Kael POV
Kael hasn't slept in seventy-two hours.
He sits in his private office staring at security footage from the gala. The same footage he's watched a thousand times. The video shows a woman in a black dress moving through the crowd like a ghost. Face always turned away. Always hidden. But his wolf knows it's her.
His wolf knows.
The compulsion to find her is suffocating. It's like something inside him is dying if he doesn't locate her soon. His wolf is clawing under his skin, demanding movement, demanding action, demanding he hunt her down.
Kael's hands shake as he rewinds the footage again.
There. The moment she enters the ballroom. 8:15 PM. The woman in black. Small frame. Dark hair. She's moving carefully through the crowd like she's practiced at being invisible.
She stops at one point and looks directly at the camera for half a second before turning away.
Kael zooms in on that moment. Uses every technology specialist he has to enhance the image. To get her face. To see who she is.
The image blurs. Like she was actively avoiding being recorded. Like she knew exactly how to position herself to avoid cameras.
Impossible.
Most humans don't even know where cameras are positioned. This woman moved like she was aware of every single one.
His office door opens without a knock.
Dax walks in looking like he hasn't slept either. Because he hasn't. Dax has been with Kael for seventy-two hours trying to find this woman. Trying to help his Alpha. Trying to do the impossible.
"We have something," Dax says. His voice is rough from exhaustion.
Kael stands up too fast. His vision blurs.
He hasn't eaten since the gala. Hasn't slept. Has barely left this office. The paranormal world is talking about it now. Whispers about their Alpha losing his mind. Whispers about him being obsessed with a ghost from a party.
Let them whisper.
"Talk to me," Kael says.
Dax sets down a file on the desk.
"We went through three hundred hours of security footage from buildings within a ten block radius of the hotel. We tracked where she exited. We followed her path through the city. We found her on a traffic camera entering a subway station at 10:47 PM."
Kael grabs the file and opens it.
There she is. The woman in black. Walking down the stairs to the subway. Moving fast. Moving scared. Looking like someone who knows they're being hunted.
"Did we get an ID from the subway," Kael demands.
"No. She doesn't have an ID card. She just walked through the gate like it recognized her somehow. The subway system has no record of her using the train. It's like she never existed on any system."
Kael throws the file across the room.
His wolf howls inside him. Frustrated. Desperate. Clawing for control.
"There's more," Dax says quietly.
Kael forces himself to breathe.
"We started searching paranormal registries. Looking for any woman matching her description. Any scentless anomalies. Anything unusual."
"And."
"And we found nothing. She doesn't exist in any paranormal system. No pack affiliation. No bloodline registration. No scent marker. It's like she's human but she doesn't feel human. Your wolf is responding to something paranormal but our systems can't identify what."
Kael sits down hard in his chair.
A woman who doesn't exist. A mate who has no record. A scent that's rare and intoxicating but can't be tracked through paranormal systems.
His wolf doesn't care about the complications. It just knows she's out there.
FIND HER, his wolf demands. FIND HER AND BRING HER BACK. SHE'S OURS.
"I'm putting spies in every human company in this city," Kael says. "I want information on every woman who works night shift. I want their names. Their addresses. Their routines. Everything."
"Kael, that's—"
"Everything," Kael cuts him off.
Dax closes his eyes for a moment.
"You're obsessing. This isn't like you. This is dangerous. If the council finds out what you're doing they'll—"
"I don't care what the council does," Kael says. His voice is ice. "I found my mate. My wolf knows she's out there. And I will find her even if I have to turn this entire city inside out."
"A true mate is rare," Dax says carefully. "I know that. But Kael, you've known this woman for seconds. You can't base your entire existence on a scent. On a feeling. On something that might not even be real."
Kael looks at his friend.
"You've known your mate for seven years," Kael says. "Do you remember what that first scent was like. What that first moment felt like."
Dax's expression softens.
"Yeah. I remember."
"Then you know I'm not obsessing. I'm not losing my mind. This is the one thing a wolf is supposed to find. This is the one thing that makes everything else make sense. And my wolf knows it. My body knows it. Every cell in my body recognizes her as mine."
Dax nods slowly.
"What do you need."
"Everything. Every surveillance system. Every security camera. Every human company in this city. I want to find her."
Over the next forty-eight hours, Kael's organization transforms into a hunting machine.
Spies infiltrate human companies. They pose as employees. As IT specialists. As delivery personnel. They have one job. Find a woman matching Eira's description who works night shift. Find her and report her location.
Kael reviews footage from hundreds of buildings. Thousands of hours of video. His eyes burn from staring at screens but he doesn't care. His wolf won't let him stop.
Dax brings him coffee. Black. Strong. Kael drinks it without tasting it.
By the fourth day, results start coming in.
Thirty women match the basic description. Night shift workers. Small frames. Dark hair.
They eliminate them one by one. Wrong age. Wrong build. Wrong something.
Twenty-five women. Twenty. Fifteen.
Then a report comes in from one of his spies.
A data analyst named Eira Voss. Works night shift at Meridian Systems. Twenty-three years old. Works alone. Keeps to herself. Perfect record. Nobody knows her.
Kael's wolf erupts.
THAT'S HER. THAT'S OUR MATE. THAT'S EIRA.
Kael stands up from his desk so fast his chair flies backward.
"Send me everything on this Eira Voss person. Now."
Dax types on his laptop and the information flows in.
Eira Voss. Born in a small town forty miles outside the city. Moved to the city four years ago after her mother died. Lives in a small apartment. No known family. No friends except one person named Nova who works at a coffee shop.
She's invisible. Completely invisible. No social media. No paranormal registration. No pack affiliation.
She's perfect.
"We found her," Kael says.
His voice is low. Dangerous. Like he's made a decision that will change everything.
"Now what," Dax asks.
"Now we go get her."
Dax looks worried but he doesn't argue. He knows when Kael has made up his mind there's no changing it.
Kael prepares. He cleans up. First time in days. He changes into fresh clothes. He forces himself to eat something even though his body doesn't want food.
His wolf is ready. The hunt is almost over.
That night, Kael goes to the office building where Eira works.
He parks in front. Walks past the security desk. The guard doesn't even look up. Nobody stops Kael Steele. Nobody would dare.
He takes the elevator to the floor where she works.
When the doors open, he sees her.
She's sitting at her desk in a dark corner. Typing. Working. Existing in the world like she's trying to be invisible.
Not anymore.
Kael walks toward her. His wolf is screaming with satisfaction. With recognition. With need.
She looks up and her eyes go wide.
It's her. Definitely her. He'd know that face anywhere. Those brown eyes. That expression of fear mixed with something else. Recognition maybe. Like her body is responding to him the same way.
"You're mine," he says. "I don't know how or why, but my wolf knows you're mine. So you're going to come with me and you're going to explain to me exactly what you are."
Eira's mouth opens. She looks like she's going to say no.
Then her phone buzzes.
She looks at it. Her face goes pale.
The message on her phone reads: He found you. Run.
But there's nowhere to run. Kael is between her and the exit. Her coworkers are completely oblivious. The building is empty at this hour.
She's trapped.
Eira looks from her phone to Kael to the exit.
Then she does something that surprises him.
She types something into her phone. Sends it.
Then she looks at Kael and says: "Okay. I'll come with you. But you need to understand something. Once you find out what I am, your whole world is going to change. Everything you built. Everything you believe. It's all going to be destroyed."
Kael doesn't care about that.
He steps closer to her.
"Tell me. Tell me right now. What are you."
Eira stands up slowly.
"I don't know," she says. "I don't know what I am. My mother wouldn't tell me. She said I'd understand when the right wolf found me. I guess that's you."
She reaches out and touches his arm.
The moment her skin touches his, electricity shoots through his entire body. His wolf goes absolutely insane.
MATE. MATE. MATE. OURS. FOREVER. MINE.
"We need to leave," Eira says. "That message. It wasn't from a friend. It was from my mother."
"Your mother is dead."
"I know," Eira says. "That's why it's impossible."