Chapter 155 WHERE?

Chapter 155 WHERE?


The cold bit into the open cuts on Alex’s chest.

He could feel each one. The four lines Ivan’s claws had left. The split on his lip. The bruise blooming under his ribs where the magic had made Ivan’s fist hit harder than any man should. 

He stood in the middle of the dirt road and stared at two sets of tire tracks.

They led east. Into the fog. Into nothing.

Behind him, the packhouse was a mile back. He could still hear them. The murmur of 200 wolves trying to figure out what had just happened. Elder Varro’s voice, thin and old, trying to call order.

One of Ivan's men was there too. Leaning against a tree like he’d just finished a jog. His arm was in a sling. He hadn’t even been in the circle.

“They’re gone,”   “Orders.”

Alex didn’t answer.

He was still cataloging smells.  
Gasoline. Rubber. Fear.  
Mia’s shampoo. Faint, like she’d been in the back seat and pressed her head to the window.  
Milk. Sara. 

Gone.

He’d won.  
He’d made Ivan cry surrender in front of everyone.  
He’d done exactly what they asked.

And they’d taken her anyway.

His chest didn’t hurt. Not the cuts.  
It was the space under his ribs. The place where the bond lived.  
It felt like someone had reached in and scooped it out with cold hands.

The wolf inside him paced. Run. Hunt. Tear.
Alex kept his hands in fists. Kept his breathing even.  
Not yet. If he lost it now, they’d have the reason they needed.

“Alessandro!” Varro’s voice cracked across the distance. “The Council requires you!”

Alex turned. Walked back.  
Barefoot. Blood drying on his skin.  
The crowd parted for him but no one met his eyes.

Ivan was sitting on one of the river stones that marked the circle. His shoulder was wrapped in a dirty bandage. Kane’s bullet.  
His face was a mess. Purple and split.  
But he was smiling.

“You did good,” the elder said when Alex stopped in front of him. “Really. For an old man.”

Alex didn’t look at him.

He bent, picked up his jeans from where he’d dropped them. Pulled them on. His phone was in the pocket, buzzing.

Unknown number.  
Then again.  
And again.

The third time he answered.

He didn’t say hello.

“Alessandro.”  
Ivan’s voice. But not the Ivan sitting 3 feet away. This Ivan was in a car. He could hear the engine, the road.

Alex said nothing.

“You won,” Ivan said. He sounded pleased. “I’m proud of you. I really am.”

Still nothing.

“And you lost,” Ivan went on. “That’s the part you haven’t figured out yet.”

Alex closed his eyes.

“Where are they?”

“Safe,” Ivan said. “Mia’s mad. The baby’s loud. But safe. For now.”

“Where.”

“That depends on you, Nephew.” A pause. Road noise. “You sign the papers. Abdication. Effective immediately. You walk away from Black Fang. Alone.”

The words landed like stones in still water.

“You do that,” Ivan said, “and you get them back tonight. I swear it. Unharmed.”  
Another pause.  
“You don’t... and the Council votes at noon to strip you anyway. And I keep them. Luna and heir belong to the Alpha. That’s pack law. That’s always been pack law.”

Alex opened his eyes.

Across the circle, the elders were watching. Varro, Marek, Coren, Hoss.  
Kane was standing with them.  
Head down.  
Wouldn’t look up.

The trap.

Round one. The cheating elders.  
Round two. The men slipping out.  
Round three. Someone walking Mia away while everyone watched Alex bleed.

It had never been about the fight.

“Was it ever real?” Alex asked. His voice sounded far away to himself. “Any of it?”

Ivan laughed. “The fight was real. You hit hard. I’ve got the bruises to prove it.”  
“Not the fight,” Alex said. “This. Us. Family.”

“Oh,” Ivan said. “That?”  
More laughter.  
“No, Alessandro. That was always business.”

The call ended.

The phone felt heavy in his hand.

Silence.
The wind in the trees.  
The distant sound of a car on the old road, getting farther away.

He looked at Ivan. Still sitting on the stone, still smiling.  
He looked at the elders.  
He looked at Kane.

No one spoke.

Alex put the phone in his pocket.

He could feel it now. The thing under his skin.  
The wolf.  
It wanted out. It wanted blood. It wanted to find the scent and follow it until there was nothing left but bone.

He took a breath.  
Then another.

Not yet.

If he broke now, he’d never see them again.

He turned.  
Walked past the circle.  
Past the elders.  
Past Kane.

Up the steps of the packhouse.  
Inside.

The door shut behind him with a sound like a coffin closing.

He leaned against it.

Alone.

Barefoot. Bleeding.  
And for the first time in years, Alex De Luca had no idea what came next.

Outside, a voice shouted: "Council convenes at noon!"

Noon.  
Four hours.

Four hours to decide if he was an Alpha or a father.  
As if he’d ever been allowed to be both.

The packhouse was too quiet.

No cooking. No pups running. No music.  
Just the sound of boots on wood and the occasional cough from a wolf who didn’t know what else to do with his hands.

Alex walked through it like a ghost.

Barefoot. Jeans. The cuts on his chest had stopped bleeding but they were still open. He didn’t wash them. He wanted the pain. It kept the wolf quiet.

8:17 AM.  
Four hours and forty-three minutes until noon.

He started with Elder Hoss.

Hoss was in the kitchen. Sitting alone with tea that had gone cold. His hands shook when Alex pulled out the chair across from him.

“Where are they,” Alex said.

Hoss didn’t look up. “I don’t know what you—”

“Don’t.” Alex’s voice was soft. “Where. Is. My. Wife.”

Hoss’s throat bobbed. “Council decision. It’s not my—”

Alex leaned forward. Elbows on the table.  
“You chanted in the circle. You fed him. I heard you.”  
He smiled. It wasn’t a nice smile. “When I find her, I’m gonna remember that. For later.”

He stood. Left Hoss staring into his tea.

Name one.

Elder Marek was in the armory. Counting guns. Like counting would make what they did okay.

Marek was younger. 50s. He’d been the one to suggest the circle be “to the death.”

Alex shut the door behind him.  
The sound echoed.

Marek turned. Saw him. Dropped the clipboard.  
“Alessandro—”

“Where.”

“I can’t— Council voted—”

Alex took one step. Then another.  
He stopped a foot away. He could smell Marek’s sweat. Fear.

“You put hands on my daughter,” Alex said. Quiet. “You let them take a baby into a car before dawn.”  
He tilted his head. “When I’m done with this, I’m coming back for you. Just so you know.”

He walked out.  
Left Marek shaking.

Name two.

Elder Coren was in his office. Praying.  
Or pretending to.

He had the old book open. The one with pack law written in Russian.  

Alex didn’t knock.

Coren looked up. His face went white.  
“You should not be—”

“Where did they take them?.”

“I don’t have that information.”

Alex nodded. Once.  
He reached across the desk. Closed the book.  
“Then I’ll ask again at noon. And if you still don’t have it, I’ll assume you do. And I’ll act accordingly.”

Coren opened his mouth. Closed it.

Alex left.  
The door didn’t slam. It clicked.

Name three.

Elder Varro.

Varro was on the porch. Watching the road. Like he expected Ivan to come back with answers.

He was the oldest. The one who had told Alex  to run.

Alex sat next to him on the step. Didn’t look at him.

“You taught me the law,” Alex said.

“I did.”

“You taught me that an Alpha protects his own.”

“I did.”

“So why,” Alex said. He finally turned. “Why did you let them take her.”

Varro’s eyes were wet. “Because if we didn’t, Ivan would have killed her. And the baby. And then killed you anyway.”  
He swallowed. “This way, you live. You can fight him later.”

Alex stared at him.  
For a long time.

Then he stood.  
“You’re wrong,” he said. “I’m not gonna fight him later.”  
He looked down the road. East.  
“I’m gonna fight him now.”

He walked away.

Name four.

Kane.

Kane was in the basement. Packing a bag.  
Like he was going to run before noon.

He froze when Alex came in.

“I didn’t—” Kane started. “They said they’d hurt Seraphina…

If I didn’t—”

Alex held up a hand.  
“I’m not here to yell.”  
He pulled out a chair. Sat.  
“Where are they, Kane.”

Kane’s eyes filled. “I don’t know. Ivan didn’t tell me. He said it was safer that way.”

Alex nodded.  
“Did you hold her? Mia. When they tied her.”

Kane broke. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I—”

“Shut up.” Alex wasn’t angry. He was empty.  
He stood. Walked to the door.  
Paused.  
“When I get them back, you’re not gonna be in Black Fang anymore. Understand?”

Kane nodded, crying.

Alex closed the door.

Eighteen minutes until noon.

Alex stood in the center of the main hall.

Four elders. One traitor.  
None of them had given him a location.  
None of them had begged.  
None of them had looked him in the eye and told the truth.

Good.

He had a list now.

The wolf in his chest had stopped pacing.  
It was sitting. Waiting.  
Patient.

Footsteps.  

Ivan's right hand man came in. “Council’s ready, Alpha.”

Alex didn’t correct him. Didn’t say former Alpha.

He walked.

Down the hall.  
Past the portraits of past Alphas.  
Past the stone where his father had been crowned.

Into the council room.

Ivan was already there. Sitting in Alex’s chair.  
The elders were in a line.  
20 witnesses stood along the walls.

Ivan grinned. “You’re late.”

Alex didn’t sit.  
He stood at the head of the table.  
Looked at each of them.  
Hoss. Marek. Coren. Varro.  
Then Kane by the door.

Then Ivan.

“I have a question,” Alex said. His voice filled the room.  
“Before we vote. Before we do anything.”

Ivan waved a hand. “Ask.”

Alex smiled.  
It was the same smile he’d given Hoss.  
The same smile he’d given Marek.

“Where,” he said. “Are. My. Wife. And. Daughter.”

Silence.

No one answered.

Ivan shrugged. “Like I said on the phone. That depends on you.”

Alex nodded.  
“Okay.”

He put his hands on the table.

And he waited.

Because at noon,  
someone was going to talk.  
And if no one did...  
then he was done waiting.

If he went feral now it was worth it. He didn't want his wife or daughter to meet the same fate as his mother.