Chapter 3 The Bond That Wo

Rael's POV

She was gone.

A servant was the first to stammer it out ... the way Selene hadn't come down for meals in weeks. How her room was cold, untouched. That no one had seen her.

I said nothing.

Not at first.

I stood there, the Alpha who wasn't bothered by such things. The one who had already moved on. She was an omega after all..fragile, emotional. She probably thought everything we shared meant something, probably believed that just because I kept coming back, she mattered.

Foolish.

The mating bond had hit me hard the first night, yes, I had felt it in my bones, like lightning licking through my nerves. But I buried it, ignored it. I took her in lust because I could.

And then I took her again.

And again.

Each time I told myself I'd stop. That it had been the last time. But each time, I found myself in her bed, in her arms, losing pieces of myself to the feel of her skin, the way she said my name like a damn prayer when I made love to her.

She should have known better. She should have known what I was. I wasn't her mate or her lover. I was Alpha of Rael of Crimson Moon Pack. My life was forged in power, not love. I didn't have room for it.

So I did what I was supposed to do. I married Liora two weeks after the ceremony. The pack applauded her, with her father pledging his strongest warriors, his wealth and his allegiance to us. I stood beside her at the altar, folding her hand in mine, smiling like I has already won.

Because I have.

I had everything I ever wanted, everything I was born to have. Only... I could still feel Selene's skin against mine. Hear her breath, soft and shaky. I had ordered them to burn her chambers down, but her memories still lingered in the space between my ribs.

I told myself it would fade. It had to. Mate bonds snapped when one person abandoned it. When the weaker wolf fled. But this goddamn bond didn't want to fade. It even grew worse.

It curled around my spine like a brand, searing hotter with each passing moon. My appetite vanished, and I began losing focus in meetings. I found myself distracted by her scent, memories of her laughter, the memory of her crying into my chest the first night I slipped into her.

I was done with pretending, done with all these. I had to find her no matter what it was going to cost me. "Find her," I commanded my pack, my voice low but deep. They looked at each other, no one daring to speak even a word.

"But Alpha...she ran...if she wanted to be found, she would have stayed. She's just... ." My fist shattered his jaw before he could finish. " I said, find Selene and bring her back to me!!!" I growled, staring down at the blood dripping from my knuckles.

At the stunned silence of the men who once feared nothing. "I don't care if she's across the sea or buried under the mountains. You will find her. Or I will tear this world apart until it bleeds her name."

Because deep down, I know what I wanted: to bring her back... to punish her for leaving me in the first place. I didn't want peace, I wanted her.

I paced down slowly, the scent of blood clinging to the Hollow River Pack territory like rot.Their screams had died down. Now, there was only ragged breathing, their moans, and the sound of shackles dragging across the floor. "Where is she?" I snarled as I stepped into the cell where Beta Orin knelt before me.

He was shaking violently, his shirt ripped open. My warriors had softened him up, but I had to come to finish it. He was a large man, but now he looked like nothing more than a shaking puppy, his mouth trembling with all sorts of prayers.

I slammed my boot against his chest and pressed it down, enjoying every cry of pain that escaped his lips. "We...we don't know...Alpha, we swear it.....we never meant any harm by accommodating her when she came to our territory." He whimpered, his cracked lips moving.

I leaned closer, letting my face hover just inches away from his bloodied face. "I don't care what your intentions were," my voice was deadly. "Where did you hide her?"

"I....I"

"Then what good are you to me?" I growled, cutting him off before he could finish his words. With one sharp twist of my boot and a crunch of bone, I crushed his windpipe so hard that his eyes froze open in shock, his body twitching once...unable to move again.

Another lie from him and still no knowledge of Selen's whereabouts. My wolf clawed inside me now. Restless, starving, furious. She had left me, dared to carry my scent, my claim on her, and vanished like a coward in the night.

This...bond should have snapped. It should have faded the moment she ran away, but it didn't. Every day, it felt like a chain being yanked from inside my chest...dragging me, tormenting me, whispering her name in every goddamn breath.

"Selene!!!"

I yelled, punching the stone wall beside me. My knuckles bled, but the pain only cleared my mind. I stormed onto the next call, the Alpha of Hollow River, Rorik, was tied with chains on his wrists. Stripped of his title and pride.

I dragged a chair across the floor and sat in front of him, my arms crossed. "You're an Alpha right?" I asked calmly. "So you should understand how bonds work. You should know what happens when an Alpha is denied his mate."

A sick gurgle slipped past his busted lips. Maybe laughter. I narrowed my eyes. "Tell me what you know or nothing about what I'm going to do to you will be funny.

But he kept quiet. His silence felt like a challenge to my authority. So I grabbed the blade from my belt, pressing it against the side of his neck. "I'll bleed you and your entire pack if I have to," I whispered.

"What I did to your Beta was nothing. I will burn your land, salt your earth, burn down every child's cradle if I don't get what I want."

"Start talking right now!!" I growled.

His breath stopped, his swollen fingers shaking. "We....we did not know who she was..." he gasped, his voice barely audible. My heart stopped, and the entire room went silent.

I stood slowly. "What did you just say?" I asked. Rorik's head rolled back against the stone behind him. "She...she collapsed at our border... we thought she was just another runaway omega. Starving. Broken."

"She reeked of heat and fear. But we...we took her in."

The blade in my hand slipped slightly. "How long did you keep her?" I demanded. "A week. No more than that." My heart slammed against my ribs.

"And then?" I asked, my voice deadly calm. He stopped, not saying a word more than he had said. I stepped forward, and the edge of my blade slid beneath his ribs. "And then?"

Rorik coughed, blood spilling from his lips. "She vanished again. Slipped through in the night. The healer had said ... .said she was carrying."

"Carrying what!!" I yelled.

"Pregnant, he whispered. "She's....Pregnant."