Chapter 618
The bedroom doors burst open again. Vance Decker, my Gamma, rushed in, his chest heaving, his Inner Wolf practically vibrating with battle-readiness.
“Dallas,” Vance panted, his face pale. “The trackers found her magically shielded Porsche at the border of the Blackwood Pack.”
“Is she there?” I demanded, gripping the armrests so hard the wood splintered beneath my fingers.
Vance swallowed hard. “The driver’s side door was ripped off its hinges from the outside. There’s a trace of Blood Witch magic used to mask the tracks, and…” He hesitated, his eyes dropping to the floor. “There’s a faint scent of silver at the scene.”
Silver. The ultimate poison.
Every internal war over the surgery vanished, incinerated by a blinding, white-hot rage.
Dallas POV
The white-hot rage incinerated every rational thought in my mind. The mere mention of silver near my Mate sent Ragnar, my Inner Wolf, into a bloodthirsty frenzy.
“Get the car. Now,” I snarled, my voice dropping into a demonic, multi-layered octave.
Vance stepped in front of my wheelchair, his hands raised in a placating gesture. “Dallas, wait. The storm outside is a category four. Your back—the silver wounds haven’t healed. If we walk into an ambush in this weather, you won’t survive—”
I didn’t let him finish. I grabbed the collar of his tactical jacket, hauling myself upward with sheer upper-body strength. My eyes burned with Ragnar’s molten gold. I unleashed a raw, annihilating wave of Alpha’s Command that forced Vance to his knees.
“If she’s in that water, Vance, I will burn their entire Pack to the ground and salt the earth with their ashes,” I roared, the vibration rattling the crystal chandelier above us.
Vance choked on the heavy aura, his own wolf submitting instantly. “Yes, Alpha.”
The drive to the Blackwater River Overlook was a blur of blinding rain and suffocating dread. When the armored SUV finally slammed to a halt, I didn’t wait for Vance. I shoved the heavy door open, and the freezing downpour instantly soaked me to the bone.
Red and blue magic warning lights from the Dire Guard vehicles sliced through the darkness. Rune-carved energy barriers hummed between the trees, but I pushed through them, leaning heavily on my silver-handled cane. My ruined legs screamed in agony with every step, yet I couldn’t feel the pain. I could only feel the terrifying emptiness where Adella’s bond used to hum.
Then I saw it.
Her silver Porsche sat near the muddy bank, the driver’s side door violently ripped from its hinges. The interior was empty. A few feet away, half-buried in the freezing wet mud near the churning black water, lay one of her designer heels.
“Dallas,” Vance said softly, coming up behind me. He held out a magically sealed evidence bag. Inside was a piece of parchment, its edges soaked and smeared.
My hands shook violently as I took it. The handwriting was unmistakably hers.
I cannot raise our pup with a King who chooses to be a ghost in his own castle. I’m going to find a future for us—one where we are not defined by your past.
The words didn’t just break my heart; they annihilated my soul. She hadn’t been kidnapped. She had driven to the edge of this raging river to escape the pathetic, cowardly shell of a man I had become. She had chosen the black water over a life with me.
“No,” I whispered, the cane slipping from my grasp.
My knees hit the sharp gravel and freezing mud. The physical impact was nothing compared to the agonizing tear in my chest. I stared at the violent, churning river that had swallowed my Mate and my unborn pup.
.
.
.