Chapter 8: The Warehouse

The abandoned warehouse stood at the edge of Gray Harbor, surrounded by dead trees and broken stone walls.

Lucien arrived with the patrol team shortly before midnight.

The moment he stepped inside, the scent of blood hit him.

His wolf recoiled.

“Search every corner,” Lucien ordered.

The guards spread out through the warehouse.

Broken chains lay scattered across the floor.

There were deep claw marks on the wooden pillars.

Silver dust covered the ground near a massive metal machine.

Lucien walked toward it slowly.

His breathing became heavier with every step.

Then one of the guards shouted.

“Alpha!”

Lucien turned.

The guard was standing beside a bloodstained piece of cloth.

Lucien recognized it immediately.

It had belonged to Evelyn.

He snatched it from the guard's hands.

The scent was faint, but unmistakable.

Evelyn.

His knees almost gave out.

“Keep searching.”

His voice cracked.

“She was here.”

Another guard discovered a rusted metal box hidden beneath the floorboards.

Inside were several documents.

Ransom demands.

Medical records.

And photographs.

Lucien picked up the first photograph.

His face turned white.

It showed Evelyn sitting on the warehouse floor.

Her wrists were bound.

Her face was bruised.

She looked exhausted.

But her eyes were still open.

The photograph had been taken ten days earlier.

Lucien's hands began to tremble.

“She was alive.”

The guard looked at him.

“Alpha?”

Lucien stared at the photograph.

“She was alive when they sent this.”

He picked up the next document.

It contained a ransom demand addressed to the Hart family.

The amount was enormous.

But beneath it was a note.

Ransom delivery location: Moon Oath Hall.

Lucien froze.

Moon Oath Hall.

Less than five hundred meters away.

His mind immediately returned to the day of the ceremony.

The music.

The elders.

Vivian standing beside him.

And Evelyn calling him.

He had told her to stop bothering him.

He had told her that if she wanted to die, she should do it.

Lucien's fingers crushed the paper.

“Why didn't anyone tell me about this?”

No one answered.

A guard suddenly pointed toward the back of the warehouse.

“There's something here.”

They followed him.

Behind the silver crusher was a dark pool of dried blood.

Beside it lay several small bones.

Lucien stopped breathing.

They were finger bones.

Ten of them.

The guard looked away.

Lucien couldn't.

He stared at them as the truth finally destroyed every excuse he had built around himself.

Evelyn hadn't been acting.

She hadn't been trying to ruin Vivian's ceremony.

She hadn't been manipulating anyone.

She had actually been kidnapped.

She had actually called for help.

And they had ignored her.

A sound escaped Lucien's throat.

It wasn't quite a growl.

It wasn't quite a sob.

It was something broken.

Then he noticed something carved into the wooden wall.

A name.

Evelyn.

Underneath it were three short lines.

First call: no answer.

Second call: rejected.

Third call: impossible.

Lucien stared at the words.

His wolf howled inside him.

“Alpha,” one of the guards whispered.

Lucien turned.

The oldest guard was holding another piece of paper.

“We found the witness log.”

Lucien took it.

The final entry had been written by one of the rogues.

Victim refused to give up hope after first call.

Victim stopped asking after second call.

Victim escaped before ransom deadline.

No body recovered.

Lucien's heart stopped.

“No body recovered?”

The guard nodded.

“Then how did she die?”

No one knew.

Lucien looked toward the broken window.

A shard of glass was still lodged in the frame.

Something about it made his blood run cold.

He suddenly understood.

Evelyn had escaped.

But she hadn't been rescued.

She had chosen her own death rather than be dragged into the silver crusher.

Lucien closed his eyes.

For the first time since he had known her, he imagined what her final moments must have felt like.

Alone.

Terrified.

Calling for people who never came.

And believing that no one loved her enough to save her.

His legs finally gave way.

He fell to his knees beside the dried blood.

“I'm sorry.”

His voice was barely audible.

“Evelyn, I'm sorry.”

But the warehouse gave him no answer.

Only the wind moved through the broken windows.

Far away, beneath the moonlight, I felt something inside my soul loosen.

Lucien had finally learned the truth.

But it was too late.

My second night was almost over.

And by sunrise, only one bond would remain.