Karen's POV

Zaiden's last words echoed in my head. "Don't leave this room."

At first, I thought it was just his Alpha possessiveness, his way of caging me. But then the howls began.

The first was distant, sharp a patrol signal. The second came closer. Louder. Then another, and another, until the night split with a chorus that made every hair on my body stand upright.

My wolf stirred restlessly inside me. Danger. Blood.

I rushed to the window, pressing trembling fingers against the cold glass. Below, the courtyard had erupted into chaos. Sunrise warriors shifted mid-run, their clothes shredding as fur ripped through their skin. Rogues dozens of them came crashing over the eastern wall, snarling, frothing, their eyes glowing with feral red light.

The clash was immediate. Wolves lunged at each other. Teeth tore. Bodies slammed into the ground with bone-cracking force. Screams and snarls tangled together until I couldn't tell which belonged to Sunrise warriors and which belonged to rogues.

And then I saw Zaiden.

He was already in his wolf, a towering shadow of black fur and blazing golden eyes. His power was devastating, terrifying. Each swipe of his claws shredded rogues apart. His jaws crushed throats like they were nothing. He fought like a beast born only for war, and the rogues fell around him like flies.

My wolf whimpered, belly-deep and desperate. Mate. Ours.

My human side recoiled. My chest tightened, fear clawing at me. I wanted to run, to fight, to do something but his command held me down like iron shackles.

Don't leave this room.

So I didn't.

************

Zaiden's POV

"Alpha!" Cole's voice slammed through the mindlink, sharp and urgent. "The rogues are attacking. I've taken the pack to the safe house, but our men can't hold them alone. We need you."

The words had barely finished when the stench hit me.

Rot. Blood. Rogues.

I was already moving, my wolf clawing to the surface. Bones snapped, fur tore through skin, and in the next breath, I was on four paws, golden eyes burning.

The howls of alarm shook the grounds as shadows poured over the east wall dozens of rogues, snarling, foam dripping from their jaws.

Pathetic.

Did they think they could step onto my land and leave breathing?

I launched into the first wave. My claws ripped through flesh, hot blood spraying across the dirt. My jaws snapped shut around a throat, crunching bone in one brutal shake. The rogue dropped lifeless, and my wolf roared in triumph.

But even as I slaughtered, the bond thrummed at the back of my mind.

Karen.

I'd told her not to leave that room. She should be safe. But her fear bled through the bond, spiking sharp, her wolf restless, clawing to fight.

Stay there, I growled silently, tearing another rogue apart. You're mine. You stay where I put you.

"Alpha!" Cole burst into view, his grey wolf ripping down a rogue at my flank. "They're pouring in from the woods testing the borders!"

Good. Let them come.

I bared my teeth, eyes flashing molten gold. "Then we'll remind them who owns this land."

We surged forward. Blood painted the earth, bodies broke beneath our fury, and the rogues began to falter because it wasn't just Sunrise wolves they were fighting. It was me.

Every kill was a vow, a warning: no one touched my pack. No one touched what was mine.

Not my land, not my wolves, not even my mate.

**********

The rogues scattered at last, broken bodies littering the courtyard. Their snarls faded into the forest as the survivors fled with tails tucked between their legs.

I stood among the carnage, chest heaving, black fur dripping with blood that wasn't mine. The scent of iron and rot stung my nose, but beneath it all, one scent pulsed stronger hers.

Karen.

I forced my wolf back, bones snapping, skin knitting until I stood human once more. Warriors shifted around me, wounded but alive, clearing the grounds. I gave quick orders, my voice still edged with a growl.

"Clean this up. Burn the bodies outside the borders. Double patrols. No one rests until I say so."

Cole padded to my side, his grey fur stained red, before shifting. He bowed his head, sweat dripping down his temple. "Alpha, the borders are secured for now."

I nodded. "Good. Report to me in my office."

I cast one last glance at the east wing. Her room. My chest tightened. I wanted to go to her, but if she'd obeyed, she was still inside safe. That had to be enough. For now.

I turned on my heel and stalked to the packhouse, the air thick with smoke and blood. Inside, silence pressed heavy, only broken by distant howls fading into nothingness.

By the time I reached my office, Cole was already there, bowing low.

"Alpha," he said, his tone tight. "There's... an urgent matter we need to address."

My jaw flexed. Another problem.

I lowered myself into the chair behind my desk, golden eyes locking on him. "Speak."

Zaiden's POV

Cole's jaw tightened. "It's the Luna..."

My heart stopped. The bond in my chest flared painfully.

"She's gone, Alpha," he said, his voice heavy. "The rogues took her."

For a moment, the words didn't register. Then the meaning slammed into me like a blade through the chest.

My chair screeched back as I shot to my feet, the wood cracking under my grip. My wolf howled, fury and panic exploding through me. The bond burned, a hollow ache where she should have been.

"No," I snarled, golden eyes blazing. "No one takes what's mine and lives."

The entire packhouse trembled with the force of my roar.

They dared to touch her. To steal her from me.

I would tear the world apart to bring her back.

**********

Karen POV

The battle outside had gone quiet, but the silence wasn't comforting it was heavy, it felt wrong. My wolf paced restlessly inside me, ears pinned back, hackles raised.

Something isn't right, she whispered.

I moved to the window again, pressing my palms against the cool glass. Smoke curled from the east wall, bodies scattered on the courtyard below. Warriors. Rogues. I couldn't tell who was who anymore.

Then the door creaked open

My heart stilled. The door.

Slowly, I turned.

It wasn't a maid with breakfast. It wasn't Zaiden.

Three men stepped inside, their stench hitting me like rot in the wind. Rogues.

My wolf snarled, forcing a growl past my lips, but their grins were feral, hungry.

"Well, well," the first one rasped, his teeth bared in a mockery of a smile. "The Alpha's precious little secret."

I backed away, pulse hammering, my fingers searching blindly for anything anything to fight with. My wolf begged to shift, to fight, but fear tangled my limbs.

The second rogue lunged.

I screamed. His hand clamped over my mouth, cutting it short. Another grabbed my wrists, pinning me until the rope burned my skin.

The bond in my chest yanked violently, thrumming with panic. Zaiden. He would feel it. He would know.

"Let's move," the first hissed. "Before the beast comes sniffing."

They dragged me out the window, into the smoke and shadows. My feet kicked uselessly against the air, my wolf howling in my head. "Mate."

But the rogues were fast, practiced. They melted into the trees, my cries swallowed by the night.

And with every step away from the packhouse, away from him, the bond stretched tighter, sharper, until it felt like it might tear me apart.

Still, I held onto one truth through the terror.

Zaiden would come for me.

*********

The world was dark when I woke. Damp stone pressed against my cheek, cold seeping into my bones. The stench hit me first rot, blood, sweat, unwashed fur. My stomach twisted violently.

Chains clinked when I tried to move. My wrists burned where the iron bit into my skin, raw and swollen from struggling. My throat was dry, every breath shallow with dust and smoke.

Then came the laughter. Low. Mocking.

"Well, well. Sleeping beauty wakes." One of them stepped into the dim light, his eyes gleaming feral yellow. His teeth flashed too long, too sharp. "Alpha Zaiden's precious mate."

I clenched my jaw, refusing to speak. Refusing to give them the satisfaction.

A kick drove into my ribs, white-hot pain exploding through me. I gasped, curling instinctively, but the chains dragged me back.

"Answer when spoken to, bitch," another snarled, spittle flying as he crouched close enough for me to smell the rot in his breath.

I bit back the whimper clawing up my throat. No. I wouldn't give them that.

They circled me like wolves circling prey. One yanked my hair back so hard tears pricked my eyes. Another poured water from a flask... and then dumped it into the dirt just out of reach. My parched throat burned as the ground drank what I needed.

"Your Alpha will come for you," one sneered, leaning so close I could feel the heat of his breath against my ear. "But he won't find you whole."

The next slap cracked across my face, leaving my ears ringing.

Hours blurred into days I couldn't tell anymore. They threw scraps of food at me, half-rotten meat barely fit for animals. Sometimes they didn't feed me at all. My stomach cramped with hunger, my lips split from thirst.

Every time I tried to close my eyes, they startled me awake. Shoves. Growls. Laughter. My body weakened, but my spirit... I forced it to stay sharp. I clung to one thought, one tether.

Zaiden.

Through the bond, faint but pulsing, I could feel his fury. His desperation. It kept me alive.

But the rogues knew. They taunted me with it. "Feel him?" one mocked, gripping my chin cruelly. "He's tearing himself apart because of you. That bond makes him weak. Makes him desperate. Soon, Alpha Zaiden will be nothing more than a broken man."

I spat blood at his feet. My voice cracked, hoarse, but steady. "You'll never break him."

The kick came swift, knocking the breath out of me. I coughed, chest screaming with pain, but inside... my wolf still growled, feral and unbroken.

I didn't know how much longer I could endure.

But I knew this Zaiden was coming. And until then, I would survive, no matter what they did to me.