“We don’t shout ‘don’t panic’ to anyone who’s in panic!” (+ Toba Beta


    Griffin used to think that the emptiness he felt before finding his mate was the worst it could get. All those nights he’d lie


    awake in bed, wondering if he’d never meet her, if maybe she’d already died in some horrific way and he hadn’t been


    able to protect her…all of that anxiety paled inparison to what he was feeling now.


    The anxiety of the unknown was nothingpared to what it felt like to know that his mate was in real danger. Not


    imaginary danger his brain conjured up when he was alone and anxious, but real, palpable danger.


    And it was his fault.


    She might as well have been taken directly from his arms. They – the traitorous spies working for Alpha Liam ~ had stolen


    her right out from under his roof. To think he’d only been a few hallways away the entire time, that he could’ve prevented


    this if he hadn’t been too busy ying politics.


    You should rip out their throats. All of them, his wolf growled inside of his head. Chapter 86


    Since he’d discovered his mate’s disappearance hours ago, his wolf had spent most of the time growling and whimpering


    – sometimes both.


    “T want to know how the f**k this happened,” Griffin snarled. “I want to know how my mate got kidnapped in a castle


    full of people.”


    He was standing in a room with his most trusted advisors and the guards who’d been on duty when rk disappeared. He stood at the head of the table, his ws digging into the wood until it splintered beneath his sharp nails.


    The room was dead silent.


    None of them dared to meet his gaze. Most of them looked nervous and panicked, whether that was because their


    Queen was kidnapped or they were just too afraid to elicit his wrath, he wasn’t sure. He didn’t care. None of it really mattered ~ nothing but finding his mate mattered.


    “Isn’t it obvious?”


    The voice that broke the silence didn’t belong to any of the guards or the advisors, but to the curly-haired girl standing


    in the corner: Alpha Alessia. Her face was twisted into a frown, and like Griffin, she was still clothed in the same outfit


    she’d worn to the reception.


    Griffin hadn’t said a word when Alessia and Lily Bellevue sl*pped into the meeting he’d called with his advisors or guards.


    He might’ve forced them out if it had been anyone else, but this was rk’s sister and sister-inw. They deserved to


    know what was happening to their Chapter 86


    family, and if nothing else, they could be assets in the search.


    When Griffin didn’t immediately reply, Alessia kept talking. “I mean, this was the perfect opportunity to kidnap


    someone,” she exined, “All of the guards were stationed where the guests were – at the party. And it’s the biggest


    event of the decade, with most of the werewolf world being invited. nting someone or even a couple of people at the


    party? That would’ve been a piece of cake for Alpha Liam. All his little spy had to do was get her alone and subdue her.” )


    Griffin hated that she was right – that he hadn’t been able to see the ring w in having such a public coronation. This


    was his fault. He should have waited until he’d been able to hunt down Alpha Liam and kill him before crowning his mate.


    But he hadn’t, and his own impatience to make her his queen had painted a target on her back.


    I’m going to kill him. I’m going to rip Liam’s throat out with my teeth.


    That violent thought hade from Griffin this time, not his wolf ~ although the beast was growling in agreement deep


    inside his mind.


    Before he could respond to Alessia’s words, the door to the meeting room opened and two guards stepped through.


    “Your Majesty,” one of them, a burly guard, said, “We searched the balcony and hallway as you requested, and found this.


    It was discarded in the corner of the Chapter 86


    balcony.”


    He clutched a dark suit jacket in his hands, and ced it gently on the table for the rest of the room to take in. Griffin


    narrowed his eyes at the fabric. It must’ve been from a guest, but the fact that they’d found it on the same balcony his mate disappeared on?


    ‘That couldn’t have been a coincidence. “Wait, let me see.”


    Pushing her way through a couple of advisors and guards, Lily Bellevue didn’t even bother asking for permission before


    she grabbed the jacket and took a long whiff.


    “What is it?” Griffin asked, and his voice came out a little harsher than intended. Not that he really cared — he had no


    time for pleasantries or politeness right now.


    “This scent,” Lily said with red nostrils, “I’ve definitely smelt it before.” Alessia crept up behind Lily, keeping a hand on


    the small of her back.


    Lily took another long sniff. “It’s familiar…give me a second,” she said.


    She stayed like that for a moment, pressing her face into the jacket and


    keeping her eyes closed in concentration.


    Several feet away, the anticipation was practically killing Griffin. He just wanted a name – a f**king name he could hunt


    down and kill. Chapter 86


    “I remember now,” Lily finally said, opening her eyes and looking at Griffin, “The first night I came here with my siblings, we had dinner with your father. There were other people too here…and this scent was there. I remember it.”


    Griffin’s heart pounded. This f**ker had been in his home before this?


    She took another sniff. “And he sat close to us at the meeting,” she continued, “God, his name…Elias? No. Ezekiel? No.


    Ezra! That’s it! Ezra of the Lock Heart pack. He had a British ent.”


    Ezra of the Lock Heart pack.N?vel/Dr(a)ma.Org - Content owner.


    Griffin didn’t know this Ezra, but he knew of the Lock Heart pack. Their Alpha had been close with his father long ago,


    and they shared some of the same traditionalist beliefs. Clearly, that pack hadn’t given up on those beliefs – not if they were willing to side with Liam,e into his home and kidnap his Queen.


    “You’re sure that’s the scent?” Griffin asked, and for the first time since he’d entered the room, his skin was no longer


    crawling.


    Lily nodded.


    As if he could sense Griffin’s intentions, one of his advisors butted in, “Your Majesty! Don’t you think we should proceed


    with caution? This situation isplicated enough. We may have a lead, but the note says Chapter 86


    that Alpha Liam wants to negotiate. Shouldn’t we wait to hear his demands before we act? We don’t know what we’re walking into!”


    “Wait,” Lily cut in, pressing her face into the fabric, “There’s something


    else too. It’s faint, but…I smell my sister’s scent on this jacket.” That was all the confirmation Griffin needed.


    He didn’t say a word, but something stifling and powerful fell over the room. His raw power. Nob*dy spoke, they didn’t


    dare say a word. Griffin’s ws dug further into the wood of the table, splintering itpletely.


    “No, I’m not waiting,” he finally said, his voice dangerously calm, “’m not going to negotiate or hear demands. There’s


    nothingplicated about it at all – I’m going to find my mate and then I’m going to kill everyone involved.”


    If anyone had any objections to that, they didn’t voice them.