Chapter 27
The ballroom did not stay a ballroom for long.
One moment it was music, laughter, and winter light.
The next-
Silence shattered.
Lucas King stood in the center of it all, unmoving.
His silver eyes had already changed.
Not human anymore.
Not calm.
Something ancient had awakened.
“Danny,” he said again.
Sharper this time.
No answer.
The bond between them felt wrong.
faded.
distant.
That was the only thought that made Lucas move.
And when he moved-
Everyone else remembered what he truly was.
The Alpha King of Bayleaf City did not run.
He disappeared.
–
The guards found Serene first.
Still standing on the balcony.
Still watching the snow fall like nothing had changed.
Lucas arrived behind her without warning.
The air pressure dropped instantly.
Serene turned slowly.
“Your Majesty-“
She did not finish.
Lucas grabbed her throat and slammed her into the marble pillar so fast the stone cracked.
The ballroom below erupted into panic.
But Lucas heard none of it.
“Where is he,” he asked.
Calm voice.
Dead calm.
Serene’s eyes widened slightly.
“I don’t know what you-“
Lucas’s grip tightened.
A low sound left him.
Not words.
A warning.
The temperature in the hall dropped.
Every wolf nearby dropped to their knees instinctively.
Serene choked.
“I swear-I didn’t take him.”
Lucas stared at her.
Long.
Still.
Then he released her suddenly.
She collapsed coughing.
But before she could breathe-
Lucas’s voice cut through the room.
“Search every exit.”
No emotion.
No hesitation.
Only command.
“Lock the kingdom.”
The guards froze.
Ethan rushed forward immediately.
“My king, if we lock-“
Lucas turned his head slightly.
And Ethan stopped speaking instantly.
Because Lucas’s eyes were empty now.
Not angry.
Not fearful.
Worse.
Focused.
–
Within minutes, the Mate Ball turned into a hunt.
Doors sealed.
Wolves deployed.
The entire kingdom became a grid of searching shadows beneath the winter moon.
Lucas moved through it all like a storm that had learned how to walk.
One by one, enemies were dragged forward.
The wolves who had taken Danny.
The scent trail.
The betrayal.
Every lie they spoke-
ended quickly.
Some tried running.
Some begged.
Some attacked.
None survived long enough to matter.
But still-
No Danny.
No scent.
Nothing.
–
Hours passed.
Then more.
Snow thickened outside the palace walls.
Inside, the once-celebrated halls were ruined-broken glass, shattered doors, overturned tables.
The Mate Ball had become a war zone.
Ethan finally caught up to Lucas in the eastern corridor.
“My king… the captives are gone. They swear they don’t know where the human is.”
Lucas didn’t look at him.
“Find others.”
Ethan hesitated.
“We’ve interrogated everyone from Serene’s guard unit-“
Lucas stopped walking.
Slowly turned.
Ethan felt his stomach drop.
Because Lucas’s expression was no longer just anger.
It was something worse.
Something hollow.
“He is not lost,” Lucas said quietly.
Ethan swallowed.
“…My king?”
Lucas’s voice lowered.
“I can still feel him.”
Silence.
Then-
“…faintly.”
His hand clenched slightly at his side.
“For the first time.”
Ethan understood then.
The Alpha King was not searching anymore.
He was unraveling.
–
Elsewhere in the forest outside the kingdom walls-
Danny slowly woke up.
Cold.
Dark.
Hands tied.
His head hurt.
“…Ow,” he muttered weakly.
A figure stood nearby.
Danny squinted.
“…This is not my bed.”
A nervous wolf guard flinched.
“Stay still.”
Danny blinked.
“…Why?”
The guard hesitated.
“You’re bait.”
Danny paused.
Then sighed.
“Oh my god.”
He leaned his head back against the cold stone wall.
“This is so inconvenient.”
The guard blinked.
“…You’re not scared?”
Danny thought about it seriously.
“No,” he said honestly. “My husband will find me.”
Silence.
The guard frowned.
“You don’t understand what you’re involved in.”
Danny looked at him lazily.
“You clearly don’t understand my husband.”
–
Far away, beneath the ruined palace halls-
Lucas stopped suddenly.
His head tilted slightly.
A shift.
A thread.
Faint.
But real.
His eyes narrowed.
And the entire kingdom learned something terrifying that night.
The Alpha King had stopped searching.
Now-
he was hunting.
