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I stared at the map, the ten blackXs standing stark against the sea of untouched markers—forty packs I had yet to scour. Doubt gnawed at me. It seemed unlikely Kylie had taken refuge in any of them, but they could still hold answers. Someone had to have seen her, had to remember her passing through. Even if she had crossed the border into another kingdom, there would be a trace, a whisper of her presence waiting to be uncovered.

Kylie had many strengths, but navigating unforgiving terrain wasn’t one of them. The outskirts of the kingdom were brutal—jagged cliffs, dense forests, and treacherous ground that would test even the strongest lycan. In her weakened state, there was no way she could have fought her way through it alone. Somewhere along the way, she must have passed through a place, crossed a path, and left a trace. She didn’t simply vanish—she made her way to where she was now, and someone, somewhere, saw it happen.

Mate is not here. We should be looking for her!My lycan growled inside me.

There was no clear path, no structured way to track her through the packs. Every search felt like grasping at shadows, chasingtraces that refused to solidify. My lycan needed patience—needed discipline—but the moment Kylie shifted and ran, all of that shattered. Instinct took over, the hunt consuming him, and restraint became nothing more than a distant, broken promise.

It’s your fault. She shouldn’t have ever run from us.

Do you not see that I understand?

I don’t care what you believe now. You refused to listen to me. The Moon Goddess gave us a precious gift, and you threw it away!

Will you stop with that? I know I made a mistake!

Do you? You acted like a spoiled child.The lycan growled, practically foaming at the mouth as he addressed me.Kylie was not good enough for you, so you cast her aside and demanded another!

It was just another thing he hurled at me, a constant refrain. He had called me a child before—mocking, furious—because I had doubted Kylie’s worth, questioned whether she deserved to remain bonded. But once again, I saw what he refused to see. The beast, blind to the bigger picture, consumed only what it wanted, what it believed should never have been doubted.

Though I cared little for the bigger picture anymore.

I don’t want another! Kylie has left a hole in my heart that no female could fill.

Tell that to the female who smells of coconuts.

Just another task I wished I could strike from my list. Nova refused to grasp the truth: she would never be queen. Not unless someone managed to slit my throat and defeat Eli to take the throne. That would be no small feat. I hadn’t lost a fight since my youth, and Eli had only ever fallen to me. It was his dominance, raw power, and unyielding skill in battle that ensured him his title as beta—and kept him there.

It’s on my list to remind her she isn’t my mate.

Send her away before I get my hands on her. The whispers in your ears to reject our mate came from her.

He wasn’t wrong about that. Nova had pulled me toward rejection despite Eli’s steady warnings to hold back. Yet, I hadn’t listened—not to the one person I’d trusted since childhood, the one voice that had always guided me when doubt crept in. Eli had been my anchor, second only to my father.

If he were here, I wouldn’t have dared to question how he felt about my mate. He would have loved her. My father had always longed for a daughter who bore my mother’s likeness—someone to keep her memory alive, to soften the loss that had carved its way through him.

Kylie had always reminded me of my mother—those deep brown eyes, brimming with kindness despite the suffering she had endured. My mother had faced horrors at the hands of someone who cared nothing for her, someone who saw only what they could take. My father had found her broken and betrayed, and he had wasted no time in exacting justice, snapping the necks of every man who had laid a hand on her.

I should have done the same the moment I learned what Kylie had been through. The rage still simmered beneath my skin, a constant burn at the memory of my hesitation. I had waited too long to tear Alpha Alexander apart. The moment I saw my mate caged like an animal, I should have ended him.

If I could bring him back from the dead and rip him apart again, I would,my lycan growled.

So would I,I replied.

Shut up, you imbecile! You were the one who waited to kill that bastard.

I carried my mate out of that hellhole and brought her home. It was you who didn’t want her there any longer.

Should have gone back immediately to kill him.

Once again, my lycan had been right. I should have gone back and ended him—another regret to carry for the rest of my days. I should have shown no mercy to anyone who dared to defy me. If I had, Nova would have never made it to the ceremony. She would have been gone long before, and I never would have had to reject her.

Kill her now, my lycan demanded.

Nova has done nothing since I rejected her. I can’t just barge into her room and rip her apart now.

Why not?

This time, I reinforced the barriers, locking him out where he might not break through. Lately, those walls had crumbled tooeasily—because, despite everything, I had needed the company. Eli and Amara had taken over the pack, giving me the space to focus on finding Kylie. But it hadn’t been enough. Restricted to the pack’s borders, limitations strangled my search, and every moment without answers carved deeper into my frustration.