Prologue

The woman sighed and looked again at her little girl sleeping blissfully in her crib. The main narrow in the fist, the pink cheeks, a tuft of red hair that descended on her forehead, and those green eyes like two emeralds, hidden under the dark eyelids.

She extended her hands and fixed the cover and then went towards the wall lamp and turned it on, immediately drawings of animals and games were reflected on the wall, illuminating the environment.

She sighed one last time, then took the baby monitor and walked out of her baby’s room, closing the door behind her.

When she turned around, she faced two pairs of identical gray eyes. The two children jumped and looked closely.

"Can we say good night to Ava?" they asked in chorus.

"Rowan, Kalen, it’s late," a female voice said from the end of the hall.

The woman looked up and bowed her head, "Luna," then said while the other smiled.

"But Mom!" They both snapped.

The twins were four years old, but they seemed much older than their age, they had already emanated a threatening aura from Alpha, and she knew, like everyone, that they would become powerful alphas one day.

"No, mom," answered the luna.

"If they want to come in," said the woman, passing a hand over the dark head of one of the two children.

"No need for it, Bea. They can see little Ava tomorrow, she won’t run away," the luna said.

The two children muzzled and crossed their arms to their chests, so Bea chuckled and got on the ground to be at their height.

"Let’s do that," she said, putting her hand on each of the little Alphas' shoulders, "Tomorrow, you can spend the day playing with Ava, it’s a promise," Bea said, and the two children smiled a wide smile that made his gray eyes shine and then kissed her on the cheek.

The two little Alphas hopped towards their mother, and each grabbed her hand.

"Connor’s not back yet?" the Luna asked.

Bea shook her head, "He had to check the edges and then go home," the beta female replied.

The luna nodded, "Carter is coming back too," she said.

"Good night, Steph," Bea said as her friend smiled at her.

"Good night, Bea."

Bea walked into her room holding the baby monitor glued to her ear, feeling her baby’s heavy breath as she lay in bed and waited for her mate to come home. She knew full well that Connor would go first to little Ava and little Austin, their four-year-old boy.

Where is my beautiful and fiery Mate? Bea Said through the mind link.

If you ask in that voice, I might as well be in my room. He replied with his hoarse and persuasive voice, making her shiver all over her body.

So, what are you waiting for? she asked.

Carter and I are coming back right now. Her Mate replied.

Bea sighed contentedly and rested between the pillows as she listened to her baby’s deep breath. Ava had been born a few months but had already filled everyone’s hearts in the packhouse. The twins loved her as if she were a queen, and both Carter and Connor were convinced that she would be the mate of one or both of them in the future.

Ava had filled their days with that smile that she pulled out every time she saw her father and those green eyes that especially lit up when she was happy.

Bea sighed and closed her eyes, basking in the sound of her little girl sleeping, when suddenly the house began to shake violently, and a bang outside burst the windows of her room.

Bea fell to the ground, hitting her head while a loud whistle blew into her ears. Her eyes became dim, and she felt her body give in as the house trembled.

A voice in her head rumbled, the frightened voice of her mate screaming her name, but she could not answer him. She felt weak, and the darkness enveloped her for a short time.

******

She woke up when a delicate and warm hand landed on her cheek. Bea opened her eyes wide and sat up, finding her little Austin in front of her, green eyes full of terror and tears on her cheeks.

"Mommy," she said in a trembling voice.

Bea immediately pulled him to her side, feeling a stabbing pain in her side, looked over her baby’s head and saw a huge piece of glass sticking out of her side, her dress was completely covered in blood, and she felt emptied by any force.

"Let’s go get your sister," she said to Austin after taking a deep breath.

She struggled to her feet as her baby clung to her, his face hidden in the recess of her neck, his forehead resting on the mark her mate had left when they first met.

he looked around the room, seeing how it had turned upside down after the explosion. From the window, he saw a huge fire covering one of the herd’s training facilities and could hear the cries of desperate people.

She laid a hand on her side, holding the wound that kept bleeding, as she trudged out of her room and walked toward Ava’s, from where a desperate cry came.

"Mom’s coming," she said, gritting her teeth.

She dragged herself to the room and opened the door wide, her gaze immediately turned to the cradle she found empty, only one of Ava’s toys was there. Bea looked up and then heard a noise. She turned and found a figure squatting on the balcony railing, holding Ava wrapped in her cover.

"No!" she shouted as she walked toward him.

Austin held onto her even more, but the man, with eyes so golden that the irises looked like two gold rings, threw something into the room, a ball that immediately emitted a rosy smoke that filled her lungs.

"Leave her alone!" she shouted with all her strength before falling to the ground.

Her eyes became clouded again, but she did not look away from the man who, with her little girl in his arms, let himself fall backward into the void.

That was the last thing she saw before the darkness completely enveloped her.

******

Connor ran home at breakneck speed, changing as he reached the entrance. The windows of the upper floors had completely exploded, and Bea was not responding to his messages, she could feel a shooting pain pervading his body, and he knew that Bea was injured.

At the entrance, he found the Luna with the twins and ordered two guards to take them out immediately while he ran upstairs.

"Bea!" he shouted as he entered their empty, upside-down bedroom.

The smell of blood reached his nostrils and awakened his wolf, who threatened to take control of his body. He followed the smell of blood, reaching the room of little Ava.

There, in front of him, lying on the ground in a pool of blood, was his Bea, holding Austin, and both were unconscious.

He approached her, threw himself on the ground, and felt her.

"Please, baby, don’t leave me," he said, feeling her weak heartbeat.

He took Austin in his arms and checked him out, licking the small cuts he had and making sure they healed, then focused on his mate, took the huge glass sticking out of her body, and started licking her wound, hoping it wasn’t too late for her.

He continued to lick her fiercely, tears pricking his eyes as he felt a pain in his chest.

"Dad" caught up with Austin’s voice in his ear.

"It’s okay," Connor whispered, continuing to look after his mate.

"A man took Ava," Austin said.

Connor looked up at the cradle at that moment, finding it completely empty. A cry of frustration came to his throat, forming a howl of agony that roared throughout the room and even outside to the forest where at that moment, a man was crossing the boundaries of the pack’s territory, running as fast as he could on his legs while he held the baby in his arms.

He could feel behind him the legs of all the wolves that were following him, and when the howl of agony reached him, the wolves answered from all sides, and the sounds of the legs tripled.

He had no escape, even when he had crossed the borders, the wolves continued to follow him, following the smell of the little girl in his arms.

Damn it! He said in his mind and, at speed, entered a crowded city, hoping that the smell of humans could disperse the smell of the child, but the wolves continued to follow him.

He arrived in an alley and, without a second thought, opened a nerd, placing the little girl inside with the intention of coming to pick her up soon after having dispersed the wolves.

He looked at her one last time and then closed the lid, starting to run again so that the wolves followed him and dispersed.

It took him a couple of hours, but he finally managed to shake off the wolves and could go back to the place where he had left the baby, but she was no longer there, her smell was gone, and she was not there. He threw a fist at the chest, and with his strength, he threw it in the middle of the road, over a car that passed, screaming in anger as the sky tore and began to rain.