Chapter 82 The Impossible Decision
RYAN'S POV
The video played three times before anyone could form words that made sense. Viktor's demands hung in the air like poison gas and I watched Lisa's drugged face on that small screen until I thought my heart would crack open. He wanted all three of us in exchange for her life. Me, Adrian, Daniel. A trade that smelled like death.
"It is obviously a trap." Adrian broke the silence first and his voice was steady despite everything. "He will kill us the moment we arrive and keep Lisa anyway. Viktor does not honor deals or show mercy to enemies."
"Probably true." Daniel agreed and moved away from the table like he needed space to think. "But what choice do we have? Let him torture her while we sit here planning perfect strategies that will never work?"
My mind raced through scenarios faster than I could fully process them. We could not bring an army because Viktor would kill Lisa at the first sign of a large-scale attack. We could not refuse his demands because he would make good on his threat and I had seen enough of his work to know he meant every word. We could not negotiate because Viktor held every card worth playing and he knew it.
"We will go," I said quietly but everyone stopped moving to stare at me. "All three of us. Exactly like he wants but let us plan for contingencies that give Lisa a chance even if we do not make it out alive."
Emma stepped forward and her face showed the argument before she spoke. "That is suicide. You are talking about walking into a compound full of rogues with no backup and no real plan for extraction."
"It is the only option that keeps Lisa alive long enough for a real rescue." I looked at Adrian and Daniel and saw my own resignation reflected in their faces. "We will
volunteer ourselves to buy time. Trust that the pack will come through when it matters most."
Adrian nodded slowly and I could see him running calculations. "I am in. But I am taking the essence with me as leverage we might need. Viktor wants it badly enough that it could buy us minutes or hours when we need them."
Daniel laughed and the sound was bitter enough to taste. "Family reunion with the man who sold me to rogues when I was a child. This should be fun. Maybe I will finally get to ask him why I was not worth keeping."
We spent the next twelve hours preparing for what felt like organized suicide. Weapons that could be hidden, contingency plans that probably would not work, coded signals for the backup team to know when to storm the compound.
Marcus Krane sent word through Emma that he was suspending his challenge and offering his warriors to help with rescue operations. Even some of the rogues who attacked at the gallery sent a message through back channels saying Viktor had gone too far and they did not support kidnapping pregnant wolves.
The clock ticked toward dawn and I felt every second like a countdown to the end of everything. I kept thinking about Lisa chained and drugged while Viktor waited for us to arrive like lambs to slaughter. I kept thinking about our baby growing inside her while she suffered because of the choices I made and did not make.
I went to Lisa's quarters alone while the others finalized details. I stood in her room that still smelled like her and felt the mate bond pulling at my chest like a rope tied too tight. I looked in her mirror and saw the mate bond mark on my own neck. The silver crescent that matched hers. The physical proof of our connection.
I pulled out a knife and the silver blade caught the early morning light.
"What are you doing?" Emma's voice came from the doorway and I had not heard her follow me.
"Severance ritual." I kept my voice steady even though my hands shook slightly. "If the mate bond is intact when I die, Lisa dies too. Mate bonds are connected that way for fated pairs. If Viktor kills me during whatever ritual he has planned, the bond would pull her heart along with mine."
I pressed the tip of the silver knife against my mark and felt the burn start immediately. "I have to sever it before I go. Protect her even if everything goes wrong and I do not make it back."
Emma was crying and I could hear it in her voice. "Ryan, she will feel that severance has happened. She will know exactly what you are planning to do."
"Good." I pushed the knife deeper and felt my skin split. The pain was excruciating like burning from the inside out while someone carved through bone. "Maybe she will finally understand that some people actually love her enough to let her go instead of holding on."
The silver burned through the mark slowly and I had to force myself not to stop. Every instinct screamed to pull back but I kept cutting through the bond that connected us. The mark faded from my skin like disappearing ink. The mate bond did not break entirely but it weakened to almost nothing. A thread instead of a rope. Lisa would not die if I did now.
I dropped the knife and it clattered against the floor. My breathing came hard and fast while blood ran down my neck. "Tell her I am sorry. For everything. But especially for not doing this sooner and letting her be free of me when she deserved better."
I walked out without looking back. I heard Emma crying behind me but I could not stop moving or I would lose my nerve entirely. Adrian and Daniel waited by the vehicles and neither asked about the blood on my collar. They knew what I had done without needing words.
Emma picked up the knife I left behind and her hands shook as she examined my blood on the blade. She ran to the window and watched us drive away toward rogue territory. Toward Viktor. Toward almost certain death for a woman who might not even want to be saved by me anymore.