Kael
I had a terrible feeling I was making a mistake.
The kind that would haunt for the rest of my life.
I should be out there with her, protecting and keeping her safe with my own hands instead of trusting others to do what I should have done myself.
But no one else can do what I need to do here.
The past few weeks had been a relentless cycle of visits to nearby territories, heated conversations with other Supre Alphas, and careful political maneuvering. The last delegation had left my territory just this morning, and I had spent hours alleviating their concerns and tamping down on whatever plans they had been brewing.
So of them would listen to reason.
Others would not.
But it was best to first tackle the issues.
My responsibilities had lessened, and my mind was no longer consud with strategizing for her future safety, and now...
Now I thought of her constantly.
The hollow ache in my chest had beco a permanent fixture. It pulsed with every heartbeat, a reminder of her absence, of the distance stretching between us. Through the bond, I could sense she was alive, but a strange discomfort had been eating at for a while now.
I pushed the thought away and focused on the task at hand.
Haya’s workshop was tucked into a corner of the inner district, a section Violet didn’t know existed.
The workshop itself was cluttered chaos. Strange devices lined the walls, half-finished inventions covered every surface, and the air slled of tal and sothing faintly acidic. Haya himself was a wiry older wolf with permanently stained fingers and eyes that held the distant look of soone whose mind was always elsewhere.
He had been working on several creations for over the past months.
One in particular had been completed just days ago.
His assistants briefly acknowledged before sifting through the ss and returning to their work.
"It’s ready," Haya said with a tired sigh, gesturing to a small device on the workbench. It was a flat piece of finely polished stone with faint etchings across its surface. But when he pressed his thumb to the center, the etchings began to glow and rearrange itself into a map.
"The substance you applied to the items has bonded," he continued. "Anyone carrying those items will appear as a point of light on the surface. Distance affects clarity, but within a reasonable range, you should be able to track their general location."
I had applied the tracking substance to four items.
The chain I had given Violet for her grandmother’s pendant. I knew she would never part with it, and I had also marked Ana, Bei, and Corin before they left with her, embedding the substance in small personal effects they carried.
I reached for the device.
The mont my thumb pressed against the cool stone, the surface flickered to life. Four points of light appeared, scattered across the etched map.
Three of them were clustered together.
One was separate. Alone.
My eyes found the lone point first. Violet. She was... I traced the location, my brow furrowing. She was far. Very far. And in an unfamiliar region.
My gaze snapped to the other three points.
They were in Silverwood.
Rowan’s territory.
For a long mont, I simply stared at the device. The workshop had gone quiet around , Haya and his assistants watching with the careful stillness of prey sensing a predator’s shift in mood.
Why were my wolves in Rowan’s nation?
And why was Violet sowhere else entirely?
I couldn’t tell from the device whether my wolves were alive or dead. The tracking substance only showed location, not status.
My mind raced through so many possibilities, and I hated every single one of them. All in all, none of it explained why three of my wolves had ended up in the territory of a Supre Alpha who had been fixated on Violet from the mont he laid eyes on her.
Unless...
The realization crept through like poison.
The laughter started low in my chest and built until it spilled from my throat, harsh and fractured.
The wolves around flinched.
Haya took a step back, his face paling.
I couldn’t stop laughing.
I was a fool. A complete and utter fool.
I had been so focused on the other Supre Alphas, so consud with political machinations and future threats, that I had completely failed to consider the obvious.
Rowan had gone after her.
Of course he had.
How could I have dismissed sothing so obvious?
He was mated to her too.
The laughter died in my throat, the cold realisation setting deeper.
If he was with her... if they were alone together... the bond would be pulling at her constantly. Wearing her down. Making her feel things she didn’t want to feel, drawing her toward him even as she tried to resist.
The thought of it nearly tore apart.
My claws extended without my permission, gouging deep furrows into the wooden workbench.
"My Lord—"
"Get out," I growled.
He and his assistants didn’t need to be told twice. The workshop emptied in seconds, and I was left alone in the silence, staring at the device in my hand.
The three points of light in Silverwood hadn’t moved. If Ana, Bei, and Corin were dead, their bodies would still register on the tracker. If they were alive... then Rowan had done sothing to them. Likely used so ability I didn’t have information on or had simply had them dragged to his territory.
And Violet...
The lone point of light pulsed steadily, clearly headed towards Silverwood.
I closed my eyes.
This was my fault.
I made my way out of the workshop.
There were preparations to make. Plans to set in motion. My betas would need to manage the territory in my absence, and I would need to move quickly if I wanted to intercept them before—
Before what?
"Before she falls for him completely?" my wolf snarled at , darkening my already foul mood.
"Shut it," I growled.
"I told you to mark her and you just wouldn’t listen," he hissed.
A bitter taste filled my mouth.
If Rowan was smart, he would pray to the moon goddess that our paths don’t cross.
Because if I found him...
If I found him with her...
I just might lose my mind and there would be blood.
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