BONUS SCENE 3

Ragnar

Three nights without sleep, and still no word about my sister. She was being transported to Romania, so she should be here by now, but the waiting is fucking brutal.

Something's wrong.

The rain hammers against the windows, but inside, the crackling fire keeps the darkness at bay. I lean back in my leather chair, a glass of whiskey untouched in my hand. Somewhere upstairs, my mate and pup sleep soundly with her three other mates, unaware of the storm.

But I can't rest my mind… Worried like fuck about Hel.

My sister, my wild girl who was forced into an arranged marriage by our father, and I vowed to her that I'll come save her one day, but it seems she got to me first. But now… this silence gnaws at my gut.

A sharp knock cuts through the thunder.

"Enter," I bark, setting my glass down on a nearby table.

A young man I've seen before opens the door. He's a messenger sent to me often by Du?an, the Alpha of the Ash pack down in Shadowlands Sector, the southern side of Romania. While I control the northern half.

"Sorry for the late arrival," he groans, lips tight.

"No apology needed. One day, I'll get Du?an to finally get a damn phone." Though setting up an electricity grid in his part of the country is close to impossible.

The young man is wet, though not dripping, so I pour him a generous glass of whiskey.

"What brings you during such shit weather, my friend?"

His hands shake slightly as he accepts the drink. "I have urgent information from Du?an that he received from Alpha Ander. The plane your sister was in went down. But thankfully, she escaped in a pod."

I'm on my feet in seconds, my heart thundering into my ribs. "Where?" The word tears from my throat, every muscle in my body turning to stone. "Is she alive?"

He shrugs, eyes downcast. "No one knows where she landed or in what state. Only thing they said was that she went down in Exiled Sector, maybe somewhere near Nightmare Island."

"What the fuck!" Exiled Sector is where most around the world send the worst kind, the most depraved, where even the strongest wolves fear to tread. But near Nightmare Island—that could also be dozens of places.

Dread rushes through me. I curl my hands into fists.

"Sorry I couldn't bring better news," he says with a bow of his head.

"It's not on you," I manage through clenched teeth. "Rest here tonight, until the rains pass."

As I arrange for someone to show him to a guest room, my mind darkens with worry.

But I remind myself that Hel is tenacious. She's survived shit that would break lesser wolves. But Exiled Sector that's different. That's where nightmares are born.

Back in the room, I down my whiskey in one burning gulp. I'll hire every tracker, every hunter worth their salt. I'll tear apart those islands one by one if I have to.

My sister is out there, and nothing—not storms, not distance, not even the monsters that prowl Exiled Sector—will stop me from bringing her home.

Even if I have to paint those islands red with blood.