Kael's POV
I could feel her like a thread connected directly to my heart.
We'd been riding for almost two days straight, and every hour the bond got stronger. She was north. Always north. Moving through the forest but moving slower now like she was getting tired or like she'd decided to stop running. The pull I felt in my chest got tighter every time we got closer, like invisible chains were dragging me toward something I couldn't resist.
My entire body hurt from the riding. My wolf was screaming to shift and hunt on four legs instead of staying human and responsible. But I couldn't shift. Not yet. Not with the pack watching. Not with Raven riding beside me like a shadow that wouldn't disappear.
"Why are you doing this yourself?" Raven asked for probably the twentieth time. Her horse matched pace with mine, her expression dark and angry. "You're the Alpha. You have warriors for this. You have scouts. You have hunters who specialize in tracking rogues. Why do you need to be out here personally hunting one girl?"
"Because the bond demands it," I said.
It was the truth, but it wasn't the whole truth. The bond was pulling me, yes. But it wasn't just pulling. It was showing me things. It was showing me that Sienna wasn't a threat to the pack. It was showing me that whatever power she'd awakened, she was still fighting to control it. It was showing me that she was running because she thought I wanted her dead.
And I needed to fix that.
"The bond," Raven said with disgust. "You're willing to look like a fool in front of the entire pack because of a rejected bond? Do you understand what the Council is going to say when they find out you've been chasing her for two days?"
I didn't answer. I didn't care what the Council would say. I didn't care what anyone would say. All I cared about was the thread connecting me to Sienna and making sure I followed it to the end.
Captain Devon rode up behind us. "Sir, we've picked up her scent. She's close. Maybe a mile ahead. There's another person with her. Female. Unknown identity."
"Don't engage," I ordered. "Track her, but don't engage."
"But sir, if we have the opportunity to capture her—"
"I said don't engage. We track. That's all."
The pack exchanged looks like I'd lost my mind. Maybe I had. An Alpha didn't usually make decisions this personal. An Alpha didn't usually let emotion override strategy. But this wasn't strategy anymore. This was something deeper. Something that went to the bone.
We rode hard for another hour and then I smelled her.
Her scent was different now. Darker. More complex. It had layers to it that hadn't been there before. Underneath the familiar smell of her was something ancient and hungry and completely inhuman. It was intoxicating and terrifying all at once.
The bond pulled so hard I almost lost my breath.
"There," one of the scouts said, pointing. "That's her."
I saw her through the trees. Midnight hair. Grey eyes. Moving fast with the other girl beside her. Even from a distance, I could see that something had changed. Her movements were wrong. Too fast. Too precise. Like she was something that was learning how to wear human skin.
The curse scouts had reported. The forbidden power.
And my wolf knew exactly what it was looking at.
Mine.
"Go," I said to my wolf, and I let him take over.
The shift was violent and fast. Bones breaking and reforming. Muscles restructuring. My human form collapsing into something that was pure predator. My wolf was huge. Bigger than any normal wolf because I was Alpha and my wolf was more powerful than regular wolves could ever be.
The hunting party shifted with me. Twelve warriors transformed into their animal forms, ready to run, ready to hunt, ready to do whatever I commanded.
But Sienna felt us coming.
I felt it through the bond. Felt her sudden awareness. Felt her body going rigid as she understood that we were here. That I was here. That the chase was finally over.
She ran.
My wolf roared and we flew forward through the trees. The forest was a blur of green and brown. The other girl was slower, falling behind. Sienna was faster now, moving like something inhuman, using the curse to propel herself through the wilderness in ways that normal wolves couldn't match.
But I was faster.
I was designed for this. Bred for this. My entire existence had been building toward becoming the perfect hunter, the perfect predator, the perfect Alpha. I caught up to her like she was standing still.
For one second, we were close enough that I could see her eyes.
They weren't human anymore. They were glowing. Burning. Ancient and hungry and looking at me like I was the most important thing in the entire world. The dark veins spread across her skin like cracks in porcelain. The power radiating off her body was so intense I could feel it like heat.
She was beautiful.
She was terrifying.
She was mine.
My wolf wanted to pin her. Wanted to tackle her to the ground. Wanted to claim her in the most primal way possible, right here in front of my entire pack, making it clear to everyone that this was my mate and no one else could have her.
But I saw fear in her eyes.
Not fear of the curse. Not fear of losing control. Fear of me. Fear that I was here to hurt her. Fear that I was here to drag her back to the compound and execute her like the Council would demand. Fear that the Alpha who'd rejected her was now hunting her and it would end the way all hunts ended.
Something broke inside my chest.
I couldn't do it. I couldn't catch her like this. Couldn't hurt her with the pack watching. Couldn't drag her back in human form and watch the shame spread across her face as everyone saw what had happened to her.
I let her run.
My wolf roared his frustration, but I forced him to let her go. Forced him to watch her disappear into the trees with the other girl close behind. Forced him to accept that we were chasing and not catching and that had to be enough for now.
The hunting party stopped around me. Confused. Frustrated. Looking at their Alpha like he'd made the biggest mistake of his life.
Raven was there in wolf form, her eyes dark with satisfaction. Like she thought this was proof that I was weak. Like she thought I was finally seeing sense and letting the rogue escape.
She didn't understand that I wasn't letting Sienna escape.
I was giving her time to understand that I wasn't hunting to destroy her.
I was hunting because she was mine and I was finally, desperately, ready to claim what I'd rejected.
I shifted back to human form and the pack followed suit. Everyone was staring at me like I'd lost my mind.
"Why did you let her go?" Captain Devon asked carefully, like he wasn't sure if his Alpha was going to kill him for questioning the decision.
"Because we're not hunting her," I said simply. "We're tracking her. There's a difference."
"Sir, with all respect, we had her. We could have brought her in. We could have ended this."
I looked at the direction Sienna had run. I could still feel her through the bond. Still feel her fear and confusion and the way she was trying to figure out why I'd let her escape.
"We're hunting her," I said. "But not to capture her. We're hunting her until she understands that running is pointless. Until she's ready to turn around and face me. Until the bond between us stops screaming and starts singing."
Raven shifted to human form. "You're obsessed with her. That curse has twisted your thinking. You should execute her before she corrupts you completely."
I looked at Raven and realized something I should have understood weeks ago. She'd never wanted me. She'd wanted the power that came with being the Alpha's mate. She'd wanted the status. The authority. The ability to stand beside someone important.
She'd never cared about me.
"Go back to the compound," I told her. "Tell the Council that I'm pursuing a rogue threat and I need time to resolve it. Tell them I'll report when the situation is handled."
"And if they demand you return immediately?"
I smiled, and it wasn't a kind smile. "Then they'll have to come out here and drag me back themselves. Because I'm not leaving until I've found Sienna Graves and made her understand that rejecting her was the worst decision I ever made."
The hunting party prepared to move again. Captain Devon looked troubled but he didn't question the orders. They were loyal to me, at least. Even if they thought I was insane.
As we moved north again, following the thread of the bond, I felt something shift.
Sienna had stopped running.
She'd stopped fleeing and was waiting for me now. And through the bond, I could feel her making a decision. Could feel her deciding that running was pointless. Could feel her understanding that eventually, the hunter and the hunted would have to face each other.
And when they did, nothing would ever be the same.