The Hybrid King's Hidden Mate

Prologue

Note: be aware of k*dnapping, violence, loss of mate, and death.

-Ronan-

“Where is she?” I screamed at the top of my lungs.

Mate... We need to find her.

My wolf kept repeating the same urgent message. We needed her. We needed to ensure she was safe. Yet, a nagging feeling persisted within me, telling me something wasn’t right. The attack on the castle tonight had caught us off guard. None of us were prepared.

The walls were now covered in blood, bodies strewn about, both friend and enemy. How had they gotten through our defenses? I craved answers, but that would have to wait.

First, I had to find Adrianna. I had stationed some of my most powerful warriors to protect her. It had become a habit whenever I couldn’t be by her side, and ever since she became pregnant, I found myself leaving her side more and more.

“Where?” I screamed once more.

After the attack, I rushed to our chamber to search for her. Blood stained the room—her blood. I could scent it, but her body was nowhere to be found. All the warriors I had assigned to protect her had been killed.

Adrianna knew the castle well, its hidden passages and corridors. So maybe she had escaped. There was a chance she had fled, but my instincts, and my wolf, didn’t want to be calmed until I saw her again and held her and our son close.

She claimed she knew it was a boy. How, I wasn’t sure, but I was grateful for this beautiful gift she had given me. Therefore, I couldn’t lose them!

“My King!” Suddenly, I heard someone shout for me at the end of the hallway I was walking in. A few of my closest men had followed me around but had kept their distance, knowing it was best not to get too close to me right now.

I turned around and saw Enzo coming my way, carrying Adrianna in his arms. The white dress she wore was drenched in blood, and even from a distance, I could see she was lying limp in his arms.

“No...”

I couldn’t move. My whole body was frozen. Enzo walked over to me, the look in his eyes telling me everything.

“I found her in the woods. She seemed to have escaped but...” He didn’t finish the sentence. He handed me her body, and as soon as I received the weight, my legs lost all their strength, and I fell to my knees.

She was dead.

Her body was still warm, but... but I couldn’t hear her heart. I couldn’t hear the... the baby. I laid my hand on her stomach. Even now, it seemed like she was reaching for him. One of her hands was placed a little higher on her stomach, just above mine, but there was nothing there.

Even though she hadn’t been far in her pregnancy, I had been able to feel him. Like another presence there.

But now I couldn’t feel anything.

They were both gone...

I pulled her body closer to mine, crying and feeling my heart break into a million pieces. I pressed my face close to her still-warm neck, but I knew there was nothing there. There wasn’t that strong pulse of hers I had often felt under my hand or heard. Even her scent seemed to be fading.

She was leaving me. She couldn’t leave me! She couldn’t! I needed her!

Suddenly, my pain was replaced with anger, and I lifted my head before a deafening roar escaped me, shaking the castle and letting everyone know I would not rest until everyone who had anything to do with Adrianna’s death had paid with their lives.