Chapter 78: The Club
Kaiser:
It had been days.
Days of chasing ghosts.
Days of following trails that always seemed to disappear just when I thought I was getting close.
Days of convincing myself that if I searched one more place, questioned one more witness, checked one more security camera, then maybe... just maybe... I would finally find Rose.
Instead, every answer only gave birth to more questions.
I had gone back to the forest more times than I cared to admit. I knew every path now. Every broken branch. Every stream cutting through the trees. I had replayed that night so many times inside my head that I could probably walk the exact route with my eyes closed.
My wolf had picked up her scent once, only briefly, before it disappeared as though someone had deliberately erased it from existence. From there I tracked the route toward the main road where the scent vanished completely. I searched the roadside myself. Sent warriors farther into neighboring territories. Questioned travelers. Checked every gas station, every roadside café, every motel within driving distance. Nothing. Not a single person remembered seeing a woman matching Rose’s description. It was as though she had simply dissolved into thin air the moment she stepped onto that road.
The CCTV footage only made things stranger. She had indeed entered town inside a black sedan, but the vehicle’s registration plate turned out to be fake. The driver had been caught by several cameras, his face clear enough that identification should have taken only minutes. Instead, every database came back empty. No driver’s license. No employment history. No financial records. No official identity.
I even expanded the search beyond our territories and used connections that normally remained unavailable even to Alphas. The result never changed. The man didn’t exist. Or rather... someone had made him disappear from every system capable of identifying him.
There were only two kinds of people capable of pulling off something like that. The first were those with power so overwhelming that they could erase a person’s existence with a few phone calls. The second... were the Exiles.
I couldn’t decide which possibility terrified me more.
My fingers tightened around the stem of the wine glass as the thought forced its way back into my mind. If Rose had somehow fallen into the hands of the Exiles... I couldn’t even bear imagining it. Every story ever told about them ended in blood. Human trafficking. Underground fighting rings. Mercenary contracts. Illegal experiments. They were the nightmares parents whispered about to keep children from wandering too far from home.
My Rose... the woman who apologized to strangers for accidentally brushing shoulders with them... wouldn’t survive in a world like that. She trusted too easily. She forgave too easily. She still believed kindness existed even after everything we had put her through. The thought of monsters discovering someone like her made my stomach twist violently.
Then there was the other possibility.
Someone powerful.
Someone powerful enough to erase identities, forge number plates, bypass surveillance systems and move people across territories without leaving behind a single trace.
That should have comforted me.
It didn’t.
Power attracted monsters just as surely as darkness attracted predators.
There were powerful men in this world who collected beautiful women the way others collected expensive paintings. Men who viewed innocent souls as entertainment. Men who smiled in public while committing horrors in private. Rose had always seen the best in people. She smiled first. Trusted first. Believed first. I had spent years teasing her for it, calling her too soft for the world we lived in.
Now that very softness kept me awake at night.
My jaw clenched painfully.
Maybe...
Maybe I was overthinking. Maybe she had truly found good people. People who had rescued her, protected her, and given her a safe place to recover. After all, they had let her return for the bracelet.
No matter how I looked at it, that single fact refused to fit with the Exiles. They would never risk exposing themselves simply to fulfill the wish of a stranger. Someone had cared enough to let Rose return for something precious to her. Someone had trusted her enough to bring her back alive.
That had to mean something. Didn’t it?
Or...
A darker thought whispered through my mind.
Maybe I was completely wrong. Maybe her return had been a cry for help. Maybe she had wanted us to notice something. Maybe she had expected us to save her.
And we... failed her.
Again.
The glass shattered in my hand.
A sharp crack echoed through the private lounge, followed immediately by startled gasps from nearby patrons. Red wine spilled across the polished counter before dripping onto the floor together with tiny shards of crystal.
I looked down absently at my hand. A few thin cuts marked my palm, but they healed almost immediately. I hadn’t even realized my wolf had surged forward until now.
Silence settled around me.
Everyone inside the exclusive club had stopped talking and now they were staring. But I didn’t care.
A woman who had spent the last five minutes shamelessly trying to gain my attention finally took another step closer. Her perfume hit me before her voice did.
"Perhaps I could-"
Her hand reached toward me, or more like toward my crotch.
I slowly turned my head and our eyes met. "If you want to keep your fucking hand," I said quietly, "you’ll stop moving it."
The smile vanished from her face and the color drained from it a heartbeat later. She immediately jerked her hand back as though she had almost touched fire.
"I... I’m sorry."
She didn’t wait for another word.
Within seconds she had disappeared into the crowd, nearly tripping over her own heels in her hurry to escape.
Good.
Peace.
Finally.
The bartender approached without asking questions. Clearly deciding it was safer not to comment on shattered glasses or terrified women, he silently replaced the broken crystal with a fresh one already filled with wine before carefully wiping the counter clean.
I barely acknowledged him.
Because at that exact moment, movement caught my eye. The door leading toward the restricted inner hallway opened and a tall man stepped out.
He didn’t look toward the crowd. Didn’t stop at the bar. Didn’t acknowledge anyone. Instead, he walked calmly toward the club’s rear exit.
A slow smile tugged at the corner of my mouth for the first time in days.
There you are.
I set the untouched glass back onto the counter. And without another glance at anyone around me, I rose from my stool and silently followed the man into the shadows beyond the hallway.
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