MasukI stand motionless in the clearing where Sophia’s scent vanished, my fingertips pressed to the rough bark of a pine tree. Twenty-four hours since she disappeared. Twenty-four hours of absence clawing at my insides like a physical wound. The forest around me teems with activity: wolves from my pack setting up a mobile command centre, trackers consulting maps, and communications equipment being assembled. But all I can focus on is the fading trace of honeysuckle and sunshine that lingers here, the last place my mate stood before they took her.‘Need mate,’ Conri growls in my mind, his presence a constant pressure against my consciousness. ‘Find her. Now.’“We’ve analysed the tyre tracks,” Vance says, approaching with James at his side. He still moves with a slight limp, the wolfsbane not entirely flushed from his system. “Three identical sets of Council vehicles, just as we suspected.”James unfolds a map and spreads it against the trunk of a fallen tree. “All three convoy
I was jerked from fitful sleep by the metallic scrape of my cell door opening. Elder Stone stood framed in the doorway, two guards flanking her like obedient dogs. The burgundy of her suit looked almost black in the dim light, like dried blood. My head still pounded from the wolfsbane, and my limbs felt heavy as waterlogged wood. In the back of my mind, Nyx whimpered, her presence faint as a dying ember. “Good morning, my dear,” Elder Stone says, her voice carrying that same false warmth that makes my skin crawl. “Today’s the day we rid you of that pesky bond.” My stomach drops, ice flooding my veins. I scramble backward until my spine hits the concrete wall, chains rattling between my raw wrists. “No,” I manage, my voice cracking from disuse and thirst. “You can’t do this.” ‘Fight,’ Nyx whispers weakly in my mind. ‘Must fight.’ Elder Stone smiles, the expression never reaching her cold amber eyes. “I assure you, we can. And we will.
My claws dig into the wood of my desk, leaving deep gouges in the polished surface. The sun is rising outside my window, mockingly bright after a night of darkness and failure. Twenty hours since Sophia disappeared. Twenty hours of searching every inch of our territory, following cold trails and false leads. Twenty hours of Conri howling in my mind, his rage and grief mirroring my own until I can barely tell where my thoughts end and his begin. My mate is gone, and for the first time in fifty years as Alpha, I feel utterly powerless.“Fuck!” I slam my fist down, splintering the corner of my desk. The pain barely registers through the haze of fury and fear clouding my mind.‘Need mate. Find mate,’ Conri growls, pacing restlessly in my head. His presence feels like sandpaper against my consciousness, raw and abrasive with mounting panic.I glance at the maps spread across what remains of my desk. They are marked with the movements of every search party we sent out through
I lunged forward without thinking. The chains pulled taut as I tried to reach her. The guards stepped in immediately, hands moving to their weapons, but Elder Stone waved them back with casual indifference.“Zane will come for me,” I growl, straining against the chains until blood runs fresh down my wrists. “You have no idea what he’s capable of. What he’ll do when he finds out you’ve taken me.”Elder Stone actually laughed, a musical sound utterly at odds with the cruelty in her eyes. “Zane will think you are dead soon enough, Luna Sophia.” The title dripped with mockery, each syllable carefully weighted to wound. “He’ll rage, he’ll grieve, and then he’ll move on. As all alphas do.”‘She’s wrong,’ Nyx whispers, though doubt colors her mental voice. ‘Conri wouldn‘t forget us. Couldn’t.’“Why?” I demand, sinking back against the wall as my legs finally give out. “Why go through all this trouble? Just because I escaped the first time?”“Because you’re a ninety-eigh
Cold concrete against my cheek. That was the first thing I registered as consciousness filtered back, along with the metallic taste of blood in my mouth. My head throbbed, each pulse sending shards of pain behind my eyes. I tried to move, but my limbs felt weighted and disconnected from my brain’s commands. Wolfsbane. The memory crashed back: the border run, Vance collapsing, the burn of darts in my flank. ‘Nyx?’ I called internally, panic rising when her response came as only the faintest whimper. Her presence flickered like a candle in strong wind. ‘Still here,’ she managed, her voice fainter than I had ever heard it. ‘But barely. Can’t shift. Can’t help.’I forced my eyes open, blinking against the harsh fluorescent light that stabbed into my skull. The room swam slowly into focus: concrete walls, a metal door with a small, barred window, and a thin mattress beneath me.A cell.I was in a fucking cell.With effort that should not have been necessary, I pushed myself upright. My arm
I glance at the clock on my office wall for the third time in fifteen minutes, an unfamiliar sensation gnawing at my gut. Sophia and Vance should have returned by now. The border run shouldn’t have taken more than two hours, and it’s been almost three. James notices my attention drift from our conversation about integration plans for his new role, his own expression mirroring my growing concern. Something isn’t right. I’ve spent too many decades listening to my instincts to ignore them now.“They’re running late,” I say, the words tasting like ash in my mouth. “Vance and Sophia should have been back an hour ago. They were going to come straight here after completing the route.”James straightens, instantly alert. “Could they have extended the run? Maybe Sophia wanted to see more of the territory?”“Vance would have mind-linked me if plans changed,” I reply, already reaching through the pack bond to locate them. The connection to Vance feels strange… muted, like trying to
I can’t remember the last time I laughed this much. Certainly not since my test results came back. Definitely not since being claimed by Zane. Yet here we are, sharing stories over a meal that would make pack chefs weep with envy, and I’ve laughed three times in the past hour. Real la
I move silently through my territory's perimeter, Conri's powerful legs carrying us effortlessly over the rough terrain. The night air brings a symphony of information to my nose, each scent a story, each disturbance in the forest floor a potential threat or opportunity. Three of my border patrol w
I run until my lungs burn and my paws bleed, putting as much distance as possible between myself and the only home I've ever known. Trees blur past me as Nyx pushes our body harder than I knew possible, her instincts stronger than mine in this form. The night air whips through my fur, carrying the
I watch until she disappears among the trees, taking my heart with her. Only then do I close the door, lock it, and wipe away my tears. I have a role to play now, and lives depend on my performance.'She's gone,' I tell James through our link, feeling his relief wash over me.'Elder Stone says she







