Chapter 26%
Lucas’s POVI
I tore through the woods like a demon set loose from hell
The cold night air scraped across my fur as I shifted back into my human form, breathing heavily, my bare feet crunching against the frost–laced grass of Silvana’s northern ridge. The ache in my chest hadn’t dulled–not even a bit. My mate bond to Rebecca was gone, and the pain was worse than silver tearing through my bones.
I couldn’t eat. Couldn’t sleep. Couldn’t think. All I saw behind my eyes was her face. Her soft, stubbom smile. Her voice that used to call my name like it mattered. And I let her slip through my fingers because I was too blind, too damn stubbom to see what was right in front
of me.
I burst through the Silvana Pack’s gates, startling the guards.
“Alpha Lucas!” one of them called, but I ignored him and marched straight to the council den. I didn’t care that it was nearly dawn, that the pack elders might be asleep. I didn’t give a damn.
“Summon Alpha Rowan!” I barked at my Beta, Reid, the moment he met me at the threshold. “Now!”
Reid hesitated. “You sure, Alpha? After what happened-”
“Now!” I snarled, my voice laced with alpha command
Reid gave a sharp nod and darted off to send the message.
It wasn’t long before Alpha Rowan arrived, flanked by two of his guards, his eyes wary but calm as always. The man reeked of disappointment and politics–but he was Rebecca’s father, and right now, he was the only one who might help me fix this mess.
“You look like you’ve been through hell, Rowan said, his tone clipped.
“I am in hell,” I answered, fists clenched. “Because I lost my mate. Your daughter“}
His jaw tightened. “That was her choice. She married another.”
“She married a dying Alpha because none of us protected her,” I snapped. “Because I was too stupid to realize she was my fated one. But I remember now. The tree. The pear blossoms. She was the one. Not Maurine. Not the one I promised to protect. Rebecca was always the key.”
Rowan narrowed his eyes, his gaze unreadable. “You say she’s the cure.“!
“Yes,” I said, stepping forward. “You saw Maurine. You saw the bile take root in her. She’s not the key. But Rebecca… She’s different. She‘: the one the seer spoke of. And if we don’t find her soon, she’ll die.”
His silence was unnerving. For a second, I thought he’d reject me, throw me out of his land. But then he sighed, long and heavy. “Where do we start?”
My shoulders dropped. Relief hit me like a crashing wave. “I’ve already started. I’ve sent word to every neighboring pack. I paid off rogues. I’ve tracked rumors of vampire strongholds. I’ll turn this entire territory inside out if I have to ”
Rowan nodded. Then let’s begin.”
And so I did. For the next few days, I hunted. Restless. Rabid. A man possessed.”
I tore through vampire territory markers with no regard for alliances. Interrogated rogues and traders. I offered gold and protection in exchange for information, I threatened, begged, and bargained. Nothing mattered but getting her back.
Every lead brought me closer to madness. Every false trail made me want to hip out my own heart.
She was out there. Alone Afraid. And I wasn’t with her.
I remembered the way her eyes used to light up when we trained. How her wolf used to run freely beside mine in our youth. And I remembered how I’d turned away from her–again and again–for Maurine. Because I thought duty was stronger than fate,
I was wrong!
And then… the news came
Reid burst into the war tent where I was poring over maps of vampire lands.
“Alpha, he panted, “we got a message from Thane Pack. You need to hear this.”
I stood immediately. “What is it?“!!
“Alpha Maximus,” he said, “he’s awake.”
I stared at him, the words not quite sinking in. “What?”
“He woke up a day after the wedding.” Reid confirmed. “They said… they said he’s healed from the vampire hoodlum’s poison.
My stomach twisted. A fresh wave of pain lanced through me–not from jealousy, but from realization.
The cure worked. Rebecca really was the cure.
She really gave her life essence to him. And now, she was with the vampires. Likely preparing to give it again.
“No,” muttered, stumbling back a step. “No, no, no–this means she still has time.”
“Lucas-“X
I growled low in my throat. “Get the horses. Get the scouts. We move now.“% Alpha-”
“We move now! I barked, baring my fangs.
The Lure worked. Revella ically mas
She really gave her life essence to him. And now, she was with the vampires. Likely preparing to give it again.
“No,” I muttered, stumbling back a step. “No, no, no–this means she still has time.”
Lucas-”
I growled low in my throat. “Get the horses. Get the scouts. We move now.”
“Alpha-”
“We move now!” I barked, baring my fangs
Reid flinched, then nodded. “Yes, Alpha,”
As the camp burst into motion, I looked up at the sky. The stars were fading into the light of another morning, but all I could think about was the shadow hanging over Rebecca. My mate. Was. Was my mate.
And fuck, the reality of losing her for real would drive me mad.
