Chapter 28

28

Kane

T he moment the ferry left the docks, something felt off. And now I feel it again— the pull . I’m too far away from my mate.

But how? The docks are less than a mile from the cabin. It feels like Tami is running away from me. I put a hand to my chest, feeling a dreadful ache. Kade looks at me, raising an eyebrow.

“Your woman is in Wintermoon. How the hell are you feeling the pull now?” she grumbles, then falls silent. Without me needing to say the words, she immediately teleports off the ferry, leaving a black mystical cloud of smoke behind her.

She’s back in less than a minute, and her expression confirms my suspicions. My mate is gone.

“Oh, shit!” Kade grits out. She’s holding a syringe similar to the one she showed me earlier, only it’s empty. Someone took my woman and my baby.

I start to gag, falling to my knees, feeling sick to my stomach.

“This was all a distraction. To get us away from the cabin. Ah, fuck. I don’t like being made a fool,” Kade growls. She squeezes the syringe, crushing it.

“They’re trying to take Tami across the bridge. If they succeed, it will be harder to get her back,” Levi says as he helps me to my feet. I run to the edge of the ferry, ready to jump into the waters to go after my mate, but Levi stops me.

“The water is too cold for your wolf. You’ll go into shock. Wait for the ferry to dock, and I’ll help you kill those assholes,” he urges.

I slap his hand away and try again, but this time Kade grabs me. I stiffen because I know what she can do. She’ll teleport me off the ferry and it will render me unconscious. Levi immediately tells the crew to turn the ferry around.

“This is taking too long!” I growl.

“If I leave, you'll jump off the boat. I can’t lose you, Tami, and the baby. Tami will never forgive me if I let you die trying to swim to her,” Kade says.

I let out a growl, a monstrous, agonizing sound pleading with our Goddess Fate for mercy. I just got her, and now Fate wants to take her from me. Why? Is this my punishment for keeping her away from the village, where she would have been safe?

Levi feels my pain and immediately comes to my aid.

“I swear it, brother, you will not lose your mate. They will not get off this bridge.”

“How did they get past the spikes? How did they know where to find her?” I growl, falling to my knees again.

The pull is agonizing. It feels like the band between us is being stretched to its limit. Now I understand why the pull drove King Amir to madness.

Kade teleports away again and I look at the waters, watching the ferry move closer to Wintermoon's shoreline. Just a little more and I can go after her. Kade returns after a few minutes, holding a small chip.

“They’ve been tracking her. The radicals have invested in intel that’s undetectable to us. I don’t feel any radiation from this device.” Kade looks at Levi and they share a knowing look.

“I told you; we should have gone to King Amir about this. It’s time for the second Great War. The humans are already preparing for it. Are we going to sit around and wait to be blindsided again?” Levi grumbles.

“We just got this land. We haven’t even broken real ground on it,” Kade says, at a loss for words.

The prophecy that she would gather all the packs, prides, clans, and covens to lead us to a supernatural land where we could live in harmony seems short-lived now.

She doesn’t want to go to King Amir because she knows he’ll start the process of the war. Many will die, but the prophecy says we will prevail and become the natural rulers of this world.

“I just want Tami back. I don’t care about a prophecy. Can’t you teleport to her? Please, just leave me and go get my woman.” Kade looks at me with a pained expression, then looks into the cloudy night sky.

I’m begging Fate to have mercy on me right now. I see the error of my ways, my selfishness to keep Tami close and away from my village and the supernaturals of Wintermoon.

I’ll change. I’ll be a better mate to my woman and our child. I’ll do anything, just please don’t take her from me. I put my face in my hands, desperate to escape the agony of losing the one thing that gave my life meaning.

“Kane,” Levi says with a sigh, gently placing his hand on my shoulder. I don’t push him away .

I know he understands the extent of my pain. I can feel the pull, the invisible band that keeps us together. It doesn’t matter where they take her, the pull will help me find her.

These radicals can’t keep her from me. I should have taken her to my brother’s village and hunted Julian when I had the chance. I knew he was a problem from the beginning, I could sense it.

“Leah, any day now!” Kade growls. A mystical cloud of smoke reappears, and Leah steps into view.

“They’re getting close to the border. I called Gabriel and a few others from surrounding clans, packs, and prides. They won’t get past the bridge, I assure you,” Leah says. “You should let me...”

“No, Leah. You've done enough. Now, will you please speed up this boat so Kane can get to his mate before I have to teleport him?” Leah looks at me, lets out a sympathetic sigh, and shrugs.

“Fine! You all are no fun. I could have used a kill. And I want to get to know Tami better.” She pouts, moving to the edge of the boat. Her fingers dance over the water, and suddenly, the boat surges forward.

The water beneath us shifts, swirling from deep blue to vibrant emerald, laced with streaks of silver as Leah’s magic pulses through it.

Leah's connection to the craft is strong, her power undeniable. Kade's abilities are different. While she no longer shares the same connection to the craft as her wife, she can teleport and control the elements.

As the boat speeds up, every second feels like an eternity. I need my mate back. I need her in my arms.

Just when I sense I’m close enough to the shoreline, I immediately shift into my wolf form.

My muscles tense, and heat surges through my veins. Bones crack and reshape beneath my skin. Fur bursts forth, covering my body in a thick coat. My senses sharpen—the scent of the forest, the sound of waves crashing nearby, all become vivid and clear.

“Kane!” Levi yells, but I ignore him.

My wolf leaps off the boat, aiming to land on the docks. He barely makes it, his back legs dropping into the water while he claws at the docks, pulling himself out.

The water is ice cold, a shock to his body as Levi warned, but it’s not enough to stop him from getting to our woman. My wolf manages to climb up the dock and takes off, running into the forest.

I can hear Levi right behind us, his wolf catching up as my wolf maneuvers through the trees. My wolf pushes hard, moving faster, cutting through the forest. We’re never leaving Tami alone again!

Julian is a dead man when my wolf catches him. He's going to rip Julian's head from his body and feast on his flesh.

How will Tami feel about this? Will she still love me once she sees the darker, more sinister side of my wolf as he kills in her honor? My wolf wants to present Julian’s head to her as a gift, to show our love and devotion, putting it on full display for her.

When this is over, I’m taking Tami to the village, where she’ll stay until I calm down. I don’t know how long it will take—weeks, months, possibly years.

We are on the road within minutes, and my wolf stops, taking in the tire tracks, which are quickly being covered by the snow. Levi’s wolf stops and howls into the night sky. I know what he’s doing; he’s calling for help.

My wolf takes off running, following the quickly disappearing tire tracks as the snow picks up. Visibility is low due to the storm, but he keeps pushing through, desperate to get our woman back.

The only thing on his mind is blood and vengeance, to show these radicals what happens when you try to take a mate from a mate.

And I won’t stop until we get it.