NIKOLAI
HE WAS EASY to track.
The chip was still in his ear.
That meant he was still alive. That meant—
I gripped my phone so tight my fingers ached, my jaw locking as I forced myself to breathe. It rang once. Twice. Then—
“Nikolai.”
I closed my eyes, exhaling sharply through my nose. “Enzo.”
A pause. Then that goddamn smirk in his voice, like he didn’t realize I was this close to losing it. Or maybe he did and just didn’t give a f**k.
“Didn’t expect you to call me this quickly.”
I didn’t have time for this. Not when I finally knew where he was. Not when I didn’t know what they’d done to him. My Claude.
My chest felt too tight. My pulse was a hammer against bone.
“What kills a wolf?” My voice came out low, steady—too steady—but my fingers curled tighter around the phone, white-k
