Kael's POV
She was staring at me.
My mate. My Sera. After three years of searching, torture, and slowly losing my mind, she was standing fifty feet away staring at me with those violet eyes like she'd seen a ghost.
Because she didn't remember me.
The mate bond screamed in my chest, finally complete after being half-dead for so long. But on her end? Nothing. Just confusion and fear.
Someone was going to die for this. Slowly.
"Stand down, Rogue King!" An Alpha I didn't recognize stepped forward, flanked by warriors. "You're violating the peace treaty!"
I didn't even look at him. My eyes were locked on Sera. She wore a blue dress that made her look like moonlight. And on her finger—rage exploded through me—was another man's ring.
"I don't care about your treaty," I said, my voice carrying across the courtyard. "Someone here stole my mate three years ago. Erased her memories. Made her forget me."
Gasps rippled through the crowd. Stealing a mate was the worst crime in our world. Worse than murder. It broke the most sacred bond that existed.
"You're insane!" Marcus Reid pushed through the crowd, placing himself between me and Sera. "You have no mate. You're just a monster looking for an excuse to start a war!"
I smiled. It wasn't a nice smile. "Move away from my wife, Marcus. Or I'll rip your throat out right here."
Sera made a small sound—half gasp, half whimper. The bond pulsed with her fear, and it nearly drove me to my knees. She was afraid of me.
Of course she was. She didn't remember loving me. Didn't remember our wedding. Didn't remember that she was the only thing keeping me sane.
"Sera," I called to her, ignoring every Alpha shouting threats. "Look at me."
She did. And for a moment, I saw something flicker in her eyes. Recognition? Hope? Or was I imagining what I desperately wanted to see?
"I don't know you," she whispered. But her hand moved to her chest, pressing against the spot where her mating mark was hidden. She felt it. Even if she didn't understand it.
"Yes, you do." I took a step forward. Warriors raised their weapons. I didn't care. "Your wolf knows me. Your soul knows me. They just made you forget."
"Stay back!" Marcus wrapped an arm around Sera's shoulders, and my control snapped.
I shifted partially—just enough to let my wolf surface. Just enough to show every Alpha here exactly what kind of monster they were dealing with. My eyes blazed gold. Claws extended. Power radiated from me in waves that made weaker wolves drop to their knees.
"Take. Your. Hands. Off. Her." Each word came out as a growl.
Marcus's face went pale, but he didn't move. "She's my fiancée. She chose me. Whatever lies you're telling—"
"LIES?" My roar shook the building. "You KIDNAPPED her! Had a witch erase her memories! Kept her drugged and broken so she'd never remember who she really is!"
Sera's face went white. "That's not—Marcus saved me from rogues—"
"He IS the rogue who took you!" I snarled. "Three years ago, you were stolen from our bed in the middle of the night. No trace. No trail. I've been searching for you every single day since. Going mad from the mate bond pain. And the whole time, this bastard had you."
"You're crazy," Sera said, but her voice shook. Doubt crept into her eyes.
Good. Let her doubt. Let her question everything Marcus told her.
"Am I?" I pulled down the collar of my shirt, exposing the mating mark on my chest—a wolf and moon symbol that only appeared when two souls bonded for life. "You have one too, Sera. Exactly like mine. Hidden under a glamour spell so you wouldn't see it."
Her hand flew to her chest. "I don't—"
"Check," I commanded. "Press on your heart. Tell me you don't feel something there that shouldn't exist."
She did. I watched her fingers find the hidden mark, watched her eyes widen as she felt the magic concealing it.
"No," she breathed. "This isn't real. This is a trick—"
"The only trick was making you forget me." I took another step forward. Damien and my warriors moved with me, surrounding the summit. "But the mate bond can't be broken. Even with magic. You've felt it, haven't you? The ache in your chest that never goes away? The dreams of golden eyes? The feeling that something's missing?"
Tears filled her eyes. "Stop."
"Your name is Sera Ashford," I continued relentlessly. "You're from the healing bloodline. You're my wife. And I'm taking you home."
"She's not going anywhere with you!" Marcus pulled Sera behind him. "Warriors! ATTACK!"
Chaos exploded.
Pack wolves shifted and charged. My rogues met them head-on. The sound of snarling and screaming filled the air.
But I only had eyes for Sera.
She stood frozen in the middle of the battlefield, her hands starting to glow violet. Healing magic—her birthright that Marcus had suppressed.
An injured wolf stumbled toward her, bleeding from a chest wound. Without thinking, Sera dropped to her knees and pressed her glowing hands to the injury.
The wolf's wounds closed instantly.
Sera stared at her hands in shock. "I've never been able to do this before—"
"Because they locked your power away!" I roared, fighting through warriors to reach her. "Everything you think you know is a lie!"
Marcus grabbed her arm. "Sera, we need to run—"
"No." Her voice was small but firm. She pulled away from him, staring at her glowing hands. "He's right. Something's wrong. I can feel it."
Victory surged through me. She was starting to remember. Starting to question.
I was almost to her when Marcus did something unforgivable.
He pulled out a syringe and jabbed it into Sera's neck.
She gasped, her eyes going wide. "Marcus? What—"
"I'm sorry, sweetheart." Marcus caught her as her legs gave out. "But I can't let you remember. Not yet. Not when I'm so close."
Rage like I'd never known consumed me. "WHAT DID YOU GIVE HER?"
Marcus smiled, and it was the smile of a man who'd already won. "The same suppressants I've been feeding her for three years. Just a stronger dose. She'll sleep through the night. And by morning, she won't remember any of this conversation."
"NO!" I lunged forward, but ten warriors blocked my path.
Marcus was already running, carrying my unconscious mate toward the exit.
"SERA!" I fought like a demon, ripping through bodies. "DAMIEN! DON'T LET HIM LEAVE!"
But there were too many. Too much chaos. And Marcus knew these halls.
By the time I broke through the warriors, Marcus had disappeared into a hidden passage with Sera in his arms.
I stood there, covered in blood that wasn't mine, my mate bond screaming as the distance between us grew.
I'd found her. Finally found her after three years of hell.
And I'd lost her again in minutes.
"Kael." Damien appeared beside me, bleeding from a dozen wounds. "We need to retreat. There are too many—"
"Follow Marcus," I ordered, my voice dead. "I don't care if you have to track him to the ends of the earth. Find out where he's taking her."
"And then?"
I looked at my second-in-command with eyes that held nothing human.
"Then I'm going to take back what's mine. And Marcus Reid is going to beg me for death before I'm done with him."
The mate bond pulsed weakly. Still there. Still alive.
Still just out of reach.
I'd waited three years to find Sera.
I could wait a few more hours before I burned Marcus's entire world to ash.