KAEL'S POV
I hit the ground running before my feet even touched the pavement.
"SERA!" My roar echoed through the empty streets.
She'd jumped from a three-story window and grown wings. WINGS. Silver, glowing, impossible wings that carried her into the night sky like some kind of avenging angel.
My mate was flying away, and I couldn't follow.
"Get the cars!" I shouted at Marcus, who stood frozen in shock. "Get every tracker we have! She can't have gone far—"
"Kael." Marcus grabbed my arm. "She has WINGS. She could be anywhere by now."
"I don't care!" The bond in my chest was screaming, pulling me in a dozen directions at once. "She's pregnant. She's transforming into something she can't control. She needs—"
"You?" Marcus's voice cut like a blade. "Is that what you were going to say? Because from what I just saw, she needs to get as far away from you as possible."
The words hit like a physical blow.
Shadow howled in agony. Find her! Our mate! Our PUP!
"She'll come back," I said, but even I didn't believe it. "She has to. She's carrying my child. She has no money, no resources. She'll realize she needs me and—"
"And what? Come crawling back so you can treat her like property again?" Marcus shook his head in disgust. "You really don't get it, do you? She'd rather DIE than stay with you. She literally chose to jump out a window."
Each word was a knife to the gut.
But he was right.
I'd driven her away. My coldness, my cruelty, my refusal to admit I cared—I'd broken her so badly that she'd rather face an unstable transformation alone than stay with me.
"I need to find her," I said desperately. "The Nightshade Pack wants her power. Lyanna's still out there. And the transformation—the witch said it could kill her if she can't control it."
"Then maybe you should have thought of that before you spent three months destroying her," Marcus said coldly. "Come on. We need to secure the territory before word gets out that the Luna just flew away."
The next six hours were hell.
We searched everywhere—sent out scouts, called in favors, checked every hospital and shelter within a hundred miles. Nothing. Sera had vanished like smoke.
The bond in my chest grew dimmer with each passing hour. Not broken—she was still alive—but distant. Like she was running as far from me as she could get.
She's scared, Shadow whimpered. Alone. In pain. And we can't reach her.
I wanted to punch something. Wanted to shift and tear apart the world until I found her.
But I couldn't. I had to stay in control. Had to be the Alpha.
Even when my mate was missing and my world was falling apart.
By dawn, I stood in the penthouse staring at the broken window she'd jumped through. Her scent still lingered—honey and vanilla and mate—mixed with the sharp tang of silver magic.
My phone rang. Unknown number.
"What?" I snarled into it.
"Looking for something, Alpha?" A familiar voice. The Nightshade Pack leader. "Or should I say... someone?"
My blood turned to ice. "If you have her—"
"Relax. We don't have her. Yet." His laugh was cruel. "But we will. Your precious mate is flying around with unstable power, leaving a trail of silver energy that anyone with magical sight can follow. We've got trackers on her right now."
"Touch her and I'll burn your entire pack to the ground."
"Empty threats. You can't find her, and even if you could, what would you do? She doesn't want you, Kael. She ran away from YOU." His voice turned mocking. "But we'll take good care of her. Train her. Help her control that power. And when she's ready, we'll use her to destroy everything you love."
"She'll never work with you—"
"Won't she? We'll tell her the truth—that you only wanted her for breeding. That you planned to take her baby and throw her away. That contract of yours? Very helpful information." The line crackled. "Oh, and Kael? When we find her, and we will, we're going to make sure she knows exactly how little you cared. How replaceable she was. Just like Elena."
The call ended.
I stood there, rage and fear warring inside me. They knew about Elena. Knew about the contract. Someone had been leaking information.
Someone inside my pack was a traitor.
Marcus burst in. "We've got a problem. Lyanna's pack connections—I just found out she's been in contact with the Nightshade wolves for over a year. Since before you even met Sera."
"What?"
"It was all planned, Kael. Lyanna helped them target Sera from the beginning. She fed them information, sabotaged security, everything." His face was grim. "And I just got word—there's a bounty on Sera. Every rogue pack in the region is hunting her. Dead or alive."
My legs almost gave out. "How much?"
"Fifty million dollars." Marcus's voice dropped. "And there's more. The witch called. She said the transformation will complete within seventy-two hours. If Sera doesn't learn to control her wolf by then..."
"By then what?"
"The Silver Wolf will take over completely. Sera's consciousness will be buried. And the creature that emerges will destroy anything in its path, starting with whoever it sees as a threat." He paused. "That means you, Kael. It will come for you first."
Shadow went silent in my mind. Even my wolf understood the horror of what that meant.
My mate would kill me. Or I'd have to kill her to protect the pack.
"There has to be another way," I said desperately.
"There is." A new voice. The old woman from the hospital—Theron's mother—appeared in my doorway. "But you won't like it."
"I don't care what it takes. Tell me."
"The only way to stabilize her transformation is through the mate bond. Full acceptance. Complete union. You'd have to let go of every wall, every protection, every bit of control." Her ancient eyes pinned me. "You'd have to truly bond with her. Mind, body, and soul. No more coldness. No more distance. Total vulnerability."
"Then I'll do it." The answer came instantly.
"Even if it kills you?" She stepped closer. "Because that's the risk. Her power might consume yours. Burn you out from the inside. You could die helping her stabilize."
I thought of Sera—alone, scared, transforming into something she couldn't control. Carrying my child. Running from me because I'd made her feel worthless.
"I don't care," I said firmly. "Where is she?"
The old woman's expression shifted. "That's the problem. I don't know. She blocked the tracking spell I put on her. And in about sixty hours, she's going to become the most dangerous predator alive."
My phone buzzed. A text from an unknown number with an attachment.
I opened it and my heart stopped.
A photo of Sera, unconscious and glowing with silver light, held in the arms of a strange male wolf. His eyes glowed Alpha-gold as he stared at the camera.
The text read: Found her first. She's mine now. —Theron Ashwood