Darius Urus raised a hand before I could say another word, and the room fell silent in that way only he could command, not because anyone feared him more than they feared me, but because there was a stillness to him that made even the angriest man pause.
“There is something you need to hear, Alpha,” he said.
“But not like this and not with blood already boiling in the room.” “I don’t have the patience for riddles, Urus.
Tell me what you know or step aside.” My voice came out rougher than I intended, but I didn’t care.
Every second wasted was another second Lyra could be slipping further away from me.
Alpha Ronan stepped forward again, and this time Kieran moved, positioning himself slightly in front of me, a silent reminder that I wasn’t thinking clearly, that grief and fear had a way of making even the strongest Alpha reckless.
“My daughter is missing too, Darius,” Ronan said, his voice tight.
“You think I don’t understand what you’re feeling right now?
I raised her.
I watched her grow into a woman even after everything your kind put our pack through.” “Don’t,” I warned.
“Don’t you dare stand there and act like your hands are clean in this.
Your pack has hated mine since before either of us were born.
Forgive me if I don’t trust a single word from your mouth.” “Enough,” Urus said, and this time his voice held an edge that made even me hesitate.
“This bickering will not bring her back.
If you two want to tear each other apart after she is found, be my guest but right now, you both need to listen.” Kieran exhaled beside me, clearly relieved someone had finally said what needed to be said.
I clenched my jaw, forcing myself to nod even though every instinct in me wanted to put my hands around Ronan’s throat and demand answers the way I knew how best, through fear.
“Speak,” I said.
Urus glanced at the other Elders, an unspoken conversation passing between them before he continued.
“Three nights ago, one of our scouts patrolling near the human border caught the scent of a struggle.
They were wolves, but not ours and not Ronan’s either.” My heart dropped.
“What pack?” “That’s the problem,” Urus said.
“The scent didn’t match any registered pack in the kingdoms.
Whoever they are, they’re either rogue, or they’ve found a way to mask their bloodline or worse, humans.” The room went cold.
Masking a bloodline wasn’t something any ordinary wolf could do.
It required power, ancient magic, the kind that hadn’t been used in centuries, not since the Great Divide when the packs split and swore never to touch such things again.
“That’s impossible,” Kieran muttered.
“No pack has had access to bloodline magic in over two hundred years.” “And yet,” Urus said, “the evidence says otherwise.” I felt my wolf claw at the surface, desperate to break free, desperate to run, to hunt, to tear apart whoever had dared to touch what was mine.
I held it back, barely, my claws digging into my palms hard enough to draw blood.
“You said there was a struggle,” I said, forcing calm into my voice even though calm was the last thing I felt.
“Did your scout see anything?
Anyone?” Urus hesitated, and that hesitation told me more than his words ever could.
“Tell me,” I said.
“He said he saw a woman matching Lyra’s description,” Urus said slowly.
“She was with a human man but she was not being dragged and not fighting him, just…
walking beside him, like she went willingly.” The words hit me harder than any blow I’d taken in battle.
“That’s not possible, she wouldn’t.
Lyra would never go anywhere willingly with a stranger, human or not.” “I’m only telling you what he saw, Darius,” Urus said, his voice gentler now.
“He said they got into a bus together outside of the kingdom.
He tried to follow, but the trail went cold not long after.
Her scent just…
vanished, like it was never there.” “Scents don’t just vanish,” Kieran said, frowning.
“Not unless something is masking them.” “Or someone wanted it to look that way,” Ronan said quietly, and for once, I found myself agreeing with him.
My mind raced through every possibility, none of them good.
Had she been taken by force and the human man was somehow involved in this bloodline magic?
Or worse, was there something about Lyra I didn’t know, something she hadn’t told me?
“Who was he?” I demanded.
“The human man, did your scout get a look at his face?” Urus’s expression turned grim.
“He said it happened too fast to be certain, but there was something familiar about him.
Something that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up, and scouts like him don’t spook easily.” Kieran’s jaw tightened.
“Familiar how?” “He said the man looked at him directly, like he knew he was being watched,” Urus said.
“Wolves don’t do that to trained scouts unless they know exactly what they’re dealing with.” The room went still again, and I felt something cold settle into my chest, colder than fear, colder than rage.
“Take me to where the trail went cold,” I said.
“I want to see it myself.” “Darius, it’s the middle of the night, and if this is some kind of trap…” “I don’t care.” I turned toward the door; my wolf pressed so close to the surface now that I could feel my bones aching to shift.
“I need to see where she stood last.
I need to know if she left a mark, anything to tell me why she went with him.” Urus caught my arm before I could storm out, his grip surprisingly strong for a man his age.
“There’s one more thing,” he said, “something my scout mentioned right before the trail disappeared completely.” “What?” I snapped, my patience gone.
Urus’s eyes darkened with something I couldn’t quite place…worry, maybe, or something closer to dread.
“He said the human man, whoever he was, smiled at him.
Like he’d been expecting to be found all along.”