Chapter 100

Ryan

"ENOUGH!" I scream, huffing in every breath and exhaling horribly as I lead my warriors out of the woods. The elder's warriors all halt as well, the war-torn woods outside my palace now torn to splinters. "BRING ME FRITZ! NOW!"

My wolf is fuming, itching to come out and rip through everyone as I have been, but I am sick of this fighting. It was minimal at first, practically just tapping shoulders and screaming profanities. Then the wolves took over, including my own, and it was bloodshed after that. I just want my mate, I want her safe, and I am sick of their lack of transparency on why Olivera and the rogues are claiming atrocities against them.

I pace in place, my heart beating so fast that I feel sick. I crack my knuckles, my feet bare and ripped and bleeding. I exude blisters all over and sometimes I consider shifting into my wolf and turning full Lycan, just becoming a monster. I feel that way without my mate.

I feel loose and reckless without her calming touch.

"What is it, Alexander?!" Fritz calls out, surrounded by his warriors. "Going to sneak attack again? Blame me for this war with Olivera and those pathetic rogues?!"

"I am just trying to protect my mate, dammit!"

"And I have a whole werewolf race to protect, Ryan, I thought you would understand!"

"Then just tell me what is going on," I growl. "What did you do?!"

I watch his warriors shift. His wolves growling as though I have accused the elder of being a murderous, heinous leader. I haven't really accused him of everything other than his lack of honesty. He isn't telling me the truth.

He breaks slightly, seeing my emotions get the best of me. I don't typically cry, nor do I ever do it with company present, but I feel my eyes fill with tears. My body is tired, my wolf is spent, and I can't continue like this anymore. I have to have my mate. I feel like I am half a wolf. I feel wounded and pathetic and vulnerable and as an Alpha, I can't allow this to continue.

Fritz takes a few cautious steps forward, his warriors in tow, while mine circle around my back. The elder, the closest of my friends, embraces me tightly. He keeps me pinned to his chest, his warm, sweat-covered exterior just as weak and weary as my own.

"I know you want to protect her," he says, as if mumbling in defeat.

I nod into his shoulder, missing her everlasting touch on my surface.

"There is a facility North of your pack, in the Wilshire mountains. It's the cave highest on the tallest peak," he says, whispering so low that even embraced, I have to lean in to catch his confessions. "In there is a test facility and holding facility for rogues. It wasn't my idea, and I never condoned the experiments."

"Are you testing on rogues and killing them there, Fritz? Was Olivera right?"

"Yes," he murmurs. "I never told you this information, Ryan. I will not die on this hill of battle because of that wretched Alpha."

"Alpha!" one of my warriors shouts, sprinting toward me with a scroll in hand. It looks too familiar, like the one before where it was written that my mate had been taken because of the elders. I solemnly take the scroll and tip my head toward the warrior in subtle thanks.

Unraveling it, I instantly smell my mate on the scroll, knowing she was nearby when it was written. My stomach knots, worried for her safety, but as I lay my eyes on the words in black ink, I fear I may have more to worry about than I could have imagined.

"It's from him, isn't it?"

Swallowing hard, I fight the urge to shift and kill my old-time friend on the board of elders. "She—she's dead, Fritz—"

I shatter, hitting the wet, muddy ground on my knees and fighting the pain in my chest from refusing to shift. I clench my fists in the mud and let out a deep, bellowing scream that comes straight from my gut. It aches, it fiercely stings, and I can only imagine that my own death would be more appealing than this pain.

My body shrivels into a ball in the mud, Fritz following moments later as he hits the ground on his knees, his head buried into his hands.

"Fuck, fuck, FUCK!" I scream, bellowing for some sense of normalcy back into my life.

"I will fix this… I can—I will kill him and…" Fritz mutters, so sickened by this turn of events that he throws up and chokes on his cries. "Oh, moon goddess, why?"

My wolf takes over at last, saving me from this heart break that feels like my world has been set ablaze. I turn over quick, shooting from the ground and running through the woods; headed in no particular direction with no specific destination. I just need to run, I have to let my wolf exude his pent-up anger, and I have to kill that asshole Alpha of rogues.

Please, it has to be a lie, I plead with my wolf, needing this horrid moment of my life to be over with already, even if it just happened. I was meant to protect my mate and instead she is dead. I would die now if I thought my life was over, but I know it leaves only one thing left for me to finish in this world.

I have to find the asshole rogue who killed her and make him suffer. I don't want him to die, not quickly at least, I want him to feel his heart ripped out of his chest and watch it catch fire; only a fraction of what I feel right now.

I have to find him and make him hurt.