“Luna, what-”
The words died in the first guard’s throat as he took in the scene. Marcus on the floor. The blood. My bound hands.
“Ambulance, NOW!” he roared down the hallway. “We need medical immediately! The former Alpha is down!”
Everything happened fast after that. One guard dropped to his knees beside Marcus, his hands moving with practiced efficiency as he checked for a pulse and applied pressure to the worst of the wounds. Another guard rushed to me, his claws retracting as he reached for my wrists. He used a knife from his belt to slice through the zip tie binding my hands. The plastic fell away and I rubbed at the raw, red marks it had left behind.
“You’re safe, Luna,” the guard said, his voice deliberately calm and steady. “It’s okay. You’re safe now.”
I wanted to laugh. Or scream. Or both.
Safe? I wasn’t fucking safe. My daughter wasn’t safe. My mate wasn’t safe. My father-in-law was lying in a pool of his own blood while a psychopath drove away with my newborn baby and my husband. None of this was okay. Nothing about this situation was even remotely close to okay.
A siren wailed outside, growing louder as it approached. The ambulance. They had arrived so quickly that I felt a momentary flash of relief before the numbness set in.
I sat on the floor of that bedroom, watching the chaos unfold around me, and felt myself drift away from my body. It was a strange sensation, like I was floating above the scene, observing without participating. The paramedics rushed in. They loaded Marcus onto a stretcher, shouting medical terms I didn’t understand. Guards swarmed the house, checking on Serena and Sarah, coordinating with each other through radios and hand signals.
I heard all of it. Processed none of it.
My daughter was gone. My mate was gone.
The thought kept circling in my head, a broken record that wouldn’t stop playing. Blake’s tiny face, scrunched up and crying. Knox’s gray eyes, filled with anguish as he made the choice to sacrifice himself for me. The sound of his footsteps walking away, walking toward danger, walking into the arms of people who wanted to destroy us.
I should have fought harder. I should have done something. I should have-
I pushed myself to my feet, not acknowledging anyone, and stumbled toward the door. I couldn’t stay here. Couldn’t just sit in this room where everything had fallen apart.
I ran down the stairs, my legs shaking beneath me. I nearly tripped on the last few steps but caught myself on the railing before I could fall. My body felt like it belonged to someone else, trembling and weak, but I forced it to keep moving.
The front door was open. I burst through it and into the yard, my eyes scanning desperately for any sign of them. For the black SUV Lucio had driven. For my family.
There was nothing.
Just tire tracks in the soft earth, leading away from the house and onto the road. The vehicle was gone. They were gone.
I started running.
My feet pounded against the ground as I followed the faint trace of their scent. Knox’s familiar smell, woodsy and warm, mixed with the clean baby powder scent of Blake. It was already fading, dissipating into the air, but I could still detect traces of it. Enough to follow. Enough to chase.
I made it maybe twenty feet before strong arms wrapped around me from behind, lifting me off my feet and halting my desperate pursuit.
“Lina! Lina, stop!”
Noah’s voice, strained and urgent in my ear. I struggled against his grip, kicking and thrashing, but he was too strong. A wolf’s strength against a human’s desperation.
“Let me go!” I screamed. “I have to find them! I have to-”
“They’re gone!” Noah’s voice cracked on the words. “They’re gone and we need to know what happened! You running off half-cocked isn’t going to save them. We need information. We need a plan.”
I went limp in his arms.
He was right. I hated that he was right, but he was. Chasing after a vehicle on foot when I didn’t even know which direction they’d gone was stupid. Suicidal, even. I was human. I couldn’t shift and run for hours without rest. I couldn’t track a scent across miles of territory. I couldn’t fight off three wolves by myself even if I did somehow manage to find them.
I needed help. I needed the pack.
Noah set me down gently, his hands hovering near my shoulders like he expected me to bolt again. I took a deep breath, then another, forcing air into lungs that felt too tight.
That’s when I finally noticed the crowd that had gathered.
