Page 15 of Finding Forever with the Alpha Pack

Each step feels like my paws are sinking into quicksand, dragging me down with every ounce of weight in my body. My breath is shallow, heart pounding as though it’s trying to escape my chest, but it isn’t mine—it’shis. I can feel Griffin’s heartbeat pulsing through my veins like a second rhythm, unsettling in its strength, tethering me to him.He’s awake now,I tell myself. Groggy, but awake.

I push the thought out to Nicolai and Ethan, their wolves keeping pace beside me. We pause just before the cavern’s opening. The darkness yawns ahead, a silent promise of what’sto come. I drag in a breath, sharp and cold, and will Griffin to look around. My pulse spikes when he relays what he sees.

There are ten wolves in the cavern with him. The elder isn’t there.

I pass the message on, voice steady even as my skin prickles with the tension coiling in my bones. A moment of stillness hangs in the air before I reach out to the packs I summoned. One by one, I send them home, releasing them to protect their lands and stand ready for whatever storm may come. The weight of their departure sinks into my chest, a slow unraveling of strings tied too tight.

My gaze drifts back to Nicolai and Ethan. Their wolves are watching, eyes sharp with understanding. They know. We all do.

This is it.

The edge of the moment sharpens like a blade, ready to strike.

I swallow the tension clogging my throat, bracing for what’s next. The cavern looms ahead, but I don’t fear it. Not anymore. I close my eyes for a second, pulling in one last breath of clarity before surrendering to the storm inside me. I’m about to give myself over to my wolf, to let the fury, the strength, the wildness take control.

What would you sacrifice for the ones you love?

The question rings in my head, unbidden, a ghost of a voice that once asked Ethan the same. I know the answer now as well as I know the beat of my heart.

Everything.

I’d burn the world to ashes if it meant protecting them.

The final thought clings to me like a promise, and I step forward into the cavern, ready to meet whatever waits in the dark.

Chapter 11

Griffin

One minuteI’m tearing through the battlefield, claws shredding through enemies, and the next—everything goes black. It’s like I’ve been plunged into a void, ripped away from the chaos in a heartbeat. The world around me is gone.

I come to in darkness. Damp, cold air clings to my skin, and the weight of chains bites into my wrists. I try to shift, but ropes cut deeper, keeping me locked in place. Where the hell am I? The dampness in the air, the echo of dripping water... we’re in a cavern. It has to be one of two mountain ranges, and only one is close to the battlefield.

As my senses sharpen, the bond flares to life like fireworks. Grace. She’s yanking on our tether, desperate, her energy crashing against mine in waves. It burns bright—too bright, like staring into the sun. She’s trying to find me. The intensity sends a jolt through my veins. I grit my teeth. I have to dampen it. She can’t come here, not like this. Not with all these wolves in the cavern.

Jared’s voice cuts through the haze. “Let’s see the lunar wolf fix this.” His sneer echoes in the dark, and I force my head up tosee him. One of our own betas... a traitor. The bastard sold us out. He stands there, flanked by his new pack mates, smug and confident.

I clench my fists, feeling the tether pulse again, but something’s changed. My gut twists as I smell it—smoke and fire.No. Please, no...My heart plummets as the realization crashes down on me.Grace... has she given herself over to the ember wolf?

She’s coming for me, and it feels like a comet streaking through the night, burning hotter with every second. The bond scorches now, and I can feel her rage, her desperation. I can’t stop her. I’m trapped, useless. I can’t shift, can’t fight. Whatever they shot me up with is keeping me weak, holding me back.

I try to focus through the haze, to give her something. I relay the number of wolves in the cavern, their positions, anything that might help. My heart races, knowing I can’t protect her if she walks into this mess.

‘We’re here, Griff.’Ethan’s voice rips through the bond, and relief mingles with dread.

‘Grace?’I ask, already knowing the answer by the way his tether vibrates, the tension thrumming through it like a warning.

‘It was the only way. None of us could sense you,’he laments, and I fight to make my eyes focus, the darkness swirling around me. My pulse pounds in my ears. I don’t want to believe it, but I know... Grace is coming, and she’s bringing hell with her.

The airin the cavern shifts, thick with tension. I notice the way my captors shuffle, their discomfort rolling off them in waves. Something’s coming. My gaze flickers to the tunnel, following the slight breeze that carries an unfamiliar scent—burning wood. It snakes its way toward me, a scent as familiar as it is terrifying.

Then I see them. Glowing, red-orange eyes searing through the darkness, and the low, guttural growl that follows makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. My breath hitches, my muscles tensing.

“It’s an ember wolf!” one of them shouts, panic in his voice as he scrambles, trying to hide behind me.

The fear on his face twists into something darker when I smirk, enjoying the moment just a little too much. “Maybe you shouldn’t have stolen her mate,” I say, my voice laced with satisfaction.

The color drains from their faces as Grace steps into the dim light, her white fur glowing like death itself. But it’s not her eyes that lock onto them—it’s her wolf’s. A rage unlike anything I’ve ever seen consumes her, her pupils burning with pure, animalistic fury. She’s not present, not in any sense of the word I’ve ever known. It’s her wolf, fully in control, and that wolf has only one purpose:destruction.

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