CHAPTER FOUR

LAZAR

I had almost accepted that my search for my mate was futile when a scent slammed into me. An intoxicating scent and somehow, I found myself visibly drawn to it.

“You have to find the source of that scent, Lazar. You have to find it. Trace it.” My wolf urged me, his excitement building slowly.

My head snapped around, as I traced the scent to where it was coming from. The stage lights shone a small human woman, lying on the floor. She was stained, bruised and clearly hemorrhaging.

Mate. Mine

My heart didn't beat; it exploded into a white-hot furnace of protective rage. She was fragile, injured, and utterly precious. The animals who had done this to her would burn.

"I'LL BUY HER." I declared. My voice cut through the tense silence.

Maximus, the operator, stammered, "Sir, I must advise you, she is…."

"I know what she is," I growled. "I bid twenty thousand." Double the normal price. It shut everyone up instantly. "Sold! To the gentleman in blue!" the fool announced.

I moved with an unnatural speed, not waiting for the transaction to clear. I made my way to the stage, pushing past the retreating guards. I saw the stunned faces of the patrons, the shocked stare of an older man who shared a striking resemblance with the girl. And at once, I knew who he was. Her father.

I ignored them all, because my focus was only on the ruined woman before me.

I knelt before her, lifting her as I gently slipped one arm under her knees and the other behind her back. She was so light for someone her age.

"Hang on," I pleaded, my voice stripped to a soothing sound meant only for her. I was already dialing my Beta, Marcus, through the mind-link before we even reached the door.

“Marcus! Get the car to the main entrance, now! Emergency! And contact Dr. Ezra. Tell him to prep the clinic for severe bruises. Mate. I've found my mate. The badly injured woman is my mate, Marcus. I can't let her die.”

A moment later, Marcus responded, his tone laced with shock. “Mate? But she’s... a human, Your Majesty.”

I cut the link immediately. I didn't have time for Pack politics. She was bleeding. I need to save her because I can't live with the thought of losing my mate immediately I found her.

I strode out to the front entrance. My black sedan was already there. Marcus held the back door open, his eyes wide as he took in the sight of the blood-soaked human woman in my arms.

"Drive. Fast, but careful," I ordered as I slid into the back seat and cradled her against my chest. I kept one large hand pressed gently, but firmly against her abdomen, trying to impart my healing energy, though I knew it wasn't going to work.

She wasn't a werewolf like me.

The drive to the Pack House clinic was agonizingly slow even though I knew Marcus drove at high speed. The scent of her blood filled the car, triggering a primal need to consume her pain and make it disappear. All of it.

"Get the nurses now. Now!" I roared as Marcus pulled the car up to the clinic entrance.

I carried her straight into the examination room and laid her gently on the table. Dr. Ezra, our head physician, a tall wolf, was already waiting. He didn't hesitate; he got to work instantly, running scans, his brow furrowed with professional concern.

“Do everything you can to save her, else I'll burn this fucking hospital to the ground.” I growled as I stepped away to let him do his work.

"Alpha," with a grim voice, he finally reported. "Several broken ribs, extensive bruising. Thankfully, the bleeding has stopped, your Majesty, but…she suffered a miscarriage. The child was barely five weeks old.”

The confirmation hit me, solidifying the rage that had been brewing inside me since I saw her. They hadn't just hurt my mate; they had deliberately murdered her child.

"Marcus," I called out, my voice dangerously calm. "I want the names, the locations, and the full histories of her guardians. All of them. Maximus and his operation. I want them brought in. Tonight.”

My Beta didn't argue this time, because he understood the situation at hand. He just nodded. "Consider it done, Alpha."

I sent a separate detail of wolves to shut down Maximus’s auction house forever. The monsters would not see morning light outside a prison cell.

Only when Ezra assured me she would live, and when Marcus confirmed the arrests were underway, did I finally sit beside her. I watched her bruised face, filled with protective fury and a profound, aching grief for the life she had lost

I was watching her pulse steadily on the monitor when her eyes fluttered open. They were warm amber, hazy with pain, but they eventually settled on me.

I stood, moving quietly to the edge of the bed. "You're awake," I said in the calmest voice that I could muster.

"Who... who are you?" she whispered.

I looked down at her. She needed to know her trauma was over. She needed to know that she was safe forever, because I'll never let any harm come near her ever again.

"My name is Lazar," I told her. "And I bought you, Allison. Because you are mine." I let the claim settle as I watched her reaction. Then, I gave her the undeniable truth. "I am a werewolf," I added. "And you are my mate.”

★★

“But she's human. And the Pack will never accept a human Luna as their mate.” Marcus said through gritted teeth.

“I am the Alpha, Marcus. They'll be forced into submission and accept her as their Luna. They have no choice.”

“Of course they have no choice but to accept her. But what about the former Alpha, your father? Do you think he'll accept her? In fact, we both know what King Darius is capable of doing. He'll kill her.”

I gritted my teeth in anger as his words washed over me. My father has always hated humans. “He won't dare, Marcus. He…”

“Have you forgotten how he hates them, especially after what happened that day?” Marcus exhaled sharply. “You better reject her and take someone else as your mate. Because the moment you take her into that Pack, you're risking her life. And yours. Mine too. In fact, you're risking the life of everyone that matters to you.”

“Then so be it.”