Chapter 72: Chapter 72
Christian POV
I felt Sophie’s terror crash through our bond like a freight train, and something inside me broke.
The words died in my throat mid-sentence. Connor was still talking about financial projections, but I couldn’t hear him anymore. All I could hear was the roar of my wolf demanding blood.
Sophie was in danger.
I didn’t shift gradually. There’s no smooth transition when an alpha loses control. One second I was sitting at my desk, and the next my body was rejecting human form like it was a disease. My bones cracked and reformed. My clothes shredded. The windows of my office exploded outward as my wolf tore free.
I heard Connor shouting. Heard the sound of pack members responding to the shift in our connection—that sudden spike of alpha aggression that ripples through every supernatural creature in proximity.
But I was already moving.
The wall of my office didn’t slow me down. Neither did the three-story drop. My wolf landed on the lawn below and took off toward the parking lot where we kept the vehicles for situations like this. Situations that were absolutely not supposed to happen. Situations where my mate was being hunted.
Marcus was already there, already shifted back to human form, already barking orders into his phone.
"Get a team ready. Now," I commanded, my voice still distorted from the partial shift. I forced myself human again, my muscles screaming in protest. "Full combat gear. We move in five minutes."
"Already on it," Marcus said, tossing me clothes from the emergency stash in the truck. "She’s at the Knight building in the downtown district. Forty-minute drive if traffic cooperates."
"Then we cooperate with traffic," I snarled, pulling on jeans and a shirt without bothering with the full shirt. Buttons were pointless. Everything was pointless except getting to Sophie before—
I didn’t finish that thought.
The drive to the city was the longest forty minutes of my life. My hands gripped the steering wheel so hard my knuckles turned white. Marcus sat in the passenger seat, coordinating with the security team I’d deployed to the building, but I wasn’t really listening to him anymore.
I was listening to Sophie.
Through our bond, I could feel her terror, her adrenaline spike, the moment she realized she was trapped. I could feel her fighting back—feel the burst of Luna power she unleashed as she tried to escape. Pride and terror warred inside me. That’s my mate. That’s my mate being hunted like prey.
"Building security is being paid off," Marcus was saying. "They activated a full lockdown using Tom’s authorization codes. He’s got clearance in the Knight Industries buildings. That was a detail we missed."
I didn’t respond. I was too busy planning which bones I was going to break first.
The city building loomed ahead. Police were already cordoning off the area—someone had triggered an emergency response. I didn’t care about protocol or civilian casualties or any of the complications that usually required strategy.
I needed my mate back.
Our strike team was already in position when we arrived. Twelve of my best warriors, all shifted back to human form, all armed and angry. They’d felt what I felt through the pack bond. They knew Sophie was in danger, and that meant Shadow Ridge was going to war.
Tom’s security outside the building didn’t stand a chance. They tried to form a defensive line, tried to use training and firepower against supernatural strength and primal fury. I broke the first one without much thought. My fist connected with his chest, and he flew backward ten feet, landing hard against the concrete barrier.
The others scattered. Most of them ran. The smart ones did, anyway.
I tore through the building’s lobby like I owned it. Because I did, at that moment. Every instinct I had was focused on one thing: find Sophie, secure Sophie, and destroy anything that tried to take her again.
The stairwell.
I could feel her through the bond—her location like a beacon in my mind. I took the stairs three at a time, Marcus close behind me, the rest of our warriors spreading through the building in case Tom tried to slip away.
The third-floor landing was a bloodbath.
Tom’s security team was still engaged with Sophie when I burst through the door, and the look on her face—the moment she saw me—
My wolf howled with satisfaction.
She didn’t need rescuing. My mate was fierce and smart and dangerous in her own right. But she was *mine*, and nobody got to hunt mine.
I moved through Tom’s security team like they weren’t even there. They had training, weapons, and tactical gear. I had fury and supernatural strength and the absolute certainty that I would tear them limb from limb if they didn’t stop moving.
It was over in seconds. Not because Tom’s team was weak, but because they were human. And I wasn’t bothering with restraint anymore.
Then Sophie collapsed, and every instinct to keep fighting evaporated.
She fell toward me, and I caught her, pulling her into my chest hard enough to feel her ribs bend against my grip. Her heartbeat was chaotic, her breathing shallow and panicked. She was bleeding from a cut on her temple where someone had thrown her against the wall.
"I’ve got you," I whispered into her hair, my voice barely recognizable. My hands were shaking. Actually shaking. "You’re okay. I’ve got you."
But she wasn’t okay. She was scared and hurt and traumatized, and it was my fault for letting her leave the territory in the first place.
That’s when Tom stepped out from behind the corner.
My wolf surged forward with predatory intent, but I held myself back. Barely. Because Sophie was in my arms, and I couldn’t risk her getting caught in the crossfire if I let my wolf loose right now.
"This isn’t over," Tom said. His composure was remarkable, considering he was surrounded by my warriors and looking at almost certain death. "You need to understand that Sophie is a liability to the Knight family legacy. Your choices will cost you everything."
I wanted to tear him apart. Wanted to feel his bones break, wanted to hear him scream, wanted—
But Sophie’s grip on my shirt tightened.
I let Tom leave.
My warriors didn’t follow. They stood with me as he walked away, his remaining security team escorting him toward the upper levels. I felt the distance between us increase, felt him escaping, and I let it happen.
Because Sophie came first.
Once he was gone, I just held her. Her adrenaline was crashing, her whole body going limp against mine. I adjusted my grip, making sure I had her fully supported, and pressed my face into her hair.
Her scent grounded me. Her presence calmed my wolf in a way nothing else could.
"You’re okay," I kept saying, because I needed to hear it as much as she did. "You’re safe now. I’ve got you."
But as I held her on that stairwell, with Marcus and my warriors forming a protective perimeter around us, I was already thinking ahead.
Tom’s warning had been clear. And it wasn’t empty bravado.
Harold’s coalition wasn’t just about taking over the pack anymore. They were escalating. Tom’s involvement meant the Knight family was fracturing, meant there were resources and connections being weaponized that I hadn’t anticipated.
This had just moved beyond internal pack politics.
This was war.
I pulled back just enough to look at Sophie’s face. Her eyes were unfocused, processing the adrenaline crash. There was a smudge of blood on her temple, and I reached up to wipe it away gently.
"We’re going home," I said quietly.
But I was already planning. Already calculating. My phone was in my back pocket, and the moment I got Sophie somewhere safe, I was calling in favors. I was mobilizing resources. I was going to dismantle everything Tom and Harold had built.
Nobody threatened my mate.
Nobody.
Sophie pressed her face against my chest again, and I held her tighter. My warriors stood ready around us. My wolf settled into a predatory calm—not satisfied, but focused.
Tom had made his mistake by coming after Sophie.
He just didn’t know it yet.
Because for the first time since Harold’s coalition had formed, I wasn’t playing defense anymore. I was done reacting to their moves.
It was time to make a move of my own.
And I was going to make sure they remembered why challenging an Alpha was a death sentence.
