Chapter 3: Love and Power Struggles

Sophia paced the plush carpets of the safehouse great room, the early morning sun glinting off downtown high rises visible through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Lukas had been closeted with his advisors for over an hour, their urgent voices a steady hum from his office.

She was startled when the office doors finally banged open. Lukas strode toward her, looking every inch the warrior alpha with his stormy expression and imposing frame. Sophia's mouth went dry even as caution prickled down her spine.

"We need to talk," he bit out, gesturing toward the leather couches by the windows.

Settling a careful distance from Lukas, Sophia clasped her hands tightly in her lap. "Has something happened?"

Lukas raked a hand through his dark hair. "My sources indicate Viktor Zavarelli is on the warpath. Retribution for taking you from his thugs last night." His eyes locked with hers. "And now he wants you back at any price."

Sophia shuddered. "So I'm to be fought over like a fancy car or business deal between you two?" She shook her head bitterly. "I won't be owned to serve someone else's agenda."

His expression softened marginally. "Perhaps owned is the wrong word. But with my protection, you could do real good for this city, Sophia. Heal species, restore peace." He tilted her chin up delicately. "Stand at my side willingly, and you'll never be harmed again."

Viktor absently rolled a single grape between thumb and forefinger as he reviewed surveillance photos of Varano's suspected safehouses. In one, the wolf had an arm curled possessively around Sophia as they exited an apartment building. 

Soon this defiant woman with her world-altering talents would be under his command. Once his enemies witnessed her mighty gifts constrained for Zavarelli benefit, the balance of power would shift dramatically.

Leaving the photos scattered across his desk, Viktor stepped out onto the penthouse terrace, glass of Bordeaux in hand. The rising sun lit his stark features and pale eyes with fiery hues like the ruthless ambition that drove him. Soon Varano's prize and her precious gifts would serve his supreme advantage. On this he had staked everything.

Sophia wandered the elegant safehouse rooms while Lukas attended to business, her mind in turmoil. She trailed fingertips across priceless oil paintings and sculptures, these extravagant trappings of Lukas' empire built by violence and savagery. Could she truly consider allying with part of such a world?

Pausing before a window overlooking the jagged city skyline, she recognized the truth. Rejecting Lukas' protection would plunge her straight into Viktor's merciless path or that of equally dangerous factions. She had only one viable choice.

Straightening her spine, Sophia turned to seek out Lukas. She would stand alongside the formidable Pack Alpha. In return, she would demand he temper his rule with principles of justice and compassion toward all.

Sophia nearly stumbled when she found Lukas already towering behind her, grey eyes tracing her features hungrily. Chest heaving, they stared at one another for endless heartbeats until Lukas dragged her fiercely against him, claiming her mouth with bruising force.

Raphael crouched on a rooftop across from the western safehouse, tracking guard rotations through binoculars. In twenty minutes precisely, there would be a seven-minute window between shifts to breach the penthouse. His team waited on standby, armed to the teeth. Wild exhilaration coursed through Raphael's veins at the coming violence. He had promised Master Viktor the girl by nightfall. Failure again was not an option if he wished to see another sunrise.

Rotating his neck, Raphael settled into firing position, silencer screwed onto his custom pistol. He and his team would eliminate the rooftop sentries simultaneously before rappelling to the penthouse they'd identified across the street. Seven minutes to achieve their objective. Raphael chambered the first round, nostrils flaring in anticipation. He was born for this.

Sweat beaded between his shoulder blades as the sun inched higher. An oven wind kicked up debris in the alley below. In the distance, a lone siren wailed. Raphael tuned all distractions out, having long ago mastered the lethal art of patience. He lightly massaged the trigger, savoring the moment before unleashing hell.

"Steady..." he whispered into the wind. "Steady now..."

Sophia clung to Lukas, lost in their blistering kiss. She had only meant to pledge herself to his cause...instead his devastating passion overwhelmed all questions of convenience or strategy. There was only the taste of him, the pounding of her pulse, the warmth of his strong hands molding her to the steel bands of his chest.

Gasping, Sophia broke their kiss, fighting for coherence. There were still terms to negotiate, her vision for fostering equality.

Lukas captured her lips again, backing her against cold glass. Sophia gripped his shoulders helplessly, afraid to tear her mouth from his, terrified to let this continue. He left her no choice, kiss drugging away willpower.

"Sophia..." Eyes hooded, Lukas cradled her throat, brushing his nose along her racing pulse before returning to plunder her lips slowly.

Sophia moaned, reality reduced to the danger and temptation of his body claiming hers. She wanted this darkly seductive man. Her hands slid to grip his shirt when an explosion rocked the building.

Chaos erupted as windows imploded. Raphael's men crashed through spraying glass to seize their prize. And Sophia vanished into the bedlam unleashed by two rivals who would destroy worlds to possess her.

Lukas' enraged roar and howls of his dying sentries receded as they dragged Sophia's limp body through the wreckage toward her fate.

Shattered glass and rubble crunched under their boots as Raphael's team hauled Sophia's unconscious body through the ravaged penthouse. Shouts and footsteps pounded up the stairwell amidst the wail of alarms. They had minutes at most before Varano's security forces stormed the roof.

Raphael fired orders through his skull mask. His remaining two men would rappel with the girl's limp form between them. The other team members would remain as a distraction and sacrificial rear guard. It was a suicide mission, but each man had volunteered. Their families would be handsomely provided for when Viktor Zavarelli learned his enemies' stronghold had been breached against all odds.

As the first shots rang out, Raphael gripped the girl's rope harness. A perfect capture despite her unfortunate concussion from the blast. She would forgive the discomfort when she learned her new role at Master Viktor's side.

Raphael tipped them over the ledge, the city spinning vertiginously as they plunged in a controlled fall. Bullets peppered the building above them, the shooters unable to adjust their angle this far down the glass facade. Heart thrilling from the near miss, Raphael repelled faster, the Omega their golden ransom ticket back to Viktor's good graces.

They crashed onto the dusty mattress in the back of the van below. Tires screaming, the driver sped them away from the approaching sirens. Gazing down at the lovely healer's face, her lips parted softly in unconsciousness, Raphael permitted himself a smile beneath his mask. His redemption was at hand.

Lukas flung back the attackers trying to restrain him, roaring as the intruders disappeared over the balustrade with Sophia. The scent of her blood hung thickly in the air from a graze wound. Blind fury such as he had never known clawed through his heart like rusted talons. She was his. Viktor would pay for this outrage in rivers of blood and fear.

He shifted mid-leap over the balcony, claws gouging the building's facade as he rapidly descended. Hitting pavement in a pain-laced crouch, Lukas became aware of his second-in-command Nikolai screeching their armored SUV to a stop beside him. Tires smoking, they peeled into traffic after the retreating black van.

Lukas hastily struggled into clothing Nikolai provided, his wolf raging beneath his skin. They would hunt Sophia's abductors to the pits of hell if needed. She belonged at his side. Viktor had no conception of the wrath he had brought down upon himself that day.

Lukas howled viciously out the open window, uncaring of who heard the Pack Alpha's vow of vengeance. The hunt had begun.

Viktor turned from his office window overlooking the skyline at the sound of running footsteps. Raphael careened through the open door, chest heaving and matted with blood not his own.

"It's done, Master. We have retrieved the healer, exactly as instructed," he panted, holding up a GPS tracker glowing steadily on his palm. "She awaits you."

Viktor studied his lieutenant, reading the truth in his vital signs. Reaching out, he clasped Raphael's neck in wordless acknowledgment. Relief flooded his subordinate's eyes before Viktor tightened his grip ruthlessly.

"Empty-handed, you failed me, Raphael," he whispered. "Returning successful, are you any less careless with my interests?"

He flung Raphael contemptuously across the carpet. "Get out. See the healer safely home, then pray we aren't welcoming Varano's assassins through the front door."

Raphael scrambled away, breathless with gratitude for his life. In the elevator, he sagged against the wall. It didn't matter that today he was a savior instead of failure. At his core, Viktor Zavarelli trusted no one. And the wolf lord hunting them would show no mercy now that they had stolen his heart's desire. Raphael had only won a brief reprieve.

The elevator doors swept open to the subterranean garage. Striding to the nondescript van, Raphael wrenched open the back doors, eager to see their prize—and found it empty.

No healer. No driver. Only the screech of tires fading up the exit ramp into blinding daylight.