The Kidnapping

I wake at dawn to find Dexter's room empty.His bed hasn't been slept in. The window is open, curtains moving in the morning breeze. And there's a stillness to the space that suggests he's been gone for hours."Damn it," I mutter, checking my phone. Five thirty am. The meeting with James isn't until noon. Where the hell did he go?Rylan is already up when I find him, coordinating the morning patrol schedule. He looks up as I enter, reading my expression immediately."What's wrong?""Dexter's gone.""Gone where?""If I knew that, I wouldn't be concerned." I grab coffee from the pot, needing the caffeine. "He was making calls last night. Something about needing eyes on the warehouse. But this feels different.""Different how?""Like he's doing something he knew we'd try to stop." I drain half the cup in one go. "Can you reach out to pack scouts? See if anyone saw him leave?"Rylan nods and starts making calls. I pace the kitchen, my mind racing through possibilities. Dexter is smart eno

Control

I don't speak to Dexter the entire drive back.Marcus sits in the backseat, wisely staying silent while tension fills the car like smoke. My hands grip the steering wheel hard enough to hurt, anger and guilt and disgust all tangled together until I can't separate them.Dexter tortured someone. And I'm going to use the information he got.What does that make me?We arrive at pack territory to find Rylan coordinating final preparations for the rescue. He takes one look at my face and his expression hardens."What happened?""Conference. Now. Main cabin." I don't wait for agreement, just stride toward the building.The senior pack members gather quickly, sensing the urgency. Sage, Mira, Rylan, Zara, young Marcus, and two of the warriors who'll be part of the rescue team. Everyone who needs to hear this.Dexter enters last, his expression neutral. He leans against the wall near the door, arms crossed, waiting."Dexter went off-mission last night," I start without preamble. "Kidnapped one

Arthur's Plan

"Absolutely not."Dexter's voice cuts through the war council before anyone else can speak. We're all gathered in the main cabin, finalizing plans for the warehouse rescue. Sage has the cloaking spell prepared. Marcus has climbing gear ready. The warriors are armed and focused.And Dexter is shaking his head like we've all lost our minds."What do you mean, not?" Rylan demands. "We have the intel. We know where Kael is. We go in, extract him, get out. That's the plan.""That's a suicide mission disguised as a plan." Dexter leans against the wall, arms crossed. "You're talking about breaching a warehouse held by twelve hostile wolves, navigating to a silver-reinforced cell, extracting a hostage who's been drugged with wolfsbane, and escaping before they kill you all. The odds of success are maybe thirty percent. Probably less.""So what's your alternative?" I ask, frustration bleeding into my voice. "We can't just leave him there.""I didn't say leave him. I said don't commit suicide t

Through the Tunnels

The bank is exactly as abandoned as Dexter promised. Broken windows, graffiti-covered walls, the hollow shell of a building that once meant something. Sebastian is waiting in the shadows near a service entrance, a lean wolf with sharp features and cautious eyes."You're late," he says by way of greeting."We're punctual," Rylan corrects. "You're just early.""Same thing in my world." Sebastian looks us over—me, Rylan, Zara, and two warriors Rylan selected for their stealth skills. "Small group. Good. The tunnels aren't built for armies.""How long to reach the cells?" I ask."Twenty minutes if we move carefully. Less if we're lucky and don't encounter patrols." He produces a flashlight. "Stay close. The tunnel system is a maze. People have gotten lost down there and never found their way out.""Comforting," Zara mutters.Sebastian leads us inside through a door that shouldn't open but does. The interior is gutted, just concrete and rust. He moves to what looks like a solid wall and pr

Pickup

Dexter's coordinates lead us to an industrial park on the outskirts of the city. Warehouses and factories, most of them dark and abandoned at this hour. His specific location is a parking lot behind a shuttered manufacturing plant.We approach cautiously, Rylan driving while I stay in the back with Kael. He's more coherent now, the wolfsbane wearing off, but still weak. The partial shift has receded, leaving him human but marked by what the curse did to him."There," Zara points.Dexter is leaning against a concrete barrier, phone in hand, looking completely unbothered despite the blood on his clothes and the bodies scattered around him. Five, maybe six wolves, all dead or dying. He waves as we pull up, like we're picking him up from a casual outing."Right on time," he says, climbing into the front passenger seat. "Appreciate the lift.""What the hell happened?" Rylan demands, pulling back onto the road."Madison realized Kael was gone about ten minutes after you extracted him. Sent h

Impossible odds

The smell hit us first.Blood. Smoke. The acrid stench of fear that even my human nose could detect. We were still half a mile out when Rylan slowed the car, his knuckles white on the steering wheel."That's a lot of blood," Zara whispered from the backseat, her face pressed against the window.She wasn't wrong. Even from this distance, I could see the dark smoke rising above the tree line, thick and oily. Not woodsmoke. Something worse.Kael's hand tightened on mine. Through the mate bond, I felt his wolf straining against his weakened body, desperate to reach the fight. His injuries from three days of silver chains and wolfsbane hadn't healed. His partial transformation in that cell had taken something from him, left him hollowed out in ways I could feel but not fix."Easy," I murmured, squeezing back. "We're almost there.""Not fast enough." His voice was rough, half-growl. The wolf was still too close to the surface.Dexter leaned forward from the third row, his phone pressed to h