The Shattered Walls
Asher was completely drained.
The sheer magnitude of the hybrid magic he had unleashed in the medical tent had knocked him out cold the moment Kade lifted him. He didn't even stir as Kade carried him back through the packhouse, his small head resting heavily against the Alpha's broad, blood-stained shoulder.
The entire pack had parted for us like the Red Sea. No one dared to speak. The Elders bowed their heads as we passed. They had seen the Golden Heir, and they had seen his power.
We reached the Alpha Suite. Kade gently laid Asher in the center of the massive king-sized bed, carefully pulling the heavy silk duvet over his small frame. I quickly checked his pulse and temperature. He was perfectly fine, just completely exhausted by the magical exertion.
"Sleep, little wolf," Kade whispered, his massive hand gently brushing the dark copper curls from Asher's forehead. He lingered for a moment, the absolute adoration in his golden eyes so raw and vulnerable it made my chest physically ache.
Kade finally stood up and turned around.
The soft, adoring father vanished.
The ruthless, intensely possessive Alpha King locked his golden eyes onto mine. He didn't say a word as he walked past me to the heavy oak doors. He grabbed the iron handle, shoved the doors completely shut, and swiped his thumb across the locking mechanism, sealing the room with his blood.
Click.
The sound echoed in the quiet room like a gunshot. We were entirely alone.
"Adrenaline," Kade stated. It wasn't a question. It was a dark, dangerous challenge.
He slowly began to walk toward me. His heavy boots made no sound on the thick rugs. His dark shirt was still torn open, exposing his heavily muscled, tattooed chest and the fresh stitches on his shoulder. He looked like a lethal, beautiful god of war.
I took a step back, my heart immediately hammering against my ribs. "Kade, don't. I'm exhausted, we just saved—"
"You looked me in the eye in the forest," Kade interrupted, his voice a low, vibrating rumble that sent a violent shiver down my spine, "and you told me that kissing me in the dark meant nothing. That it was just the fear of the collapsing cave."
I backed up until the back of my knees hit the heavy mahogany desk. There was nowhere left to run.
Kade didn't stop until he was inches from me. He planted his massive hands on the edge of the desk on either side of my hips, trapping me completely. The intoxicating, suffocating scent of dark pine, smoke, and sheer, unfiltered desire wrapped around me like a physical chain.
"Look at me, Freya," Kade commanded softly, his golden eyes burning into mine. "Look into my eyes and tell me your inner wolf didn't howl when my lips touched yours. Tell me you didn't kiss me back like you've been starving for four years, just like I have."
"It's not that simple!" I choked out, a sudden, angry tear escaping my eye.
I pushed my hands flat against his hard chest, trying to create distance, but he was an unmovable mountain.
"You broke me, Kade! You made me believe you were going to execute my family!
You made me run into the freezing woods, pregnant and terrified! "
Kade flinched, the physical pain of my words hitting him hard. He didn't try to defend himself.
"I can't just forget that!" I sobbed, the heavy walls I had built around my heart finally cracking wide open.
"I can't just fall back into your bed and pretend the last four years of hiding didn't happen!
If I let you in again... and you break my trust one more time.
.. I won't survive it, Kade. I will shatter. "
Kade stared down at me, his chest heaving violently against my palms.
He didn't argue. He didn't try to use his Alpha command.
Slowly, agonizingly, he removed his hands from the desk. He took a single step back, giving me space. He looked at me, a profound, completely devastating sorrow in his golden eyes.
"Then I will spend the rest of my miserable life fixing every single piece I broke," Kade vowed, his voice a raw, broken rasp.
He reached up, his trembling fingers gently wiping the tear from my cheek.
"I don't want you to forget, Freya. I want you to make me earn it.
Punish me. Scream at me. But do not lie to me. And do not lie to yourself."
He leaned in, stopping mere millimeters from my face. I could feel the heat of his breath against my trembling lips.
"You are my mate," Kade whispered, the sheer, consuming intensity of his love pouring directly through our open bond. "You are my Luna. You are the only woman I have ever loved, and the only woman I ever will. I am entirely, irrevocably yours."
I couldn't breathe. My inner wolf was screaming in absolute surrender.
I looked into his golden eyes, and I saw the absolute truth. The monster was dead. The man standing in front of me was ready to burn the world down just to keep me warm.
I didn't push him away this time.
I grabbed the torn lapels of his dark shirt, completely closing the distance, and crashed my lips onto his.
Kade let out a guttural, desperate groan.
He didn't hesitate. His massive arms wrapped around my waist, lifting me completely off the floor and sitting me on the edge of the mahogany desk.
He stepped between my thighs, pulling me impossibly flush against his hard body as he kissed me with a hunger that bordered on madness.
It was fire and ruin. It was forgiveness and absolute possession. I tangled my fingers in his thick, dark hair, kissing him back with every ounce of pent-up desperation I had buried for four years.
He trailed his hot, demanding kisses down my jaw, his teeth lightly grazing the sensitive skin of my neck, right over my dormant mating mark. I let out a soft, breathy moan, my head falling back to give him better access.
"Freya," Kade growled against my skin, his hand sliding up my thigh, the overwhelming heat of the mate bond threatening to completely consume us both.
Suddenly, a faint, unnatural sound broke the heavy, ragged breathing in the room.
Clink.
It was the sound of a silver latch sliding open.
But it didn't come from the heavy oak doors. It came from the massive glass balcony doors behind us. The doors Kade had locked himself.
Kade froze instantly. The heavy haze of lust vanished from his golden eyes, replaced by a lethal, hyper-focused predator's instinct.
He violently pulled back from me, spinning around toward the bed.
The heavy silk duvet was thrown back.
The bed was completely, terrifyingly empty.
"Asher?" I whispered, my heart completely stopping in my chest. I scrambled off the desk, my blood turning to pure ice. "Asher!"
I lunged toward the bed, desperately checking the bathroom, under the mattress, everywhere. Gone.
Kade didn't look under the bed. He stalked toward the balcony.
The reinforced glass doors were wide open, the freezing winter wind blowing the crimson curtains wildly into the room.
But it wasn't a forced entry. There was no shattered glass.
Someone had used a master key. Someone from the inside.
Kade stepped out onto the balcony, his chest heaving violently. He leaned over the stone railing, his golden eyes scanning the dark, snowy courtyard below.
He inhaled sharply, his heightened senses catching a faint, lingering scent in the freezing wind.
"Northern wolves," Kade whispered. His voice didn't sound human. It sounded like the terrifying, quiet rumble of a volcano seconds before an apocalyptic eruption. "And Vivienne."
My knees buckled. I gripped the edge of the balcony door to stop myself from falling.
Vivienne hadn't left the territory. She had waited. She had used the chaos of the medical tent and the distraction of the rogue attack to slip into the most secure room in the packhouse using her old access codes.
She had stolen our son.
"Kade..." I choked out, a sound of absolute, visceral terror tearing from my throat. "They have my baby."
Kade slowly turned around to face me.
His golden eyes were entirely gone. They were completely, purely black. His fangs were fully extended, his claws dripping with a sudden, uncontrollable surge of feral adrenaline. The Alpha King was dead. Only the monster remained.
"Marcus!" Kade's roar shook the very foundations of the packhouse, a sound so terrifying and demonic it made the glass windows vibrate.
He didn't wait for his Beta. Kade vaulted directly over the stone balcony railing, dropping three stories down into the snowy courtyard, landing with a heavy, earth-shattering thud.
He shifted mid-air. The massive, pitch-black, monstrous wolf of the Bloodbane King hit the ground running.
I didn't stand there crying. The terrifying, broken mother vanished, and the lethal, protective Luna completely took over.
I grabbed my silver scalpel from the desk, my own eyes glowing with a dark, murderous green light.
Vivienne wanted to play with dark magic and stolen heirs. She was about to find out that the only thing more dangerous than a feral Alpha King... is a mother who has nothing left to lose.