Alpha's Hidden Precious Luna-Chapter 147

Kai POV

The night air was cold against my face as I raced through the forest, my wolf form allowing me to move silently between the shadows. Liam’s warnings, my sister, even my own voice of reason – told me this was reckless. Dangerous, possibly stupid but I didn’t care. Lily was gone and Lucas was the only one I could think of who’d be cowardly – and obsessed – enough to pull something like this.  

Seven days without Lily. Seven days of torture, imagining the worst. I would no longer wait for diplomacy or protocol.

I slowed as I approached the border of Golden Moon territory, my nose detecting the subtle shift in scent markers. Crossing another pack’s boundary uninvited was a violation of every treaty between our kinds, but I no longer cared about politics. Only Lily mattered.

Shifting back to human form, I pulled on the dark clothes I’d carried in a waterproof bag strapped to my wolf’s body. The Golden Moon pack house stood in the distance, grand and imposing against the night sky. Lights glowed from several windows—they weren’t all asleep, which complicated things.

I circled the perimeter, noting the positions of the guards. Two warriors at the main entrance, another patrolling the east side. Pathetic security for an Alpha who had stolen another man’s mate. Either Lucas was supremely confident, or supremely stupid.

I waited until the eastern patrol moved toward the back of the property, then made my move. Swift and silent, I approached the two guards at the entrance. They caught my scent a second too late.

"Hey, you can’t—"

My fist connected with the first guard’s jaw before he could finish his sentence, sending him crumpling to the ground. The second guard had barely reached for his weapon when I swept his legs from under him and delivered a precise blow to his temple, rendering him unconscious.

"Sorry," I muttered, though I felt no actual remorse. They had chosen to serve Lucas—they would share in his fate. I dragged them to an underbush and continued moving. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

I entered the compound and continued to the pack house. It was clean, modern and polished to perfection.

I forced the door open, slipping inside the dimly lit foyer. The pack house was quiet, but not silent. I could hear voices from somewhere deep within the building, the normal sounds of life continuing unaware of the intruder in their midst.

My nostrils flared as I tried to catch Lily’s scent. Nothing yet, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t here. Lucas could be keeping her somewhere isolated, somewhere her scent wouldn’t spread through the pack house.

I moved through the main floor methodically, checking each room, my tension growing with every empty space I encountered. The dining hall, empty. The pack meeting room, empty. Various offices and sitting rooms, all empty.

Where would he keep her? Where would I keep someone if I wanted to hide them from my entire pack?

The basement. Or the top floor, where the Alpha’s private quarters would be.

I chose the top floor first, taking the stairs two at a time, my senses on high alert for any approach. Each step brought me closer to either finding Lily or confirming my worst fear—that I had guessed wrong, that she wasn’t here, and I had just committed an act of war for nothing.

No, I couldn’t think like that. She had to be here. I could feel it in my bones.

The upper hallway was lined with doors, most closed. I began checking them one by one, throwing them open with increasing frustration as each revealed an empty room. Guest quarters, storage closets, a small library—all vacant.

At the end of the hall stood a larger door, ornately carved with the symbol of the Golden Moon pack. The Alpha’s chambers. If Lucas had Lily, if he was keeping her as some sort of twisted trophy, she would be here.

I didn’t bother with stealth anymore. I kicked the door open, splintering the wood around the lock. The room beyond was spacious, luxurious—and empty. The bed was made, untouched. No sign of Lily, no trace of her scent.

"Damn it!" I roared, slamming my fist into the wall and leaving a sizeable hole in the plaster.

Had I been wrong? Had my desperation led me to make a catastrophic mistake?

No time to doubt now. I had to check the basement before the entire pack descended on me.

As I turned to leave, I heard shouts from below—my presence had finally been detected. Footsteps pounded up the stairs, warriors rushing to defend their Alpha’s home. I braced myself for a fight, but my primary mission remained finding Lily.

I charged back down the hallway, bowling over the first two warriors who reached the top of the stairs. They tumbled down, taking several others with them in a tangle of limbs and curses. I leapt over them, landing at the bottom of the staircase, and immediately began searching for the entrance to the basement.

More warriors appeared from adjoining rooms, but they were disorganized, unprepared for an Alpha-level opponent in their midst. I dispatched them efficiently, using just enough force to incapacitate without killing. These weren’t my enemies—Lucas was.

"What the hell is going on here?" A commanding voice cut through the chaos.

Lucas stood in the doorway to what appeared to be his office, dressed in sleeping pants and nothing else, his hair disheveled. His eyes widened as he recognized me.

"Kai? What are you doing in my house?"

I didn’t waste time with pleasantries. In three strides, I crossed the space between us, grabbed him by the throat, and slammed him against the nearest wall.

"Where is she?" I snarled, my canines elongating with rage. "What did you do to her?"

Lucas’s eyes flashed with genuine confusion, though I wasn’t fooled. "What are you talking about? Let go of me this instant!"

I tightened my grip, lifting him slightly so his feet barely touched the ground. "Lily. My mate. Where are you keeping her?"

With a strength born of his Gamma status, Lucas shoved me back, breaking my hold. He straightened, rubbing his throat and glaring at me with indignation.

"You come to my house in the middle of the night, disrupt my peace, have my house in disarray in search of a woman I’ve had no contact with like forever?" He scoffed, shaking his head. "You’re a fool. Leave now before I get angrier."

"I’m not leaving without Lily," I insisted, Hud, clawing at the edge of my consciousness, demanding I tear this man apart. "Bring her to me. Now."

"I don’t have your precious Lily," Lucas snapped, his patience clearly wearing thin. "I haven’t seen her in months."

"You’re lying. She disappeared seven days ago, and you’re the only one who would take her."

A new voice entered the conversation, cool and measured. "Why exactly are you looking for my sister?"

I turned to see a tall, elegant woman descending the main staircase. Vanessa—Lily’s older sister and the Luna of Golden Moon pack. Her expression was calm, but I could sense the dangerous power she kept carefully controlled.

"Because she’s my mate," I answered, my voice leaving no room for debate. "And she’s missing."

Vanessa rolled her eyes and let out a long sigh. “Of course she is. Ugh. What is it about that girl?”

Lucas chuckled, but the sound was bitter. “She always had a way of making idiots fall at her feet.”

Vanessa continued sighing deeply, rolling her eyes in obvious exasperation. "What she sees in you, I’ll never understand. Crashing into our territory like some rabid animal, making accusations—"

"Oh, please," Lucas interrupted with a derisive laugh. "He’s desperate because he knows she finally came to her senses and left him. Lily always did have poor taste in men, running from one weakling to another."

Something inside me snapped. The last thread of my control, already stretched to a breaking point by seven days of worry and grief, finally gave way. With a roar that was more wolf than human, I launched myself at Lucas, my only thought to tear apart the man who dared speak of Lily that way.

Our bodies collided with the force of two Alpha wolves, sending us crashing through the office door in a tangle.

I slammed into him with everything I had. The wall cracked again as I drove him into it, my fists swinging. His nose cracked beneath the first blow, blood spraying as he tried to fight back, but I didn’t care. I didn’t feel pain. I didn’t hear Vanessa scream.

All I saw was red.

He dared to speak about her like that. He dared to take her. He dared to touch her.

My fist connected again. And again. And again.

And I wasn’t stopping this time.