Chapter 227

The Wolf Realm:

Nate stopped breathing. A feeling in his chest had shifted. The shift was small, painfully small.

It felt like the sting of a needle sliding into his flesh, yet it was enough to stop his heart and his entire body from functioning.

His wolf jerked awake so violently that the Alpha staggered a step backward from the intense and sudden anger from his wolf.

The training field fell silent around him.

The warriors stopped moving around him as his vision blurred, and his ear rang. His head now felt too heavy for his neck.

Nate’s sword slipped from his fingers and struck the ground with a metallic clang.

He never looked down. He couldn’t. His breathing had already changed, and he wuickly had to have one hand pressed against his chest to manage a balance.

His heartbeat had become wrong. Not faster, or slower. Rather, ad if he had poisoned in his blood stream.

“…Aire.” His wolf growled in his head.

His wolf paced inside him, howling as if being ripped apart. Nate grunted, clutching his chest as his struggled to draw in air.

“It’s hurting,” his wolf whimpered, as if trapped and helpless.

Nate legs jerked, and he dropped to the floor. He immediately understood the feeling. His precious mate had been touched by hands that didn’t belong there.

…

Hundreds of miles away, Alaric jerked awake from a meeting.

The parchment in his hand tore clean in half, and everyone inside the council room fell silent.

He stared straight ahead, and his vision blurred.

A little heartbeat belonging entirely to Aire had flickered through their bond, then disappeared immediately.

His breathing became uneven.

One of the elders frowned. “Alpha?”

Alaric never answered.

His wolf had gone completely still. That frightened him more than rage ever could.

He felt his wolf claw the surface of his head. “…No.” He begged, desperate. His voice barely existed. “No, Aire.”

….

Xanden was hunting for herbs the witches had asked for to help open the portal without getting themselves involved when it happened.

The herbs he’d been tracking disappeared from his thoughts completely.

His knees nearly hit the forest floor.

His wolf slammed into him so hard that he grabbed the nearest tree to remain standing.

Emotional raw pain tore through him.

He squeezed his eyes shut.

“Aire.” His wolf growled violently, stomping hard inside him, restless and in fury.

His breathing grew heavier, and his head spinmed, as his stomach grew sick.

His wolf wasn’t showing him images. He could feel his wolf scared. The feeling that someone had crossed a boundary that belonged only to them.

……..

Nate was already running.

He didn’t know where.

His wolf instincts had taken control long before his mind caught up.

Alaric burst from the council chambers at nearly the same moment, and Xanden shifted before reaching the edge of the forest.

They met halfway across the palace grounds.

One look at each other’s faces told them everything.

“You felt it.” Nate broke the silence.

It wasn’t a question, but Alaric nodded once while Xanden’s breathing remained rough.

His hands shook. “It wasn’t pain.” He swallowed a forced breath. “She’s alive.”

Alaric l0led between them. He clenched and unclenched his jaw, before he whispered the words none of them wanted to hear. “Someone crossed a line.”

Nate looked physically ill when he heard those words. His fists closed until blood dripped from his palms.

“No.” His voice cracked. “No…” he repeated, scared. His eyes widened in fear. He could feel that Aire had done it willingly.

Alaric’s own breathing became uneven.

His wolf refused to calm down. Every instinct screamed the same thing, and his wolf growled at him to protect her, yet they couldn’t.

She was somewhere they couldn’t reach.

Nate suddenly doubled over.

His wolf pushed against him again, harder this time. He grabbed his own shirt over his heart, and struggled to breathe.

“I can’t—” His voice broke, and so did his knees tremble. “I can’t feel what happened.” He commanded messed, terrified. “I refused to believe she crossed a line willingly, but that’s all I feel.”

He could have acted if he knew where she was. However, he had no idea, and not knowing was torture.

Alaric shut his eyes.

His imagination immediately betrayed him. He coukd see her in chains, dark halls, and hands grabbing her.

The images showed her struggling, amd crying. His stomach turned violently, and he opened his eyes again.

He refused to believe it.

Xanden looled between his borther, and whispered the only question that would make sense to what they all felt, yet that was what none of them wanted to ask.

“Do you think…” He parted his lips to speak, and then his voice failed.

Alaric looked at him.

Xanden swallowed forfully, drew in a long breath, and continued. “Do you think someone violated her?”

Silence dropped between them.

Nate face lost all colour that instant.

“No.” Alaric answered immediately. His voice had become hoarse. “It doesn’t feel like…”

He stopped soeaking for a minute to think, because he didn’t know what it felt like. He only knew that something had happened.

Something intimate enough to ripple through three mating bonds, and none of them knew what.

The three strongest wolves in the realm looked utterly helpless. Not because they were weak, but because they loved someone they couldn’t protect.

They felt like a useless anchor in the ocean.

And somewhere beyond worlds, they could feel that Aire had crossed a line with another man.

Whether willingly, or unwillingly, none of them knew. That uncertainty hurt far more than certainty ever could.

Alaraic face brightened. “At least, she’s alive.”

Nate and Xanden turned to him. Nate’s face visibly regained colour at their thought of being certain she still existed.

The relief lasted only a heartbeat.

Alaric straightened first. His eyes hardened with terrifying calm. “Alive means reachable.” His voice no longer shook. “If our bond is strong enough to carry this across realms, then it can carry more.”

He looked at both of them. “We’ve been trying to force open a door.” His jaw clenched. “Perhaps we’ve been listening to the wrong side of it.”

Nate slowly lifted his head. His wolf had stopped thrashing. It wasn’t calmer, only listening.

He closed his eyes, searching desperately for the faint thread that still connected him to Aire. It was weak… impossibly weak… but it was there. A promise that she still existed.

He opened his eyes again, his grief slowly hardening into determination. “Then we stop waiting.” His voice came out low and dangerous.

“I don’t care what it costs anymore. Burn the treasury, empty every vault, and call every witch, every seer, and every cursed creature willing to bargain.” He looked between his brothers. “We’re bringing our mate home.”