Kael
The girl vanished.
One blink and she was there—wild-eyed, trembling, staring at me like I'd reached through her chest and crushed something sacred. The next… nothing. Just air where her scent had been. Just silence where her heartbeat should've echoed.
She ran.
I didn't move. Couldn't. Not at first. That pull—the one I'd waited half a lifetime to feel—had roared to life the moment she stepped into the clearing. My blood had surged. My wolf had stilled. The world had narrowed to her and only her.
And then she ran. And then—
Gone.
The clearing was empty now. Not even her scent lingered. Just smoke, drifting from the flames crawling up the hillside behind me. I turned toward it slowly, breath ragged.
The house was already half-consumed by fire. We'd swept the woods fast, too fast for a family to burn it themselves and flee. No one had expected resistance—just another routine check. Another "suspicious" cabin near the forest's edge, flagged by scouts. My men were too slow. So was I.
"Alpha!" Calder's voice cracked over the hill. "We found nothing inside. No records. No bodies. Whoever lived here is ash."
I didn't respond.
The bond should've pulled me forward. Should've dragged me straight to her. Instead, it was quiet. Too quiet. Like someone had dropped a curtain between us.
I clenched my jaw.
She had been here. I saw her. Felt her. But now—nothing. Not a thread. Not a whisper.
"Search again," I snapped, turning toward my enforcers. "I want every inch of that house sifted. Every scrap. Every cell."
Calder hesitated. "Sir, we already—"
"I said search again."
They scattered.
I moved to the edge of the burned clearing, the forest pressing close. My wolf stirred beneath my skin, restless. Pacing. Agitated.
I crouched, pressing a hand to the earth where she'd stood. It was warm. Not just from the fire. Recent. She'd been here minutes ago. That wasn't in my head.
So where was the bond?
Where the fuck was she?
A low growl rose from my chest. Not from fear. Not from grief. From fury.
I had waited years—endless, bitter years—for this. For her. And now, the moment I finally find my mate, she slips through my fingers like mist?
No.
Something was wrong. This wasn't just her running. She'd disappeared too cleanly. There was no trail. No lingering heat in the bond. Nothing.
Something—someone—helped her vanish.
A spell?
My jaw tensed.
Only witches had magic strong enough to cloak a mate bond. And the witches were dead. Burned to nothing years ago. We made sure of that. The Blackfang Pack left no survivors. We purged the bloodlines. We ended the covens.
And yet.
"She was protected," I muttered under my breath. "Hidden."
By who?
Another pack? No—wolves couldn't hide a bond. Not like this.
Which left only one explanation. One I didn't want to say aloud.
A witch.
I rose slowly, eyes scanning the trees. Cold settled over my shoulders. Not fear. Not exactly. Something deeper. Something old.
A witch had helped her. Or maybe more than one. Which meant—
They weren't all dead.
They're coming back.
The thought should've made my blood burn. Should've had me calling for fire and blades and blood. But all I could think about was her face.
Her eyes had frozen me. Not with fear—but with the sheer force of her defiance. Blue, maybe green, I wasn't sure. They shifted in the light like the edge of a blade. And gods, she was beautiful. Not delicate, but fierce. Wild. That kind of beauty you only found in storms and disasters. Something in her face had felt like a memory I never had, a thing I'd dreamed before I even knew what dreaming was. I hadn't expected that. I hadn't expected to crave.
She didn't look like a witch. No markings. No glow. No magic in her eyes.
She looked human. Almost.
Too human.
Except she wasn't. No human could disappear like that. No wolf, either.
And the bond—
The fucking bond was gone.
Not broken. Just… erased. Like it had been dragged underwater and drowned.
My wolf growled in protest, furious. Empty. It had howled for her, the moment she came into view. Now it was pacing, teeth bared, desperate to feel her again.
But there was nothing.
I gritted my teeth.
This wasn't how it was supposed to happen. I had been patient. I had done everything right. Held my throne with teeth and claws. Waited for the gods-damned prophecy to resolve itself.
And now the one person who could end this curse—who could give me an heir, a future, a fucking chance—had vanished.
Stolen.
By witches?
By who?
I didn't care. I would find them. Burn them. I'd scour every edge of these woods, hunt every whisper of old magic, until I tore down whatever shield they threw around her.
And I would find her.
I needed her in a way that made no sense. Not just to break the curse. Not just to survive. There was something inside me that felt like it had been missing for years—centuries—and now that I'd tasted it, now that I'd seen her, I wanted it back. Craved it. Craved her. It sickened me. Infuriated me. I wasn't supposed to want. I was supposed to take.
My mate.
My only chance.
And when I did—
She'd pay for running. For making me wait. For making me feel.
But first… I'd pull the truth out of someone.
Someone always talked.
"Calder," I called without turning. "Bring me the elders."
"Which ones?"
"All of them."
"But Alpha, some haven't—"
"I don't care. I want every name tied to the old bloodlines. Anyone who once whispered the word coven. Drag them in if you have to."
He hesitated. "You think this was a witch?"
"I think someone just made her disappear in a way no wolf could."
Silence. Even Calder didn't argue with that.
"And if it is a witch?" he asked.
I turned my head slightly, letting him see my eyes.
"Then we missed one."