<h4>Chapter 534: Reset ric</h4>


    ric Storm jolted awake from the nightmare. His parents’ voices still rang in his head as they plotted to tear him away from Violet, and chain him back under their control.


    His vision was hazy at first until the shapes above came into focus — a white ceiling cluttered withs and constetions, suspended in their slow, glow-in-the-dark orbit.


    His pulse spiked.


    There was only one ce designed like this. His room in the North Pack.


    No way.


    The constetions were the same ones he’d stered across his ceiling as a boy, born from his obsession with the universe. He had never taken them down. Just like the half-broken gadgets, notebooks, and scraps of experiments scattered across the room, relics of childhood that had followed him into adulthood.


    But right now, ric didn’t care for any of it. His heart pounded in his chest like the hooves of a horse as he sat up. Without wasting a second, he shoved the sheets aside and strode straight to the window.


    ric shoved the ceiling panel aside, cold air spilling into the room as he pushed himself up to see through the opening. Nothing but endless white stretched out before him. Snow nketed the trees, the tall buildings and mountains beyond. His stomach sank to the floor.


    The North.


    He didn’t need a map to tell him where he was. The North pack was known for its long winter and cruel cold that never loosened its grip. And that was all the evidence he needed.


    He was home.


    The door snapped open behind him.


    "Hello, brother. Long time no see."


    Ace swaggered in with a smirk on his face as if this was just another casual morning.


    But ric wasn’t in the mood for theatrics. His hand shot out with speed, fisting the front of Ace’s shirt, and mmed him back into the wall.


    "Where is Mother?" he snarled at him.


    Ace froze, startled. His lips fumbled around the truth before he could stop it. "Downstairs!" he blurted, eyes wide.


    ric didn’t wait another second and left. He didn’t walk but leap down the stairs, his body vibrating with rage.


    The moment he spotted her, his vision tunneled.


    Zara.


    She stood in the foyer, calmly conversing with the Cook, as if everything were normal, and she hadn’t just ripped his life apart.


    ric’s chest rumbled with a sound halfway between a growl and a roar. His mother lifted her head at the noise, and her lips curved into that warm smile she always wore when pretending to be nurturing.


    "Son," she greeted him softly.


    But ric wasn’t smiling.


    He charged straight at her, his hand closing around her throat with crushing force.


    "How dare you?!"


    The cook screamed. "Alpha ric! What are you doing?!"


    Zara’s eyes widened, panic shing as her hands wed at his wrists. He wasn’t supposed to be this strong, not with the suppressor cuffs still locked around his wrists. But ric wasn’t running on wolf strength, but on adrenaline. This was raw, violent fury.


    And she couldn’t break his grip.


    "ric!" Ace shouted, rushing down after him. He grabbed at his brother’s shoulders, only to be met with a brutal backward elbow. The blow knocked the wind out of him and sent him staggering, white lights exploding in his vision.


    But ric didn’t even turn. He was consumed with anger.


    He had told them about the prophecy. Told his mother that Violet might be his mate, the one thing in this wretched world that gave him hope. And what had Zara done? She had drugged and dragged him back to the North pack like he was a child to be locked away.


    How could she do this to him?


    How could his own mother betray him?


    Themotion brought guards pounding into the foyer. It took three of them to pull him off her, one grappling his arms, another forcing him down, and the third pinning his legs. He thrashed, snarling like a cornered wolf, his eyes zing with hate.


    Zara fell to the ground, coughing violently, clutching her throat. Her skin was mottled red where his hands had been.


    "You fucking bitch!" ric roared, his voice cracking with fury even as the guards forced his face to the floor. "How could you do that to me!"


    "Mom?" Ace stumbled to her, horrified.


    But Zara only rasped, "Get the sedatives."


    "What?" Ace froze.


    "Get the fucking sedatives!" she snapped, her voice hoarse and raw from his chokehold.


    Ace hesitated, fear and confusion written across his face.


    "Now!"


    He scrambled, sprinting down the hall, returning in record time with a small vial and needle. Zara snatched it from him with shaking hands and forced herself back to her feet.


    "Mom..." Ace’s voice wavered. He hated this.


    But Zara silenced him with a cutting re.


    She strode to where her son writhed against the guards. His chest heaved, his face twisted with hatred.


    "You betrayed me!" ric snarled, thrashing harder when he saw the needle glint in her hand. His voice carried the kind of rage that could burn a city down.


    "Hold him tight!" Zara barked at the guards. They bore down on him harder, forcing his arms and legs immobile.


    ric roared, muscles straining, but the sharp sting of the needle pierced his neck.


    "Gah!" His groan was filled with fury and despair.


    Zara’s face was void of emotion, cold as a de, as the sedative coursed through his blood.


    Once, ric had admired her. Once, he had looked at her brilliance in science and medicine with awe. Now, all he saw was a monster in a white coat, a woman who valued control above her own son’s freedom.


    The guards began to rx as his body sagged. But Zara snapped, "Don’t slip up. Not yet."


    ric panted heavily, his strength waning. But his re never faltered. His eyes locked on his mother, zing with venom.


    "I’ll never forgive you," he heaved. His voice shook, but his hatred was steady. "Never."


    For a moment, something flickered in her eyes but it was gone as quickly as it came.


    "I’m sorry, ric. I’m sorry it’se to this," she said almost tenderly.


    He bared his teeth, a wolf’s warning, forcing her hand back.


    "This is her fault!" Zara hissed. "That girl, Violet. But don’t worry, I’ll reset you. You’ll be mine again, my boy."


    ric’s eyes widened. "What—?" But the drug dragged him under before he could finish.


    Thest thing he heard was her cold, resolute voice.


    "Lock him up. It’s time I undo all that witch has done to my son."


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