Chapter 17 Chapter 17
Marcus's POV
I watched Ava read the ransom demand for the third time, her face pale but determined. Every instinct screamed at me to lock her away, to keep her safe, but I knew better than to try to cage my Luna.
"Thirty hostages," she said quietly. "Including children."
"It's a trap," Rachel stated obviously. "Thorne knows you'll come."
"Of course it's a trap." Ava set down the message. "But I can't let innocent people die."
"You're not going alone," I said firmly.
"The message was clear. If anyone else shows up, he kills them all."
"Then we find another way." I paced the war room, my wolf restless and angry. "We can't trust him to keep his word anyway."
"Agreed," Nathan said from the corner where he stood under guard.
Everyone turned to look at him. It was the first time he'd been included in a strategy meeting since his testimony.
"You have something to add?" I asked coldly.
"I know Thorne better than anyone here. He mentored me for years in Silvercrest." Nathan stepped forward, his guards tensing. "He won't kill the hostages immediately. He needs them for leverage. But he also won't let them go even if Ava surrenders herself."
"So what do you suggest?" Ava asked.
"Let me go instead. Or with you. He'll be curious enough about my presence to delay whatever he's planning."
"Absolutely not," I snarled. "We're not trusting you with her safety."
"I'm not asking for trust. I'm offering a distraction." Nathan met my eyes steadily. "I owe her a life debt for saving me. Let me start repaying it."
"He has a point," Elder Selene said, entering the room with two other Council members. "Thorne won't expect Nathan. It could give us an advantage."
"Or it could be Nathan working with Thorne all along," I countered.
"Marcus," Ava said softly, and I felt her calm through our bond. "What does your wolf tell you?"
I hated that she was asking me to look past my anger. But I did it anyway, letting my wolf assess Nathan properly for the first time. The broken man before us held no deception, only genuine desire to help.
"He's telling the truth," I admitted reluctantly. "But I still don't like it."
"You don't have to like it," Nathan said. "You just have to let me help."
Ava stood, decision made. "We go together. Nathan and I. But..." she held up a hand before I could protest, "Marcus and a team follow at a distance. Far enough that Thorne won't detect you, close enough to respond if needed."
"The Northern Pine territory is three hours away," Beta James said, consulting a map. "If you leave now, you could be there by midnight."
"Thorne expects me at dawn," Ava noted. "That gives us time to scout and plan."
"I'm coming with you," I stated.
"I know." She smiled slightly. "I wouldn't expect anything else."
Two hours later, our convoy moved through dark forest roads. Ava rode with Nathan in the lead vehicle, while I followed with Rachel and a team of our best fighters. Through the bond, I felt Ava's mix of determination and fear.
"You really love her," Rachel said quietly beside me.
"More than I thought possible."
"Sarah would be happy for you. She always said you loved too deeply to be alone forever."
"I thought I'd never love again after her."
"But you did. And that's not a betrayal of Sarah's memory. It's honoring it by living fully."
"When did you become so wise?"
"When I stopped letting revenge control my life." She paused. "The way Nathan is trying to stop."
"He let Sarah die."
"And he'll carry that guilt forever. But Ava's right. Redemption has to be possible, or we're all damned by our worst moments."
My phone buzzed with a text from Ava: "Stopping one mile from the meeting point. Something's wrong."
I immediately ordered our convoy to halt. Minutes later, Ava and Nathan appeared from the forest, having approached on foot.
"The Northern Pine Pack house is empty," Ava reported. "No hostages, no Thorne, no anyone."
"But his scent is there," Nathan added. "Recent. Maybe two hours old."
"It's another trap," I concluded.
"Or a diversion." Ava pulled out her phone, horror dawning on her face. "The pack house. Our pack house. Everyone's here with us except..."
"The injured from the battle," I finished, already running for the vehicles. "The ones in the medical wing."
We raced back, but I knew we'd be too late. The three-hour journey felt like an eternity. Through the bond, I felt Ava's guilt and terror mixing into something dangerous.
"It's not your fault," I told her when we finally stopped to regroup twenty minutes from home.
"I left them vulnerable. The weakest members of our pack."
"We left them with guards."
"Not enough. Not for Thorne."
My phone rang. Unknown number. I answered on speaker.
"Hello, Marcus," Thorne's voice was smug. "I assume you've realized your error by now."
"If you've hurt them..."
"Hurt them? No, no. They're my guests. All fifteen of your injured pack members, including that sweet young omega who lost her leg in the battle. What was her name? Lily?"
Ava made a sound of pure rage.
"Ah, the princess is listening. Good. Here are my new terms. Ava comes to me willingly, allows me to complete the ritual to strip her Lycan powers and transfer them to me. In exchange, your pack members live."
"That ritual would kill her," Elder Selene said, having been patched into our call.
"Possibly. But that's a risk I'm willing to take."
"Where?" Ava asked, her voice deadly calm.
"The old ceremony grounds at Moonstone Ridge. Midnight. And princess? Come alone, or I start with young Lily."
The call ended.
"You can't," I said immediately. "That ritual... Selene, tell her."
"It's forbidden magic. Dark magic. It would tear your wolf from your soul, leaving you either dead or worse, a hollow shell."
"But possible?" Ava asked.
"Theoretically. But no one's survived it in recorded history."
"Then I'll be the first."
"Ava, no." I grabbed her shoulders. "There has to be another way."
"He has fifteen of our pack members, Marcus. Fifteen lives versus one."
"Your life is worth more..."
"No life is worth more than another." She touched my face gently. "But I'm not planning to die. I'm planning to fight. And I need you to trust me."
"I do trust you. It's Thorne I don't trust."
"Then trust this." She kissed me, deep and desperate, pouring everything through our bond. Love, determination, and something else. A plan forming in her mind that she was keeping carefully shielded. "Trust that I'm my mother's daughter. And she didn't raise a martyr. She raised a survivor."