The storm found him as he crested the first cliff.
It was massive, the kind of tempest that only Cresca could produce—wind screaming off the ocean, waves rising like mountains, the sky churning with black clouds that seemed to swallow the light itself. Lightning cracked across the horizon, and thunder rolled like the laughter of angry gods.
He didn’t slow down.
He ran along the clifftops with supernatural speed, his enhanced vision cutting through the rain and spray. The wind tore at his fur, the cold bit into his skin, but he felt nothing except the desperate need to find his daughter.
Lilani. Where are you?
His beast reached out with senses that went beyond the physical—the primal connection between parent and child, the unbreakable thread that tied them together regardless of distance. There. Faint, but present. A spark of golden warmth in the storm’s chaos.
The coastline appeared through the sheets of rain, rocks jutting from the churning water, slick with spray and treacherous in the darkness. The waves crashed against them with enough force to shatter bone, and the wind howled like a beast in its own right, trying to tear him from the cliffs.
He ignored it all.
His eyes were fixed on the lab ahead—the cluster of ugly buildings huddled against the cliff face, lit from within by emergency lights that flickered in the storm’s fury. At the back of the complex, a wildly tossing shuttle was moored at the small dock that jutted out into the harbor. A luxury class shuttle, based on the sleek lines and expensive materials. The kind of vessel that wealthy humans used to travel along the coast, equipped with every comfort and convenience money could buy. It was preparing to launch despite the storm, its engines glowing blue through the rain.
Merrick.
He knew, with the absolute certainty of a predator who’d identified his prey, that Ariella was on that shuttle. He could feel her through the bond—the muted, distant pulse of her fear and pain that meant the humans had done something to suppress her abilities.
But that wasn’t what made him lose control.
What made him lose control was the small face pressed against one of the shuttle’s portholes.
Lilani.
Her golden eyes were wide with terror, her small hands splayed against the glass as she stared out into the storm. She was saying something—he could see her lips moving—but the wind and rain and distance swallowed the sound.
Papa.
He heard it anyway. Felt it in his bones.
Papa, help me!
The shuttle’s engines roared to full power.
“No!”
He launched himself down the cliff face, claws digging into stone and spray as he descended with reckless speed. The shuttle was pulling away from the dock, the blue glow of its engines intensifying as it fought against the storm’s fury.
He reached the dock just as the vessel cleared the harbor entrance.
For one impossible moment, he considered jumping—throwing himself across the churning water, somehow catching the shuttle’s hull, and clawing his way inside. His beast howled for it, demanding action, refusing to accept that his daughter and his mate were being taken from him.
But the distance was too great, and the waves were too high. Even a Vultor in full transformation couldn’t survive that water.
He stood at the edge of the dock, rain streaming down his face, and watched the shuttle disappear into the storm’s fury.
I’m coming,he thought savagely, throwing the feeling through the bond with everything he had.Both of you. Hold on. I’m coming.
The shuttle was heading north along the coast, past his home, and towards the cove where the fishermen lived. If he could get there first… If he could reach their boat…
He was running before he even completed the thought.
The run along the clifftops was brutal. The storm showed no signs of weakening—if anything, it intensified as he ran, the wind screaming louder, the waves crashing higher, the rain driving into his face like needles. Visibility dropped to almost nothing, and even his beast’s senses struggled against the chaos.
But he didn’t slow down.
