JAYDEN

The hospital walls had begun to feel like a cage. The longer I stayed, the more my wolf clawed inside me, demanding action. Catriona’s trembling voice haunted me—her fear, her hopelessness. Our son’s safety. I couldn’t just sit and watch.

I slid into my car, the engine rumbling to life beneath me, and drove with a single destination burning in my mind. Gabriel’s house.

The night air thickened as I approached his territory, his high gates looming like sentinels against the dark sky. My foot eased off the accelerator, the car slowing until it came to a complete stop just before them.

I got out, the gravel crunching beneath...