VIOLET
The kitchen was too quiet.
Too still.
Usually, the pack house humd with life—guards coming and going, footsteps in the hall, soone always barking orders or laughing in the distance.
But this morning?
Nothing.
Sothing was off.
I glanced around, wiping my hands on a towel after helping Inara stack the fresh bread. "Where is everyone?"
Inara didn’t answer right away.
She poured tea into a cup, pretending to focus on the steam like it was the most fascinating thing in the world.
"Inara," I said again, sharper this ti. "Where the hell is everyone?"
She sighed. "They’re out."
"Out where?" I pressed, brows furrowing.
"On a hunt."
That shouldn’t have made my stomach twist. But it did.
My chest tightened. "What kind of hunt?"
She finally looked at . "Rogues."
The word hit like a slap. "Rogues?"
"Zain left before dawn. Took Cian, Rhys, a few others."
He left.
Without saying a damn word.
Not after everything that happened.
Not after the way he touched —kissed —like he was losing control and I was the only thing keeping him from snapping in two.
Not after the fire he lit in and then walked away from like it didn’t exist.
"He didn’t tell ," I muttered, mostly to myself.
"He’s the Alpha, Violet. He doesn’t have to check in with you." Inara’s voice was gentle, but it still stung.
"Yeah," I said bitterly. "I guess not."
I turned away before she could say anything else, before she could see the way my throat tightened.
But as I stepped out into the hall, sothing else hit —harder than the silence.
That feeling.
That strange ache in my chest, like sothing was... missing.
I pressed a hand over my heart and closed my eyes, but it didn’t go away. It just pulsed there, steady and wrong, like a tether pulling tighter.
He left.
Without telling .
Without even looking at .
It wasn’t just the kiss. It was the mont in the kitchen. The way I fed Roman like Zain hadn’t marked with that look, like I hadn’t lted into him with every inch of my soul.
He was punishing .
That bastard.
He was out there hunting blood and chaos while I stood here trying to pretend like it didn’t gut to know he was gone.
Sothing was wrong. Deeply wrong.
I couldn’t explain it, couldn’t justify the dread crawling under my skin—but it was there.
Heavy.
Sharp.
I looked toward the trees through the hallway window, heart racing.
Please be okay.
I paced my room like a caged animal until I couldn’t take it anymore.
"Screw this," I muttered, shoving my boots on.
My pulse thundered in my ears as I stord down the hallway. Two guards at the exit tensed as they saw approach. I didn’t slow.
"Lady Violet, Alpha Zain instructed—"
"I don’t give a shit what he instructed!" I snapped, shoving past them before they could react.
They lunged, but I was already moving. Fast. Slipping between pillars, bolting down a side passage, heart racing like wildfire.
They shouted my na, their footsteps pounding after , but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t. I wasn’t going to sit here like so obedient little girl while Zain was out there risking his life. Not when the air felt thick with danger. Not when my gut twisted with dread.
I burst out into the early dawn light, breath catching in my throat. The scent hit first—earthy, sharp, leather and wolf. Him. Zain.
It lingered, faint but present. My eyes scanned the terrain, heart leaping when I caught the smallest sign—hoofprints in the mud, a snapped branch.
He’d gone this way.
I didn’t think, didn’t plan. I just ran. Into the trees, chasing the trace of him like a lifeline. Leaves whipped at my face, thorns tugged at my pants, but I kept going.
Because he left without telling . Because he was punishing .
Because he was mine.
And I was going to find him, even if it ant tearing this damn forest apart.
My breath was ragged as I shoved past another tree, frustration and fear clawing at my chest. "Where are you..." I whispered, eyes scanning the thick canopy above. The sky was starting to darken. I was running out of ti.
A crack snapped behind .
I froze, heart leaping to my throat, spine stiff.
"Who’s there?" I turned slowly, fists clenched, but before panic could fully take root, a shape burst through the underbrush—low and fast.
"Wolf!" My voice caught in relief.
He growled as he padded toward , mud on his paws and fury in his eyes.
"Shhh, I’m okay," I said, crouching.
He didn’t lick . Didn’t wag his tail. He growled again, this ti circling before nudging my leg hard—like he was trying to push back.
"No." I shook my head. "I’m not leaving. Not without him."
Wolf bared his teeth, not at , but toward the woods behind him. He could sll sothing. Sothing I couldn’t.
He turned and started walking away from , slow at first—then faster—then stopped and looked back, ears flat.
He wanted to follow.
My throat tightened as I stood.
The wind shifted, and I caught it.
Blood.
Smoke.
And Zain.
"Take to him," I whispered.
And then we ran.
Not because it was smart. Not because I knew what I’d find.
But because sothing inside scread that I was already too late.
I don’t know how long I’ve been inside this forest, Mintues, maybe hours even. Heaven knows we’ve been walking around in circles.
Even wolf was beginning to lose his scent.
Shit, this isn’t good.
I didn’t see them coming.
One second I was running after Wolf, branches whipping past my face, heart hamring like a war drum—and the next, I was on the ground, my body crashing against the dirt with a force that knocked the air clean out of my lungs.
I gasped, trying to scream, but a hand clamped over my mouth, rough and calloused.
Then another—dragging my arms behind , wrenching them painfully as I kicked and thrashed.
Wolf growled, snarling sowhere to my left, but a yelp followed—a sharp cry that made my blood run cold.
"NO!" I tried to shout, but the hand over my mouth only pressed harder.
My vision blurred, heart pounding so fast it hurt.
One of the n holding leaned closer, his breath hot and foul against my ear.
"Got her," he said. "The Alpha’s precious little toy."
I spit at him, fury burning through my fear, but it only made him laugh.
"She’s feisty. He’ll co for her."
There were three of them. Maybe four. All dressed in dirty, mismatched clothes, reeking of sweat and blood. Rogues. I could sll it now—filth and rage and rot in their scent.
One of them hit .
Not hard enough to knock out—but enough to daze .
The world tilted.
My knees scraped against the rocks as they dragged farther into the trees. I kept fighting. Kicking. Biting.
They tied my hands.
"Alpha said alive," one of them warned when the biggest among them raised a fist again.
"Barely," the other muttered, sneering down at .
And then—through the haze, through the blood pounding in my ears—I saw him.
Standing at the edge of the clearing.
Cloaked in shadows.
Unmoving.
Watching.
The rogue leader.
The man I had seen once before—on that first night in the forest before we reached the pack, when Cian and Selene had gone off to investigate strange scents. sa night he said my na like he knew .
I rembered his face—sharp, hollow, with eyes too pale for comfort, like they’d been drained of everything human.
He stepped forward, just enough for the fading light to catch the curve of his mouth.
A smirk. "Welco ho, violet."
Cold. Cruel.
Like he’d been waiting for this.
My mouth opened, but no sound ca out.
And then the darkness took .
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