We rushed to the door.
I knocked once. Then again-harder.
Nothing.
I rattled the handle. Locked.
Levi moved to the side window and peeked in. “She’s not home,” he muttered, his voice tight with frustration.
Louis checked around the back, came back shaking his head. “No sign of her anywhere.”
My chest clenched.
Why wasn’t she here?
Why now?
Something was wrong. We could all feel it.
I stepped back, looking at the closed door like it was mocking us.
“Where the hell is she?” I muttered under my breath.
Levi groaned and kicked dirt from the grass. I paced around, scared and worried. “I can’t take it… I’m going to the Forest Pack… I need to see her,” Louis spat as he stormed to the car.
I exchanged glances with Levi but didn’t say a word. As much as I wanted to respect Olivia’s decision of not wanting to see us, I just wanted to be sure she was okay.
“I’m going too,” I said and followed Louis while Levi did the same.
We got back into the car, and this time Louis drove as we began our journey to the Forest Pack, which was probably an hour’s drive.
The drive to the Forest Pack was quiet.
Louis kept his eyes on the road, jaw tight. Levi sat still, staring ahead, lost in thought. And me? I couldn’t stop my mind from spinning. My gut told me something was wrong. I needed to see Olivia. That was it.
We reached the Forest Pack border just as the sun started to rise.
The guards saw us from a distance. Three of them came forward quickly, looking tense. One of them held out a hand.
“Alpha Lennox? Why are you here so early?” he asked, clearly nervous.
I stepped out of the car and looked him straight in the eye.
“We’re here to see someone,” I said. “Move.”
They froze for a second, then one of them tilted his head-clearly mind-linking someone.
Another guard stepped forward. “Alpha Gabriel said no one from your pack-“
He stopped, eyes going blank again as he got another message.
After a short pause, he looked at us. “Alpha Gabriel said… let them through.”
The guards stepped aside quickly.
Without saying another word, we got back into the car and drove past the gates.
We drove straight to Gabriel’s mansion.
The Forest Pack lands were quiet-too quiet. The usual patrols and activity were there, but everything felt tense.
When we pulled up to the mansion, Alpha Gabriel was already outside, waiting.
He stood on the front steps with his arms crossed, dressed in a simple black shirt and pants, his expression unreadable.
I stepped out of the car first and inhaled deeply, trying to catch something-anything.
Then I caught it.
Olivia’s scent.
Faint.
Almost gone.
She’d been here… but not recently.
She wasn’t here now.
“She’s not here,” I muttered, more to myself than anyone else. “I can barely smell her.”
Levi stepped forward. “Where is she?”
Gabriel’s eyes moved to us. He looked tired, like he hadn’t slept either.
“She left yesterday afternoon,” he said simply.
My heart dropped.
“What?” Louis stepped closer, his voice sharp. “Why?”
“She said she felt you three would come looking for her,” Gabriel replied. “She didn’t want to see you. She said she was going to her mother’s pack.”
I clenched my jaw.
“And you let her go?” Levi asked, his voice rising.
Gabriel didn’t flinch. “I begged her to stay,” he said. “But Olivia made up her mind. She said this was something she had to do.”
I turned away, biting back a curse as I ran my hands through my hair. I knew Gabriel wasn’t lying. Olivia wasn’t here. If she was, I could have sensed it. My heart raced with fear as I wondered if she was okay. Why was she so damn stubborn? She should’ve stayed. Gabriel should’ve stopped her.”
I turned back to Gabriel, my fists clenched.
“If anything happens to Olivia,” I said, voice low and firm, “we’ll come back and burn this whole damn pack to the ground.”
Levi stepped forward too, eyes blazing with anger. “We don’t care who you are, Gabriel. You should have stopped her.”
Louis didn’t speak-he just stood there, breathing heavily, holding himself from attacking Gabriel.
Gabriel frowned and took a step toward us, his face cold but his voice filled with pain.
“You think I don’t care?” he said, his voice sharp. “You think I just let her leave because I wanted to? I love her”
My chest tightened.
“What?” I growled.
“I love Olivia,” Gabriel said again, clearer this time. “More than anything. And I would never let her go if I didn’t have to. But she chose this. She didn’t want to see you. She didn’t want to stay here. She wanted to leave, and I respected that. he wanted to leave, and I respected that:
I stared at him.
I saw it.
The truth.
It was in his eyes-the way they burned when he said her name. The way his voice cracked just slightly when he talked about letting her go.
He loved her.
Really loved her. I
And that made my blood boil.
I stepped closer, nose to nose with him.
“You can love her all you want,” I said tightly, “but she’ll never be yours.”
His jaw twitched, but he didn’t reply.
I gave him a deadly glare before turning around and storming back into the car.
Louis started the engine and drove off in silence.
“I’m making a mind-link to Olivia’s mom,” I said suddenly, breaking the silence. My voice was hoarse.
My brothers nodded.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.