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TWENTY

ZEV

Z ev's jaw ached from clenching his teeth as he steered his sleek boat away from Marty's vessel.

Every instinct in his body screamed for him to turn back, to leap aboard and protect his mate, but Zev forced himself to maintain the charade.

His fingers gripped the wheel until his knuckles whitened, the mate bond pulsing with fierce protectiveness.

"Touch her and I'll rip your throat out with my teeth," he growled under his breath, the memory of Marty's voice on speakerphone making his wolf surge dangerously close to the surface again.

The Alpha wolf thinks he's claimed you... I'm making you mine forever.

The words had triggered something primal in Zev, something beyond rage. Nothing in thirty years of life had prepared him for the visceral possessiveness that flooded his veins at the thought of another wolf—especially a rogue—threatening and claiming what was his.

He cut the engine as he rounded the peninsula to the hidden cove where twenty of his pack's strongest fighters waited. Ewan stood at the shoreline, his muscled arms crossed over his chest, his expression deadly serious.

"Everything ready?" Zev called as he leaped from the boat, not bothering with the dock. The cold water splashed up to his knees, soaking through his expensive trousers, but he couldn't care less about the ruined suit.

Ewan nodded once. "The stealth crafts are prepped. We've got thermal imaging of Marty's boat." He pulled out a tablet, showing Zev the glowing outline. "Three heat signatures on deck—Chrissy, her father, and Marty. Two more below deck."

"Five total." Zev stripped off his jacket and shirt in swift, economical movements. "I want four of our strongest on those two below deck. You focus on securing Chrissy and her father. I'll handle Marty personally."

A sleek black wetsuit waited for him, and Zev stepped into it, zipping it with a savage tug. His blue eyes glittered with deadly intent in the moonlight.

"Remember, no one touches Marty but me," he ordered, his voice carrying the unmistakable command of an Alpha. The assembled wolves nodded in unison, their eyes reflecting the same fierce loyalty.

"Getting more possessive in your old age?" Ewan's attempt at levity didn't quite mask his concern.

"That bastard dared to threaten my mate," Zev growled. "He kidnapped her father. He violated our territory. He dies tonight."

Ewan clasped his shoulder. "Just remember we need to secure Chrissy and her father first. Your mate needs you thinking clearly."

Zev dragged in a deep breath, forcing his wolf's bloodlust to recede just enough. "I'm clear. I'm focused." The scent of the sea filled his lungs, cooling his rage to something cold and purposeful. "But he's mine to deal with."

They boarded the two sleek underwater crafts—marvels of technology that Zev had commissioned years ago for island security. Silent engines and thermal dampening. Perfect for approaching undetected.

As they glided through the dark water, Zev reached through the mate bond, feeling for Chrissy's presence. There—a bright thread of connection, humming with tension but unbroken. He could sense her fear, her determination, and her fierce protectiveness toward her father.

I'm coming, Luna, he pushed through the bond. Just keep him talking.

The crafts slowed as they approached Marty's boat from opposite sides. Zev signaled silently to his team, their movements synchronized with military precision. Years of training as a pack had made them lethal when they needed to be.

Then, clear as daylight, Chrissy's voice flooded his mind: Now, Zev. We're ready.

"That's our signal," he whispered to Ewan. "Thirty seconds to breach."

Zev took a final deep breath, letting his wolf rise just enough to sharpen his senses, strengthen his muscles, and quicken his reflexes. His eyes glinted with predatory focus.

"Anyone hurts my mate or her father, they don't live to see dawn," he said softly. "Let's go get our Luna."

With the silent grace of a predator, Zev scaled the side of Marty's boat, his fingers finding purchase on the sleek hull.

Each movement was calculated and economical, his body coiled with lethal purpose.

The scent of his mate—floral with a hint of fear—drove his wolf to a near frenzy, but he tamped it down. Strategy first. Bloodlust second.

He vaulted over the rail and landed in a silent crouch on the deck.

The tableau before him burned into his memory.

Chrissy in her red gown, fierce and beautiful despite the danger, her father bound and gagged but with defiant eyes that showed where Chrissy got her spirit, and Marty, the rogue wolf who'd dared to touch what belonged to him.

"Surprise," Zev drawled, straightening to his full height. "Bet you didn't expect to see me so soon."

Marty whirled around, his face contorting with shock before smoothing into calculated arrogance.

"What do you think you're doing? Chrissy has willingly agreed to return to California with me and become my mate.

" He adjusted his expensive jacket with a smug smile.

"Our celebrity wedding is already being planned as we speak. Vogue will have a field day."

"Hate to be the wedding crasher," Zev replied with deadly calm, "but that's just not how this fairy tale is going to play out."

Marty's ice-blue eyes narrowed as he turned to Chrissy. "I thought you were completely on board with my game plan."

Chrissy's lips curled into a smile that was all teeth. "Oops. I guess I can be manipulative and lie just as well as you can, Marty."

Zev couldn't hide the smirk that spread across his face. His mate was magnificent in her defiance—a perfect match for an Alpha. Pride surged through him, hot and possessive.

"You think you've won? That you'll have the last laugh?" Marty sneered, his hand sliding inside his jacket. "You've underestimated me."

From the corner of his eye, Zev spotted two sleek boats approaching in the distance, each carrying five shifters. Under normal circumstances, he might have been concerned. But Zev hadn't become Alpha by being unprepared.

"Backup plan?" Zev replied calmly. "Predictable. Rogue wolves always think alike."

He let out a piercing whistle that cut through the night air. In response, the water around the approaching boats churned as fourteen of his pack members—those stationed in the underwater crafts—rose to intercept the threat.

"No," Marty sputtered, watching his reinforcements engage in battle with Zev's pack. "How did you?—"

"You're not the first rogue I've dealt with." Zev advanced slowly, enjoying the way panic crept into Marty's eyes. "Just the most annoying one."

Behind Marty, Zev saw Ewan silently positioning himself near Chrissy and her father. A few more seconds and they would be safe. But Marty sensed the trap closing.

With a howl of rage, Marty's body contorted, his bones cracking as he shifted. His russet wolf form lunged—not at Zev, but toward Chrissy's father, going for the vulnerable human.

Time slowed to crystal clarity. Chrissy threw herself in front of her father, her red gown flaring like blood in the moonlight. Marty's jaws, aimed for the kill, were seconds from her throat.

Not my mate . The thought exploded through Zev's mind like wildfire.

His own shift happened with unprecedented speed, the wetsuit tearing as his body transformed.

His massive grey wolf form, larger than Marty's by a significant margin, intercepted the attack with surgical precision.

His teeth clamped around Marty's foreleg just before the rogue's jaws could close on Chrissy's vulnerable flesh.

The taste of blood flooded his mouth as Marty howled in pain. Zev used the momentum to fling the russet wolf across the deck, giving Ewan the opening he needed to pull Chrissy and her father to safety.

Marty recovered quickly, circling with a limp, his ice-blue eyes now glowing with feral hatred in his wolf form. He lunged again, his teeth snapping at Zev's throat.

Zev sidestepped with Alpha grace, raking his claws down Marty's exposed flank. The fight was brutal and primal—two wolves locked in ancient combat for dominance, territory, and the right to claim a mate. But where Marty fought with desperate rage, Zev fought with cold, calculated fury.

Every move Marty made, Zev countered. Every attack, Zev turned back on him with greater force. Blood matted their fur—mostly Marty's. The rogue was fast and vicious, but he lacked the discipline that came from leading a pack and from putting others before himself.

When Marty feinted left then lunged right, Zev was ready. His powerful jaws closed around the rogue's throat, clamping down with inexorable force. Marty's struggles grew frantic, then weaker.

It didn't have to end this way , Zev thought as he felt the life draining from his opponent. But you threatened my mate. Nobody lives to tell that tale.

With one final, decisive move, Zev ended it. Marty's body went limp, then still.

The deck fell silent except for Zev's heavy breathing. He turned, still in wolf form, his blue eyes seeking and finding Chrissy in the moonlight. She stood protected in Ewan's shadow, but her gaze was locked on Zev with a mixture of awe and relief.

Jim, her father, had been freed from his bonds and stared at the enormous wolf with undisguised shock. But there was something else in his eyes too—a father's gratitude to Zev for saving his daughter's life and the recognition that his daughter had found a protector worthy of her.

Zev padded toward Chrissy, his posture relaxing from battle-ready to vigilant guardian. The wolf inside him quieted, satisfied that their mate was safe, and that their enemy was vanquished.

No one would ever threaten what was his again.