The Wolf Mark headquarters had not slept.
Dawn had crept in quietly, pale light bleeding through reinforced glass and steel, but it brought no relief. The night clung to the building like a curse—heavy, relentless, unyielding. Blood still stained the clothes of every man and woman gathered inside the main meeting room, darkened patches drying against fabric no one had bothered to change. No one wanted to wash the last trace of the mission away. Not when Rin was still missing.
Kael stood at the centre of the room, hands braced against the long metal table, his presence alone pressing down on everyone gathered there.
"Report," he said, voice low but sharp. "Anything. Even a shadow."
Rowan exhaled slowly, fingers rubbing at his temples as if trying to push the exhaustion out of his skull. "We've rerun the data three times," he said. "Underground cams, private routes, off-grid traffic. Whoever took him knew exactly how to disappear."
Lucas didn't look up from his screens. Code scrolled endlessly across them, blinking and refreshing like a heartbeat that refused to stabilise. "They scrubbed their trail clean. No plates, no signals, no lingering heat signatures. It's professional. Too clean."
Across the room, Tobi let out a sharp breath, frustration barely contained. "We checked docks, warehouses, old safehouses—nothing. Milo's running every illegal feed she can get her hands on, but so far—" He stopped, jaw tightening. "Nothing."
Silence followed. Thick. Suffocating.
Morning had come, but it felt wrong—unnatural. Hours had passed since Rin had been taken, and still they stood there in the same blood-soaked clothes, the same unfinished rage sitting heavy in their chests.
Ari had collapsed sometime before dawn. The medics had dragged him to the clinic after he nearly tore open his own stitches trying to leave again. He had fought them until his strength gave out, desperate and broken in a way that haunted Kael even now.
Kael turned away from the table and walked toward the towering window at the far end of the room. The city stretched out before him, cold and indifferent, bathed in early light. People moved below, unaware that something precious had been stolen from the shadows.
His reflection stared back at him—eyes dark, jaw clenched, Alpha control barely holding together.
Rin…
His fingers curled slowly into fists.
Wait for me. Don't give up. I will find you.
An hour had passed since the needle pierced Rin's skin.
At first, it had been easy to dismiss—the faint dizziness, the sluggish pull behind his eyes. He had focused on breathing, on staying upright, on refusing to let them see weakness.
Then the heat began to bloom.
It spread from his stomach outward, slow at first, like embers being coaxed into flame. His breath grew uneven. The air felt too thick, too heavy to draw into his lungs properly. Sweat gathered along his spine and at his temples, his skin flushing despite the chill of the room.
His stomach cramped violently.
Rin bit down hard on his lip, teeth sinking deep enough to ground him in pain. The ropes binding him to the chair cut into his wrists and ankles as his body trembled against them, but he welcomed the sting—it gave him something real to cling to.
The heat pressed inward, demanding, invasive. His body reacted against his will, every nerve ending lighting up in protest.
No… not yet…
His pheromones surged, threatening to spill past the suppressants flooding his system. He could feel them clawing at the edges, seeking release. The suppressants fought back, reinforced by the faint but steady burn of Kael's mark at his nape—an anchor, a shield, a promise.
But Rin didn't know how long it would hold.
His breathing grew shallow, chest rising and falling too fast. His head throbbed. Heat pooled low in his abdomen, twisting painfully, more intense than any heat he had endured before. This was forced. Artificial. Cruel.
He squeezed his eyes shut.
Kael…
The name echoed silently in his mind, the only thing keeping him from slipping completely under.
Back at headquarters, movement never stopped.
Kael was speaking quietly with Lucas when the doors to the meeting room burst open. Tobi came running in, breathless, eyes wide with something dangerously close to hope.
"We found something."
Kael turned instantly. "Show me."
They moved fast—too fast for exhaustion to catch up. Milo was already pulling footage onto the main screen, fingers flying across the controls. Grainy video filled the room: a narrow side street, timestamped in the dead hours before dawn.
A van rolled into frame.
Minutes passed. Then shapes appeared—men stepping into view, movements efficient and practised. Two of them were carrying someone between them.
Milo zoomed in.
Kael's breath caught painfully in his throat.
Blood streaked the unconscious man's face, dark against pale skin. His head lolled weakly against the shoulder of the man carrying him—Raphael. There was no mistaking him.
"Rin…" Kael whispered.
The room went deathly still.
The van doors slammed shut. The vehicle pulled away, disappearing into the darkness beyond the camera's reach.
Kael turned to Milo, his voice dangerously calm. "Trace it. Every street, every possible route."
Already done," Milo said. "Tobi's tracking the path now. The moment it stops, we'll know where they took him."
Kael nodded once.
Hold on, he thought fiercely. I'm coming.
Rin no longer knew how much time had passed.
Every second was agony.
His body hurt—head pounding, stomach twisting, muscles trembling under the strain of restraint and heat. The forced heat burned through him mercilessly, sharper and more punishing than anything he had experienced before.
He pressed his tongue hard against the inside of his mouth, biting his lip again to keep any sound from escaping. He would not give them the satisfaction.
The room felt too small. The air is too thin.
He focused on one thing only: staying conscious. Staying alive. Staying himself.
Just a little longer, he told himself. Just endure.
Somewhere far away, an Alpha was tearing the world apart to find him.
And Rin clung to that truth with everything he had left.