Magnus

"Something is wrong," Henrar is alert all of the sudden.

"News flash. Everything is wrong," I go up the stairs to my office, craving for more vodka.

"Maximo!"

I sober up immediately. This is not some whining nagging. Something is wrong. Henrar howls in my head in pain, not his but Maximo's. Our mate is hurt. Without thinking anymore, I run down the stairs and I call the guards as I get out.

"With me! Now!"

I leap and shift mid-air, letting Henrar follow his instinct. The bond is faint, not enough for us to talk to them but it's enough to give us a direction. If something has happened to...

"I will kill," my wolf and I are on the same page finally.

I run as fast as I can while the pain in my head gets excruciating. But that only fuels Henrar more. I sense my guards with me and I mind-link Thorhild to signal a full alert. Someone hurt the Luna within our border and that someone better be dead cause I will kill him slowly.

As I run, it's not only fury that gets me. It's fear. I haven't felt fear in ages, I always pushed it aside, I became the reason to feel fear. But now, I am this close to stopping and tremble like a leaf, unwilling to face what is up ahead. Not again, not again, not again! I pray to the Goddess but I get no response. This is my fault, all my fault. Antiope is hurt, I hurt her, I did this.

"Focus!" Henrar demands.

And I do. He is right. Self-pity is not helping now. I need to find her and make sure she is OK. I can blame myself all I want after she comes back with a witty remark or a steady demand. So, I run faster than I've ever had in my life.

After what seems like a lifetime, I get her scent. Blood! I know and Henrar lets a chilling howl. We go around some trees and in an opening, I see her, lying on the grass still in her wolf form.

"Maximo!"

"Antiope!"

I run up to her and I shift as I approach. Blood has pooled under her but I know it's not all hers. There are three wolves here, all dead. My warrior, my fighter! I swallow as I see the mess her neck is in. Torn flesh, mixed with fur, her eyes closed. I fall on my knees and I search for breath. Please, please, please. I lean in and I hear it. Faintly, rasping, coming in hard but it's a breath.

"Antiope! Open your eyes," I plead but even close to death she defies me.

I search her body and I find a faintly beating heart. She is alive but is fading fast. Too much damage for her to heal even in her wolf form. I need to do something. But I can't. I am just knelt beside her, drenched in her blood, going back and forth. Not again, not again! NOT AGAIN!

From the other side of the small woods come two wolves. I am ready to shift and tear them apart when I smell them: Thane and Celia. What is going on?

"Antiope!" Celia shifts and comes to her sister.

Thane shifts too and follows the girl to cover her naked body with his. I go to him and grab him by the neck. He was supposed to protect her, to be her shield. And where was he?

Fooling around with a girl, like he always does.

"You pledged your life to her! Look at your Luna! Look at her!" I howl.

"A...Alpha!" He looks at me.

"I will break your fucking neck, you useless piece of shit!"

"No!" Celia falls on me, dragging me. "No, he is my mate. No, I beg of you. Or else kill me too."

Her mate? I look at Thane and though I have him in a death grip, he is looking down at the girl with a longing in his eyes. It is true, she is his mate. The girl I kept here, making Antiope believe she was still my prisoner, found her mate in my pack. If only I knew...

I drop Thane that gets up and hugs Celia and I go back to Antiope. By that time, Egil and Thorhild have arrived and our warriors create a perimeter.

"She is dying," I turn to Egil and I yell into the sky.

"She is not dead yet," Egil grips my shoulders.

"Mark her. Your Royal blood will help her heal faster."

"I... I can't. She doesn't want me. I fucked up so bad."

"Mark her, for the love of the goddess!"

"She will hate me!"

"She'd be alive!"

"She's..."

"It's not her," Egil yells. "She is still alive, there is still time. Mark her and she can hate you all she wants after."

I look down at her and her breaths come in shallower, I hear her heartbeat slow. I lean over her and I use the Alpha command on her.

"Shift!"

Her body and wolf obey. Her body shifts and I see clearer the damage done to her. Her unblemished skin is bathed in blood. Her leg is twisted into an unnatural angle and her throat... Goddess!

What have I done to deserves seeing her like this? There is no skin on her throat, just shreds of flesh and blood pouring out. But that spot, that sweet spot right where her neck meets her shoulder is untouched, pure.

"Forgive me, little girl," I whisper.

I lean in and I let my canines show. Then I deep them in her skin and I hear her gasp. Little drops of blood trickle down but I lick them off. And there on her naturally tanned skin, I see my mark, the sign that is mine. Only she isn't.

I pick her up and take a coat a guard hands me to wrap her and I turn to Egil.

"Do you have a car?"

"The SUV," Egil points.

As I go past Thorhild, I stop and look into his one, blue eye.

"Find me who these rogues are. We will wreak havoc. Krig!"

That is all I need to tell to the Sentinel to get him on the hunt. If there is anyone that can find me who did this, it's him. And if there is anyone that can make them pay, it's me.