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The patrol saw her.

The next few seconds were chaos—shouts, boots pounding, a gunshot splitting the air. Mariah screamed. I don’t know if she was hit or if they just tackled her, but before I could help her, she was swept up in a group of men and I lost sight of her.

“Run, Lia!” she had yelled. “Run!”

And I had.

I had fucking run.

I ran so hard, so fast, I could barely breathe. My legs burned, my lungs ached, but I didn’t stop, didn’t dare look back. If I had, I knew what would have happened.

When I blinked back to the present, my throat was raw.

“You left her,” Kendra said softly.

“She told me to run.” The words barely made it past my lips. “If I had stayed, I would’ve been caught too.”

Kendra stood, pacing now, her body stiff with tension. “So, what? We just leave her there? Let those fucking wolves do God knows what to her?”

“No.” I stood too, grabbing her wrist, forcing her to look at me. “I am not leaving her. I just… I needed time. I neededhelp.” I swallowed hard. “That’s why I came here, looking for Silas.”

Kendra searched my face, her chest rising and falling rapidly. Then, after a long moment, she nodded. “Then we’re going back for her.”

I exhaled slowly, my hands shaking. “Yeah.”

Kendra was still pacing, her boots scraping against the wooden floor, tension radiating from every muscle in her body. I couldfeelher frustration, the way it coiled tight inside her like a spring about to snap.

“Tell me there’s a plan,” she muttered, running a hand through her dark hair. “Tell me you’re not just staying here, waiting for a miracle to happen.”

I exhaled slowly, rubbing a hand over my face. “I’m not.”

She stopped, her gaze snapping to mine. “Then start talking, Lia.”

I gulped, feeling the weight of the truth pressing down on me. “I didn’t just come here for help getting Mariah back.”

Kendra’s brows furrowed. “Then why the hell are you here?”

I hesitated for only a moment before answering, because this wasn’t just about us anymore. It was bigger. So much bigger.

“Because if we don’t stop what’s coming, it won’t just be Mariah we lose,” I said, my voice firm and measured. “It’ll be every human woman.”

Kendra blinked. “What?”

I took a steadying breath. “The wolves… they’re making a drug.”

Her eyes narrowed. “What kind of drug?”

“A breeding drug.”

Silence.

Kendra’s face hardened. “Explain.”

I nodded, pushing forward before I lost my nerve. “It’s designed to fix their fertility problem.” My voice came out hollow, mechanical, as I forced myself to repeat the facts I had barely processed myself. “The drug changes that.” I let the words sink in, watching her face. “It forces human women to carry fertile female shifter babies.”

Kendra’s hands fisted at her sides. “Forces?”

I nodded. “It alters the womb, makes it so that every human pregnancy results in a shifter female who can breed. They think this will solve their problem, that once they have enough fertile female shifters, they won’t need us anymore.”