---- Chapter 12 LAURENCE POV: The morning sun did little to burn away the haze of whiskey and regret. | woke up on the floor of my office, the empty bottle beside me. The pain in my soul was a dull, constant ache. | Mind-Linked my Beta, Felix. He was the most efficient wolf | knew, his loyalty absolute. "Find her," | commanded, my voice raw. "Use every resource we have. | don't care what it costs." "At once, Alpha," his reply was immediate. For hours, | paced the mansion like a caged animal. Every silent room was a monument to my failure. Every object reminded me of her quiet presence, a presence | had ignored until it was gone. Late in the afternoon, Felix's call came through. "Alpha, we've found her. She crossed the border into the neutral territories five days ago. She wasn't alone." A cold dread crept up my spine. "Who was with her?" "Alpha Chris Harris. Of the Silver Creek Pack." ---- Chris. The image of the Silver Creek Alpha flashed in my mind. His polite visits over the past two years, his respectful inquiries about pack business, his careful, watchful eyes that always seemed to find Josie in a crowded room. It wasn't friendship. It was a hunt. He had been circling my mate, waiting for me to make a mistake. The betrayal was a fresh wound on top of all the others. A violent rage, pure and primal, surged through me. My wolf clawed at my insides, screaming. "It was a plan," | snarled, the words ripping from my throat. "They planned this together! A conspiracy to humiliate me and my pack! | slammed my fist into the wall, cracking the plaster. The pain was a distant thing. "She is my mate!" | roared to the empty room. "Mine! The Moon Goddess gave her to me! Rejected or not, she belongs to me, and no one, not even the Goddess herself, can take her from me!" My mind raced, fueled by fury. | seized the Mind-Link, forcing a connection with Rosalie. "Your brother has my mate," | growled, dispensing with all pleasantries. "Tell him to bring her back to me now, or | will consider it an act of war. Black Moon will crush Silver Creek." There was a stunned silence, then her voice, laced with ---- confusion and resentment. "Laurence, why do you care so much about her? She's nothing!" | cut the connection before she could finish. | didn't know what she would do, but | knew | had lit a fuse. Let the packs burn. | would have Josie back. A moment later, Felix sent another piece of information. It was a file. "Alpha, it seems Alpha Harris has set her up in an apartment in the neutral city of Eldoria. He's also enrolled her in the city's top design institute. It appears he's helping her pursue a... dream of becoming a fashion designer." A fashion designer? The information was so foreign, so completely outside the realm of the woman | thought | knew, that it felt like another betrayal. She had a whole world inside her that she had hidden fromme. 5 A world that Chris Harris had apparently been invited into.