Chapter 3

Three

Istand looking over the wreckage of my pack and howl to the sky, my pain and rage so fierce the star gods would tremble. I vowed to keep every single member of my pack safe. I swore an oath to be their alpha, their ultimate protection safety, and now dead bodies line my streets. We have saved as many as we can. Fortunately, there were more survivors than I anticipated, but the healers are exhausted and many still died before we could save them. The fae who attacked were brutal and they didn’t care who they killed. Women, children, men…elders. All of them were slaughtered like they meant nothing, and I vow to the gods right now, there will be revenge for the crimes done today. They didn’t deserve it, none of them did.

I promised her so much more.

Verena. My mate is gone, I lost her. Closing my eyes, I imagine her standing in front of me like the first time we met. Long black, straight hair, olive skin and eyes the very shade of my favourite purple crystal from the mines. She is so, so beautiful. Enchantingly so... everything about her draws me in. It’s not just because she is my mate, it’s because of her. I knew I was in love with her from the moment I saw her; I knew she was strong and valiant, and even broken she shines. She was shining like a star every second she stood at my side. My pack has been attacked and I’ve lost hundreds. Every bad deci˙sion led me to this, and my mate is gone. Lost.

Lazuri steps up to my side, still covered in as much fae blood as me. I will always owe him for shifting and fighting at my side in the war. We worked together, something alpha wolves never do, and it was surprisingly easy. Verena links us, binds us and we are her males. “I sent word to my pack and the others. They’ll make sure it’s protected, and word is spread of this attack. Two packs now.” He hums, his eyes drifting to me. “There was word that the fae that we had in the prison came back and fought for us before leaving. He helped change the tide of the war on the right side of the city and put up a magical barrier to protect the survivors from fae. He re-enforced the wards with new crystals, not like anything I’ve seen. He saved thousands, including the school full of young wolves that was near the border.”

I grip the handrail. “He is our enemy, no matter what he did. He took her.”

“I am well aware.” Lazuri growls back. I can see the same desperation in his eyes, and it’s the only reason I don’t snarl. “But I do not believe he’s going to hurt her.”

He has more confidence in the fae than I do. Just because he came and helped us, doesn’t mean he isn’t a threat to Verena. He still took her and in the name of the star gods, I have no idea why he would do that. “Why?”

“I sense bonds between people that can’t be seen by many. Auras. Verena’s is a glowing purple star, and yours is green with touches of purple for Verena’s bond,” he explains. “The fae is black, like midnight, but purple stars are dotted around the darkness. There was always a bond between them, whether you saw it or not or ignored it. He’s not going to hurt her, but there are others that will. He’ll be in the fae lands.”

The one place it’s nearly impossible for us to get into. None of us know how to get into the fae lands, but I’m going to try. “We can’t just walk in with an army of wolves.”

“Not an army. But us?” Lazuri pats my shoulder. “We can. I know a way. Your pack kept to themselves all these years. Hated the Fae. I was more...liberal with them. They’re not too far from us in mortality, as our ancestors would have us believe. I have friends in the fae lands that will hide us and help us find her.”

Thank the stars above that he is her mate, too. I was jealous, beyond jealous when I first found out, but now...if it means saving her...maybe this is what the bonds were always meant for. “Then we go after our mate and make sure no one ever takes her from us again.”

I call my betas in my mind to urgently meet me at the house. I trust them with my pack, and I suspect they know I’m going to leave and go after Verena. After a quick debriefing with them all, I pack a bag with supplies, weapons and clothes to carry on my wolf’s back. Just as I finish packing my food, I feel it. I feel her, stronger than I ever have. The bond has always been there, right there in my chest, stronger when I first met her. But now it’s like it’s roaring to life with all the power of an alpha female coming into her own. I fall to my knees, grasping my heart as I feel her pain, so much pain. Sweat pours down my face, through my light locks of hair and down past my eyes as my heart pounds right alongside Verena’s. I can feel her, like she is right next to me, like she is in my arms. She is in pain. I’m desperate to stop the pain for her, to help her and I reach down the bond, pushing my power. I feel Lazuri doing the same, his yellow energy flashing alongside mine, and suddenly we are not alone. Midnight black energy wraps around us both and slams into Verena, helping her heart beat as she is ripped apart. Am I losing her? Am I losing her before I can even tell her I love her? That I’d do anything for us to have a future together, anything— I just want her. When it stops so quickly, my hands slam into the cold stone as I gasp. She is alive. She is okay... more than okay. Verena is still there, still as vibrant as ever before. Lazuri comes rushing into my room, pushing the door open, his eyes wild. “Did you feel that? Feel her?”

“She shifted for the first time,” I breathe. I know it deep in my soul. The little one has been lying to me this whole time that she could shift. I sensed it from the moment we met that she could not. I was waiting for her to come to me, to trust me. But something’s changed. She’s different. I would accept her in whatever she is, even if she was a wolf without a shift. I don’t care. She doesn’t have to change her body to make her love me.

“I can’t wait to run with her in the forest.” Lazuri grins and I smile, dreaming of that too.

I climb to my feet. “Did you get word to the fae who knows her way in?”

Lazuri nods. “She’s ready. You need to be careful what you say around her and don’t mention that you’re an alpha. We’re friends because of our past. I helped her once and saved her kid. Not all of them like the king, but they are loyal to the royal family, no matter what.”

“Understood,” I murmur. “What have they said about this prince to you in the past?”

“Nothing,” Lazuri answers, worryingly. I don’t enjoy going in without answers about who the fae really is that took my mate, but for Verena, I’d dive into the world of the dead without a second thought. The world of the fae should be easy.