## 📖 Chapter 4: The Chain Fate Pulls
The air inside the main study of Blackwood Mansion felt unbearably heavy, as though the tension radiating from its occupant had sucked all the oxygen from the room. Alpha Raga stood with his back to the brightly blazing fireplace, staring blankly through the large window at the pine forest belonging to his pack. The rain had stopped, leaving behind a thin mist before dawn. But the real storm had only just begun inside his chest. Four hours had passed since the incident at the border cliff. Four hours since he had looked into those silver eyes. Four hours since his wolf had howled with joy, only to be followed by a crushing, torturous sense of loss when the girl threw herself into the river. Crash! A crystal glass shattered against the stone wall across the room. Raga exhaled harshly, his chest heaving. His hand clenched the edge of the sturdy oak table until the wood cracked beneath the strength of his fingers. > "Mate... Hurt... She's bleeding. Find her!" > The wolf within him kept growling, pacing endlessly and tormenting Raga's rational mind. The mate bond that had just formed, even if only through a glance, had completely locked Raga's soul in place. Being separated from his Mate, especially while she was gravely injured, caused real physical pain, as though hot claws were tearing through his lungs. The scent of wild vanilla and blood still lingered at the tip of his nose. The aroma was intoxicating and agonizing at once. ### The Beta's Warning The thick oak door to the study was knocked on twice before opening. Beta Kael, Raga's right-hand man and childhood best friend, stepped inside. The ash-blond man had an erect posture and an expression that was always calm—a perfect contrast to Alpha Raga's deadly temper. Kael looked at the shards of glass on the floor, then at the cracked oak table, before his gaze finally landed on Raga's face, which was barely containing its fury. "The search party has combed the riverbank all the way downstream, Alpha," Kael reported in a straightforward, professional tone. "There’s no trace of that Rogue's body. The current carried her straight into the drainage tunnels outside the concrete jungle. She entered human territory." Raga turned slowly. His red-gold eyes blazed in the dim room. "Get the car ready. We're going into the city now." Kael frowned, his steps coming to a halt. "With all due respect, Raga... this is insane. Sending troops into human territory outside surveillance protocols just to hunt down one lowly Rogue? That violates the ancient Blood Treaty between our Pack and the human hunters." "She's not just a Rogue," Raga growled, his voice low and trembling with restrained emotion. Kael fell silent, trying to process his leader's words. He stared into Raga's eyes, which no longer radiated the calm of a king, but the wildness of a desperate predator. Kael's eyes slowly widened as the realization struck him. "God... Don't tell me that Rogue is..." "She's my Mate, Kael," Raga cut in with absolute certainty. The word slipped from his lips like both a sacred oath and a curse. "My fated partner. The future Luna of the Blackwood Pack." ### Crossing the Boundary Between Worlds A suffocating silence descended over the room. Kael looked as though he had just been punched in the solar plexus. "Raga, do you know what you're saying?" Kael took a step forward, his voice dropping to a panicked whisper. "A Rogue? You're already engaged to Luna Vanya for the sake of an alliance in the north. The pack elders will never accept an exile of uncertain origins, especially with the rumors of a curse that always cling to the Rogue kind!" "I don't care about the elders, and to hell with Vanya!" Raga roared, releasing part of his Alpha Aura and forcing Kael to lower his gaze under the instinctive pressure of the hierarchy. Raga stepped closer to his friend, his gaze cold and absolute. "Listen to me, Kael. That woman was wounded by a silver weapon wielded by our guards. My wolf can feel her pain from here, and it's driving me half-mad. She ran into the concrete jungle, a place ruled by human leeches in suits." Kael drew a long breath, trying to hold on to logic amid the storm of his Alpha's emotions. "That city isn't merely ordinary human territory, Raga. It's Bastian Hanggara's operational territory. His mafia syndicate controls everything, from the police to the underground black market for silver weapons. If you go in there unprepared, you'll trigger an open war that could destroy our Pack." "Then let the war happen," Raga hissed coldly. He walked toward the mahogany wardrobe and took out an elegant, custom-tailored (bespoke) black suit, shedding his identity as the ruler of the forest and disguising himself as a predator in the modern world. He fastened his silver cuff links with such calm movements that they looked all the more threatening. "Prepare our cover identities as foreign investors. Clear my schedule. We're infiltrating that mafia den," Raga ordered without turning around. "I'm bringing my Mate home, Kael. And if any human exile or mafia boss dares stand in my way, I'll level that concrete jungle to the ground."