A/N- Surprise Double Update! 

"Fin, whatever happens, I love you. I should have stayed at the Packhouse. I love you."

The Obsidian Moon Alpha wasn't certain that there were words to describe the horror he felt as the mindlink from his mate came blasting through his thoughts, but he would relive it in nightmares for years to come, along with everything that came after. He didn't say a word to his Beta, and found only silence when he tried to contact her back.

Roughly fifteen minutes later, it happened. He was running faster than he'd ever run in all his life, pushing his body to the limit, knowing that Rune was falling further and further behind. He wasn't worried though. He wasn't trying to hide where he was going and his Beta would easily be able to follow his path, especially with the sun coming up over the horizon. By his estimate he had about twenty minutes of hard running to go before he'd come upon the cabin, when what he would later come to think of as "the final message" came through.

When their link snapped, the connection between them severing, heart, body, and mind torn apart in a single moment, it was every bit as painful as you might imagine.

One moment Fin had been running full speed, towards the cabin in the woods where he believed Cadman to be, the place where Lena had told them to look for him, his heart bent on murder. The next instant, his body was careening through the underbrush, although by the time Rune got to him he couldn't see anything more than a few scrapes keeping his Alpha from getting back up onto his feet. Still, Fin wasn't moving.

"Fin? What happened? Have you been shot somewhere? Is there a silver bullet here that I'm not seeing?" He was circling his friend, half expecting to see a pool of blood beginning to seep out from under him at any moment.

After a long silence, in which Rune couldn't help but feel that even the forest around them seemed to be holding its breath, Fin raised his head, then slowly pushed himself up into a standing position.

"She's gone." His eyes were blank, his head low as he began to slowly limp in the direction of the cabin. Rune followed close beside his friend, not liking the looks of this at all. If his Alpha showed up like this at the cabin it would be a slaughter. The odds were stacked too steeply against them as it was. In his current state he didn't look fit to take on a gang of pups, much less the monster that they were supposed to be hunting down.

"Who's gone, Fin? Alice? We left Alice back at Obsidian Moon. What's going on?"

"I don't know. I just know that our link was just severed. She told me she was sorry and she loved me over our mind link and then our bond was severed."

Rune's entire body went rigid and a low growl left his throat. "The bond is severed. Fuck."

Fin's head swung in his friend's direction and he almost managed a spark of curiosity. His Beta was about as clean cut as they came. He never swore, even in the direst of situations.

"What caused that?" He raised an eyebrow. "I know you care about me, but that reaction seemed to be about something else."

Rune nodded slowly, which looked rather odd in wolf form. "I don't know how much you know about why Alpha Vos has been so completely out of his mind. I mean obviously you know that Luna Emery was taken because that happened while you were still at Amber Moon. But while you and Alice were out in the wilderness on your little camping adventure did you hear what happened to Vos?"

"I don't think so." Fin shook his head. So much had happened in the past week he was having a hard time keeping all the information straight, especially in light of the excruciating pain that was now wracking his body and mind.

"Someone, most of us think it's Alpha Cadman, severed the link between Alpha Vos and Luna Emery."

"The witch we met did mention that Cadman had marked Emery over the mark that Vos had given her all those years ago. And she was not doing well. It was basically killing her." As he said the words the pain and loss that Fin had been feeling was replaced with a new kind of worry.

"How the Hell did he get her?" Fin shook his head. "Nevermind. It doesn't matter. Let's go. We need to get there. Because it's our best bet of where he is and if that's where he is there's a good chance it's where she is now. I have no idea why or how, but let's go. Because that son of a bitch needs killing."

"Nice to have you back, Alpha. Let's finish him, once and for all, so this guy can't hurt anyone else."

Both Rune and Fin found themselves running faster than either of them would have thought possible, with the forest flashing by on either side as they drew closer and closer to the cabin. They were nearly there when Fin caught movement coming in fast from the south, recognizing the desperation of the two wolves as they moved in with the same reckless speed he and Rune had been traveling with, although he didn't recognize them as they drew closer.

Rune apparently did though, bowing his head low in submission.

"Rune?" Fin was confused by the display. He knew his Beta and he knew he didn't bow that low when he approached. The realization struck him suddenly and he turned, lifting his head higher. After everything that had happened in the last week he wasn't about to bow to anyone.

Apparently the two Alphas must have recognized Rune and realized who they were, because they didn't hesitate to approach them immediately.

"I'm glad to see you two here. Apparently my guards weren't able to hold you, which is impressive." Fin was startled to hear the King's voice in his mind and was about to comment on it but Luca shook his head before immediately giving an explanation. "As the King I can speak to any werewolf. Think of it this way. It's like you're all part of my pack." Fin nodded slowly.

"However, as much as I'd love to chat and hear about my guards' apparent weaknesses, and believe me I would like to hear more about that later, I have reason to believe that my mate, Vos' mate, and your mate, Fin, are all inside this little house of horrors, along with quite possibly a number of other women."

"And Alpha Cadman?"

"And the monster himself." Luca confirmed. "My men will be coming, and bringing certain weapons that we believe could bring him down. But they are a ways behind us and I don't think any of us want to wait."

"Are we agreed? We break in?" Vos, who apparently also had the gift of speaking to everyone, or maybe Luca could just facilitate conversations, now didn't seem like the time to ask, chimed in, his eyes scanning the cabin.

"How are we going in?" Fin wasn't in love with the idea. He knew it was very likely that his mate was with Cadman at that moment and if the monster heard them coming in, who knew what he might do to her. He could just break her neck to make sure no one else ever had her. Fin wouldn't put anything past the man, now that they knew a little bit of what he was capable of doing.

"No. There are too many potential hostages in that building. Let's go around the back and see if we can go through a window. We'll start trying to get people out if we can and we'll take him out. But if we can help it we'll use stealth, until we know what we're up against in there."

"We'll start out in human form for the break in and be ready to shift since we aren't exactly armed for a gunfight."

"I never thought I'd prefer guns over teeth and claws." Vos muttered as they slipped around the back of the house.

"I don't think any of us did. But none of us expected to come up against something like this either. Now let's do this. Before he realizes that we're here."  

A/N- I hope you are enjoying this story! If you are I'd love it if you'd comment and click that little star button to vote for it.

This is Chapter 53 and I will continue posting weekly updates here until the entire novel is finished. You can now read the entire novel, all sixty chapters, on Patreon! And for those of you who want more stories, long and short, right this second and who want to read Patreon exclusive short stories, you may also want to check out the link below:

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