Zaiden's POV
Cole's jaw tightened. "It's the Luna..."
My heart stopped. The bond in my chest flared painfully.
"She's gone, Alpha," he said, his voice heavy. "The rogues took her."
For a moment, the words didn't register. Then the meaning slammed into me like a blade through the chest.
My chair screeched back as I shot to my feet, the wood cracking under my grip. My wolf howled, fury and panic exploding through me. The bond burned, a hollow ache where she should have been.
"No," I snarled, golden eyes blazing. "No one takes what's mine and lives."
The entire packhouse trembled with the force of my roar.
They dared to touch her. To steal her from me.
I would tear the world apart to bring her back.
**********
Karen POV
The battle outside had gone quiet, but the silence wasn't comforting it was heavy, it felt wrong. My wolf paced restlessly inside me, ears pinned back, hackles raised.
Something isn't right, she whispered.
I moved to the window again, pressing my palms against the cool glass. Smoke curled from the east wall, bodies scattered on the courtyard below. Warriors. Rogues. I couldn't tell who was who anymore.
Then the door creaked open
My heart stilled. The door.
Slowly, I turned.
It wasn't a maid with breakfast. It wasn't Zaiden.
Three men stepped inside, their stench hitting me like rot in the wind. Rogues.
My wolf snarled, forcing a growl past my lips, but their grins were feral, hungry.
"Well, well," the first one rasped, his teeth bared in a mockery of a smile. "The Alpha's precious little secret."
I backed away, pulse hammering, my fingers searching blindly for anything anything to fight with. My wolf begged to shift, to fight, but fear tangled my limbs.
The second rogue lunged.
I screamed. His hand clamped over my mouth, cutting it short. Another grabbed my wrists, pinning me until the rope burned my skin.
The bond in my chest yanked violently, thrumming with panic. Zaiden. He would feel it. He would know.
"Let's move," the first hissed. "Before the beast comes sniffing."
They dragged me out the window, into the smoke and shadows. My feet kicked uselessly against the air, my wolf howling in my head. "Mate."
But the rogues were fast, practiced. They melted into the trees, my cries swallowed by the night.
And with every step away from the packhouse, away from him, the bond stretched tighter, sharper, until it felt like it might tear me apart.
Still, I held onto one truth through the terror.
Zaiden would come for me.
*********
The world was dark when I woke. Damp stone pressed against my cheek, cold seeping into my bones. The stench hit me first rot, blood, sweat, unwashed fur. My stomach twisted violently.
Chains clinked when I tried to move. My wrists burned where the iron bit into my skin, raw and swollen from struggling. My throat was dry, every breath shallow with dust and smoke.
Then came the laughter. Low. Mocking.
"Well, well. Sleeping beauty wakes." One of them stepped into the dim light, his eyes gleaming feral yellow. His teeth flashed too long, too sharp. "Alpha Zaiden's precious mate."
I clenched my jaw, refusing to speak. Refusing to give them the satisfaction.
A kick drove into my ribs, white-hot pain exploding through me. I gasped, curling instinctively, but the chains dragged me back.
"Answer when spoken to, bitch," another snarled, spittle flying as he crouched close enough for me to smell the rot in his breath.
I bit back the whimper clawing up my throat. No. I wouldn't give them that.
They circled me like wolves circling prey. One yanked my hair back so hard tears pricked my eyes. Another poured water from a flask... and then dumped it into the dirt just out of reach. My parched throat burned as the ground drank what I needed.
"Your Alpha will come for you," one sneered, leaning so close I could feel the heat of his breath against my ear. "But he won't find you whole."
The next slap cracked across my face, leaving my ears ringing.
Hours blurred into days I couldn't tell anymore. They threw scraps of food at me, half-rotten meat barely fit for animals. Sometimes they didn't feed me at all. My stomach cramped with hunger, my lips split from thirst.
Every time I tried to close my eyes, they startled me awake. Shoves. Growls. Laughter. My body weakened, but my spirit... I forced it to stay sharp. I clung to one thought, one tether.
Zaiden.
Through the bond, faint but pulsing, I could feel his fury. His desperation. It kept me alive.
But the rogues knew. They taunted me with it. "Feel him?" one mocked, gripping my chin cruelly. "He's tearing himself apart because of you. That bond makes him weak. Makes him desperate. Soon, Alpha Zaiden will be nothing more than a broken man."
I spat blood at his feet. My voice cracked, hoarse, but steady. "You'll never break him."
The kick came swift, knocking the breath out of me. I coughed, chest screaming with pain, but inside... my wolf still growled, feral and unbroken.
I didn't know how much longer I could endure.
But I knew this Zaiden was coming. And until then, I would survive, no matter what they did to me.
