Chapter 10

Karen’s POV

Days blurred together in the rogues’ den. Every sunrise and sunset felt the same dark, suffocating, hopeless.

If I wasn’t mistaken, I might have stayed here for five days or more.

They gave me wolfsbane every single day sometimes through a syringe, sometimes hidden in the food they shoved at me. Each swallow burned, each dose gnawed at my strength, and with every passing hour, I could feel my wolf slipping further away. Her voice grew faint, her energy dimming, until I feared one day I’d call for her and she wouldn’t answer at all.

But if I was dying, then I refused to die quietly.

The rogues thought they were clever, leaving behind their empty syringe after one of the injections, mocking me with it as they laughed. But to me, it was something else a chance.

The next morning, when one of them came with the food tray, I forced a weak smile and rattled the chains dramatically. “You don’t need to bother,” I croaked, nodding toward the syringe still lying in the corner. “They gave me the dose a few minutes ago. Can’t you smell it on me?”

The rogue wrinkled his nose, sniffing the air, and sneered. He muttered something under his breath before shoving the food at me and leaving. I didn’t touch it.

That night, when another came, I told him the same thing. I even leaned my head back, pretending I was too weak to move, too full of wolfsbane to fight. “They already gave it to me. Ask the others,” I whispered hoarsely.

And again, they left.

So I stopped eating. Stopped drinking. Started changing the position of the syringe. Every time they brought the tainted meals, I repeated the same lie, pointing to the empty syringe, my voice shaking just enough to make it believable.

Inside, I whispered to myself to the bond that felt severed: If I can just hold on… if the wolfsbane fades… maybe I’ll feel him again. Maybe I can reach him.

It was a dangerous gamble. The hunger clawed at my insides, my body trembling with weakness, but I clung to the thought like a lifeline.

Because the rogues thought they were breaking me.

But I was waiting.

I was hoping that even a flicker of the bond would return.

**********

Zaiden’s POV

The forest had turned quiet.

Everywhere my warriors and I searched, there was nothing but blood trails that ended too soon, scents deliberately crossed and muddled. The rogues were clever this time too clever. They were hiding.

And they had my mate.

The thought of her chained somewhere, her scent tainted with fear, gnawed at me until I could barely think straight. My wolf never rested pacing, snarling, demanding blood. But the bond… Moon, the bond was silent. I reached for her every hour, every minute, hoping, begging for a spark. But I felt nothing except cold emptiness.

“Alpha,” Cole said, jogging up beside me, mud streaking his face, his eyes sharp despite the exhaustion weighing on all of us. “We’ve swept the northern ridge. They’ve covered their tracks well. I suspect they’re moving her often.”

I clenched my jaw until my teeth ached. Moving her. Keeping her from me. They thought they could outsmart me, weaken me by taking what was mine.

A low growl tore from my chest. “Then we burn every hiding place to ash until there’s nowhere left for them to run.”

Cole hesitated, then nodded. “Yes, Alpha.”

We pressed on. Every den we raided, every rogue we cornered, I ripped answers from them with claws and steel. Most broke fast. Some died before they could speak. But all of them said the same thing—she was alive. Kept hidden. A pawn to break me.

They didn’t understand.

I wasn’t breaking.

I was becoming something far worse.

At night, when the forest grew still and my warriors rested, I didn’t. I stood under the moon, golden eyes burning, snarling her name through the bond even though the silence mocked me back. My wolf clawed at my insides, demanding I keep moving, keep hunting, keep tearing this forest apart until we had her back.

I swore to myself and to the goddess that I would.

No matter how deep they buried her, no matter how much blood I had to spill, I would find her.

And when I did, every rogue that laid a hand on her would beg for death long before I gave it.

********

We caught one. He was dragged into the clearing by two of my warriors. A young rogue, but his eyes burned with the same red madness as the rest. He spat blood onto the ground, snarling when he saw me approach.

I crouched low, meeting his gaze. “Where is she?”

He smirked through broken teeth. “Wouldn’t you like to know, Alpha?”

The growl ripped from my chest before I realized it, my claws bursting through skin. I grabbed his throat, lifting him off the ground with one hand. His legs kicked wildly, chains rattling as he gasped for air.

“Zaiden…” Cole started, but the warning in his voice only made my wolf snarl louder.

“I’ll ask you once,” I said, my golden eyes burning into the rogue’s. “Where is she?”

The rogue wheezed a laugh, choking. “She’s… ours now. You’ll never… see her again.”

Wrong answer.

I slammed him into the nearest tree so hard the bark splintered. My claws dug into his chest, hot blood spilling down my arm. His scream split the night, echoing through the forest. Warriors shifted uneasily, but none dared intervene.

“Every second you waste my time, another piece of you leaves this world,” I growled. “Start with your hands… or your tongue?”

Fear finally flickered in his eyes. He spat again, but this time it was more hesitation than defiance.

“Well… I’m sorry, I can’t,” he coughed. “It was an order. I’m sorry.”

My wolf lunged inside me, demanding we tear him apart. And for once, I didn’t fight it.

His scream was cut short as my claws ripped through his throat. Blood sprayed, hot and heavy, and the body crumpled at my feet.

“Bury him,” I ordered coldly, wiping the blood from my hands. My warriors obeyed without question, their faces pale.

Cole lingered beside me, his voice low. “Alpha… if you kill every one we catch, how will we get more answers?”

I turned on him, eyes blazing gold, and he flinched despite himself. “Then pray the next one speaks faster.”

Because I didn’t have time.

Because every second she was out there, chained and drugged, was another second too long.

I would not stop. Not until I had her back.