The back door slammed open, and the cold night swallowed them whole.
Elara's lungs burned from the damp air as she kept pace with Adrian. His grip on her wrist was iron, his other hand clutching a black duffel that clinked faintly with every step — guns, ammunition, maybe worse.
Silas stayed behind to cover their retreat, but the echoes of snarls and breaking wood told her the safehouse wouldn't last much longer.
They burst into the overgrown clearing where Adrian's black SUV waited, engine already rumbling. He shoved her inside, slammed the door, and in seconds they were tearing down the dirt road, tires spitting mud.
Through the fog, golden eyes flashed. Wolves moved like ghosts alongside the vehicle, appearing and vanishing between the trees.
"They're toying with us," Adrian muttered, his voice low, dangerous. "Waiting for the Alpha to give the order."
"Alpha?" Elara's voice was breathless, but not entirely from the run.
He didn't look at her. "Leader of the pack. And this one's not mine."
A shape launched from the darkness, slamming into the passenger side hard enough to make the SUV sway. Elara cried out, clutching the seatbelt as Adrian swerved, clipping the wolf with the rear fender. It rolled into the ditch, but another was already taking its place.
Then she heard it — a howl that froze her blood.
It wasn't like the others. It was deeper, older. Commanding. Every other sound — the growls, the pounding paws — stopped at once, as if the world itself was holding its breath.
And then she saw him.
The Alpha.
He stepped from the mist ahead, tall and broad, his human form almost too perfect. Black hair slicked back, eyes the unnatural gold of molten metal. Shirtless despite the cold, his skin bore deep claw scars, each one a mark of survival.
Adrian's hands tightened on the wheel. "Stay down."
But the Alpha smiled — slow, deliberate — and lifted his chin. "You found her," he called, voice carrying effortlessly over the distance. "The lost Queen."
Elara's heart lurched.
"You have no idea what you're talking about," Adrian growled back through the open window.
"Oh, I do," the Alpha said. His eyes locked on hers, and for a second, it felt like he could see every hidden part of her — the silver light, the pull, the power she didn't understand. "And I'm going to take her home."
The fog behind him shifted. Dozens of wolves stepped forward, their bodies tense, their teeth bared.
"Over my dead body," Adrian snarled.
The Alpha's grin widened. "That can be arranged."
Adrian slammed his foot on the accelerator. The SUV roared forward. The Alpha didn't move until the last second, springing into the air with inhuman grace. He landed on the roof, claws digging into metal. The car bucked under his weight.
Elara screamed as Adrian swerved, trying to shake him loose. But the wolves were closing in from all sides.
Something inside her stirred again — the same thrum she'd felt in the safehouse, stronger now, demanding to be unleashed. Her fingers tingled, heat building in her chest.
And she knew — if she didn't use it, Adrian wouldn't survive the next minute.