“We split our forces,” I decide after a moment of brutal calculation. “Dane, take half our fighters and track Lithia’s trail. Elias, your best trackers remain with me to pursue Kitara.”
Dane’s eyes widen with surprise. “You want me to lead the rescue for Lithia? Not you?”
“You’re her brother,” I reply simply. “Your bond will guide you where normal tracking might fail. And there’s no wolf I trust more to bring her home safely.”
Relief and determination cross his features, the responsibility clearly weighing heavily but welcome nonetheless. “I won’t fail you. Or her.”
“And the Alpha Female?” Elias asks, his voice carefully neutral.
“Her trail runs cold at the ravine,” I admit, frustration evident in my tone. “They used silver to mask her scent.”
Elias’s expression darkens. “She’s strong,” he says, offering rare words of encouragement. “Stronger than they realize.”
The assessment would mean more if I could feel Kitara through our bond, could know with certainty that she remains unharmed. The silence where her presence should be feels like a physical wound, raw and bleeding.
“We need to move quickly,” I decide, strategic necessity finally asserting itself over the wolf’s demand that I hunt alone. “Dane, gather your team and head southeast. Track Lithia as if your life depends on it—because hers might.”
He nods, already turning to organize his hunters. “We’ll find her, Alpha. And when we do, those responsible will learn why the Shadowmist is feared.”
“Elias, you’re with me,” I continue, turning to the security chief. “Your best trackers, focused on Kitara’s trail. We head east, following every trace no matter how faint.”
“If they’re smart, they’ll have switched directions multiple times, and used water to mask scent trails, possibly even underground passages,” he points out.
“Then we check every false trail, every water crossing, every tunnel entrance between here and Thaddeus’s den,” I reply, my voice leaving no room for doubt. “I will find her.”
As our teams prepare to separate, I pull Dane aside for a final word. “If you find Lithia first,” I tell him quietly, “get her to safety, then send word. Don’t wait for us.”
He studies me with surprising perception. “And if you find the Alpha Female first?”
“Then Thaddeus finally faces the prophecy he’s spent decades trying to escape.” My voice drops to a growl despite my human form. “And no wolf will forget what happens to those who take what belongs to the Shadowmist alpha.”
Dane nods. “Hunt well, Alpha.”
“And you.”
As he departs with his team, heading southeast toward Moonclaw territory, Elias approaches with our own unit. “Ready when you are, Alpha.”
I close my eyes, focusing all my concentration on the claiming bond. If any mated pair could overcome such suppression, it would be us.
Kitara, I project with all the force of my will.I’m coming for you. Hold on.
For a moment, nothing. Then—faint but unmistakable—a whisper of her consciousness touches mine. Not words, not even coherent emotion, just the barest sense of her presence, like a distant light glimpsed through heavy fog.
She lives. She endures. She waits for me.
It’s enough to focus the rage into something colder, more controlled, more deadly. I shift back to wolf form, my massive body rippling with barely contained violence as I scent the air once more.
The hunt begins.
Days pass in grueling pursuit,each second increasing the distance between captives and rescuers. Elias and his tracking team prove their worth repeatedly, identifying the faintest traces of Kitara’s scent despite Thaddeus’s people using every technique to mask their trail.
On the fourth day, we find confirmation of our direction—a fragment of cloth caught on a thornbush, bearing both Kitara’s scent and traces of her blood. The discovery sends my wolf into a frenzy of protective rage, though the rational part of me recognizes it as potentially deliberate—a breadcrumb left to ensure we follow the path Thaddeus has prepared.
Trap or not, we have no choice but to pursue. The cloth fragment proves our quarry passed this way within the last twenty-four hours, narrowing the gap between hunters and prey.
By nightfall, we reach the outer territories surrounding Thaddeus’s primary stronghold—ancient lands that have belonged to the Grand Alphas for generations, heavily patrolled and warded against intruders. Pausing at the border, I gather our diminished forces, now reduced to Elias and seven of our most elite trackers.
“They’ve taken her directly to Thaddeus,” Elias confirms, crouching over a claw-marked root where a faint trace of Kitara’s scent still lingers. “No more diversions or false paths. They want us to follow.”
