Kaelen POV
The night air on the private terrace was biting, but it was nothing compared to the ice in Seraphina’s eyes. I stood before her, the heavy parchment of the Pack Covenant clutched in my fist. Every instinct in my body screamed at me to tear it to shreds. Handing over full custody of Liam, the heir to the Black Moon Pack, was the ultimate humiliation.
But the image of my son, pale and dying in that sterile room, crushed my Alpha pride into dust.
I shoved the scroll toward her. "Sign it."
Seraphina took the ancient parchment. Under the watchful eyes of Dominic Rhodes, she unrolled it and signed her name with a maddening calm. There was no hesitation, no flicker of maternal desperation—just a cold, calculated efficiency that made my blood boil.
"Is this all a show to you?" I growled, stepping closer until my winter pine scent clashed violently with her honeysuckle and moonlight. "Are you enjoying this?"
She didn't even look up. "I am doing what is necessary for my son."
*You gave our pup to her! You coward!* Draegan, my inner wolf, roared in agonizing betrayal, clawing at the walls of my mind. I gritted my teeth, taking the signed covenant back. I had secured Liam's salvation, but as I looked at the impenetrable mask of my fated mate, a sickening feeling settled in my gut. I was walking blindly into a trap.
Hours later, the suffocating tension followed me back to my private study at the Pack House. I had barely poured a glass of amber liquid when the doors flew open.
"You actually did it," Vanessa shrieked, her face twisted in ugly disbelief. "You gave the heir to that Omega bitch! You're letting her destroy us!"
My exhaustion snapped into pure, unadulterated rage. "Shut your mouth, Vanessa."
"She's blinding you!" My sister stepped forward, her artificial perfume burning my nose. "You canceled the ceremony with Cassondra, you humiliated our family, and now you're gambling our future on a traitor—"
"Enough!" My Alpha aura exploded outward, a crushing, invisible weight that forced Vanessa to her knees. She gasped, her eyes wide with terror. "I did this to save Liam's life. If you speak ill of the mother of my heir again, I will banish you myself. Get out."
She scrambled to her feet and fled, leaving behind a toxic trail of resentment.
The next morning, I strode into the Pack Infirmary, ready to finally end this nightmare. The marrow transplant would happen today. But the moment I pushed through the doors, the heavy, anxious scent of the Pack Doctor hit me.
"Where is she?" I demanded, my gaze sweeping the empty preparation room.
The doctor swallowed hard, his hands trembling. "Alpha... Lady Seraphina was here at dawn. But she left. She said she couldn't go through with the surgery."
The words didn't compute. "What do you mean she left? Did Cassondra do something?"
"No, Alpha. It was Lady Seraphina herself. She just... walked out."
A deafening silence fell over the room before the absolute inferno of my wrath ignited. She had lied. She had used our dying pup as a bargaining chip to steal my rights, and then abandoned him again.
*She played us with our pup's life! Find her! Tear her apart!* Draegan howled, a feral, bloodthirsty sound.
With a guttural roar, I slammed my fist into the reinforced concrete wall. The wall cracked, dust raining down as my knuckles shattered and instantly began to heal. I spun around, my vision tinted red. I was going to make her pay.
I didn't bother with a car. I shifted and ran, tearing through the forest until I reached the Silverwood Pack's temporary residence on my borders. I ignored the warning growls of their Warriors, storming straight into the main courtyard.
Dominic Rhodes stepped out to meet me, his massive frame radiating a steady cedar and earth scent.
"Where is she?" I snarled, my Alpha command lacing every syllable. "Bring her out, Dominic! Her little game is over!"
I expected him to sneer, to defend her treachery. Instead, his face was a mask of dark, storm-gathering dread. The absolute lack of provocation in his eyes made my heart stutter.
"She's not playing a game, Kaelen," Dominic said, his voice dropping to a lethal, hollow pitch. "Seraphina's missing."
"Missing?" I let out a harsh, bitter laugh. "Right. Another trick."
"Someone called her this morning," Dominic said, his voice tight. "After she left the hospital with her daughter, she was attacked on her way to the apartment. We found her car, abandoned on the side of the road. There was blood. A lot of blood. Not hers."
My blood froze.
"Her daughter?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper.
Dominic's silence was louder than any words.
"We haven't found them yet," he finally said, his eyes turning cold. "Someone was watching her, Kaelen. Someone has been waiting for this opportunity. They left the hospital, were going to pick up some documents, and then whoever it was struck."
The air vanished from my lungs. The inferno of my rage was extinguished in an instant, drowned by an absolute, paralyzing wave of fear.
Liam lay in the hospital, dying. Seraphina was missing. My daughter, the daughter I had never even seen, had disappeared along with her mother, fallen into the hands of an unknown enemy.
"What did you do?" I asked, my voice low and hoarse. "In the five years you were gone, who did you provoke?"
Dominic stared at me, his expression cold. "I provoked no one. But what about you, Kaelen? You have made countless enemies. Perhaps someone has finally decided to use your most vulnerable weakness against you."
Your family.
Those three words drove into my chest like silver blades.
I had never treated them as family. I had driven them away. And now, someone might be paying for that with their lives.
