Page 83 of Captivated By Alphas 1, Fated (The Blood Moon Chronicle #4)
His panther erupted through every barrier he’d constructed over thirty years of careful discipline, fangs bursting from his gums with enough force to flood his mouth with the metallic taste of his own blood.
His vision washed gold as the beast seized complete command, muscles bulging beneath his skin as the need to shift became almost overwhelming despite their human audience.
MATE DYING, the creature roared with such force that the sound seemed to tear from his chest like a living thing seeking vengeance. FIND HIM. PROTECT HIM. KILL EVERYTHING THAT DARED TOUCH WHAT’S OURS.
He broadcast pure emergency through the pack bond—not words or coherent thoughts but raw emotion that hit his cousins like a supernatural sledgehammer. Mate threatened. Mate bleeding. Mate screaming. Mate needs us NOW before it’s too late.
Adrian and Cole responded with matching fury that made the air itself seem to vibrate, their beasts surging forward with killing intent that could level forests. The pack bond hummed with unified rage that could topple governments and reshape continents.
“Paul, David,” George commanded with a voice that could move armies, already stripping off his suit jacket with movements that spoke of decades spent preparing for exactly this moment. “East exit. Now.”
“Security teams are mobilizing as we speak,” Tricia managed, her professional mask barely containing the terror threatening to consume her entirely. “Dr. Reyes is en route.”
“Lock down the estate completely,” George ordered with finality that brooked no argument. “No one enters or leaves until we return with our people.”
Jace was already moving before the words finished echoing, his panther driving him forward with desperate fury that made every second feel like an eternity.
The beast’s overwhelming need to reach Eli overrode every other instinct—hunger, exhaustion, self-preservation, all of it meaningless compared to the imperative burning through his veins like molten metal.
They converged at the east exit with military precision, clothes hitting the marble floor with violent efficiency born of desperation.
Jace’s hands shook as he stripped away the trappings of civilization, his panther so close to the surface that his claws kept extending involuntarily, leaving scratches in the expensive fabric.
“Retrieval first,” George commanded, though his own eyes blazed with gold fire that spoke of barely contained violence. “Then we hunt down every last bastard who dared touch our people and show them why the Carmichael name inspires fear.”
They burst through the door into afternoon sunlight, sprinting for the tree line with inhuman speed.
The northeast boundary lay nearly five miles through dense forest—normally a twenty-minute drive on winding service roads, but at full panther speed they could cover the distance in under seven minutes if they pushed their supernatural abilities to their absolute limits.
At the forest’s edge, hidden from the mansion and any remaining human observers, five men surrendered completely to their beasts.
The shift tore through Jace like wildfire mixed with broken glass and liquid lightning.
Bones cracked and realigned with audible pops that echoed through the forest, muscles bulging as his human form dissolved in an explosion of midnight fur and deadly purpose.
His panther finally claimed complete control, stretching to its full, terrifying size with claws that could tear through steel and fangs designed for killing.
Massive paws hit earth with impacts that left deep impressions in the forest floor, claws extending fully as his beast tested its killing tools with savage satisfaction.
Jace’s midnight form stretched to its full, terrifying size, nearly two hundred and eighty pounds of pure predatory fury, golden eyes blazing with mate-protection instinct that could level mountains.
Around him, his pack completed their transformations—George’s silver-streaked dominance radiating alpha authority, Adrian’s copper-tinted lethality promising death, Cole’s steel-gray precision calculating optimal kill trajectories, Paul’s youthful rage barely contained within muscular frames built for destruction.
Northeast sector, George commanded through their telepathic bond with authority that could command nations. Jace, Adrian, take point. Cole, Paul, guard the flanks. Hunt as one. Kill everything that threatens our own.
They shot through their territory like living nightmares given flesh and purpose, following paths worn smooth by generations of Carmichael panthers who had defended this land with their lives.
Jace’s desperation drove him beyond normal physical limits, his beast burning through every energy reserve in service of reaching their mate before death could claim what belonged to them.
Find mate. Save mate. Kill everything else that draws breath.
The scent of blood hit his enhanced nostrils first—metallic stench of violence mixed with something fundamentally wrong, something chemical and tainted that spoke of unnatural modification.
His panther’s pace never faltered, but rage built with every stride that brought them closer to the source of that wrongness.
Mate’s blood, the beast snarled, nostrils flaring with fury. Can smell our mate’s blood mixed with poison. KILL THEM ALL.
The first signs of battle appeared half a mile from the boundary—undergrowth painted crimson with arterial spray, ancient trees scored with claw marks deep enough to expose heartwood, earth torn up from savage combat that spoke of desperate fighting.
Ray’s familiar scent hung heavy in the air, mingled with pain and that wrong chemical signature that made Jace’s beast bare its teeth in disgust.
Tainted, Adrian’s panther noted through their bond. Drugged enhancement. Not natural shifters anymore.
They crashed into the first clearing where Ray’s security team fought for their lives against eight feral panthers that moved with the jerky, uncoordinated aggression of chemically enhanced killing machines.
These weren’t normal shifters—they moved wrong, eyes vacant despite their savage hunger, no strategy or intelligence guiding their attacks beyond base destruction.
The pack bond exploded with killing rage that could shatter mountains.
Jace launched himself at the largest feral with bone-crushing impact that sent both creatures tumbling across blood-soaked earth.
His jaws closed around its throat with precision born of millions of years of evolutionary perfection, tasting corrupted blood as he tore through flesh and sinew with mechanical efficiency.
The thing thrashed with unnatural strength but possessed no skill, no cunning beyond chemically induced violence.
Adrian became liquid death incarnate, his copper form a blur of calculated violence that would have been beautiful if not for its lethal purpose.
Blood sprayed in arterial arcs as his claws opened bellies, sending steaming intestines spilling across the forest floor in patterns that resembled abstract art painted in gore.
Cole moved with surgical precision that spoke of tactical genius—spine-severing bites delivered with mathematical accuracy, hamstring-cutting claws deployed for maximum damage with minimum energy expenditure, each attack designed to eliminate threats.
George dominated the clearing’s center like an alpha’s nightmare given physical form, his massive frame radiating authority even in the midst of savage combat.
Two ferals challenged him simultaneously in their chemically enhanced stupidity.
His roar shook ancient trees as he caught one mid-leap, jaws closing around its skull with a wet crunch that echoed through the forest like thunder.
Eli, Jace’s panther demanded even as he disemboweled another feral. Need mate NOW. Find our mate before it’s too late.
Truck in the main clearing, Ray projected through the pack bond. Ambush situation. Something fundamentally wrong with those panthers—drugged or worse.
Jace charged ahead before the words finished forming, his panther’s desperation overriding even George’s alpha authority in the face of mate-threat. The scent of blood grew stronger with each stride—Thomas’ blood, the security team’s blood, and underneath it all like a knife through his heart…
MATE’S BLOOD.
The scent hit him like a physical blow that nearly sent him stumbling, driving him into a frenzy that bordered on complete madness.
His beast burned through every energy reserve, driven by mating instinct more powerful than survival itself, more compelling than pack loyalty, more essential than his own continued existence.
A roar echoed through the trees ahead—not a hunting cry but the desperate sound of someone fighting for their life with everything they possessed.
Someone small and brave and terrified, facing impossible odds with courage that made Jace’s heart swell with pride even as terror threatened to consume him.
Eli. Our beautiful, brave mate.
He burst into the main clearing and Jace’s entire world imploded into a single moment of crystalline clarity.
Thomas’ truck sat surrounded by remaining ferals like a metal island in a sea of supernatural violence, windshield shattered into a spiderweb of destruction, driver’s door hanging open at an angle that spoke of desperate escape attempts.
Through the broken glass, he glimpsed Thomas unconscious in the passenger seat, skin gray with blood loss that spoke of serious injury.
But where was—
There. Pressed against the truck’s side like a cornered angel, blood soaking through his shirt from vicious bite wounds at his shoulder that painted his pale skin crimson.
Eli, alive but cornered, facing down a massive scarred panther that crouched on the truck’s hood like some nightmare dragged up from the deepest pits of hell.
The feral was preparing to lunge with muscles coiled for a killing strike. Directly at Eli’s exposed throat where life pulsed beneath skin too pale, too fragile, too precious to lose.
MINE, Jace’s panther seized complete control, every rational thought obliterated by mate-protection instinct that predated civilization itself.