On the Hunt 🌶️🌶️🌶️

Alex

~DRIP... DRIP... DRIP... DRIP...~

A thick, foul liquid seeped from the stone walls.

Insects scuttled across the floor, keeping time with the eerie rhythm.

And there, in the spider-web filled cell, was me.

~Me, a traitor.~

~A lowly political pawn.~

~Dishonored.~

~Disgraced.~

~Rotting in the depths of Hell.~

I hadn’t been to Hell in years.

In my lifetime, no werewolf had ever been sent there.

But now I understood why Shadow Moon’s underground isolation chamber was named so fittingly.

My father used to threaten me with Hell when I misbehaved.

And he was right to do so.

It was a horrifying place, reserved for those who committed the most terrible crimes.

Murderers, conspirators, and traitors…like me.

Even the hard stone bed in this damp, underground prison was too good for someone like me.

Criminals like me didn’t deserve the mold, the dirt, or the cockroaches that lived in this gloomy place.

Because I had sunk even lower than they had.

I was so focused on fighting the evils within the pack that I became one of them.

The very traditions I had spent my life defending, I betrayed.

I wanted to say it was for the love of my pack.

For my friends.

For my lost Alpha.

But it wasn’t.

Pride fueled my actions.

The desperate need to hold onto my position led me to tactics that went against its purpose, disgracing the noble legacy of my ancestors.

I no longer deserved the title of Beta.

The respect of my pack.

Or even the friendship of my friends.

But the most crushing thing was that I no longer had the power to protect my pack from the evils of its new regime.

Fitting, I suppose.

Powerlessness to match my incompetence.

But the issues aboveground were no longer my concern.

My world was darkness.

My life was ov—

~THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.~

The sound of footsteps above sent a shower of dust raining down on me.

Through the small air holes in the heavy, steel door to my cell, I could hear a chorus of muffled voices talking.

A moment later, the door above creaked open.

I covered my eyes as the harsh daylight disrupted the pitch-black darkness.

Between my fingers, I could see three figures climbing down the ladder into my hellhole.

As the door slammed shut behind them, I removed my hands from my eyes.

Three female silhouettes stood before me.

Even though their faces were shadowed, I knew it was my friends: Sky, Harper, and Zara.

I would have hoped being with familiar faces might have provided some comfort.

But it didn’t.

It hurt like salt in a fresh wound.

Of all the pack members, they must have been most hurt by my betrayal.

I didn’t know what to say.

What could I say?

“How are you holding up, Beta?” Sky asked gently.

~Beta.~

My ears rang at the sound of my former title.

“I’m afraid you’re mistaken,” I replied blankly. “You won’t find anyone of that rank here.”

“Don’t talk like that!” Zara protested softly. “Are… Are they treating you well here?”

“As well as someone who traded his honor to win a popularity contest deserves.”

Sky responded gently, “Alex! Alpha Anthony just used the party you threw as a lame excuse to get you out of his way. You know that.”

“His intentions aren’t the point. The fact is, he and his new regime have found me guilty of a crime that I committed. I did it. Plain and simple.”

“But your reasons were good,” Zara said. “You were trying to play Alpha Anthony’s game to keep him out of power. It was a crime for the good of the pack.”

I couldn’t help but scoff.

Their loyalty was both surprising and touching. But I feared it was misplaced.

“You honor me with your faith,” I sighed. “But I’m afraid my character doesn’t deserve your trust.”

“We don’t have time for your self-pity, Beta. We’re here to tell you that we’re leaving,” Harper said firmly.

“Smart,” I replied.

Admittedly, a part of me hurt to learn that the only wolves whom I could call friends at this point were about to leave. But it was the right thing to do.

With Alpha Anthony leading the pack, it was just a matter of time before things fell apart.

“Where will you go?” I asked.

Zara came closer to me and whispered, “We’re going after Alpha Jax and Luna Quinn.”

“A rescue? Do you really think that they are still alive?”

Zara pulled back, shocked at my question.

“I do. We all still believe there’s a good chance. Don’t you?”

I wanted to believe. More than anything.

But I knew my Alpha.

He wouldn’t be gone this long without a word or any sort of a sign unless something unthinkable had happened.

Either way, the three of them had no business walking into the enemy’s den on mere blind hope.

“I would strongly advise against you following their trail. If anything happened to them, the rogues would be on high alert to take down any would-be rescuers.”

“Luckily, we’ll have an expert in their strategy leading us along the way,” said

Sky, nodding at me.

“In case you haven’t noticed, dear friends, I’m a bit tied up at the moment.”

Sky, Harper, and Zara looked at each other with determined faces.

From her high ankle boot, Harper pulled a long knife and tossed it at my feet.

Zara silently signaled to me that there were four guards up top.

The four of us could rush them.

I picked up the knife and looked at it for a moment.

The chance to escape was quite literally in my hands.

A wolf of stronger character than I might have held the shining blade with hope.

But I shook my head and handed the knife back to Harper.

“I’ve already committed treason,” I whispered. “I’m not eager to tarnish my name any further.”

“So you’re telling me you’d just sit here and rot while that jerk Anthony—that criminal—takes over the pack? Without a fight?” Harper’s eyes were ablaze with fury.

“And what good would it do if one criminal overthrows another?” I countered. “Corruption wins either way! The best I can do is stay here and accept the punishment my people have given me. It’s my duty.”

“You’ve lost your sense of duty, Alex,” Harper spat, “and your backbone.”

Her words stung. They were a harsh reality check from Harper. They were the final nail in my coffin of disgrace. Part of me wanted to argue, to defend myself. But what was the point? If the worst she thought of me was that I lacked “backbone,” then she hadn’t grasped the full extent of my real crime.

“I wish you well on your journey. I really do,” I said, “but I have to stay here. It’s the only honorable thing to do.”

My three friends looked at me, their faces etched with disappointment. Their expressions left a deep, haunting sadness in my heart. Before they left, Sky reached into her pocket and tossed me a canvas bag.

“Some extra rations we managed to sneak. It’s not much, but it’ll help you keep your strength up.”

Harper signaled to the guards to open the hatch. I watched as my three former comrades climbed out of this hellhole and into unknown dangers without uttering a single word.

What could I say? Yes, I had followed the law. But I had trampled over the law of friendship.

Quinn

With a sigh of exhaustion, I collapsed onto the silky sheets of a plush circular bed. After days of tough decisions, it felt good to let my tense muscles relax. I had to admit, this new bedroom next to my aunt’s quarters was a big step up from the stone-walled room I’d been staying in during my first few days.

With a spacious private bathroom, soft carpeting, and walls decorated with intricate tilework and shimmering pieces of quartz, the room had all the amenities of a five-star hotel. But it was missing one thing I’d grown used to over the past few months.

The presence of my mate.

Sure, I hadn’t spoken much to him in the past few days. It wasn’t because I was mad at him. Not for what happened to my father. Not even for walking in on him half-naked with his ex-lover. I trusted him.

The real issue was with me. Trying to figure out where I fit into the Shadow Moon pack, my relationship with Jax, and my own skin after all the new information I’d learned over the past few days.

There was so much going on in my head that I didn’t know how to put it into words. It had been hard enough adjusting to the intimate bond I shared with Jax. And while life had immediately tested it with a barrage of external threats, they were challenges that ~we~ had to face.

But everything that had happened in the past few days was all about me. And that night, alone in that spacious room, all my problems seemed bigger than ever.

I hoped that by learning to channel the powers my aunt had talked about, I could process these feelings and figure out where they placed me in reality. Then I could finally open up and share everything with—

~KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.~

Three short knocks on the bedroom door pulled me out of my thoughts.

~Probably Aunt Jodie checking in to say good night.~

I dragged myself out of bed and stumbled over to the door. When I opened it, I was surprised.

It was Jax.

But he looked so different—I barely recognized him. His eyes were red and swollen, clearly from crying. His proud, Alpha-like posture had slumped. His lips, usually firm and boyish, were trembling. It was as if they wanted to say something but couldn’t.

Still, his whole appearance said more than any words ever could. The distance was tearing him apart. Not the physical distance between our bedrooms, but the emotional distance between our souls.

We stood there for several minutes, just staring at each other, both of us fighting back tears. But after a while, I couldn’t stand even the few inches of space between us. I craved closeness.

Even if I couldn’t express it with words, my body could. I grabbed Jax by his face and pulled him in for a long, passionate kiss.

We made love that night. With a fiery intensity. His every powerful thrust sent waves of pleasure through my body. I moaned so loudly that I might have alerted the night guards.

But while our bodies moved together in perfect rhythm, our souls clashed with discord. As we lay next to each other in bed, our bodies were in a sort of catatonic state. Our hearts were numb. Our feelings were numbed by the strange realization that the bond we shared was gone.

I wanted to cry like we had earlier. I wanted to feel loss, anger, outrage, longing—something. But I didn’t. Not in bed next to him. Not asleep in his arms. Not even when I woke up the next morning to find him gone from the bed.

My love for Jax, in one stormy collision of pent-up frustration, had somehow evaporated.