KADE POV
I heard Sera's scream from across the battlefield and knew—knew with absolute certainty—that something had gone catastrophically wrong.
I snapped the neck of the rogue I was fighting and ran toward the packhouse, my wolf form eating up the distance. Behind me, I heard Finn rallying the warriors to finish the battle, but I didn't care about the battle anymore.
That scream was a mother who'd just lost her children.
I shifted to human form as I hit the bunker stairs, taking them three at a time. The smell of blood hit me first—my warriors, dead. Then I saw her.
Sera was on her knees in front of the bloody message, her whole body shaking. Not crying. Worse than crying. Silent and frozen, like her soul had left her body.
"No," I breathed, reading the words. "No, no, no—"
"She took them." Sera's voice was hollow, dead. "Elena took our babies."
I fell to my knees beside her, my hands shaking as I touched the blood on the wall—still warm. "How long ago?"
"I don't know. Minutes? Hours?" Sera finally looked at me, and her eyes were empty. "I can't feel them through our bond anymore. Either they're too far away or—"
"Don't." I grabbed her shoulders. "Don't finish that sentence. They're alive. They have to be alive."
"For how long? The full moon is tomorrow night! She's going to kill them and steal their power, and I can't—I can't—"
Her breathing was coming too fast. Panic attack. I pulled her against my chest, holding her tight even though my own heart was shattering.
"We'll find them. I swear to you, we'll find them."
"How?" Sera pushed away from me, rage replacing the emptiness. "Elena could be anywhere! She had this planned from the beginning—the attack was a distraction to pull our forces away from the bunker. We walked right into her trap!"
She was right. We'd been outmaneuvered by someone who knew exactly what we'd do.
Footsteps pounded down the stairs. Lyra appeared, back in her normal form, covered in blood. "Sera! We won the battle—Marcus retreated and most of Elena's forces are dead or captured. We—" She saw our faces and went pale. "What happened?"
"Elena has the twins," I said flatly.
Lyra's expression went from shock to murderous rage in a heartbeat. "Then what are we standing here for? We hunt that bitch down and tear her apart!"
"We don't know where she is," Sera said, her voice breaking.
"Then we make someone tell us." Lyra's smile was vicious. "We captured fifteen of Elena's rogues alive. Someone knows something."
Hope flickered in Sera's eyes. She stood, and I watched her transform—grief shoved down, warrior mode activated. This was the woman who'd survived exile. She knew how to function through pain.
"Bring them all to the interrogation room," Sera ordered. "And Lyra? Don't be gentle."
Ten minutes later, we stood in front of fifteen bound rogues. Most looked terrified. A few looked defiant.
"Here's how this works," I said, my Alpha voice making them all flinch. "You tell us where Elena took the children, or my mate here practices her healing skills in reverse. And trust me—she knows exactly how to keep you alive while causing maximum pain."
Sera stepped forward, her hands beginning to glow with that silver light. But this time it looked wrong—dark silver, almost black around the edges.
"I can stop your heart and restart it," she said conversationally. "Over and over. I can make every nerve in your body feel like it's on fire. I spent five years learning to heal. You'd be amazed what that teaches you about hurting people."
I'd never seen this side of her. Cold. Clinical. Terrifying.
One rogue, a young female, started crying. "I don't know where she took them! None of us do! She doesn't trust anyone with that information!"
"Then you're useless to me." Sera's hand moved toward the girl's chest.
"Wait!" An older male rogue spoke up. "I might know something."
"Talk. Fast."
"Elena's been obsessed with the old ritual site—the Stone Circle in the Forbidden Woods. It's where ancient wolves used to perform blood magic. She's been going there for weeks, preparing something."
Sera and I exchanged glances. The Forbidden Woods were fifty miles north—neutral territory that no pack claimed because strange things happened there.
"How do we know you're telling the truth?" I demanded.
"You don't. But it's all I've got." The rogue met my eyes. "Look, I joined Elena because she promised power and revenge. I didn't sign up for murdering children. That's a line I won't cross."
Through the mate bond, I felt Sera reading him—her empathy working overtime. Finally, she nodded.
"He's telling the truth."
"Then we go. Now." I turned to Finn. "Gather our fastest warriors. Lyra, same with your rogues. We leave in five minutes."
"Kade." Sera grabbed my arm. "If Elena's at the Stone Circle, it's because she's already starting the ritual. We might already be too late."
"We're not too late. We can't be too late."
But as we ran to prepare, I felt it—a pull through the mate bond, but not from Sera. Something else. Something new.
"Do you feel that?" I asked her.
Sera's eyes widened. "The twins. I can feel them again. Faint, but—" Her face went white. "Kade, they're terrified. Both of them. And they're in so much pain."
Rage exploded through me so violently that windows shattered. Every wolf in the packhouse dropped to their knees under the weight of my Alpha power.
"Move faster!" I roared. "We leave NOW!"
Two minutes later, fifty warriors—half pack, half rogue—were running through the forest at top speed. Sera and I led them, both in wolf form, following the faint pull of our children through the bond.
The Forbidden Woods loomed ahead, dark and twisted even in daylight. The trees grew wrong here, gnarled and bent like arthritic fingers. The air smelled of old magic and death.
We slowed as we approached the Stone Circle. I could see the ancient standing stones through the trees—massive pillars of rock covered in symbols that predated modern wolf packs.
And in the center of the circle, I saw them.
Aria and Asher, bound to two stone altars with silver chains. Both were crying, struggling against their bonds. Their small bodies were covered in cuts—blood dripping onto the stone in a pattern that made my skin crawl.
Elena stood between them, chanting in a language I didn't recognize. Her hands glowed with sickly green light.
The ritual had already begun.
"No!" Sera shifted to human form and ran forward, but an invisible barrier slammed into her, sending her flying backward.
I shifted and caught her. "There's a magical barrier. We can't get through."
"Then we break it!"
I slammed my fist against the barrier. It felt like hitting solid steel. Behind it, Elena continued chanting, ignoring us completely.
Aria saw us and screamed. "Mama! Daddy! Help us!"
Asher was crying too hard to speak, his small body shaking with sobs.
"We're here, babies!" Sera shouted, pounding on the barrier. "We're going to get you out! I promise!"
Elena finally looked up, her smile triumphant. "You're too late. The blood has been spilled, the words have been spoken. When the moon rises in one hour, the transfer will complete. Their power becomes mine, and they die."
"I'll kill you!" Sera screamed, her power exploding against the barrier. Silver light met invisible wall, but nothing gave.
"You can't break it," Elena said smugly. "This barrier was created by ancient magic. Only blood of the caster can break it."
"Then I'll use your blood!" I roared.
"You'll have to catch me first. And you can't enter the circle." Elena laughed. "So here's your choice—stay here and watch your children die, or leave to save yourselves. Either way, at moonrise, they're mine."
She went back to chanting, ignoring our screams.
Elder Thea appeared beside us, breathing hard from running. She studied the barrier, her face grim.
"Can you break it?" I demanded.
"No. She's right—only the caster's blood can break ancient magic like this."
"Then we kill Elena and use her blood!"
"She's inside the barrier. You can't touch her."
Sera was crying now, her hands pressed against the barrier, watching our children suffer just feet away but completely unreachable.
"There has to be a way," she sobbed. "Please, Thea. There has to be something!"
Thea was quiet for a long moment, her ancient eyes calculating.
"There might be one option," she said slowly. "But Sera, you won't like it."
"I don't care. Tell me."
"The barrier blocks physical entry. But it doesn't block soul entry. If you were to project your consciousness through the mate bond—leave your body behind and enter the circle as pure spirit—you could reach the children."
"Then I'll do it."
"There's a cost," Thea warned. "If you leave your body for too long, you might not be able to get back. And if Elena kills your spirit form while you're inside, your body dies too. You'd be completely vulnerable."
"I don't care. Show me how."
"Sera, no!" I grabbed her arm. "It's too dangerous. We'll find another way."
She looked at me with eyes full of tears and steel. "There is no other way. And I'm not standing here watching our children die. If I can save them, even if it costs my life, I'm doing it."
"Then I'm coming with you," I said immediately.
"Kade—"
"Don't argue. We're mates. If you're projecting through the bond, I can anchor you. Keep you tethered so you don't get lost. We do this together."
Sera studied my face, then nodded. "Together."
Elder Thea began drawing symbols on the ground. "Lie down, both of you. Hold hands. When I complete the spell, your spirits will separate from your bodies. You'll have until moonrise—one hour. If you're not back by then, you're trapped forever."
We lay down on the forest floor, our hands clasped tight. Around us, our warriors formed a protective circle around our vulnerable bodies.
"Ready?" Thea asked.
I looked at Sera. Memorized her face in case this was the last time.
"I love you," I said. "I never stopped."
"I know," she whispered. "I feel it through the bond. And Kade? I think I'm starting to love you again too."
Before I could respond, Thea's magic slammed into us.
The world went white.
When my vision cleared, I was standing—but I could see my body lying on the ground below me. Transparent, ghost-like.
Beside me, Sera's spirit form looked the same. We locked eyes, then turned toward the barrier.
We walked through it like it wasn't even there.
Elena spun around, shock on her face. "Impossible! You can't—"
"We just did," Sera snarled.
She lunged for the twins while I went for Elena.
But Elena was faster than she should have been—already enhanced by the partial ritual. She dodged my spirit attack and raised her hands.
"You want to play in the spirit realm?" Her smile was vicious. "Let me show you what real power looks like."
Dark energy exploded from her hands, slamming into both of us.
Pain. Agony beyond anything physical.
Beside me, Sera screamed.
And on the altars, the twins started convulsing as the ritual accelerated.
We had minutes—maybe less—before everyone we loved died.