Chapter 154 GONE

Chapter 154 GONE


The dirt was frozen.  
It cracked under Alex’s bare feet.

He stood in the center of the circle.  
No shirt. No shoes. No weapon.  
Just the scar on his ribs from years ago and the new one on his shoulder from yesterday.

Across from him, Ivan.  
Black pants. No shirt either. Smiling.  
Behind Ivan:Seraphina, and 10 men who kept glancing at the tree line instead of the fight.
Alex must have thought Seraphina would change, he had given her numerous chances. Seen the loop yet allowed her to stay, knowing she could wake up any day and stab him to death for a crime Ivan committed. He had hoped that she'd see reasons, but now, she had taken that dark path.  He had waited patiently for this day. 

Around them, Black Fang.  
200 wolves. Elders in front. Pups in the back.  
Torches burning even though the sun was up.  
The air smelled like smoke and blood and old magic.

Elder Varro raised his hand. The chanting stopped.  
"Challenge of dominance," he said. "To the death. Or surrender. Begin."

Ivan moved first.

He didn’t roar. Didn’t announce it.  
He just came in.

Left hook to Alex’s jaw.  
Alex turned his head. Took it on the cheek.  
Right cross to the ribs.  
Alex absorbed it. Felt the bruise bloom.  
Low kick to the knee.  
Alex shifted his weight. Didn’t go down.

The crowd exploded.  
"IVAN! IVAN! IVAN!"

Alex didn’t hit back.  
He watched.  
Felt the air.  
Three elders at the edge of the circle. Hands in their sleeves.  
Elder Marek. Elder Coren. Elder Hoss.  
Their lips were moving. Whispering.  
Feeding Ivan strength. Pack magic. Illegal as hell.

Round 1 was a beating.

Ivan circled. Light on his feet.  
Alex stood still.  
Ivan jabbed. Alex blocked.  
Ivan feinted. Alex didn’t bite.  
Ivan hit anyway. Shoulder. Gut. Jaw.  
Nothing that would kill him yet. 
Everything that would hurt.

Alex let it land.  
Let the blood run from his lip.  
Let them think he was old.

He looked past Ivan’s shoulder.  
Mia.  
Back against the oak tree. Kane to her right.  
Sara in her arms, wrapped in Alex’s black jacket.  
Her face was white. Her eyes were on him.  
She mouthed: Don’t.

Alex gave her the smallest nod.

The bell in Varro’s hand rang.  
"Round 1. To Ivan."

The pack roared.

Ivan spat blood on the dirt. "That all you got, nephew?"

Alex wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Said nothing.

Round 2.

Ivan came faster.  
He faked left, came right.  
Claws out.  
He raked Alex across the chest.  
Four lines. Deep.  
Blood hit the dirt and sizzled.

Alex grunted.  
He grabbed Ivan’s wrist. Twisted.  
Ivan howled and pulled back.  
The crowd booed.

"Hit him!"  
"Finish it!"

Ivan obliged.  
Knee to Alex’s stomach.  
Elbow to the back of his head.  
Tackle.  
They hit the ground hard.

Dirt in Alex’s mouth.  
Ivan on top of him.  
Fists coming down.  
Face. Ribs. Face again.

Alex covered. Took it.  
Counted.  
1... 2... 3...  
On 4 he bucked. Threw Ivan off.  
Got to his feet.

He was bleeding from 5 places now.  
Ivan had one cut. On his knuckle.

More whispers from the elders.  
More magic in the air.  
Ivan’s next punch landed like a truck.  
Alex’s head snapped back.

He went to one knee.

"Stay down!" someone screamed.  
"That’s it!"

Alex stood.

Slow.  
Deliberate.  
Blood in his eyes.

He looked past Ivan again.  
Mia was gone from the tree.

His stomach dropped.

Kane was still there.  
But Seraphina wasn’t.  
And two of Ivan’s men were missing from the line.

The trap.

Round 3.

Ivan saw it too. Saw Alex looking.  
He grinned. "Distracted?"

He lunged.

This time Alex didn’t dodge.  
He caught the punch mid-air.  
Bones cracked.  
Ivan screamed.

Alex drove a fist into Ivan’s stomach.  
Felt something give.  
Drove another into his face.  
Blood sprayed.

Ivan tried to shift.  
Half-wolf came out. Claws. Teeth.  
He slashed.  
Caught Alex across the back.

Alex roared.  
Not human.

He lifted Ivan off the ground.  
Slammed him.  
Once.  
Twice.  
The third time the dirt cratered.

Ivan coughed. Shifted back. Human. Broken.  
"Yield," Alex said. His voice shook the stones.

"Fuck you," Ivan spat.

Alex grabbed his throat. Lifted him again.  
Alpha power rolled off him in waves.  
The temperature dropped.  
Wolves near the circle fell to their knees.  
Even the cheating elders staggered.

"Yield," Alex said again.

Ivan’s eyes went wide. Panic.  
"I... I yield," he choked. A broken wolf cry. Surrender.

Alex dropped him.

Silence.

For one second, no one breathed.

Alex stood in the center of the circle.  
Chest heaving.  
Bleeding.  
Victorious.

He turned.

The oak tree was empty.

Mia was gone.  
The jacket was gone.  
Sara was gone.  
Kane was gone.

Only a scrap of blue blanket on the ground.  
Caught on a root.

The world went quiet.

From the dirt, Ivan laughed. Coughing.  
"You did it," he wheezed. "You fought. You won. Just like we asked."  
He rolled to his side. Grinning with broken teeth. "And while you were busy playing Alpha..."  
He nodded toward the trees. "We did what pack law demands. Protected the Luna and heir. From you."

Alex didn’t answer.  
His hands were shaking.  
Not from the fight.

From the thing in his chest that had been chained for years since he was born.  From the thing holding him from becoming feral. 

"Where," he said.

Ivan shrugged. "County line. Maybe further. Don’t know. Wasn’t my job to know."

Elder Varro stepped forward. "The challenge is over. You won. Don’t—"

Alex didn’t hear him.

He could smell it.  
Faint. Fading fast.  
Mia’s shampoo. Fear sweat. Milk.  
Sara. Newborn and cold.

East.  
Tire tracks in the dirt.

He dropped to all fours.

Clothes tore.  
Bones broke and reset with sounds like gunshots.  
The huge black wolf came out.  
Eyes gold.  
No thought. No Alpha. Just rage.

"Stop him!"  
"He’s going feral!"  
"Someone shoot him!"

Alex ran.

He hit the tree line at full speed.  
Burst through brush.  
Tore through fences.  
His paws didn’t feel the rocks.

He followed the scent.  
Followed it to the dirt road.

Two sets of tire tracks.  
Fresh.  
Leading east toward the abandoned Caruso land.

No SUV.  
No Mia.  
No Sara.  
No Kane.

Just cold air and the smell of gasoline.

Alex stopped in the middle of the road.

He threw his head back.

And he howled.

It wasn’t a wolf sound.  
It wasn’t an Alpha sound.  
It was years of running and 3 minutes of winning and now, nothing. The death of his mother flashed right before him. 

The sound rolled through the trees and came back empty.

Footsteps behind him.  
Ivan man. Arm in a sling. Walking like he owned the place.  
"They’re gone, Alpha," he said. "Orders. Across the county line by now."

Alex turned his head. Slow.  
Growled low in his throat.

The man aised his good hand. "Don’t. Elders are coming. You kill me, you prove them right. You lose the pack."

Alex didn’t kill him.

He couldn’t.

The bond in his chest was screaming.  
Empty. Torn. Bleeding.

He looked down the road.  
Then back at the packhouse.  
Torches coming through the trees.  
Voices.  
Stoned to death. First in history.

He was alone.  
He’d won the fight by their rules.  
And they’d taken everything anyway.

The moon was still up.  
The feral was clawing at his ribs.  
And Alex De Luca had no idea where his mate and daughter were.