Chapter 64: The Alpha’s Hunt

Chapter 64: The Alpha’s Hunt

Kael’s POV

The forest would not be silent.

Everywhere I turned, I heard echoes—branches snapping like bones, leaves rustling like whispers of her name. It was madness, I knew. No one else could hear it. But my wolf prowled inside me, restless and wild, ears pricked as if the entire world conspired to remind me of what I had lost.

Fianna.

Her name was a ghost on my tongue, burned into my chest where the bond still pulsed faintly. It hadn’t snapped. That was the only thing keeping me from falling into the abyss. If it had broken, if her light had been extinguished, I would have felt it. And the world would have drowned in my rage.

But it hadn’t.

She was alive.

And yet, every hour she remained in Derek’s grasp was a blade twisting deeper into me.

I stood at the crest of a ridge, overlooking the valley scarred by battle. The earth was torn, blackened by fire, blood soaking the soil where wolves had fallen days ago. The air still stank of ash and death. My men moved through the ruins, searching, lifting debris, finding scraps of armor or claw marks carved into stone. Evidence of the fight. Evidence of what Derek had taken from me.

I should have been here.

That thought plagued me, unrelenting.

If I had not doubted her. If I had not let pride and fury blind me. If I had trusted her instead of casting her out, maybe she would still be safe. Maybe she would still be mine in more than just the bond that throbbed faintly between us.

The bond was weaker than it should have been, stretched thin like a thread fraying at the edges. Sometimes it flickered, dimmed, as though the distance between us, or perhaps the walls she built around herself, muffled it. But when I closed my eyes, I felt it. The stubborn, burning spark of her spirit refusing to be broken.

My wolf clawed at me, demanding I follow it. Demanding we run until our legs gave out, until we tore down the world and found her.

Patience was not in him. But it had to be in me.

I could not storm blindly into Derek’s lands, not when she was in his grasp. One wrong move and he would use her against me—parade her before the Council, twist her into his weapon. Or worse.

The thought of his hands on her, his power curling around her, made red haze bleed into my vision. My claws dug into my palms until blood dripped down, hot against the cold air.

“Alpha.”

Loren’s voice grounded me. My Beta approached up the ridge, armor dented and darkened with soot. His eyes were grim, his expression carved from stone.

He bowed his head slightly before speaking. “The scouts confirmed it. Derek’s men dragged prisoners north. Toward the cliffs.”

North.

I lifted my head, gaze snapping toward the horizon. I knew the cliffs. Everyone did. A fortress carved into stone itself, built long before any pack laid claim to these lands. Ancient. Ruthless. It had seen centuries of war, and too often, it had swallowed armies whole.

If Derek had taken her there, he meant to keep her. Hide her where shadows clung to every wall, where even the moon’s light struggled to pierce the stone.

“Fianna is among them,” I said, voice low, certain.

Loren studied me. He wanted to question. I saw it in his eyes. But he didn’t. He trusted me. Trusted the bond I carried.

Instead, he gave a short nod. “Then we prepare. But… there’s more.”

My gaze narrowed. “Speak.”

“The Council knows Derek has taken her. Whispers are spreading already—that he’ll use her to claim the throne. They say the packs will bow if he binds her to him, if he parades her power as his own.” Loren’s jaw tightened. “They fear he’ll crown himself Alpha King.”

The words landed like a spear in my chest. My wolf lunged to the surface, snarling, teeth bared. The growl that tore from me rattled the trees, rolled down the ridge like thunder. Below, my warriors froze, heads snapping upward, caught in the storm of my fury.

The very thought of it—Fianna standing beside Derek, forced into his shadow, used as his pawn—made me see red. The earth beneath my feet cracked as my claws extended, digging deep.

“No,” I snarled. My voice was low, guttural, more beast than man. “He will not touch her. He will not twist her into his claim. He will not take what is mine.”

Mine.

The word broke free before I could stop it. Not a declaration. A truth. My wolf howled with it, the bond between us flaring for a heartbeat like fire catching dry grass.

Loren didn’t flinch. He only inclined his head. “Then we must strike first.”

Strike first.

Yes. But I would not rush. Not this time. Derek thrived on recklessness, on dragging his enemies into traps. I would not be bait.

I straightened, pulling air deep into my lungs, forcing the rage into focus. “Gather every warrior. Every blade, every fang. By nightfall, we march north. No more waiting.”

Loren bowed sharply and descended to carry the order.

I remained on the ridge, staring at the horizon where sea and stone met. The cliffs loomed in my mind, a dark fortress I could almost see in the distance. My blood thundered in my veins.

I thought of Fianna then—not as the wolf who had defied me, not as the warrior who carried secrets and scars, but as the woman who had once laughed softly in the woods, her eyes silver in the moonlight. I thought of how she had looked at me before everything shattered—like I was something worth believing in.

I had broken that look.

And now, I would tear down kingdoms to earn it back.

“Hold on, Fianna,” I whispered, the words torn from my chest like a vow. “I’m coming for you.”

My wolf surged, lifting his head, and the howl that ripped from me was raw and unrestrained, echoing across the valley, through the trees, over the ruined battlefield.

It wasn’t just a sound. It was a promise. A warning.

The hunt had begun.

And I would not stop until she was back in my arms—or the world burned around us.