Chapter 60
The sky was already getting dark when Hardin and Tia walked up the dirt path toward his house. It had been a heavy day—messy, painful, with Rhianna trying to rest, trying to hold herself together. Hardin kept replaying her laugh from earlier, the way her shoulders loosened for the first time in days. He had made soup, and she actually smiled. A real smile. Small, tired… but real.
He kept telling himself she would be okay.
She was inside. Safe. Sleeping.
But he felt uneasy the whole walk home. A twisting heat in his chest, a kind of instinct screaming at him to move faster.
Tia felt it too.
She kept looking around, frowning.
“Hardin,” she said quietly. “Why do I feel like something is off?”
He didn’t answer.
He just picked up his pace.
When they reached the small wooden house, Hardin froze.
The door was open.
Not just open—broken.
The bottom hinge cracked.
The wood splintered.
Hardin’s heart jumped so hard he nearly choked on air.
“Tia,” he said, voice low and rough. “Stay behind me.”
But she didn’t listen; she rushed forward. “Rhianna?! RHIANNA!”
Hardin didn’t even shout—he stormed inside.
The house was a mess.
The chair by the table was knocked over.
One of the blankets was on the floor.
The cooking pot he left on the counter was spilled, the soup staining the wood.
And Rhianna’s scent—usually warm and light—was… wrong. Faded. Rushed. Like she had been running.
No, not running.
Dragged.
Pulled.
Hardin’s throat closed.
“Tia,” he said, voice shaking for the first time, “check the back.”
Tia didn’t hesitate. She hurried down the small hall leading to Rhianna’s room.
Hardin stayed still for one long, suffocating second.
His mind raced.
His wolf growled inside him, loud, sharp, furious.
Something happened.
Something happened to his girl.
He moved through the room slowly, eyes scanning every detail. His chest tightened the moment he saw the small bracelet he gave her lying on the floor—broken.
His hands curled into fists.
“Hardin!” Tia cried from the hallway.
He rushed to her, heartbeat pounding.
Tia stood in the doorway of Rhianna’s room. She looked terrified.
“She’s not here,” Tia whispered. “The window… it’s open.”
The window was pushed wide, curtains torn.
And outside the window, the grass was stamped down.
Footprints.
More than one set.
Hardin stepped forward, grabbed the curtain, and yanked it aside. His wolf roared so loud he nearly shifted on the spot.
This wasn’t Rhianna leaving.
This was an attack.
“Hardin,” Tia said, voice trembling. “Do you think she… ran?”
Hardin turned to her so sharply she flinched.
“Rhianna would NEVER run,” he growled. “Never.”
His voice shook with anger and fear.
“She could barely walk, Tia. She had a fever. She was exhausted. She cried herself to sleep. And she wouldn’t leave without telling me.” His jaw clenched so tight he felt pain shoot up his skull. “She didn’t run. Someone took her.”
The house door creaked behind them.
Two pack members stepped inside—Ryan and Myles, both young warriors.
They froze when they saw Hardin’s face.
Ryan swallowed. “Um… we—we came because someone said they saw Rhianna run into the woods earlier. We thought she—”
Hardin turned on them like a storm.
“DON’T,” he snapped. “Don’t finish that sentence.”
Myles stepped back, hands raised. “We’re just saying what people said. Some girls said they saw her. That she looked scared and—”
“She didn’t leave,” Hardin cut in, voice low and shaking with rage. “Someone took her.”
Ryan exchanged nervous glances with Myles. “Hardin… you’ve been under stress. Maybe she—”
Hardin moved so fast neither of them reacted until he was inches away.
“Rhianna would never run,” he said slowly, breathing hard. “Not alone. Not sick. Not barefoot. Not through the woods. And not without Tia. She wouldn’t even walk to the kitchen without help.”
Tia nodded quickly. “She wasn’t stable today at all. She could barely get out of bed. She didn’t eat properly. She was quiet… distant.” Her voice broke. “She wouldn’t just leave.”
Hardin stared at the footprints near the window again.
Three sets.
One large.
Two smaller.
Dragged marks in the dirt.
His vision blurred with pure fury.
Someone took her.
And when he found out who—
He would tear the world apart.
“We need to alert the Alpha,” Ryan said hesitantly. “Sebastian will—”
“Sebastian won’t do anything,” Hardin snapped without turning around. “He didn’t care when she was dying. He didn’t care when she was replaced. He won’t care now.”
Tia bit her lip and whispered, “Hardin… what if—what if this was ordered?”
The room went silent.
Hardin turned, slow and deadly. “Ordered by who?”
Tia’s voice shook. “The same people who made him replace her.”
Hardin felt something cold settle inside him.
“Get out,” he told the two warriors. “Both of you.”
They barely hesitated before running out of the house.
Tia stepped closer. “Hardin—what do we do?”
He walked toward the door, grabbed his jacket, and threw it on.
“We track her,” he said. “We don’t stop. Not until we find her.”
Tia swallowed hard. “Hardin… what if she’s—”
“Don’t,” he said sharply. “She’s alive.”
He didn’t know how he knew.
He just did.
His wolf knew.
The bond—weak as it was—still hummed faintly.
Barely there.
But there.
He pushed open the door and stepped into the cold evening air. Tia stayed close behind him, her fingers trembling.
Hardin looked around one last time, taking in every scent on the wind.
And then he said the words that promised war.
“I’m going to find her. Every second she’s gone, someone pays.”
Tia nodded.
“Let’s go.”
And they ran into the woods.
Hardin didn’t look back—not even once.
Not at the broken door.
Not at the spilled soup.
Not at the empty room where Rhianna should’ve been safe.
His only focus was the trail.
The footprints.
The smell of fear.
The fading trace of her scent.
He would follow it until his legs broke.
He would follow it until his lungs gave out.
Somebody took Rhianna.
And Hardin was going to tear the forest apart to bring her home.