightening just enough to make them gasp. "You think you're worthy to breathe the same air as my mate?"

The blonde's confidence flickered. "We're just saying you deserve better—"

"You're saying my mate was a fool to run from me." My grip tightened until I could feel their pulses fluttering like trapped birds. "That's exactly what you're saying, isn't it?"

"We didn't mean—" the brunette gasped.

"Oh, but you did." My smile was winter itself. "You meant every fucking word. And now you're going to pay for insulting what's mine."

"Wait, Alpha, please—"

"Please?" I laughed, the sound echoing through the trees like a death knell. "Did my mate say please when she ran from me? Did she beg for mercy when she shattered our bond?"

The blonde tried to pull away. "You're hurting us—"

"Good." My eyes glowed with predatory satisfaction. "Because hurting something is exactly what I need right now. I need to hurt something until this rage stops eating me alive."

"This is insane," the brunette whispered. "You can't just—"

"I can do whatever the fuck I want," I snarled. "I'm the Alpha. And you two just volunteered to help me work through my frustrations."

What followed was brutal and swift. Their screams cut through the night like music before dying abruptly, leaving only my ragged breathing and the metallic scent of blood.

Standing over their broken bodies, I felt the familiar hollow satisfaction of violence. But the rage remained, burning just as fiercely as before.

I threw back my head and howled, the sound carrying across my territory—a promise and a threat wrapped in one primal note.

"I'm coming for you, little mate," I whispered to the night. "And when I find you, you'll learn what happens to wolves who dare run from their Alpha."