ADRIAN'S POV
Ella disappears through the roof, and my world ends.
I shift fully—bones cracking, fur exploding—and throw myself at Marcus. My wolf doesn't care about methods or survival. Our mate is gone. Someone took her. Everything else is unimportant.
Marcus catches me mid-leap, his bear strength better even to an Alpha wolf. He slams me into the elevator wall hard enough to dent the metal. "Stand down, Wolfe. She's gone. The Forgotten Ones have her now."
"Then I'll tear through every single one of them." My voice is barely human, distorted by rage and partial change.
"You'll die trying." Marcus throws me out of the elevator into the hallway. His guards surround us, guns ready. "The Forgotten Ones aren't some story, Adrian. They're the reason the Council exists. We created the Subjugation laws especially to prevent what just happened—a mating between our species."
I force myself back to human form, breathing hard. Blood drips from a dozen cuts. "Why? What's so dangerous about it?"
"Everything." Marcus actually looks worried, which worries me more than anything else tonight. "Three hundred years ago, before the Great Subjugation, Forgotten Ones and shifters lived as partners. Some even mated. Those unions made beings of immense power—half shifter strength, half Forgotten magic. They were unstoppable."
"So the Council massacred them."
"The Council survived them. Barely." Marcus gestures to his guards. "Stand down. He's not the threat anymore." To me, he continues: "The last recorded union between our species created a female who could control shifters with her thoughts. She nearly destroyed the entire Council before they killed her. She was six years old."
The horror of that sinks in. "You murdered a child."
"We ended a war before it began." Marcus's face hardens. "And now history is repeating itself. Ella isn't just Forgotten—she's straight lineage. Pure bloodline. If she completes the mate bond with you and unlocks her full power, she could bring down everything we've built."
"Good," I snarl. "Your empire is built on slavery and genocide."
"It's built on survival." Marcus pulls out his phone, types something. "I'm calling off the killing order. For now."
"Why?"
"Because killing you won't stop this. The Forgotten Ones have Ella. They'll awaken her power, train her, weaponize her. The only question is whether she comes back as your mate or as our enemy." He meets my eyes. "So here's what you're going to do. You're going to find her. Complete the mate bond before they can break it. Then you're going to bring her to the Council."
"So you can kill her?"
"So we can negotiate." Marcus actually sounds serious, which is somehow worse than his threats. "A mated Alpha with Forgotten blood could be an advantage instead of a weapon. If—and only if—she's loyal to you above her own people."
My wolf howls at the manipulation. "You want me to use the mate bond to control her." "I want you to choose: her life or your pride. Because if the Forgotten Ones finish her awakening and she decides we're the enemy?" Marcus shows me his phone screen—a satellite picture of the building. The base is crumbling. "They've already started. That earthquake earlier was them tapping into her unconscious power. Once she's fully awakened and trained, she could level this entire city with a thought."
"Ella wouldn't—"
"Ella's grandma was murdered by the Council. Her entire bloodline has been hunted for ages. Give me one good reason why she shouldn't want payback."
I can't. Because he's right. If I were her, I'd burn it all down.
"I need to find her," I say.
"Tracking spell." Marcus tosses me a small crystal that glows slightly. "Mate ties leave a magical signature. This will lead you to her. But Adrian?" His voice drops. "When you find her, you'll have to choose. Complete the bond and risk making something the Council can't control, or walk away and let her become a weapon against us. Either way, the world changes."
I close my hand around the rock. It pulses warm against my hand, pulling me north. "I choose her. I'll always choose her."
"Even if it means betraying your own kind?"
"My kind killed my parents for trying to make peace. Maybe it's time for betrayal."
Marcus actually smiles—sad and tired. "Your father said the same thing. Right before I killed him."
The statement hangs in the air. I should attack him. Tear him apart for what he did. But Ella's pull is too strong, dragging me toward the stairs, toward the roof, toward wherever she is.
"Go," Marcus says quietly. "Save your mate if you can. But know this: the Council is watching. And if she becomes a threat, I will kill her myself. Just like I killed everyone you've ever loved."
I run.
Up the stairs, three at a time, following the crystal's pull. David meets me on the thirty-eighth floor, covered in blood that isn't his. "The attackers fled. What happened to Ella?"
"Forgotten Ones took her. I need—" "I heard. " He grabs my shoulder. "Adrian, listen to me. The entire pack is moving. We'll find her."
"She's mine." My wolf pushes through, protective and desperate. "I'll find her."
"You can barely stand. You're bleeding out. And you're about to run into a fight with an entire faction of magic users who've been planning for this moment for three hundred years." David's eyes are serious. "Let us help."
"Fine. But I lead."
"Wouldn't have it any other way, Alpha."
We burst onto the roof. It's empty. The Forgotten Ones and Ella are gone. But the crystal glows brighter, heading northwest toward the forest outside the city.
"They're moving fast," I mutter.
"We're faster." David shifts, his clothes torn as his wolf emerges. The rest of my pack follows—eight wolves ready to run into hell for their Alpha and his mate.
I shift, letting my wolf take control. The crystal's magic syncs with the mate bond, forming a golden thread only I can see, stretching across the city into the dark woods beyond.
We run.
Through streets, over cars, past yelling humans who see a pack of wolves moving like shadows through their city. The link pulls stronger with every mile. She's out there. Scared. Confused. Possibly making a choice that will kill us both.
After twenty minutes of running, we reach the forest. The golden thread leads deeper into trees that glow slightly silver. Forgotten magic saturates everything here—old magic, strong magic, the kind that makes my wolf's hackles rise.
Then the thread goes dead.
One second it's pulling me forward. The next, it vanishes totally, like someone cut it with scissors.
I skid to a stop, shifting back to human form. "No. No, no, no—"
"What happened?" David asks, also moving.
"The bond. It's—" I press my hand to my chest, looking for the connection I've felt constantly since the kiss. It's still there. Barely. But it's fading, getting weaker by the second. " She's cutting it. She drank the waking serum."
"Can you still feel her?"
"Barely." The link is a dying ember where it used to be a roaring fire. "David, I'm losing her."
"Then we move faster."
But before we can run again, the forest lights up. Purple magic bursts in the distance—a pillar of light shooting into the sky, bright enough to turn night into day.
Every bird in the forest takes flight, screaming. The ground trembles. And through the dying mate bond, I feel Ella's scream of pain as her magic awakens.
"ELLA!"
I run toward the light, but the forest itself fights me. Trees move, blocking my way. Roots rise up, trying to trip me. The Forgotten Ones' magic doesn't want me there.
I don't care. I tear through everything, blood and drive, following that fading bond.
Then the light vanishes. The forest goes dead. And the mate bond— It snaps.
I fall, gasping, as the connection tears away. It feels like someone reached into my chest and ripped out my heart. My wolf howls in pain, a sound so broken it doesn't sound like me at all.
"Adrian!" David catches me before I fall. "Stay with me!"
"She's gone," I say. "The link is gone. She picked them over me."
"We don't know—"
A new voice cuts through the darkness. Female. Powerful. Familiar.
"You're right. She did choose."
I look up.
Ella stands twenty feet away, glowing with purple power, her silver hair unbound and flowing around her shoulders. Her violet eyes burn with power that makes my wolf whimper in fear and awe.
She's amazing. Terrifying. And completely changed.
"Ella?" My voice cracks.
She looks at me like I'm a stranger. "That name doesn't belong to me anymore. My grandma showed me the truth. My real name. My real purpose." She lifts her hand, and purple lightning crackles between her fingers. "I am Ellaria Silvermoon, last daughter of the Forgotten royal line. And I'm here to end the shifter rule."
Then she points at me, and everything goes black.