Chapter 15 Viktor's Game
RYAN'S POV
The note in my hand felt like a death sentence, it was as if each word was designed to destroy everything I had fought to rebuild with Lisa. Viktor wasn't just demanding a trade, he was forcing me to choose between my true mate and an innocent life, knowing either choice would break Lisa completely. Complete the mate bond with Sophia, or Emma dies. It was elegant in its cruelty, the kind of trap that left no good options.
"This is how he operates," Daniel said quietly, reading the note over my shoulder. "Viktor doesn't just kill people. He makes them destroy themselves through impossible choices. He'll have contingencies, backups, ways to ensure someone suffers no matter what we decide."
Lisa stood by the window, her silhouette outlined by city lights, unnaturally still. I expected panic, tears, the kind of breakdown anyone would have finding their best friend kidnapped. Instead, she turned to face us with eyes that held something cold and calculating I'd never seen before.
"There's a third option," she said, her voice steady as steel. "We find Emma before the deadline and kill Viktor before he can hurt anyone else."
Daniel laughed, a sound of genuine surprise and approval. "My sister has learned ruthlessness. Good. You'll need it to survive what's coming."
We split up to cover more ground, Nathan and Daniel heading to known rogue locations throughout the city while Lisa and I stayed in Emma's neighborhood to question anyone who might have seen something. The night stretched long and fruitless, door after door revealing nothing useful. Nobody saw or heard anything. Emma had just vanished like smoke.
I watched Lisa move through the investigation with mechanical precision, asking the right questions, following every lead, her face had a mask of control. But I knew her now, knew the signs of someone barely holding themselves together. The slight tremor in her hands when she thought no one was looking. The way her jaw clenched when another neighbor had nothing to offer. The desperate hope dying a little more with each dead end.
Hours had passed. We returned to Emma's ransacked apartment, hoping we had missed some clue in our initial panic. The broken furniture looked accusatory in the growing light, evidence of violence we had failed to prevent.
Lisa stood in the center of the destroyed living room, her control finally cracking. "I brought this on her," she whispered. "Emma has been in danger her whole life because of me, because of what I am, and I never knew. I never protected her."
"You didn't know—"
"I should have!" Her voice broke completely. "My best friend, the one person who stood by me through everything, and she was targeted from birth because someone decided silver wolf bloodlines needed to be erased. My mother was murdered. Emma was marked for death. How many others? How many people have died because of a prophecy I didn't even know existed?"
The sobs came then, three years of grief and betrayal and loss finally breaking through the strength she'd forced herself to maintain. I pulled her into my arms, holding her as she shattered against my chest. Her fingers clutched my shirt like I was the only solid thing in a world that had proven itself built on lies.
"Your mother loved you enough to hide the truth," I said softly, stroking her hair. "She wanted you to have a normal life, even if it meant you would never know how extraordinary you really are. And Emma—she chose to be your friend without knowing about wolf politics or prophecies. She loved you for you, not for what you represent."
Lisa looked up at me, tears streaking her face, so beautiful it hurt. "I can't lose her too, Ryan. I can't watch another person I love die because of me."
"You won't." I cupped her face in my hands, brushing tears away with my thumbs. "I promise you, we'll find Emma. And I swear on everything I am, I will never complete a bond with Sophia. Not to save Emma, not to save the pack, not for any reason. You're my true mate. That doesn't change no matter what Viktor threatens."
"He'll kill her if you refuse—"
"Then we make sure he doesn't get the chance to refuse anything." I pressed my forehead to hers, breathing in her scent, letting the mate bond between us pulse with the strength of three years' worth of suppressed longing. "We find Emma then end Viktor. We take back everything he stole from us."
Lisa's hands slid up to tangle in my hair, pulling me closer. "Promise me," she whispered against my lips. "Promise me we'll survive this together."
"I promise."
The kiss was desperate, hungry, three years of separation and regret poured into one moment of absolute connection. The mate bond roared to life between us, no longer suppressed by political manipulation or false choices. I felt everything— her fear, her determination, her love that had survived rejection and exile. My wolf recognized her completely, claimed her fully, the way I should have from the very beginning.
Lisa pulled back slightly, her breath ragged. "When this is over, when Emma is safe and Viktor is dead…"
"We complete the bond properly," I finished. "No interference. No politics. Just us, the way it was always meant to be."
She kissed me again, softer this time, a promise sealed between true mates. The future we had been denied for three years suddenly felt possible, real, close enough to touch. My hands traced down her back, pulling her closer, needing to feel every point of contact between us.
My phone rang, interrupting the moment. Nathan's name flashed on the screen. I considered ignoring it, but the timing was too convenient to be a coincidence. I answered, Lisa pressed against my side, both of us breathing hard from the kiss.
"I found Emma," Nathan said without preamble. "But you're not going to like where she is—Sophia's family estate in Silver Creek territory. It's a trap, and they're waiting for you."