<b>ALPHA </b><b>Elias </b><b>POV </b>


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    We scoured the territory for Lenore, but she had vanished, her scent masked and untrackable. She had always been a skilled warrior. The guards admitted she’d grown unstable during her confinement, her obsession with me worsening. Not seeing me seemed to push her over the edge. Her current mental state terrified me.


    We returned to the vige center to regroup and share any clues in hopes of finding a lead. I learned a few warriors had been injured in surprise attacks, with only one casualty. As tragic as that was, I felt relief before it vanished.


    My eyes lifted toward my own cabin, expecting to see the guards I had left on duty. Instead, I saw the two warriors stationed to protect Lyra lying motionless on the porch–lifeless and still.


    “No,” I breathed. Panic mmed into me, cracking through my shock. With tunnel vision, I ran, heart pounding, leaping over bodies beyond help. The brutal reality caught up–gone. My horror deepened to utter despair.


    I mmed the front door open with my shoulder and stepped inside, but the silence was too heavy–it was suffocating. Not a sound echoed through the house.


    I moved quickly through the living room and kitchen, but she wasn’t there. Then I noticed <fn7221> ?? ??? ???? ?? ???? ???? ???????s, ????s? ??s?? fin?novel</fn7221>


    something dark smeared on the hallway wall. My hand reached out and touched it–blood.


    Fresh. I brought my fingers to my nose, and my heart shattered at the scent. It was Lyra’s


    blood–no doubt.


    Her bedroom door was shut, and dread clenched my gut as I opened it. That’s when I saw her


    -Lyra, copsed on the floor, her body drenched in blood.


    “NO!” I screamed, the sound ripping from my throat as I dropped to my knees beside her. Luke burst into the room behind me, his eyes wide with horror. He quickly lifted her shirt and


    revealed the extent of the damage–several deep stab wounds carved into her stomach and sides. She wasn’t healing. Her body was still too weak from the poison to repair itself in time.


    She had no chance to defend herself.


    “Get her to the closest pack hos“Get her to the closest pack hospital–take her to Dr. Eris immediately!” Luke ordered, voice urgent and unyielding. My body moved on instinct: I gathered Lyra in my arms and carried her out. Outside, a vehicle already waited. The pack


    < CHAPTER 15


    stood silent, fear and worry etched across every face. The weight of their hope pressed against my panic, forcing me to steady myself for her.mand ringing with fury. “I want a full–scale manhunt starting now. Begin at my house and sweep outward. I want that b***h found and brought to me alive. Do not let her escape again.”


    They nodded and scattered, and I climbed into the car with Lyra still in my arms. While we drove, I called Dr. Eris and exined everything, so she was already waiting outside the hospital doors when we arrived.


    She and her team rushed Lyra into emergency care, working to stop the bleeding and stabilize her. They started a blood transfusion immediately–her blood pressure was dangerously low


    from rapid loss. Surgery would likely be necessary.


    “Can’t I use my healing? My blood–anything?” I asked, desperate.


    “No,” Dr. Eris replied firmly. “It’s too dangerous. The poison is still in her system. If you try to


    heal her now, you could make it worse. We’ll flush the toxins out with IVs and proper


    treatment–it’s safer this way.”


    I nodded, agony threading througl nodded, agony threading through me. Through the ss, the team moved in, and myposure splintered as I saw them cut into her side and insert a tube–her lung copsing. Helplessness washed over me, pushing out thest fragments of


    hope. I turned away, pressing my back to the wall, my fists shaking as fear threatened to


    be rage. cutting into me, too.


    It felt like forever before they finally stabilized her enough to consider surgery. The team had


    to transfuse several units of blood just to keep her vitals from crashing. Eventually, Dr. Eris


    walked over to where I stood, motionless and numb, and spoke to me in a calm but serious


    tone.


    “We’re taking her into surgery now,<i>” </i>she said, her voice steady despite the gravity of the


    situation. “There may be internal injuries–damage we can’t treat unless we open her up.”


    “Is she going to die?” I asked quietly, not lifting my eyes to meet hers. The question came out like acid, sharp and trembling, but I needed to know.


    “I swear to you, I will do absolutely everything within my power to prevent that from happening,” she answered with conviction. “The procedure will take a few hours at least. If


    there’s anything urgent you need to take care of, now would be the time.”


    “I’m not going anywhere,” I told her firmly, shaking my head. “But I do need to speak to your


    < CHAPTER 15


    Alpha. This incident–it can’t go unaddressed.”


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    “He’s already en route,” she replied, giving me a reassuring pat on the back of my hand before turning to rejoin the medical team. I watched in silence, my throat tight, as they began wheeling Lyra out of the emergency room. She was so small on that hospital bed, almost swallowed whole by the mass of machines and wires connected to her fragile body. I could barely see her under it all.


    I made my way to the waiting room, but sitting still was impossible. I paced back and forth like a caged animal, nerves stretched so tight that I felt like I might snap at any moment. Luckily, Alpha ric arrived not long after and came straight to me, wasting no time.


    He was clearly deeply concerned by the attack. I gave him a thorough and precise description of Lenore–her appearance, her skills, her instability–and warned him that she was


    unpredictable and dangerously unhinged. This wasn’t some rogue problem. His pack needed


    to treat her like a serious threat–because she was.


    To his credit, he listened intently and offered words of support that eased my tension a little. The news had already reached him–that I had finally found my mate. Now she was inside, fighting for her life. Everyone assumed I’d never find her. Maybe I had believed that myself. But I had. And no one was going to take her from me–not like this.


    Lenore better pray she’s long gone from thesends, because if they manage to drag her back alive and put her in front of me, then I swear her death won’t be swift or merciful. She would suffer every agonizing second the same way Lyra is suffering now. I would make sure


    of that.


    The longer Lyra remained in surgThe longer Lyra remained in surgery, the harder it became to keep my anger contained. Anxiety simmered into rage, then threatened to boil over until I dug my nails into my palms to keep from destroying something. But I held back, forcing myself to remember: this wasn’t my pack. I needed to focus and keep it together–for Lyra.me into my head through the mind link, grounding me slightly.


    “Did you find her?” I asked immediately, my tone sharp and low with a growl.


    “Not yet<i>,</i>” he responded quickly. “But here’s something–we found her scent near your house. She didn’t even bother hiding her tracks. We’re closing in. I just wanted to give you an update. How’s the Luna doing?”


    “She’s in surgery,” I answered bitterly. “She couldn’t fight back. The knife wasn’t even made of silver, but she still couldn’t heal. Her body’s too weakened–because her own father poisoned


    <CHAPTER 15


    her. She never had a chance.”


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    “She survived that bastard’s abuse for fifteen years, Luke said with confidence. “She’ll


    survive this too. I believe in her. I’ll keep you posted once we have her.”


    Then the link cut out.