I feel it before anyone says a word.
Before the alarms finish echoing.
Before the blood scent even reaches me.
The bond shifts.
Not loosens—vanishes.
It's like someone reached into my chest and cut a cord I didn't know I needed to breathe.
I skid to a halt mid-stride, heart slamming violently against my ribs. The world tilts, instincts screaming, Cade surging forward so hard it nearly knocks me off my feet.
She's gone.
Not dead—Moon Goddess, no—but gone. Outside the pack boundary. Outside the safety of the wards.She's blocking us, I feel her walls up. What is going on that has the need to block the bond.
"Sam," I growled into the bond.
Nothing.
No warmth. No emotion. No presence.
Panic claws up my throat, sharp and feral.
I turn and run.
The school comes into view through smoke and chaos, warriors still fighting at the perimeter, bodies being dragged away from the entrance. The doors are splintered, blood smeared across stone and concrete. I shove past guards without slowing, bursting inside like a man possessed.
"Where is she?" I roar.
Mayla whirls first, eyes wide, hair streaked with ash and blood. Melanie is beside her, one hand braced against a wall, the other steadying a terrified pup.
"Kieran—"
"WHERE IS MY MATE?"
The word tears out of me like a wound.
Mayla swallows hard. "She was here. She got us inside. Ordered the evacuation. She—she left."
The floor seems to drop out from under me.
"Left?" My voice is deadly quiet now.
Melanie shakes her head quickly. "Not alone. She was with Enoch. They were arguing—quietly but heated. About Cam."
The name hits like a punch.
Cade snarls viciously in my head.
Before I can ask more, a young teacher stumbles out of one of the classrooms, pale and shaking. "Alpha—King—I mean—" She takes a breath. "Queen Alpha and Gamma Enoch. I heard them. I didn't mean to listen, but—"
"What did you hear?" I demand.
"She said the female gamma was missing. That she could feel it. Gamma Enoch was frantic. He said—he said someone took her. Lured her. He said Seraphina's name."
Everything in me goes cold.
"She told him not to tell you," the teacher whispers. "Said you'd try to stop her. Said she couldn't abandon Cameran."
Of course she did.
My chest tightens painfully.
Of course she would choose her people over her own safety. Over me.
I try to mindlink her again, throwing everything I have into the bond.
Sam.
Nothing.
No resistance. No pushback.
Just—silence.
"She's blocking me," I rasp.
Mayla's eyes widen. "She can do that?"
"Yes," Melanie answers quietly. "If she wants to."
Cade is livid now, pacing violently inside me, teeth snapping at shadows.
She's cutting us out. She's walking into danger without us.
"I won't allow it," I snarl.
I reach for Enoch.
"Enoch. Where are you?"
The response hits immediately—ragged, breathless, raw.
"She took her," he pants. "Seraphina took Cam. Used her as bait. Sam wouldn't stay behind. She ordered me to run with her. She's fast—Moon Goddess she's fast—but we're outside the pack now."
My blood boils.
"Where?" I demand.
"The woods. Far. Past the outer boundary. No wards. No signal." His voice cracks. "She said you'd come after us. I didn't want to—I swear I didn't—but she's Queen Alpha. I couldn't stop her. And it's Cameran, Kieran. Cam."
Cade's fury explodes.
'I will tear that female apart molecule by molecule.'
'Stay with her,' I order sharply. "Do not let her out of your sight."
There's a pause.
Then—
A sound.
A sharp, broken whine tears through the bond.
"Enoch?" I bark.
Nothing.
I reach again, harder.
"ENOCH."
Silence.
The bond goes dead so abruptly it makes my head snap back like I've been struck.
No presence.
No response.
No anything.
My vision goes red.
I don't remember giving the orders.
But they come anyway—cold, precise, absolute.
"Full search," I snarl aloud, voice echoing through the ruined halls. "Every warrior. Every tracker. Split into squads. Fan out past the pack boundary. I want eyes on the Queen Alpha and Gamma Enoch now."
The guards move instantly.
Callen appears at my side, bloodied but upright. "What happened?"
"She left," I say flatly. "Seraphina took Cam. Used her to draw them out."
His jaw tightens. "Of course she did."
"I can't feel Sam," I add quietly.
That gets his attention.
"She's blocking you?"
"Yes."
Callen swears viciously. "She's protecting you."
"No," I snap. "She's protecting everyone else at the cost of herself."
Cade's voice is a low, murderous growl in my skull.
'If she dies because of this—'
"She won't," I cut in fiercely. "She won't."
But the fear is there now, curling deep and ugly.
Seraphina planned this.
She didn't just want chaos. She wanted leverage.
And Sam—goddess help her—walked straight into the trap because she refuses to let anyone she loves bleed alone.
I clench my fists, claws slicing into my palms.
"I should have gone with her," I mutter.
Callen shakes his head. "You were holding the line. She knew that. She chose this."
That doesn't make it easier.
That makes it worse.
I step outside, lifting my head, breathing in deep.
The bond with the kingdom still hums.
The packs still answer her.
She is still Queen Alpha.
And I am utterly powerless to stop her from sacrificing herself for them.
"Find her," I whisper to the world. "Please."
Cade presses close, fierce and unyielding.
We will bring her home. Or we will burn everything that stands in our way.
I bare my teeth, eyes blazing toward the dark line of trees beyond the wards.
Seraphina made a mistake.
She didn't lure prey.
She summoned a reckoning.
And I am coming.