Chapter Twelve
916 Words
Lucian
It had been three weeks.
Twenty-one nights since the cliffs. Twenty-one nights since the wind had carried her scent into his lungs, twenty-one nights since she had touched him. The memory still burned with every heartbeat.
And three weeks since she had left.
Lucian had been found in the woods by his Gamma before dawn on the morning after that first encounter — bloodied and barely standing, ribs cracked from the rogue ambush he had underestimated. But it wasn’t the wounds that unsettled his Gamma.
It was the look in his eyes.
“You were gone longer than the patrol report,” his Gamma said cautiously while helping him back toward the pack lands.
Lucian grunted, refusing to lean too heavily despite the pain.
“I handled it.”
His Gamma had caught the faint shift in scent clinging to Lucian’s skin. Not rogue. Not pack. Female.
But he hadn’t pressed. And Lucian hadn’t offered.
Because how could he explain?
That in the middle of bleeding out in the forest, he had found her — his mate.
And she had left him.
Mate.
The word echoed in his chest. His wolf accepted it without hesitation. Sparks had flared the instant she touched him — electric, grounding, undeniable.
And yet she had stepped back.
The memory burned hotter than any wound he had suffered against rogues.
Because she had done it to protect him.
Even so… she left.
Lucian’s jaw clenched. Pride sealed his mouth when his Gamma had walked beside him, silently observing. He had almost told him the truth. Almost admitted it.
Instead, he let the shame and fury simmer in silence.
On the slow walk back through the trees, just before the Gamma found him, a flicker of her pain hit him. A whisper of agony. So faint he almost thought it was blood loss, yet it twisted something deep inside him.
Her.
The realization of her suffering nearly brought him to his knees.
⸻
Now, three weeks later, Lucian stood in the great hall. Warriors milled about, discussing patrols and rogue movements, but he barely heard them. The bond hummed faintly beneath his skin, each pulse a reminder that she was out there, hurting, and unreachable.
He pressed a hand against the ancient oak table, breathing slow and controlled.
Our mate is in pain. And I can’t reach her.
His Beta approached cautiously, sensing his tension.
“Alpha,” he said softly, “you’ve been… tense lately. The eastern patrols—do you want me to—”
“No,” Lucian snapped. His voice was low, sharp. “Keep the men on schedule. Monitor rogue movement. That’s the priority.”
His Beta raised an eyebrow but didn’t press further. Lucian didn’t need prying eyes right now.
Later, in private, he found the Gamma. Alone in the strategy room, away from the ears of the pack. Lucian’s wolf prowled beneath the surface, restless and frustrated.
“You noticed,” Lucian said quietly, not looking up from the table.
“I did,” the Gamma replied cautiously. “I found you in the woods three weeks ago. Something was off. You wouldn’t tell me…”
Lucian finally looked up, eyes blazing gold. “I am telling you now,” he said, voice low and steady. “But this is your secret. No one else may know.”
“I understand,” the Gamma said, bowing slightly. “You found… her?”
“Yes,” Lucian admitted, clenching his fists. “She left me. To protect me. But she’s suffering. I can feel it.”
The Gamma’s expression darkened. “And you’ve been carrying it alone for three weeks?”
Lucian exhaled sharply. “I didn’t need anyone to see this. Not the pack. Not my Beta. No one.”
“You’re human enough to feel pain,” the Gamma said gently. “But… you are not human.”
Lucian’s jaw tightened. “She’s mine. My mate. And she is being hurt. I will not allow it.”
The Gamma nodded, understanding the layers of meaning beneath the words. “Then we plan. Carefully.”
“Yes,” Lucian said. “Scouts. Every neighboring pack. Every rogue movement. Everyone thinks it’s routine. That I’m consolidating power, controlling rogue activity. But in reality… I’m hunting for her.”
The Gamma leaned closer. “And if someone were to interfere?”
Lucian’s eyes darkened. “Then they will regret it.”
They spent hours mapping, discussing contingencies, planning routes for scouts. Lucian carefully balanced appearing calm and methodical to the pack while internally teetering on the edge of fury. Every minor ache he felt along the bond, every flicker of pain she sent unintentionally, twisted him tighter.
And yet he kept control.
Because right now, he couldn’t locate her. Not yet.
But the thread between them was alive, pulsing steadily, reminding him of the sparks at the cliffs, of the strength in her voice.
Mate.
He repeated the word inside his head, a mantra, a tether.
We will find you. And nothing will stop me.
By the time the pack fell silent for the night, Lucian’s plans were set. Scouting teams would be dispatched; every report filtered through him. To the pack, he was preparing for rogue movements. In truth, he was preparing for war — the eventual retrieval of his mate.
And when that day came, anyone who had touched her… anyone who had harmed her… would learn what it meant to cross an Alpha.
- Writer
