beer asking for it for weeks.
Clutching it to his chest, he sprang to his feet with childlike glee, only for his smile to wither into something bitter
A sneer curled on his lips, his young voice laced with venom far beyond his years.
“I knew it!”
He scoffed.
“That mutt couldn’t just stay away. She probably left this to mess with my head. Make me miss her. She wants me grateful, wants me weak. Not happening.”
He turned to the man looming in the doorway.
“If she thinks she can crawl back here like nothing happened, she better be ready to beg
Alpha Marcus said nothing. His silence was colder than the mountain wind outside the packhouse walls, and it spoke volumes.
Over the years, neither Alpha Marcus nor Lucas had treated Brianna well.
To the rest of the pack, she was the docile Luna who had somehow failed to awaken her wolf.
To her mate and his son, she was something less than that–less than a wolf, less than human. A shadow.
A ghost moving through the house. She took every cruel word, every cold night in that shared bed, without protest.
She never challenged the Alpha. Never howled back. Never fought.
So no one believed she’d truly be gone. Especially not Marcu. A few days, maybe a week, her scent still lingered in the halls.
She’d return.
She always came back.
That thought lifted his mood.
Marcus’s POV – That Night
The full moon hid behind thick storm clouds, and thunder rumbled like angry growls in the
distance.
Marcus stirred in his bed, parched.
His fingers reached for the carved drinking horn she always filled before sleep but found only an
empty space.
He blinked, annoyed, and growled.
‘Brianna. Water”
No answer.
His jaw tightened.
‘Brianna, I said give me some damn water!”
4:56 pm
Still nothing. No shuffling feet. No quiet, obedient presence
He growled under his breath, irritation crawling up his spine as he sat up, only to find the othe side of the bed empty Cold.
She really was gone.
He muttered a curse under his breath, swung his legs over the side of the bed, and padded toward the kitchen
The storm was in full force now, the wind howling like wolves in mourning. Lightning cracked across the sky, briefly illuminating the long stone hall.
As he passed Lucas’s door, a shriek cut through the thunder.
Alpha Marcus froze.
His heartbeat stuttered.
He threw open the door
The boy’s room was bathed in an eerie blue–purple glow from the lightning outside.
Shadows danced like spirits on the stone walls.
Lucas was huddled in the far corner, his knees to his chest, he was trembling violently.
Alpha Marcus crossed the room in three strides.
“Lucas, it’s okay. It’s just the storm. Come to Daddy”
But the boy flinched at the word.
“No! Don’t touch me!”
He shrieked
“Stay away from me!”
Alpha Marcus paused, confused and unsettled. Lucas had always been uneasy during storms,
but this was something else. Something uncontrolled.
There was a wild scent in the room–fear mixed with something darker.
He crouched again, softening his voice.
“Lucas, it’s me. I won’t hurt you.”
For a moment, the child seemed to consider it. He stretched out a trembling hand.
And then thunder boomed again, and he shrieked like something violent was about to come.
“I want my mom! I want my mommy!”
Marcus clenched his jaw.
His wolf bristled beneath the surface.
This boy, his blood, was rejecting him. Rejecting the Alpha.
“Enough!”
He snapped, reaching for the boy’s arm.
“Come with me. Now.”
As soon as Marcus touched him, Lucas twisted and bit down–hard.
23 24.75
4:56 pm G
Alpha Marcus roared in pain.
Blood dripped from the bite.
“Lucas, damn it!”
He yanked his hand back, staring at the blood.
Another flash of lightning lit up the room.
And for a split second, Marcus saw something that made his heart stop.
Lucas’s pupils were blown wide, golden flecks glowing in the dark. His baby fangs were out–not
just from fear.
From a shift.
He’s awakening. The boy was transitioning. And Brianna wasn’t there to guide him.
“I want my mom!”
He howled again.
“She always made the storm go away! She sang the old songs, she held me, she loved me!”
Marcus backed away, breath caught in his throat.
He had never sung the old lullabies.
He had never whispered the ancient wolf tongue to calm Lucas’s dreams.
He hadn’t even held the boy during his nightmares.
That was Brianna. All of it was Brianna.
And she was gone.
For the first time in years, Marcus didn’t feel like an Alpha.
He felt like a man who had lost his mate and a father who had already lost his son. And for the first time in forever, Alpha Marcus didn’t know what to do.
