Chapter 101
Chapter 101
Francesco’s Point of View:
When my consciouness back pain met me first.
It crept up from the edges of my mind like frostbite–slow, cruel, and relentless. Then came the fire. Wolfsbane, thick in my bloodstream, burning my nerves from the inside out.
I didn’t open my eyes right away because I couldn’t..
What is this?
Every instinct in me screamed that I was in danger–and worse–that she was in danger.
My Luna, My mate.
My Ellaine….
Where is she now?
I forced my fingers to curl. Metal resisted. Chains.
Silver.
My eyelids peeled open, vision blurring. A narrow, torch–lit cell. The air was heavy. Enchanted stone. Sealed runes in the mortar. No wind. No sound beyond the drip of water.
And no scent of her, I can’t smells her, my Luna, My Ellaine anywhere near me.
And that was wrong.
So wrong.
I tried to move. My body was sluggish, every muscle fighting the aftershock of poison. But the fear–the raw, pulsing panic–was stronger.
What is this? My heart beating fast when I notice it.
Something was wrong with Ellaine.
I can’t feel her.
Why?
I tried to reach her through the bond. That soft, ever–present hum that tethered us–like sunlight against my ribs. But it wasn’t there. It was dim, flickering, fading.
No.
No, no, no.
What is going on? Is like she’s nowhere in this world.
My heart slammed against my ribs. I growled, a deep, guttural sound that shook the chains.
They did something to her.
I knew it.
1/4
15.58 InUFT
Chapter 101
Because I could felt it.
I remembered everything–her falling. Her scream. The way she reached for me as she collapsed. The council. The guards. The treachery,
I remembered that bastard rogue–Luca before I fainted.
How is he here? How come the council work with him?
And now, all I felt was empty cold because of the betrayal and anger.
I yanked against the chains. Once. Twice. They didn’t budge. They were old magic. Lycan–forged. But I didn’t care.
“Let me out,” I snarled. My voice was a rasp, soaked in venom.
There was no answer.
I growled again, louder this time, letting the beast inside me rise to the surface. My claws burst from my fingertips. My eyes burned gold. The air rippled.
The wolf inside me screamed her name.
Ellaine.
Where was she?
Why couldn’t I feel her?
Then came the pain in my chest. Not poison. Not silver,
Something else.
Severance.
A pull, like someone was trying to peel her memory out of my soul.
My mate bond wasn’t just dimming.
It was being cut.
I roared.
ཞི་༼་་་་ལོ།། ༡༩༩
The kind of roar that splits mountains and rattles the bones of cowards. My body convulsed. My shoulders burned as I slammed my back against the wall, using the angle to push–push–push against the chains until the cuffs cut into skin.
Blood spilled. Sizzled against silver.
But I kept going.
The room pulsed with my fury.
I would kill them.
Every last one.
They touched my mate.
They tried to put her in danger.
And I would show them what the last Lycan Alpha truly was.
Chapter 101.
Not a political figure.
Not a council dog.
A storm.
A force of vengeance with teeth and rage and a heart that only beat for one thing–Ellaine.
Then–faint. So faint I nearly missed it.
A whisper in the back of my mind.
Marlow…
I had ordered him to keep the link open. Hours before we left, I gave the command:
“If something happens, keep our link open, no matter how far I go. No matter what blocks you feel. Just keep it open.”
I didn’t know then how important it would be.
But now, I reached for it. For him.
“Marlow… Marlow, can you hear me?” I growled through the bond. “They have us. Council betrayed us… Luca is here. Ellaine–she’s–”
“Alpha?” came the reply. Choked. Staggered. But there. “Alpha, we feel you. We’ve been waiting. You’re alive!”
“I don’t know where the others are,” I hissed. “They separated us. I haven’t seen Alfonso or the rest of the warriors since they used wolfsbane. But Ellaine… They’ve done something. She’s slipping away from me.”
Silence.
Then Marlow’s tone turned to steel.
“We’re coming. Give us a way in.”
“Not yet,” I said. “It’s trapped. Sealed in magic. You won’t make it in time.”
“I don’t care. I’ll break the sky if I have to.”
I closed my eyes and sent him what I could. The details. The scent of the halls. The temperature. The runes. The guards‘ faces. I sent it all through the mindlink.
Marlow grunted. “Underground. That narrows it. I’ve got four stealth teams on the edge of Council lands. Give me one hour. We breach from below.”
“Make it thirty minutes,” I growled. “I don’t know how long she has. They’re using something else. Not just wolfsbane.”
“What do you mean?”
“They’re trying to break the bond. I don’t know, I almost can’t feel her.”
Silence.
Then a snarl ripped through the link.
“They die,” Marlow spat. “Every last one of them.”
“Yes,” I said. My vision sharpened. My body trembled with the strain of fury. “But save her first.”
I heard Marlow’s breath hitch before he responded. “We’ll come through the western tunnels. Old ones. From before the council hall was rebuilt. We’ll
3/4
1958 Thu 17.
Chapter 101
blast through if we have to, but I’ll get a team into the containment level. We’ll mark every magic anchor. Our witch is already working on countedn We’ll cut the spell first, then the chains.”
“Good,” I murmured. “Use smoke. Shift if needed. Take the guards alive only if necessary. If you see Luca
“He’s mine,” Marlow snarled.
“No,” I said darkly. “He’s ours.”
The bond flickered. Faded. But not gone.
Not yet.
And I would tear this entire kingdom apart before I let it die.
E
