Chapter 5

Kaelen Voss POV:

The air in the Blackwood Packhouse was so thick with my fury it was a miracle the stone walls didn't crack. I sat on the Alpha's throne, my power radiating in oppressive waves, making even my most seasoned warriors tremble.

"Anything?" I demanded, my voice a low growl.

My brother, Lorcan, stood before me, his usual easygoing demeanor replaced by a grim tension. "Nothing, Kaelen. The patrols have swept the western territories twice. He's vanished."

I slammed my fist into the arm of the throne. The solid granite fractured under the force. "Find him!" The Alpha's Command in my voice was absolute, a psychic blow that made every wolf in the hall flinch. My own wolf, a monstrous black dire wolf, was a raging inferno in my mind, consumed with the primal terror of a sire whose pup was missing.

"His last confirmed scent trail was near the border town," Lorcan reported, his voice steady despite the pressure. "It's possible he wandered off on his own."

I knew he was right. My son, Caelus, was not like other pups. A trauma from his past, a nightmare I relived every day, had silenced his inner wolf and left him fragile, locked in a world of his own. The thought of him out there, alone and terrified, was a physical torment.

Just as I was about to shift and tear the forest apart myself, a scout burst into the throne room, breathless. "Alpha King! We've found him! On the edge of the woods!"

In a heartbeat, Lorcan and I were in our wolf forms, a blur of black and grey fur, leading a cadre of our best warriors out of the Packhouse. We moved like a storm, the ground shaking under our paws.

We found him huddled at the base of an ancient oak. He was dirty, shivering, and his leg was clearly injured, but he was alive.

I shifted back to my human form, rushing to his side and pulling him into my arms. My relief was so overwhelming it was dizzying. As I checked him over, my eyes fell on the crude but effective splint on his leg. Someone had helped him.

Caelus looked up at me, his golden eyes wide with panic. He let out a series of distressed whimpers, pointing a small, shaky finger back toward the town. "Her..." he mumbled, the word garbled and faint. "Save... her..."

I tried to reach him through our mind-link, but as always, the wall of his trauma was impenetrable.

"He was with someone," Lorcan said, shifting back beside me. "And it sounds like she's in trouble."

My rage was tempered by a cold, sharp focus. I looked down at my son. "Caelus. Take us to her."

He nodded immediately and, wincing with every step, began to lead us back the way he had come. As we moved, I caught a scent on him, hidden beneath the smell of dirt and blood. It was a unique, captivating fragrance-like a forest after a rainstorm, mingled with the sweetness of wild moonflowers. It was strangely familiar, and my wolf, for the first time in hours, grew quiet, intrigued.

Caelus led us to a derelict warehouse on the edge of the town. The heavy iron door was locked. I didn't hesitate. A single, powerful kick sent the door flying off its hinges, crashing against the interior wall in a cloud of dust and rust.

The scene inside made my blood run cold.

A woman lay in a pool of blood on the concrete floor, a stack of shattered crates beside her. She was unnervingly still.

Caelus cried out and ran to her, nudging her pale cheek with his head.

I stepped into the dim, musty space. As I drew closer, the scent of rain and moonflowers became intoxicatingly strong. And when I finally saw her face, my breath hitched in my chest.

She was pale and battered, a thin scar marring the delicate line of her jaw, but she was beautiful. Exquisite. But it wasn't her beauty that stopped my heart. It was the scent. It was her.

My wolf let out a possessive, soul-shaking roar that echoed not in the room, but in the very core of my being. A single word, an ancient truth, a divine proclamation.

*Mine.*

The world fell away. After years of believing the Moon Goddess had overlooked me, after resigning myself to a life of duty without a counterpart, here she was. My Fated Mate. Broken and bleeding on the floor of this forgotten hovel.

Gently, reverently, I scooped her unconscious form into my arms. Her body was light, fragile. A wave of protective fury, so intense it nearly buckled my knees, washed over me.

"Lorcan," I commanded, my voice shaking with a storm of emotions. "Lock this place down. Find out what happened. Get the Pack Doctor to my wing. Now."

I held her close to my chest, my Fated Mate, and carried her out of the darkness.