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Marcus pulls himself to his full imposing height, muscles coiled and jaw clenched. "Watch your tone with me, boy!" he roars. "I'm still the leader around here. I'll do as I damn well please, and no one will question me!"

Heavy footsteps at the top of the stairs signal another arrival. A fierce-looking woman with eyes of pure flaming rage appears in the doorway, fixing first me, then Marcus, with a scorching glare.

"Marcus! Get your pathetic worthless ass up here right now!" she screeches, every word dripping venom.

Marcus holds my frightened gaze for a long, endless moment, his cold eyes piercing my soul. "Drug her again. Immediately," he orders the other wolf. "I don't care what the hell she is; we cannot allow another magical...outburst."

The apparent threat behind his words sends ice flowing through my veins. As the reluctant pack member approaches me, I cringe back instinctively, pleading uselessly for mercy or restraint. But his large hands roughly grab and lift me to my feet as if I weigh nothing.

"I'm sorry, but I have my orders," he mutters before draping a scratchy blanket around my trembling shoulders and forcing me back into another chair.

His ominous words echo through my panicking mind, each syllable ringing with terrifying finality. I'm almost out of time and options now.

As darkness begins creeping into the edges of my vision, I cling desperately to one single thought—Rhyland is coming for me. He has to be...

Rhyland

58

The surge of adrenaline is fucking palpable as I slam the pedal to the metal, barreling down the highway like a damn bat out of hell. The world outside is blurring into nothing as the last of that sunshine is eaten up by the coming storm of night – fitting, 'cause there's a storm raging inside me, too. Lucian's SUV is a beast, black as sin, devouring the asphalt as I push it past the brink, the engine's growl a soundtrack to my fury.

Lucian's in the back, spewing some shit about a plan, but his words are just white noise against the crashing tide of my rage. Every scream of terror from Dani cuts through me, her fear an open wound that I fucking feel. I'm seething, a storm of raw anger and ice-cold fear, ready to unleash a brutal reckoning. These bastards will regret the day they laid a hand on her. I swear, their blood will stain my hands before this is over.

We arrive at the remote, densely wooded estate where I last confronted Marcus, hoping to pick up their trail. I recklessly veer the SUV off the main road, tires spraying chunks of gravel as we skid to an abrupt stop just inside the tree line.

We melt silently into the oppressive darkness of the forest on foot, senses strained and alert for any sign of the wolves or clues pointing to Danica's location. Reaching out desperately through our intimate mental bond, I'm met only with cold, mocking silence. They must have her heavily drugged or magically cut off from me. But I can feel her essence here, an electric undercurrent thrumming under my skin, pulling me towards her like a metaphysical magnet. I break into a breathless, reckless sprint, my brothers wordlessly falling in close on my heels. We have no moment to waste.

I halt their progress with an urgently raised fist as the wolf encampment comes into view, nestled deep within a secluded valley depression surrounded by steep, rocky outcroppings and towering pines. I duck quickly behind a sizable moss-covered boulder, my hot blood boiling with murderous intent at the very sight of these mangy beasts. Their numbers have noticeably swelled since my last violent confrontation with them, with at least twenty more hulking forms now lurking among their ranks. We need the advantage of total surprise to have any hope of evening these odds and slaughtering them all.

Adrian volunteers to slip ahead, cloaked for reconnaissance. As we await his return, frantic minutes stretching endlessly, I reach for Danica again in vain—red-hot rage wars with icy helplessness within me.

Adrian's grim mental voice interrupts my turmoil. "There's too many and more underground. We should retreat..."

"No!" I roar. "We act now!"

Fueled solely by reckless, suicidal fury and my all-consuming need for vengeance, we descend as one upon the unsuspecting wolves stationed outside their underground lair. With preternatural speed, I melt soundlessly from the concealing shadows behind the oblivious perimeter guard. I viciously seize the unsuspecting wolf by his throat before he can cry out in alarm. I unleash my full vampiric strength, my razor-sharp fangs tearing violently into his neck's delicate flesh and muscle with enough force to nearly decapitate him. Ropy tendons pop wetly as I worryingly shake my head like a feral beast savaging its prey. In mere seconds, I let his mutilated, nearly beheaded corpse drop limply to the dirt, dark blood still spurting in weakening pulses from the ruin of his mangled throat to form an ever-expanding crimson pool beneath the body.

Hardly pausing for breath, I whirl with bloody fingers extended like talons toward the others, my hands and mouth now wet with rapidly cooling gore. Caught completely off-guard by my sudden savage assault, the scattered perimeter guards scramble to shapeshift into their lupine combat forms. Still, my brothers cut them down before they could complete the transformations.

Erik bisects one unlucky wolf diagonally from collarbone to hip with a single sweeping stroke of his silver sword, opening up his torso in a spray of hot viscera and exposing his pulsing organs to the cold night air.

I fall upon another of the panicked wolves with unrestrained savagery, my hands clamping onto either side of his head like a vise as I tear violently into the vulnerable flesh of his throat with my fangs, ripping away arteries and shredded muscle tissue until only the spinal column remains. I contemptuously spit gristle and ragged chunks of flesh to the ground before turning my attention to yet another target.

One of the faster wolves successfully manages to fully shift into its lupine form in the chaos and launches at me, ivory claws extended to rend my vulnerable belly open. But I intercept the airborne beast mid-leap and viciously twist its body around with a sickening crack of vertebrae and pelvis before brutally slamming the now limp creature down into the unforgiving earth. I briefly revel in the sensation of fragile bones breaking under the massive impact.

Nearby, Lucian takes down a wolf with a vicious kick, its body crunching sickeningly against a tree. "Bad dog!" he taunts before unleashing a flurry of blows that leave the creature an unrecognizable mess of matted fur, twisted limbs, and oozing viscera.

We're plunged ever deeper into the relentless bloodbath, the wolves' numbers barely thinning despite the growing mounds of mangled corpses now littering the battlefield. Through the seething chaos and violence, I spot Marcus's hulking figure, his cold glare sending a rage blazing through my veins.

Before I can react, he takes off, darting nimbly through the trees and underbrush with preternatural speed and agility. I immediately surge after him in pursuit, my feet pounding the earth with furious purpose.

After a brief but intense chase, Marcus skids to an abrupt stop in a small, moonlit clearing encircled by towering pines, whirling to finally face me head-on, his eyes glowing a feral, lurid yellow in the dim light.

"Here for your precious little human pet, Rhyland?" he sneers, a vicious grin twisting his brutish features.

I stalk toward him, fists clenched and body coiled with barely contained fury. "Where the fuck is she, you worthless piece of shit?!" I bellow, unable to restrain the full measure of my rage.

Marcus responds with an infuriating, taunting smirk. "Wouldn't you just love to know?"