CHAPTER 10

Ryder

I hadn’t slept since the night she vanished.

Aura.

Her name had become a ghost in my mind, haunting the edges of every thought, and every decision. The pack moved on, the ceremonies went on, and Leona claimed her place beside me in the packhouse. But my wolf had grown restless, roaming inside me with sharp teeth and fierce snarls, lamenting the void she left behind.

I should have killed her the night she ran.

The thought slithered through my thoughts like a deadly serpent. But how could I? Aura was...mine. My mark burned on her body, a stinging reminder that she belonged to me, even if I was too much of a coward to claim her in front of the pack. Instead, I carried Leona around like a prize, a carefully chosen Luna to satisfy alliances and conventions.

But every night since Aura disappeared, her scent has tormented my senses. It stuck to my blankets and soaked into my skin. No matter how much I tried to drown it out with others, it was her face I saw, her body I craved.

The way she shivered under my touch, sweet whimpers pouring from her lips as I took her again and again, claiming what was mine. Her warmth, her submission, her fire. No one else compares. No one could.

Even now, Leona’s presence grated on me. Her voice, her scent, it was all wrong. I only wanted Aura. I wanted to rip through every mile of forest until I dragged her back by her hair and made her remember who she belonged to.

Every report I received from my scouts brought nothing but dead ends, until this morning.

When the scout reported a scent—faint, barely lingering in the outskirts of rogue territory—I knew it was hers. My hands gripped the armrest of my chair, a storm gathering in my chest.

“Aura,” I whispered into the dark of my office.

“She’s alive,” Caleb, my Beta, had whispered, eyes wide.

The words shattered something inside me. A sharp, possessive hunger clawed at my chest.

Mine.

Aura was mine.

I would find her. I’d tear apart every rogue hideout, every human town until she was beneath me again. I didn’t care if she fought. I didn’t care if she begged. She would return.

The deal with the rogue witch had ensured that our bond would be masked.

I hated that deal.

I hated myself more for needing it.

Before I knew it, the flashback came without permission.

~~~~

Flashback

The witch’s den stank of herbs and decay, the air thick with old magic. She had eyes like glass, pale and unblinking.

I stood beneath the cover of night in a dense stretch of the woods, the rogue witch’s campfire flickering like a living eye. Her face was veiled, her fingers long and cold as she clasped my hand.

“You’re sure about this?” she rasped.

"Mask it," I ordered, my voice raw.

"Your bond?" she asked, a knowing smile curling her lips.

She muttered something in a language older than the trees. I felt the burn on my skin and the ache in my chest as if my soul fought the lie. But the pull lessened. The unbearable need I felt toward Aura dimmed, enough for me to make the choices.

She cackled dark amusement in her shriveled face. "A strong bond, this one. You’ll crave her still. Even if the world forgets, you won’t." The witch warned.

I tossed a pouch of gold at her feet. "Do it. No one must know."

The spell burned like ice in my veins, severing the visible tether between us while leaving the craving untouched, maddening.

Aura’s POV

The air had a strange chill that morning.

I wiped my hands on my apron after closing the diner. Molly gave me a kind smile, but I barely felt it. My thoughts were heavy, my body was more tired than usual. Kai had left earlier to run patrol in the woods. He was always watching, always close.

But tonight, something different was waiting.

The envelope slipped beneath my door. No name. Just my name scrawled in harsh, uneven letters across the front. My heart thudded as I picked it up.

I hesitated before opening it.

Inside was a single piece of paper, the ink smudged in places.

Run while you can.

I stared at the words, heart hammering, the air around me suddenly too thick.

Then came another.

He’s coming.

I burned them both in the tiny sink in Kai’s kitchen, watching the flames devour the jagged handwriting.

I didn’t tell Kai. Not yet.

What would I even say? That my old Alpha, the one who made me his secret obsession, had somehow sniffed me out in a human town? That the monster I’d spent weeks escaping still lurked in the shadows of my mind?

The letters kept coming. Every few days. Sometimes slipped under the diner door. Sometimes tucked inside my locker. All unsigned.

I told myself it was just paranoia. A cruel prank.

Until the latest one.

I unfolded the paper with trembling hands.

The Alpha is coming.

I dropped it.

The words blurred as my vision swam. My wolf, buried so long beneath fear and silence, whimpered.

"No," I whispered, backing away, heart pounding.

I wasn’t ready. Not for this. Not after everything.

And somehow, I knew… Ryder wasn’t coming to beg for forgiveness.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I could still feel the ache where his mark had once burned hot.

And it began to throb again.