Victoria
I couldn’t believe what Leo and I had just done in the backseat of the car—wild, reckless, nothing like the version of who had always kept her composure. Even after we’d hastily cleaned up, I could feel his gaze still clinging to , heavy and burning, making my skin prickle as though we hadn’t just given in to desire.
No, Victoria. Don’t lose focus now. I shoved lightly against Leo’s chest when he leaned in for another kiss, forcing my tone to sharpen. "Enough. We need to talk strategy, not... this."
He only smirked, the kind of slow, predatory smile that made my stomach flip and my wolf stir.
"What would you do if you were in my position?" I asked, trusting his strategic mind.
"I’d stop waiting for Marcus to corner you," Leo said smoothly, his voice low and edged with danger. "He expects you to cower. So instead, we move first."
"A preemptive strike?" I frowned, my arms crossing instinctively. "That could blow everything open before we’re ready."
Leo’s lips curved into that infuriatingly confident smile. "Not an attack. A maneuver. We put troops near the mining complex, under the cover of your shiny new security initiative. Just enough to make Marcus sweat, not enough to reveal how much we really know."
His words slid into place like pieces on a chessboard, and for a mont I simply watched him—this man who thrived on the ga itself, always several moves ahead.
"And while he’s busy panicking over the obvious," I murmured, catching on, "we send in a smaller team. Quiet. Surgical. They confirm Enzo and Aurora’s whereabouts."
Leo’s eyes glead, approval flashing in their midnight depths. "Exactly. That’s an Alpha move."
The praise hit harder than I expected, sparking warmth low in my chest. Ava stirred inside, her voice sharp and proud. He doesn’t just want us—he respects us. He sees us.
By the ti the car rolled through the iron gates of Howlthorne Manor, the sun was sinking, bleeding orange and crimson across the mountains. Shadows stretched long across the manicured lawns. Guards stood like statues at the edge of the drive, rifles slung but eyes sharp. Every detail whispered readiness for war.
In my suite, I stripped off the council suit and tugged on black tactical pants, a fitted long-sleeve shirt, boots laced tight. The reflection staring back from the mirror startled . Not the trembling woman from weeks ago, but soone carved from resolve and fire. Soone who could stand shoulder to shoulder with an Alpha.
A knock, then Leo entered—also changed, his tactical gear hugging his broad shoulders and lean waist. He was pure, lethal power, and my pulse betrayed at the sight.
"Ready?" His gaze dragged slowly down my fra, sparking heat that clashed with the cool steel of the mission ahead.
"As I’ll ever be." I forced my tone steady, ignoring the way his look unraveled . Now was not the ti.
But then his hands found my hips, grounding , pulling close. Our lips crashed together, hungry, claiming, until breathless air was the only thing keeping us apart.
When we finally broke apart, his forehead pressed to mine, his voice a dark growl. "When this is over, I’m going to take my ti with you. Hours, Victoria. I want every single second."
A shiver raced down my spine, heat curling low in my belly. Ava purred with feral anticipation.
I tilted my head, daring to smirk. "Is that a threat or a promise, Alpha?"
His grin was wicked, dangerous. "Both."
---
The abandoned factory lood before us like a beast’s skeleton—all rusted tal bones and empty eye sockets where windows once were. Moonlight painted everything in stark silver and shadow as our convoy pulled to a stop about a hundred yards from the main entrance.
Ava stirred restlessly inside , more agitated than I’d ever felt her. *Sothing’s wrong,* she whispered.
Leo’s hand found mine in the darkness of the SUV, his touch grounding when everything else felt like it was spinning out of control. His thumb traced small circles against my palm, a gesture that felt oddly intimate amid the tension of our mission.
"Teams of three," Leo commanded as we exited the vehicles, his voice shifting into pure Alpha authority. "Sweep pattern, radio silence unless you find sothing. Victoria stays with ."
Tiny stepped forward, his massive fra blocking the moonlight. "We’ve confird no heat signatures inside, but Alpha Marcus is clever. Could be using jamrs."
"Which is exactly why we’re proceeding with caution," Leo replied, checking his sidearm with practiced efficiency. "Carson, I want you on the tech. Anything electronic in there, I want to know about it."
Carson nodded, his equipnt bag slung over his shoulder. In the pale light, his usually smooth features looked sharp, predatory.
Lilith paced anxiously at the periter, her nostrils flaring as she tried to catch any trace of her husband’s scent. The bond between mates was powerful, almost mystical in its connection. If Enzo was close, she would sense him.
"I sll blood," she suddenly hissed, her eyes flashing gold as her wolf surged forward. "His blood."
My heart clenched painfully in my chest. Despite everything—despite the years of tornt and his ultimate betrayal—Enzo was still my brother. The thought of him bleeding, suffering at Marcus’s hands, made sothing fierce and protective rise within .
Leo’s hand settled on my lower back, a small gesture of support as we advanced toward the factory entrance. The heavy tal door groaned in protest as Tiny forced it open, the sound echoing through the cavernous space beyond.
Inside, the air was thick with dust and the lingering sll of chemicals. Our flashlight beams cut through darkness, revealing concrete floors stained with decades of industrial use and sothing fresher, darker—splashes of what could only be blood.
"Over here," Lilith called, her voice breaking as she crouched beside a pile of torn fabric. As I drew closer, my stomach twisted in recognition—the shredded remains of one of Enzo’s expensive shirts, soaked through with blood.
"They were keeping them here," Leo said, his flashlight beam sweeping across a makeshift cell in the corner. A thin mattress lay on the floor, surrounded by empty water bottles and food wrappers. Heavy chains with manacles were bolted to the wall, and more disturbing, there were scratch marks—deep, desperate gouges in the concrete that could only have been made by werewolf claws.
I knelt beside the mattress, my fingers brushing against the rough fabric. "Two distinct scents," I murmured, Ava helping parse through the olfactory information. "Enzo and... a female. Aurora."
"Alpha," Tiny called from across the room. "You need to see this."
We hurried over to where he stood examining a wall of smashed electronics. Among the debris, I could make out fragnts of monitors, hard drives, and the splintered remains of security caras.
"They left in a hurry," Leo observed, his expression dark. "Destroyed everything that might tell us where they went."
Carson crouched beside the wreckage, already sorting through components with expert hands. "Not everything," he said, carefully extracting a damaged but intact mory card from the ruins of what appeared to be a DVR system. "If there’s anything recoverable on this, I’ll find it."
"How recent is the blood?" I asked Lilith, who was still crouched beside my brother’s torn shirt, her fingers trembling as they hovered over the stains.
"Hours," she whispered, anguish etched across her face. "Maybe less. He was alive when they moved him, but..." Her voice broke. "He’s in pain. I can feel it through our bond."
Leo’s jaw tightened, the muscle working beneath his skin. "Marcus is smart. He knew we’d eventually track them here." His dark eyes t mine. "This is a ssage. He’s showing us he’s always one step ahead."
Frustration and fear collided inside , making my hands shake. I turned away from the group, needing a mont to collect myself. That’s when it happened—Ava surged forward with such force that I nearly gasped aloud, my vision briefly blurring as my wolf’s instincts overwheld my own.
*There,* she insisted, drawing my attention to a seemingly ordinary section of the concrete floor near the far wall. *Sothing’s beneath us.*
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