She paced, her breathing uneven, eyes wild.
"This is Roman. He's trying to break me."
Damien checked the door frame. "No signs of forced entry. Whoever came in had access."
Elena's eyes narrowed. "Inside job?"
"Maybe. Or they used magic."
"Roman wouldn't use magic."
Damien's silence said otherwise.
She stepped toward him. "Would he?"
Damien looked grim. "He's desperate. If he's made a deal with witches, Elena, we're in a different kind of war."
Elena closed her eyes, rage pulsing behind her ribs.
"Then I'm done playing defense."
By dawn, the pack square was already stirring.
Elena stood on the stone platform normally reserved for announcements by the Alpha.
She didn't wait for permission.
She grabbed the horn and spoke.
"My name is Elena Blake. Some of you remember me as the former Luna. Some of you were taught to forget me."
Pack members began to gather, faces confused, cautious, curious.
She held up the photo of Leo.
"This is my son. He was taken from my home last night. There was no breach. No alarm. That means someone from inside this pack helped him disappear."
A low murmur spread.
"I've kept quiet for years," she continued. I stayed silent when you whispered that I wasn't a true Sterling. I stayed silent when my marriage fell apart, when I was marked unworthy because I couldn't shift. But today, I speak. Because you don't need a wolf to protect what's yours. You need a mother. And a mother will burn the world to the ground if it means getting her child back."
Several gasps broke out.
Roman appeared in the crowd, stepping forward slowly, arms folded.
"Bold words for someone without proof."
Elena locked eyes with him.
"You want proof?" she called out. "Then ask him where he was the night my father died."
All eyes turned to Roman.
"Ask him who gave the rogues our pack's patrol patterns. Ask him who tried to erase me to make room for his own rise to power."
Roman's jaw tensed, but he kept his voice calm.
"I know you're grieving. You've always been emotional. But this is not the way."
"Elena," a new voice cut in from the edge of the square.
Sebastian.
She turned as he approached, eyes serious, not cold for once.
"I just heard," he said quietly. "About Leo."
Her voice cracked. "He's gone, Sebastian. They took him."
He reached for her, but she stepped back.
"I'm going to find him," she said. "With or without your help."
Sebastian nodded. "Then let me help."
"You don't get to step in now and play hero."
"I know," he said. "But I'm still his father. And I won't let anything happen to him."
Her lip trembled.
Damien appeared beside her, holding a map.
"We found something," he said. "Blood. About half a mile into the eastern woods. Just a drop. Leo's. But it's fresh."
Roman's face twitched.
"Why would you send rogues to the east?" Elena asked, watching him carefully.
"I didn't send anyone," Roman said.
"Then let's prove it."
She jumped from the platform.
"Everyone who stands with me," she shouted, "meet me at the training grounds in fifteen minutes." We're going to bring Leo home."
She didn't wait for applause or permission.
She marched straight to the woods.
And this time, she wasn't walking as a forgotten Luna.
She was walking as a mother on a mission.
And no one, no one would stop her.
The woods were silent.
Too silent.
Elena moved through the tall pines with her senses on high alert, Sebastian flanking her right and Damien just behind. The rest of their team, eight trusted wolves and two trackers, fanned out across the eastern edge of the territory, moving like shadows between the trees.
They were hunting.
But they weren't alone.
Damien stopped abruptly, crouching near a patch of crushed leaves.
"Blood," he whispered, lifting a stained twig. "Still fresh."
Elena's heart squeezed. "Leo?"
Sebastian stepped closer, sniffed once, then growled low. "Yes. It's his scent."
Her stomach twisted. "We're close."
They moved deeper into the forest, following the trail through winding roots and moss-covered rocks. Moonlight filtered through the branches above, casting everything in silver and shadows.
Then they heard it.
A sharp, echoing howl.
It wasn't a call for help.
It was a warning.
"Get ready," Damien muttered, already beginning to shift.
Elena stepped back as fur tore through his skin, bones cracking and reforming until his massive black wolf stood beside her, lips curled and eyes glowing.
Sebastian followed, shifting in a fluid motion into his alpha form, silver-gray fur with a black streak down his back, teeth bared, already snarling.
Two more wolves appeared from behind the trees, the rogues.
Scarred, feral, and reeking of blood.
They didn't wait for introductions.
The rogues lunged.
Sebastian met the first one head-on with a bone-shaking impact, the sound of jaws snapping and growls ripping through the silence.
The second rogue tried to flank him, but Damien was faster, slamming into the rogue's side and dragging it across the forest floor, teeth tearing into its shoulder.
Elena grabbed a silver dagger from her belt and moved around the edge of the fight, scanning the tree line. Her heart pounded in her ears.
"Leo!" she shouted. "Leo, can you hear me?"
Another snarl erupted to her left. She turned just as a third rogue burst from the underbrush, teeth aimed at her throat.
She ducked, slashing upward, the silver blade catching the rogue across its face. It yelped and stumbled back.
Damien pounced before it could recover, sinking his fangs into its neck and shaking until the rogue went limp.
"Elena, move!" Sebastian growled from across the clearing, still locked in a brutal clash with the largest rogue yet.
Claws scraped against bark. Fur flew. Blood splattered the grass.
Elena turned just in time to see Sebastian thrown against a tree, his ribs crunching against the trunk.
The rogue towered over him massively, nearly black, eyes glowing red.
An Alpha rogue.
It growled low and started to lunge again.
Before it could reach Sebastian, a smaller figure darted into the clearing from the opposite side.
"Elena!" a voice shouted.
Her heart stopped.
Leo.
He was barefoot, covered in mud, eyes wide but alive.
He ran toward her, but the rogue turned.
"No!" Elena screamed and launched herself forward.
The rogue beat her to it, spinning toward Leo with murder in its eyes.
Then everything stopped.
Leo let out a sharp cry, except it wasn't fear.
It was power.
His small body shimmered.
And then, right before everyone's eyes, Leo shifted.
It wasn't a full shift, more like a partial burst of energy, but it was enough. His eyes glowed gold, and a wave of force slammed into the rogue mid-charge, throwing it back ten feet.
The pack froze.
Even the rogues hesitated.
Leo stood there, panting, staring at his hands in shock.
"Elena," Sebastian gasped, limping toward her. "Did he just.?"
"He has a wolf," she whispered.
And not just any wolf.
A born Alpha.
The rogue scrambled to its feet, more furious now, blood dripping from its jaw.