Chapter 20
He felt her pain like a blade to the chest. Sharp. Sudden. Brutal. One moment, the bond was a thin, golden thread pulling at his chest. The next…it snapped tight like a noose. He staggered where he stood, hand bracing against the side of the truck they’d stopped beside, breath caught mid-motion.
A searing wave of fear rushed through him. But it wasn’t his. It was hers. Sofia.
She was terrified, hurt, helpless, and he wasn’t there. A roar built in his chest, but he swallowed it down, only barely. His body trembled with rage and power, his wolf clawing at the surface, begging to be unleashed.
“She’s in pain,” he growled, voice low and raw, eyes flashing gold. The others turned instantly.
King stepped forward. “Did you feel her again?”
Goliath nodded, once, tight and jerky. “She’s not where she was. They moved her.” That alone nearly snapped his control.
They had taken her, hidden her from him, laid hands on her. Another man had touched her, and he didn’t know where. Did she cry when they grabbed her? Did she scream? Fight? Was she bleeding?
He couldn’t see it, but his wolf felt it, the ache in her chest, the panic in her breath. The fight dying in her fists. And it was killing him. He was failing her.
Hunter moved closer, standing just within arm’s reach…close enough to intervene if he had to.
Frost leaned against the tailgate, quiet, calculating, his gaze locked on Goliath like a man watching a ticking bomb.
Dixon didn’t say a word, but his hand rested lightly on the butt of his gun—not to draw it, but in case they had to stop Goliath from doing something irreversible.
Because they all knew, he wasn’t thinking straight. He was seconds from snapping. Burning the world down, body by body, until Sofia was back in his arms.
“Brother,” King said, voice quiet, steady. “You’ve got to stay focused. If we lose you now, we lose our chance.”
Goliath turned to him; teeth clenched so tight his jaw ached. “I can feel her,” he ground out. “She’s scared. She’s fighting, and I can’t fucking reach her, I’m supposed to protect her, and I’m—”
His voice broke. He didn’t finish the sentence, didn’t need to, they all knew what it meant. I’m not enough. He backed away, pacing hard, muscles coiled, his boots chewing into the gravel as he clenched and unclenched his fists, his wolf was screaming for Sofia.
And somewhere out there, she was hurting, because he was too slow, too fucking slow. “Tell me we’ve got something,” he snapped. “A trail, a car, a camera feed—anything.”
Dixon shook his head. “They covered it too well. No fresh tracks, no digital trail. Whoever Rodes hired to move her knew exactly what the hell they were doing.”
Goliath let out a low, dangerous sound, the kind of sound that made grown men take a step back. “They won’t be enough,” he muttered. “I’ll tear through every town, every city, every inch of fucking dirt until I find her.”
Frost’s voice was low, but carried weight. “Not if you burn yourself out before you reach her.”
Goliath turned sharply. “What would you do if it was your mate?”
Frost didn’t flinch. Didn’t blink. “Exactly what you’re doing. But I’d let the pack do it with me.”
King stepped forward. “We’ll find her. Together.”
Goliath said nothing, because he knew the truth. If they didn’t find her soon…he wouldn’t be able to hold himself back. He’d shift, he’d hunt, he’d kill, and nothing would stand in his way.
The sun had shifted again. Late afternoon bleeding into early dusk, another day slipping through his fingers, another hour she was gone. Goliath felt like he was choking on his own breath. They’d scoured the entire ridge, they’d torn through the last known location, interrogated every bastard who’d ever done a deal with Rodes, ripped apart three stash houses—And still nothing.
No scent trail. No movement. No goddamn heartbeat. He crouched near a tree line, eyes closed, fists pressed to his temples like he could will the bond back into focus.
Sofia. Where are you, baby? Please… give me something.
The earth felt too still beneath him. The air tasted like rust and failure, and that whisper of her—the one that had pulled at his chest like a string soaked in fire—was fading.
The bond was still there. But barely. Like she was drifting. Like she was… giving up. That thought…That one goddamn thought snapped something inside him.
Goliath exploded upright with a roar, grabbing the nearest tree and slamming his fist into it with a sickening crack. Bark split. Blood smeared. Bone groaned.
“I’m going to lose her,” he growled through clenched teeth, pacing like a caged animal, eyes wild. “I can’t fucking find her.”
“Goliath.”
It was Frost. Steady. Controlled. Dangerous in his own right. “You’re not thinking clearly.”
“I’m thinking just fine,” he bit back. “She’s alone, she’s scared, and we’re standing here with our dicks in our hands pretending like we’ve still got time.”
He turned toward the others—Hunter, Fang, Dixon—their faces drawn, tense. They were all feeling the weight, but none of them like him. None of them knew what it felt like to be bound to a woman and failing her.
But then—
Frost’s phone buzzed. The sound was small, but it might as well have been a grenade. Frost answered, listened. His eyes narrowed. Then—He looked up.
“Warehouse. North edge of Rodes’ territory. Surveillance has just picked up a vehicle matching one of his transports…an unlisted one.” Goliath moved before the phone was even lowered.
“Coordinates,” he barked. “Now.”
Dixon was already pulling it up, his voice clipped. “Forty minutes, give or take. It’s through dirt roads. Under cover of trees, It’s not on any of his known holdings.”
“Then that’s where she is.” Goliath’s voice was pure steel now, trembling with contained fury, “No more fucking delays.” He turned, stalking toward his bike like the devil himself was at his heels.
King’s voice rose behind him. “We move together. Don’t go rogue.” But Goliath didn’t answer, because he was done waiting, done planning, done trying to be reasonable.
They’d moved her once. They wouldn’t do it again. And if they did, he’d follow them into hell. The Wolverines rode out as the sun bled into the horizon, shadows stretching long across the dirt roads. This wasn’t the kind of ride they lived for. It wasn’t brotherhood and beer and loud engines under open skies.
This was war. Silent, calculated, and cold-blooded. Goliath led the pack, his jaw clenched so tight it felt like bone would snap. The wind bit at his skin, but he barely felt it. All he could focus on was that tether—the fraying bond between him and Sofia, pulling him like a blade to the gut. She was close, he could feel it again, faint but real. Every bump in the road, every turn of the throttle, wound his rage tighter.
He wasn’t going to stop this time. He wasn’t going to hesitate. He was going to end this.
Two miles out, King signalled with his hand, motioning them to slow. The rumble of engines faded into a low growl as the Wolverines peeled off the road one by one, turning onto an overgrown trail leading through dense pines.
Frost pulled up alongside Goliath. “From here, we go silent. No headlights. No comms.”
“Eyes open,” Dixon added, scanning the treeline. “If Rhodes has cameras out here, they’ll hear us coming from a mile off.”
King dismounted, crouching beside the trail where a drone had marked the warehouse perimeter hours earlier. “There,” he said, pointing through the brush. “Perimeter fence. Wired. Single entry point.”
Gunner and Fang stepped forward, shifting quietly into their wolf forms just behind the brush. Their fur bristled, muscles taut as they lowered to the ground, ready to scout the perimeter.
“We don’t storm this one,” King said. “Not yet. If we alert him, he’ll move her again. If we’re wrong, we’ll lose her for good.”
Goliath was silent, staring at the outline of the warehouse through the trees—low roof, rusted walls, floodlights that hadn’t turned on. Too quiet, too still, but he felt her. Not clearly—just flashes of fear. Exhaustion, Pain , but it was clear that she was here.
“Give the wolves five minutes,” Frost said. “If they don’t come back, we hit it hard.” Goliath didn’t answer. His fists curled at his sides, his heartbeat like war drums behind his ribs.
He could smell her now. Faint. Fading. But there, and it made him wild. Every instinct screamed to rip the gates down. To crush every man between him and his mate. But he waited. Barely, because the moment that clock hit five minutes—hell was coming. And Goliath would be its first flame.