All Chapters of Blood of the Totem: The Alpha's Forbidden Mate: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

Hart watched Silimg dodge another of Cole’s attacks with efficiency that spoke to months of preparation, and realized Jethro was right.This wasn’t just a challenge, it was an assassination attempt disguised as legal combat.Silimg went for Cole’s throat, her jaws snapping closed inches from his jugular, and Cole barely twisted away in time. He retaliated by catching her back leg and slamming her into the ground hard enough to crack stone.Silimg yelped but recovered instantly, rolling away and coming up already attacking again.They fought for what felt like hours but was probably only minutes, both wolves bleeding heavily, both refusing to back down.Hart’s hands clenched so hard his nails drew blood as he watched Cole take hit after hit, each one feeling like it was happening to Hart himself through their bond.“Come on,” Hart whispered desperately. “Cole, please.”Silimg managed to get her teeth into Cole’s shoulder and ripped, tearing through muscle, and Cole’s roar of pain echoe

The helicopters were military, which Hart knew because Jethro identified them through binoculars as Apache gunships equipped with thermal imaging and enough firepower to level the entire manor.“We need to evacuate now,” Jethro said, already coordinating pack members through his phone. “They’re probably ten minutes out, maybe less.”Hart stood in the war room watching multiple news channels simultaneously, all of them showing the execution video on loop with increasingly hysterical commentary.“Shapeshifting creatures living among us for centuries,” one anchor said, his voice pitched for maximum fear. “Capable of extreme violence, operating under their own justice system, completely outside human law.”Another channel showed supposed experts discussing werewolf biology, most of it completely wrong but terrifying enough that Hart watched his phone blow up with panicked messages from Lewis.“Veilridge PD raided your apartment,” Lewis texted. “They’re looking for evidence of werewolf act

Hart sat in the back of a stolen van listening to Jethro argue with Cole about the absolute stupidity of what they were about to do, and honestly, Jethro had some excellent points.“This is an obvious trap,” Jethro said for the third time. “Marcus took Viktor’s grandson specifically to draw us out. He knows we’re not going to let an innocent kid die.”“So we don’t walk into it blind,” Cole said, studying satellite images of the hunter compound on a laptop running off battery power. “We plan, we prepare, and we extract the kid before Marcus knows we’re there.”“The compound is in the mountains, forty miles from the nearest pack territory, surrounded by federal agents and equipped with enough silver defenses to kill any wolf that gets close,” Jethro countered. “How exactly are we supposed to get in without being detected?”Hart focused on the compound’s layout, using his ability to sense dark magic, and found multiple signatures creating a defensive perimeter.“I can disrupt the silver

Dr. Vergara’s makeshift laboratory smelled like chemical compounds and desperation, which was fitting because Hart was pretty sure they were all about five minutes away from either a miracle or complete disaster.Two hundred and thirty-seven vaccine doses sat in refrigerated cases, and outside the lab, approximately four hundred wolves were waiting to find out if they’d get immunity to the weapon that could kill them in minutes.“We need a distribution plan now,” Magnus Blackwood said, his Council authority doing nothing to hide the stress in his voice. “More territories are reporting attacks. We’re at seventeen confirmed strikes already, six hours ahead of Marcus’s announced schedule.”Hart stood next to Cole watching the Council members argue via video conference, all of them calling in from different safe locations because gathering in person would just give Marcus an easy target.“High-ranking wolves first,” an Alpha named Catherine argued, her territory already evacuated and her

Hart was helping Dr. Vergara catalog vaccine doses when his phone rang with Mira’s number, and the panic in her voice made his heart stop.“Hart, something’s wrong with me,” Mira said, her words coming out fast and scared. “My hearing is too sharp, I can smell things I shouldn’t be able to smell, and last night I had dreams about running through forests as a wolf. This isn’t normal, right? This is supernatural?”Hart’s stomach dropped because he’d been dreading this conversation since he’d learned about their mother’s werewolf heritage.“Where are you?” Hart asked, already moving toward the exit.“Lewis’s apartment,” Mira said. “Hart, my hands keep doing this thing where they look wrong, like the bones are trying to shift position. I’m scared.”“Stay there, I’m coming,” Hart said, gesturing to Cole that he needed to leave immediately.Cole followed him to a vehicle without question, and through their bond Hart felt his mate’s concern mixing with resignation, like Cole had also been ex