-Adrian-
You're thinking about her, Nox says suddenly, catching me off guard.
What? No, I'm not.
Yes, you are. You're wondering what she would think if she saw this side of you. The monster Amos created. The darkness you try to hide.
I clench my jaw, the truth of his words cutting deeper than any blade. She's not here. She'll never see this side of me. That was the whole fucking point of walking away.
You're afraid she'd look at you the way everyone else does—with fear. But what if she didn't? What if she saw all of you and stayed anyway?
Shut up, I growl internally, the possibility too painful to consider.
You left her because you were afraid she'd see the real you and run. But maybe—
I said SHUT UP!
Eddie lets out another piercing scream as Asher moves to his other hand, and I force myself to focus on the task at hand. This is who I am. This is what I do. This is why I could never let my little wolf see my face or know my name. She deserves better than a monster who finds satisfaction in another's pain, even if that pain is deserved.
The door opens, and Carter walks in, his eyes immediately locking on Eddie. The room goes silent except for Eddie's labored breathing. Carter's face is a mask of controlled rage, his eyes dead and cold.
"Is that who I think it is?" Carter asks, his voice eerily calm, the calm of a man who has nothing left to lose.
I nod. "All yours, brother."
Carter approaches Eddie slowly, like a predator stalking wounded prey. "You know, I've imagined this moment for five years. Five years of dreaming about what I would do when I finally found you." He picks up a blowtorch from the table, his movements deliberate. "And now that you're here, I find my imagination was... limited."
Eddie starts begging then, the bravado finally broken. "Please... I'll tell you what you want to know. Please!"
I step forward, my face a stone mask hiding the urgency I feel. "Where is Amos?"
"He—he has a compound. In the mountains, near the Canadian border. I can give you coordinates."
He's telling the truth, Nox confirms. But there's more. He's holding something back.
"What else?" I demand, my voice dropping to a dangerous whisper.
"He knows about you," Eddie gasps, his remaining eye darting frantically between me and the blowtorch in Carter's hand. "He's been watching. He knows everything about your pack, your routines. Your weaknesses."
A chill runs down my spine, ice replacing the fire in my veins. "What's he planning?"
Eddie's eye darts between me and Carter, who's still holding the blowtorch. "He's coming for you. But not directly. He wants to hurt you first. Take away everything you care about."
"When?" I press, a sense of dread building in my gut.
"Soon. That's all I know, I swear!"
I step back, nodding to Carter. "He's all yours. Get whatever else you can from him, then do what you need to do."
As I turn to leave, Eddie calls out desperately: "Wait! There's one more thing!"
I pause, looking over my shoulder, something in his tone making my blood run cold.
"He mentioned a woman. Said he found your weakness."
The world seems to stop, the air freezing in my lungs. "What woman?"
"I don't know. He just said he found someone you care about. Someone you're trying to protect."
Little wolf, Nox growls, instantly alert, fear and rage mingling in his voice. Could he know about her?
Impossible, I reply, but doubt creeps in like poison. No one knows about her. Not even our own guys knew where I was those nights.
Are you willing to bet her life on that? The question hangs between us, heavy with implication.
I turn back to Eddie, crossing the room in three strides and grabbing him by the throat again, my claws drawing blood. "When did he say this? When?" My voice is barely human, a growl torn from the depths of my being.
"Two—two days ago," Eddie chokes out, terror in his eye.
Two days ago. When I was with her. The timing couldn't be a coincidence. Fear grips me, cold and paralyzing, unlike anything I've felt before. Not fear for myself, but for her. My little wolf, who I left vulnerable and alone.
We need to find her, Nox urges, his panic matching mine. Now. Before he does.
We don't even know her name, I remind him, panic rising like a tide. We don't know anything about her.
Then we go back to the hotel. We start there. We find her before he does.
I release Eddie and turn to my men, my face must betray my fear because they straighten immediately, alert to the danger. "Change of plans. Asher, Jax—you're with me. Killian, stay with Carter and finish this." I mind-link the rest of my senior warriors: Emergency meeting in my office in ten minutes.
"What's going on?" Asher asks as we hurry out of the room, his usual cockiness replaced with concern.
"Amos might have found her," is all I say, but it's enough. They don't know who "her" is, but they know it's serious from the look on my face.
If he hurts her, Nox snarls, a promise of violence that resonates through every fiber of my being, I'll tear the world apart to make him pay. We'll make him suffer in ways he never imagined possible.
For once, we are in perfect agreement. The thought of Amos anywhere near my little wolf fills me with a rage so pure it burns away everything else. In that moment, I realize the truth I've been running from—she isn't just some woman I spent two nights with. She's become essential to me, like air or blood.
And I left her unprotected.
The darkness inside me, the monster I've become, rises to the surface with a single purpose—to find her and keep her safe, no matter the cost. Even if it means she sees me for what I truly am.