Cole POV
The scent trail ended at the highway.
Cole stood on the asphalt with his truck parked behind him and his hands clenched into fists because Eden had done something clever. She'd hitched a ride. Had gotten into a vehicle that was now carrying her south at highway speeds while he was stuck on the ground trying to figure out which direction she'd gone.
His wolf was losing its mind.
The bond was screaming. Pulling. Demanding he find her immediately or suffer the consequences of separation from his mate. It felt like being torn apart from the inside. Like something fundamental was breaking and he couldn't stop it no matter how hard he tried.
He closed his eyes.
Through the bond, he could feel her.
She was miles away now. In a vehicle. Moving fast. But the bond didn't care about distance or obstacles. It connected them on a level that transcended the physical world. He could feel her fear like it was his own. Could feel the weight of being hunted pressing down on her small shoulders. Could feel her desperation as she sat in the back of that truck wondering if he'd find her again.
She knew he would.
The bond guaranteed it.
Cole got back in his truck and sat with his hands on the steering wheel trying to think. Trying to be logical. Trying to remember that he'd promised to give her space. That he'd sworn to let her choose. That real love meant stepping back even when every instinct he had was screaming to hunt.
But she was terrified.
He could taste her terror through the bond. Could feel it coating her thoughts. Could sense the moment she realized that running wasn't going to save her because he wasn't bound by human limitations. He could find her anywhere. Could track her through the bond like it was a physical leash.
His phone rang.
Silas. Of course it was Silas. His beta had been trailing him the whole time. Had watched him stand on the highway losing his mind trying to figure out which direction Eden had gone.
"You're losing her," Silas said without preamble.
"I know," Cole answered.
"She's on a highway now. Could be going anywhere. Could be heading south toward California or east toward the coast or back north toward pack territory. She's got too many options."
"I know," Cole repeated.
Silence on the line. Then Silas said something that made everything inside Cole go cold.
"You could stop this right now. Just let her go. Completely. No bond pressure. No hunting. No pack involvement. You could actually prove you love her."
Cole wanted to say yes.
Part of him desperately wanted to tell Silas to forget about the hunt. To tell every wolf in three territories to stand down. To tell himself that love meant freedom and freedom meant losing her.
But his wolf wouldn't allow it.
His omega was out there alone and terrified and being hunted by circumstance even if he stopped chasing. Without his protection, she'd be vulnerable to other packs. To human dangers. To a world that didn't know what she was and wouldn't care about her survival.
"I can't," Cole said quietly.
"Then you need to change tactics," Silas replied. "She's faster in a vehicle than you can run. You need resources. You need the pack organized. You need to do what you do best."
"Which is?"
"Hunt like an alpha."
Cole thought about Eden sitting in that truck. Thought about her hearing that the pack was hunting her. Thought about what that knowledge would do to her. Would break her. Would prove that love and ownership were the same thing in his world no matter how much he wanted them to be different.
But he was dying.
The separation from the bond was literally killing him. Could feel something in his chest deteriorating with every mile she put between them. Could feel his wolf starting to fracture from the strain of letting her get away.
He made the decision that would change everything.
"Organize the hunt," he told Silas. "Every wolf in three territories. Every contact we have in neighboring packs. Get her scent out to everyone. I want her found within twenty-four hours."
"This will terrify her," Silas said.
"I know."
"This might make her hate you."
"I know that too."
Cole hung up the phone.
He sat in his truck in the darkness of a rest stop and let himself feel the weight of what he'd just done. He'd crossed a line. Had gone from personal pursuit to pack-wide operation. Had turned a hunt into a war.
She would never forgive him for this.
But she would be safe. Because a pack-wide hunt meant every wolf was looking for her which meant every wolf was protecting her whether they knew it or not. It meant she couldn't be taken by anyone else. It meant she was his in the way that mattered most.
His wolf settled.
The screaming in his chest quieted just slightly because now there was a plan. Now there was a coordinated response. Now he wasn't just one alpha losing his mind over a bond. He was a pack functioning as a single organism with one singular purpose.
Find Eden.
His phone started ringing.
Calls coming in from pack territory. From neighboring alphas. From contacts scattered through human towns and shifter territories. The message was spreading. The omega girl who'd run from the Silverwood Pack was a priority. Every wolf needed to be watching for her.
By midnight, the hunt had gone from personal to tribal.
By 1 AM, there were wolves on every highway within fifty miles. By 2 AM, pack members were positioned at rest stops and truck stops and small towns. By 3 AM, her scent had been distributed to every hunting group in the region.
She couldn't hide anymore.
Cole felt the shift through the bond. Felt the moment she realized the magnitude of what was happening. Felt her hope start to crack under the weight of understanding that she wasn't running from one alpha anymore.
She was running from an entire species that had decided she belonged to them.
His phone buzzed with a text from one of the hunters.
Found her. Rest stop near the California border. She's there right now.
Cole started his truck.
The drive would take two hours. Two hours to get to her. Two hours for her to realize that the hunt had evolved into something she couldn't escape from. Two hours for her to understand that sometimes love and obsession were the same thing and sometimes the only way to save someone was to trap them until they stopped fighting.
He was halfway to the rest stop when he felt something shift in the bond.
A new emotion. Something that wasn't fear or rage or desperation. Something that felt like surrender wrapped in fury. Like she'd finally accepted that running was over but she was angry about it. Furious about it. Ready to fight him in ways that had nothing to do with physical strength.
She was going to make him prove that he wanted her for more than just possession.
She was going to demand that he become someone different.
And Cole realized in that moment that saving Eden wasn't going to be about catching her at all.
It was going to be about letting her break him into pieces and then choosing to stay anyway.