Chapter 15 #2
“Her wolf is being erased,” he continues. “Slowly. Methodically. If it weren’t for the mate bond between you two, anchoring her, she’d already be completely under the necromancer’s control.”
My wolf keens. The thought of Selene gone, replaced by something hollow and dead—
“How do we stop it?” Lucian’s voice cuts through my spiraling thoughts. “How do we kill this thing?”
“First, you find the necromancer.” Kieran stands and moves to the window. “Second, you destroy the undead.”
“What is the undead, though?” I demand. “You keep saying that word, but—”
“It’s exactly what it sounds like. A corpse, reanimated by dark magic, bound to serve the necromancer’s will. A puppet.” Kieran’s reflection in the glass is grim. “It walks, talks, appears alive. But it’s rotting from the inside out.”
My stomach turns. “And this thing is connected to Selene?”
“Through her wolf, yes. That’s why she can’t remember. Why she loses time.” He turns back to face us. “The undead feeds on her consciousness, her will, her sense of self. Eventually, there won’t be anything left of her to save.”
“No.” I say the word with absolute conviction. “That’s not happening.”
“Then, keep her close.” Kieran’s gaze locks onto mine. “Don’t leave her alone. Not for a second. The necromancer or the undead will try again. And next time, they might succeed.”
I’m already moving toward the door when Lucian’s voice stops me.
“Where is Selene now?”
“My quarters. With Astra and Daciana.”
Lucian goes rigid. “Astra is with her?”
The sudden shift in his energy makes my wolf bare its teeth. “A healer is there, too. Why—”
“No!” Kieran’s voice cracks the air like a whip. “Don’t let the Queen near Selene.”
Everything stops. The air in the room becomes thick, suffocating.
“What?” Lucian’s power erupts, filling the space with lethal intent. “Why?”
“Necromancers feed off unborn children.” Kieran’s words are clinical, but there’s urgency in his tone. “The life force of the fetus…It’s the purest form of energy. If this necromancer knows Queen Astra is pregnant—”
I don’t hear the rest.
I’m already running. The hallways blur past. My boots slam against stone, my wolf howling in my head, demanding I move faster. It’s weak, but the mate bond is still there, and I pour everything I have through it.
Hold on. Just hold on.
I round the corner to my quarters, and my blood turns to ice.
The door is open.
Not unlocked. Not ajar. Wide open.
The smell hits me before I get there.
Blood. Fresh blood. And a lot of it.
My wolf explodes forward, reacting to the clear presence of danger. I slam through the doorway, and the scene stops my heart.
Daciana lies crumpled on the floor, her throat torn open. A dark, spreading stain pools around her. Her sword is still in her hand, but her eyes are glassy, unfocused.
“No…” I drop to my knees beside her, my hands hovering over the wound. So much damage. Too much blood. “Daciana. Daciana, stay with me.”
Her chest rises. Once. The breath is shallow and weak.
She’s alive. Barely.
“Healer!” I roar toward the door. “I need a healer NOW!”
But there’s no one to hear me. Astra—gone. Selene—gone. The healer who was with them—gone.
Footsteps thunder in the corridor, then Lucian and Leon burst through the door, with Kieran close behind.
“Fuck.” Leon drops beside Daciana immediately, his hands glowing with what little healing magic he possesses. “She’s dying.”
“Where’s Astra?” Lucian’s panic pervades the room, suffocating and desperate. His eyes scan every corner, every shadow. “Where is she? Where’s Selene?”
“Gone.” The word tastes like ash. “They’re both gone.”
Kieran strides over to the window and examines the latch. “Opened from the inside.”
“The healer?” Leon’s voice is tight as he works on Daciana, trying to stem the bleeding.
“Also gone.” I pull off my shirt and press it against Daciana’s throat with shaky hands. The fabric soaks through instantly. “She was supposed to stay with them. Help Selene.”
“Either the healer ran”—Kieran’s voice is grim—“or she’s part of this.”
Lucian’s roar shakes the walls. Power erupts from him in waves, cracking the stone beneath our feet. “I can’t sense Astra. Find them, Seth! Find them now!”
I reach for the mate bond desperately, searching for any trace of Selene through our connection.
Nothing.
Not weak, not distant, but nothing. Like she’s been severed from me completely.
“I can’t feel her.” The admission knocks the wind out of me. “The bond—it’s gone.”
Kieran turns from the window, his expression darker than I’ve ever seen. “The necromancer has her, then. Completely.”
“So, we track them.” Leon’s hands are red with Daciana’s blood, but he’s still working, still fighting to keep her alive. “We hunt them down and—”
“They could be anywhere.” Kieran’s words cut through the thread of hope. “If the necromancer is controlling Selene fully, they can make her do anything. Go anywhere. And if they have the Queen…”
He doesn’t finish. He doesn’t have to.
A necromancer with access to Astra. To the unborn, royal heir. To the life force they feed on.
My wolf tears at my insides, demanding I move, demanding I find our mate and bring her back.
“The red mist.” I force the words through gritted teeth. “Can you track it?”
Kieran pauses before replying. “Possibly. But it will take time. Time we may not have.”
Lucian’s whole body is vibrating with violence that is about to erupt. “We don’t have a choice.” His gaze locks onto mine, and I see my own alarm reflected there. “We have to find them. Whatever it takes.”
I stand, my body moving on instinct. The mate bond is gone, but that doesn’t mean I can’t find her. Doesn’t mean I give up.
Daciana makes a sound—wet, desperate—when the pressure from my hand leaves her neck. Her fingers twitch against the floor.
“Hold on,” Leon mutters, his magic flaring brighter. “Just hold on.”
But I can see the truth in his face. She’s slipping away. And without a proper healer, without someone who can actually heal her instead of just slowing the bleeding—
The door bangs open again. A senior healer rushes in, summoned by someone, her eyes going wide at the carnage.
“Do whatever you have to do,” I command, moving aside. “Whatever it takes.”
She immediately drops beside Daciana, her hands already glowing. “She’s too far gone,” the woman whispers. “I can’t save her.”
“I can.” Kieran falls to his knees and touches Daciana’s neck, his wolf in his eyes, his lips moving as he begins to chant in a foreign tongue I do not understand. The air in the room grows frigid, and I can feel the hair on my arms rise as his magic brushes against me.
After a full minute, he stops and removes his hand, which is covered in Daciana’s blood. “You can save her now.”
The healer gapes at him before looking down at the warrior, whose chest is moving slightly. The healer whispers, “Thank you.”
Kieran addresses Lucian and me now. “The rot. I can track them through the rot.”
Hope flares, hot and desperate. “How? What do you mean?” I ask him.
“Necromancy leaves a signature.” His hands begin to move in intricate patterns, magic gathering around his fingers. “Death corrupts everything it touches. The air, the ground, the very fabric of reality. It rots.” His eyes meet mine grimly. “And rot always leaves a trail.”
Lucian moves closer, his power still crackling beneath his skin. “You can follow it?”
“Yes.” Kieran’s jaw tightens. “But we need to move fast. The longer they have the Queen, the more dangerous this becomes.”
“Then, go.” The King’s command comes across harsh, desperate. “Lead the way.”
Leon looks up from where he has been helping the healer with Daciana. Blood stains his hands, his shirt. “I’m coming with you.”
“No,” Lucian tells him. “You stay here. Coordinate a search of the palace. Make sure every inch is covered.”
“Your Majesty—”
“That’s an order.” Lucian’s eyes flash. “Someone needs to keep an eye on the palace while we’re gone. That someone is you.”
Leon’s jaw works, both fury and frustration clear on his face. But he nods. “Find them. Bring them home.”
“We will.” I’m already heading for the door. “Kieran, let’s move.”
We race through the palace, guards scrambling out of our way. Kieran leads us to the eastern courtyard, his hands still weaving those strange patterns, magic pulsing with each gesture.
“There.” He points toward the forest beyond the palace walls. “The rot is strong. Recent.”
My wolf surges forward, demanding I shift, demanding I hunt. “How far?”
“A couple of miles. Maybe more.” Kieran’s expression darkens. “They’re moving fast. Faster than any normal person can travel.”
Because Selene isn’t normal anymore. Something else is wearing her skin, using her body like a puppet.
The thought makes rage burn through my veins.
“We shift.” Lucian is already stripping off his shirt. “We track them down, and we end this.”
I don’t need to be told twice. The transformation tears through me—bones cracking, muscles reforming. My wolf explodes out of me, larger and more vicious than usual, fueled by fury and fear.
Kieran shifts beside me—his wolf massive, silver-furred and ancient. Lucian’s shift is instantaneous, his black wolf radiating power that makes the air crackle with electricity.
We run.
The forest blurs around us, branches whipping past as we follow Kieran’s lead. His nose stays low to the ground, tracking something I can’t smell, can’t sense. But I trust him. I have to.
The mate bond remains dead in my chest, its absence worse than any physical wound.
We run for what feels like hours. The palace is far behind us, and the forest has grown thicker, darker. My lungs burn. My muscles scream. But I don’t slow down. Can’t slow down.
The trail twists and turns through the trees, following paths I don’t recognize. Kieran never hesitates, tracking the invisible signature of decay with absolute certainty.
Then, the trees begin to thin. Manicured grounds appear in front of us, carefully tended gardens and ornamental hedges betraying the kind of wealth that screams nobility.
Kieran stops, shifting back to human form. His chest heaves, sweat gleaming on his skin despite the cool night air.
“We’re here,” he says softly. “The rot ends here.”
I shift back, too, barely feeling the cold as I stare at the sprawling manor ahead. Dark stone walls, tall windows reflecting moonlight. “Whose estate is this?”
Lucian shifts beside me, his half naked form radiating lethal intent. His eyes scan the property until recognition dawns. “Radrick.” The name comes out as a snarl. “This is the Radrick family estate.”
My wolf howls inside my head, vindication mixing with feral rage. I knew it. I fucking knew it. “That bastard. Zane Radrick is the necromancer.”
It makes horrifying sense. The red mist that appeared the night Selene rescued him. The way he’d known exactly where to position his “attack” so she would find him. The drugged wine meant to suppress her wolf. The manipulation of the mate bond.
All of it. Every piece of this nightmare leads back to him.
“He played us.” Lucian’s voice is deadly quiet. “All of us.”
“He used Selene.” My hands clench into fists, nails biting into my palms. “Made her rescue him. Made her believe he was her fated mate. Made her—” The words choke off as understanding crashes over me.
“I bet he needed her to come to him willingly. That’s why he tried to drug her.
Why he kept pursuing her even after I’d marked her. ”
Kieran nods. “Necromancy does require consent of a sort.” His expression darkens further. “The victim has to invite the death in somehow. Accept it. Even if that acceptance comes under false pretenses.”
“And now he has Astra, too.” Lucian’s power erupts again, wild and uncontrolled. Trees crack and splinter around us. “He has my mate. My child.”
“We’re ending him.” I don’t wait for a response, already moving toward the manor. “Now.”
The oily stench hits me as we approach, making my wolf’s hackles rise.
Rot. Decay. Death.
It’s everywhere, clinging to everything, even the air. This place reeks of necromancy. Of dark magic that should have been destroyed centuries ago.
We reach the edge of the estate grounds and crouch down, studying the manor house. No lights. No movement. Nothing but that overwhelming smell of corruption.
“He knows we’re coming.” Kieran whispers. “He’s expecting us.”
“Good.” Lucian’s eyes have gone completely wolf, his humanity buried beneath animal rage. “Let him expect us. Let him see what happens when you endanger a king’s mate.”
“There.” I point toward a side entrance partially hidden by overgrown hedges. “That door. It’s open.”
An invitation? A trap? Both at once?
“We need a plan,” Kieran suggests calmly. “We can’t just rush in—”
“Watch me.” Lucian moves before either of us can stop him, stalking toward the open door with deadly purpose.
I exchange a glance with Kieran. His expression mirrors what I’m thinking—that this is insane, reckless, and exactly what Zane wants.
But my mate is in there, too. And I’m not waiting another second. I follow Lucian into the darkness, Kieran on my heels.
A scream tears through the night.
High-pitched. Terrified. Female.
It’s Astra.
The sound shatters whatever restraint we had left. Lucian shifts mid-stride, his black wolf exploding forward. I’m right behind him, my own transformation bursting through me as we race toward that open doorway.
Another scream—raw, agonized, desperate. Selene.
It cuts off abruptly.
And the silence that follows is so much worse.