Chapter 2

Zane’s POV

“My King?” the delta said, causing me to stop and face him. I was heading back to my office after the fencing lesson with my son. Cain was a fast learner and soon he’d be able to beat even his seniors. Perhaps I should find him a private tutor or---

“We have a problem,” the delta stuttered, clearly nervous. His hands were shaking slightly as he reached out for the tablet. Papers were a thing of the past and I for one hated the wasteful things. I liked my trees in the forest, not on my desk as clutter…

“What’s the problem?” I growled, not in the mood to even out my voice. My wolf was in a foul mood – the beast always was these days. More feral than sane on the good days and today he was pissed. He was angry that Noah had been there to help our son.

That should have been our job!

And he was pissed because I wasn’t going to go to Eva’s kindergarten performance tonight. Like my son, my daughter would learn to be strong. She’d learn not to need anyone in her life – not even her own father. And as soon as she was old enough, she’d go through the same training as her brother had. I wasn’t going to go easy on her just because she was a girl.

If anything, I needed to be even harder on her.

Females were weak!

But my daughter wouldn’t be…!

I took the tablet and looked at the screen. Instantly, my skin turned cold at what I saw. From the bird’s eye view of the camera, it was clear that it was a body of some sort. But that wasn’t the worst part.

This place…

It was the exact same spot where my mate had died…!

“Did you check this?” I asked, refusing to let my reaction show. But I guessed I was doing a pretty bad job at hiding how stiff my body had become. How tension rode my every muscle and the coldness that had seeped into my blood.

Fear…

Even a year later, I was still as weak as I’d been that day. I still shook and trembled with barely suppressed fear as I surveyed the border that had been my mate’s final resting place.

And in the wake of fear came rage!

Who?

Who dared to force me back there?

Who dared to soil her memory?

Who dared to challenge me?

“We---,” the delta swallowed hard, and the scent of fear wafted towards me. I was tempted to snarl at him and tell him to act like a fucking werewolf, worthy of the title I’d bestowed on him. But perhaps he was smart to fear me. After all…

I’d killed people for less lately…

“We reviewed the camera feed,” he continued, once he got his bearings. “There seems to be a glitch lasting about a minute and then the body is there.” He looked up to meet my gaze but didn’t manage to hold it. Instead, he fumbled with something on the tablet, busying himself with trivial things.

Good!

Otherwise, I might have killed him…

“The body had been there less than 10 minutes, my king,” he continued, showing me some timestamps. As if I couldn’t read it myself!

Incompetent!

I thrust the tablet back into his hand and spun to return to where I came from. My wolf was furious, not wanting to go anywhere near where our mate had died. His rage slipped passed some of my defenses, and I could feel how the pack cowered and shrunk back from the intensity.

But I kept on walking…

No more weakness!

I was going back. I would find out who was taunting me and rip them apart. And if it were the same people – if the Black Wolf was back! – I would kill them slowly.

I would avenge my mate…

My wolf howled in my head, his rage so thick I could taste it in my mouth. Blood, I realized. I had clenched my teeth so hard that my gums were bleeding. My wolf pressed and battered against my skin, making my entire body tremble with the effort to keep him down. He hadn’t been sane ever since the moment we lost our mate. He hadn’t talked to me either. Just howled, growled, and snarled his grief and rage. The only time he was happy, was when there was blood on our muzzle…

Blood and more blood…

I hated that my wolf had become this--- monster!

He used to be a good wolf. A good alpha and someone who loved his kingdom. He used to be a good mate and a--- a good father.

We weren’t any of those things anymore…

I was barely a husk of a man. I ate and I slept, but neither gave any meaning to my life. I fucked and fought, not caring who was under me or who was in front of me. I was just existing until the day when my son could take over as king and then---

Then I’d join my mate…

A part of me was bitter that I hadn’t joined her the day she left. Bitter and resentful that I’d been left to live without her. That I had to fight the darkness that surrounded me. That I couldn’t leave, because my son and daughter still needed me here. That I had to be strong for them when in reality…

I was weak!

I was the weakest of them all, because no matter how hard I fought – no matter how desperately I’d tried to reach her or how many my wolf had killed---

I didn’t save her…!

Carefully I let my human flesh melt away and shifted into my wolf form. It was a delicate process since I couldn’t just give him control and let him take over. If I gave in to him for just a fraction of a second, he’d have his jaws locked around someone’s throat. Because he didn’t care who he killed. He would kill every last werewolf in existence if it meant avenging his mate. Unfortunately for him, I knew that that was not how the world worked. That as king, I couldn’t afford myself that luxury.

So my meaningless existence continued…

When we reached the border, I shifted back, dressing just like any other male surrounding us. Noah was already there and in many ways, my brother looked like me. Dark hair and even darker eyes. Sharp jaw and a powerful build. But despite being 3 years younger than me, he still managed to grow taller than me.

Fucking bastard…

“You didn’t have to come,” he said low, so the conversation remained private, which was why he got away with the informality. I knew he was just trying to look out for me, seeing that my wolf was on the edge of going insane. But I pushed past him, heading straight for the body. I pushed my son hard to weed out any weakness – I would albeit by the same rules.

I wouldn’t show weakness!

I would just BE weak…

And the next second I wished that I’d taken my brother’s advice. Because the body littering the ground had a gasp slipping past my lips and my wolf howling in rage.

Helena!

No---!

Not Helena…

But someone who looked exactly like her…!

Same fiery red hair, and the same milky white skin. Same height, same build, and same body shape. Hell, someone had even gone through the trouble of dressing her the same way my mate used to.

And that was when I realized…

She was placed for us to find her!

For me to come looking for her and---

And what?

Hoping that the last threads of my wolf’s sanity would snap? In that case, it was working. Because claws were digging into my skin. My skin felt like it was about to burst. My wolf was screaming so loudly in my mind, I couldn’t hear a word that was spoken among the people examining the ground.

Tending to the body…

“I think it’s safe to say that they are back, Your Highness,” my beta spoke softly next to me, no longer my blood brother, but the man who helped me rule this kingdom.

I nodded stiffly, gripping his shoulder before I turned and walked away…

THEY!

The people who’d kidnaped my daughter…

The Black Wolf who’d killed my mate!

They were back…!

I remembered the only thing that kept me going in those early days. The only thing that kept me living was the hunt for THEM! It had been my sole purpose. Everything else came second. Sleep, food, children… But months passed by, and the trail went cold. Their scent, sparse as they’d been in the first place, disappeared. Just like her scent disappeared from our bed…

And that’s when my wolf decided to lose his shit…

When I was far enough away from everybody, I finally relinquished the tight control I had on my wolf and let him out. A furious howl split the air and he darted off into the woods. He hunted down big and small animals, killing them without a second thought, before tearing into the next. He moved further and further away from the border and deeper and deeper into unclaimed territory.

And I let him…

He hated life just as much as I did. I was just pushing through the motions. I didn’t feel much of anything anymore. Not sadness or anger. Not hunger or fatigue. All I was, was my wolf’s fury that burned like a raging inferno in my veins.

Never ceasing…

Never easing…

It felt like a blow to the head, when my raging, partly insane wolf suddenly stopped and lifted his head. Worried that he might have caught the scent of another werewolf, I quickly pushed forward, battling him for control. He growled his displeasure, but in the end, his will gave in to mine, and I shifted back. My body was coated in sweat and my breath came out in short pants, as I regained my bearing. Then, I lifted my head and sniffed the air, wanting to know what had momentarily distracted my wolf…

Human…

Males!

Two, perhaps more.

And something else---

Female?!

That couldn’t be!

This was the middle of nowhere, dash smack in the middle of Yellowstone somewhere. My kingdom bordered the human reservation, providing the perfect cover when our wolves got a little wild in the forest. Or when we needed to dispose of a body that surely would never be found again…

Nobody in their right mind would ever bring a woman out here!

But poachers?

That was another story…

Growling, I hunted down the scent, determined to take those fuckers out and mount them on my wall, the same way they would decorate their walls with the illegal kill. And for once, I wasn’t fighting my wolf about wanting to kill someone.

How grand…

I headed in the direction where the scents seemed to be the strongest. The scent was faint and could be several days old, so there was a chance that they’d already left the area. But I wanted to be sure! Perhaps there was a king in me somewhere still, if I cared enough to---

The pain was sudden and unexpected. I’d been so intent on following the faint scent, that I hadn’t been paying attention to my surroundings. The beartrap dug its razor-sharp teeth into my leg and I didn’t just feel it when the bone snapped.

I could hear it!

The sound was a sickening mixture of bones breaking and muscles tearing. I opened my mouth to howl as hot, searing pain blindsided me. But no sound left my lips.

I couldn’t even scream…

I fell forward. My hands were still wrapped around the injured leg and didn’t catch my fall. I went tumbling down and---

More pain blasted through my skull. But luckily, it didn’t last long, as my world was thrown into total darkness…