She Is Gone？！

Zarek’s POV

The training grounds echoed with the heavy grunts of young warriors and the harsh, dull thuds of bodies slamming into the frozen earth. All around me, the Rimeveil Pack’s fighters paired off, trading vicious punches and kicks in their combat exercises. As the Alpha's son, I was supposed to be completely focused, barking orders, correcting flawed stances, and leading by example. Instead, my mind was miles away, drifting right back to the night of the hunt.

I could still feel the intense heat of Elara's body pressed against mine. I remembered the exact sensation of my fingers sliding between her thighs, rubbing directly against her wet pussy, feeling her slick arousal mirroring the throbbing ache of my own hard cock. Every instinct inside me had roared, demanding I claim her right then and there. I had wanted to shove her down onto the frozen ground, spread her legs, and bury my cock deep inside her, making her surrender completely to our mate bond.

But then, cold, harsh logic had clawed me back from the edge of lust. Elara had no wolf. She was fragile, weak, and completely vulnerable. The entire future of our pack depended on my strength and the bloodline I would produce. Offering her the compromise of becoming my Breeder was, in my mind, the perfect solution. I would still get to fuck her, care for her, and keep her close, while taking a strong, capable warrior as my chosen Luna to lead the pack. I honestly could not comprehend why she had been so furious at my completely reasonable offer. She had always been spoiled by her family, sheltered from the brutal realities of our world. But what genuinely baffled me was why she had actually accepted my rejection. Why didn't she fight for me?

"Zarek! You're wide open!"

The warning barked out too late.

Kaelen's heavy shoulder slammed forcefully into my chest. The impact knocked the wind right out of my lungs, sending me flying backward. I hit the frozen dirt flat on my back. For a long second, I just lay there, staring up at the bleak, pale winter sky.

Kaelen stepped into my line of sight, his shadow falling over my face. He extended a gloved hand down to me. "That's the third time today I've put you on your ass," he said, shaking his head. "Where the hell is your head at?"

"Just tired," I muttered defensively, grabbing his hand and hauling myself back to my feet.

Around us, several of the sparring warriors had stopped to watch the Alpha's son get laid out. Standing near the edge of the circle, Vespera didn't even try to hide her intense stare. Her blonde hair was pulled tight into a functional braid, and her eyes tracked my every movement with raw, undisguised hunger.

"Again," I snapped, dropping into a defensive stance and raising my fists.

As Kaelen and I began to circle each other, my boots crunching on the frost, another memory invaded my scattered thoughts. It was from a training session just last month. Elara had been standing right over there on the sidelines, bundled up in that massive, oversized blue coat she wore everywhere. When Kaelen had executed a flawless, brutal takedown on a fresh recruit, she had literally jumped up and down, clapping her mittens together and cheering her lungs out.

"Soon I'll be right out there with you guys!" she had yelled, a massive smile lighting up her face, her distinct silver hair catching the glow of the season's first snowfall. "Just wait until I shift! I'll kick both your asses!"

But she had turned eighteen last week. The milestone had come and gone, and absolutely nothing had happened. No fever, no bone-breaking shift, no wolf. I was three years older than Elara, and my wolf had violently torn its way out of me when I was only fifteen.

My distraction cost me dearly once again. Kaelen dropped low, his leg sweeping violently through my guard, hooking my ankle. The ground rushed up to meet me, and I was staring at the miserable gray clouds for the second time in five minutes.

"Seriously, Zarek," Kaelen groaned, wiping sweat from his forehead. "You're gonna get yourself killed out there."

"Water break!" I yelled out to the entire field, waving a hand in dismissal. I desperately needed a minute to collect my shattered focus.

I walked over to the wooden benches and sat down heavily. The cold seeped through my pants, but I barely felt it. Seven years ago, on a night much colder than this, I had watched a rogue vampire's jagged claws rip straight through my mother's chest. I was fourteen, paralyzed by pure, unadulterated horror. She had deliberately thrown herself between the bloodsucker and a group of terrified pups—Kaelen and Elara among them. I would never forget the horrific sound of her ribs snapping, or the sight of her blood bubbling over her lips as she choked out her final command to me: *Become Alpha King. Protect them all.*

That single, bloody memory had instantly burned away any pathetic, childish notions of romance, love, or happily-ever-afters. From that exact second, my life had only one singular purpose: to honor her sacrifice and fulfill her dying wish. Sure, I had fucked a few females over the years, mostly to take the edge off the aggressive physical urges that came with shifting, but there was never any emotional attachment.

So, when the mate bond snapped into place last night and I realized the Moon Goddess had paired me with Elara, my very first emotion was a crushing wave of disappointment. A Luna needed to be exactly like my mother—ruthless, intelligent, physically dominant, and willing to bleed out for her pack. Elara was none of those things. I had followed her into the dark woods deliberately, watching from the shadows when she stumbled across that massive grizzly. I had waited, silently praying that the sheer, life-or-death terror would trigger a latent shift, or at least force some primal survival instinct to the surface.

Instead, she had panicked completely. She dropped to the snow like a fragile porcelain doll and fired her gun wildly into the dark, completely useless. If she couldn't even handle one stupid bear, how could I ever trust her to fight off a pack of rogue wolves or a coven of vampires? She would be a liability, a weakness I couldn't afford.

"Zarek!" Vespera's sharp voice snapped me back to the present.

"Here," she said, practically sliding onto the bench right beside me, her thigh brushing against mine. She shoved a plastic water bottle into my hands.

I took it with a stiff nod, downing half the bottle in three massive gulps before handing it back. I expected her to leave, but Vespera lingered, her blue eyes roaming over the sweat glistening on my neck and chest.

"You know you did the right thing, right?" she murmured, her tone sympathetic but layered with something far more calculating. "The pack needs a Luna who can actually fight on the front lines alongside you. Not some fragile little thing who constantly needs a bodyguard."

Her words were a near-perfect echo of the exact logic I had been repeating to myself all day. Yet, hearing her say it out loud sent an irritating itch crawling under my skin. I gave her a noncommittal grunt and turned my head, staring back out at the empty sparring rings.

But Vespera wasn't done. "My mother says there hasn't been a latent wolf in the Rimeveil Pack for over three generations," she continued, leaning in closer so her voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. "It's terrible luck. A really bad sign from the Goddess. Everyone agrees you made the right call letting her go."

I abruptly stood up, refusing to engage with her gossip. "Training resumes in two minutes!" I bellowed across the field, my commanding Alpha tone leaving no room for argument.

We spent the rest of the afternoon running brutal endurance drills. As the winter sun finally dipped below the tree line, painting the sky in violent shades of purple and bruised orange, the warriors began to pack up their gear. I was slinging a towel over my shoulder when a frantic figure sprinted onto the edge of the training grounds.

It was Elara's mother. Her face was deathly pale, her eyes wide with sheer panic as she frantically scanned the remaining fighters.

"Kaelen!" she screamed, her voice cracking as she bolted toward us. "Is Elara here with you?"

Kaelen frowned, tossing his duffel bag onto the ground. He shot me a confused glance before shaking his head. "No, I haven't seen her all day. We've been out here since dawn. Why? What's wrong?"

"She's gone," her mother sobbed, her whole body trembling violently in the freezing air. She thrust out a crumpled, tear-stained piece of paper. "I found this sitting right in the middle of her pillow after I finished working in the meat smoking sheds."

Kaelen snatched the note from her shaking hands. His dark eyebrows pulled tightly together as he scanned the messy, blurred ink. A sudden, sharp spike of absolute dread slammed into my chest, turning my stomach into lead.

"What does it say?" I demanded, taking a heavy step toward him.

Before Kaelen could even open his mouth to read the words, my father's booming, authoritative voice exploded through my skull via the pack mind-link.

*Zarek. We have detected rogue wolves near our eastern border. Gather your training group and investigate immediately.*

The blood completely drained from my face, leaving me cold. I locked eyes with Kaelen, the sheer panic mirroring perfectly in his expression. I knew he had heard the exact same command.

Without uttering a single word, we both spun around and sprinted at full speed toward the dark, looming tree line, not even bothering to grab our heavy winter coats.

Behind us, I heard Elara's mother screaming out in terrified confusion, begging to know what was happening. But there was no time to explain. There was no time for anything. If Elara had actually run away, if she had crossed the pack borders without any protection, and there were vicious, bloodthirsty rogues prowling the exact same woods, she was walking right into a slaughter.