Mated to Her Alpha Instructor Chapter 149

Nina

She was barely recognizable.

The woman on the thin bedroll was skeletal, her hair white instead of the dark auburn I remembered. Her skin was papery, stretched tight over bones. Silver burns marked her wrists and throat—fresh ones, not the old scars.

But it was her. I knew it in my bones.

"Mother," I whispered, dropping to my knees beside her.

Her eyes fluttered open—still that same pale green, though clouded with pain. When she focused on me, I watched recognition dawn, followed immediately by horror.

"No," she breathed, her voice a ruined rasp. "You... shouldn't... trap... run... run..."

She tried to push herself up, got maybe an inch before collapsing back with a strangled sound of pain. I caught her hand—so cold, so fragile—and felt tears spilling down my face.

"I'm going to get you out," I said. "I'm sorry I left you. I'm so sorry—"

"Touching."

Cornelius's voice came from the tent entrance. I spun, still crouched over Mother, and saw three more figures materializing from the shadows outside. Wolves, from their scent. Rogue, from the way they moved.

"But we're running out of time," Cornelius continued, stepping inside. "The ritual requires fresh blood—yours and hers. A mother-daughter bond makes the magic so much... *potent*."

Thea exploded to the surface before I could think.

My bones shifted, claws extending, vision sharpening to wolf-sight. I lunged at the nearest rogue, felt my claws connect with flesh, heard him yelp—

Then something heavy and burning landed on my back.

Silver net.

I screamed as it seared into my skin, the metal burning through fur and flesh. Tried to tear it off but only tangled myself worse. Another wolf pressed something against my spine—a carved stone, radiating magic that felt like ice and nausea—

My wolf form flickered. Thea *howled* in anguish as the suppression rune forced her down, down, back into the cage we'd finally opened.

I collapsed in human form, gasping, the silver net digging into bare skin. Blood ran hot down my arms.

Through blurred vision, I saw Mother trying to move. Saw purple light spark weakly at her fingertips—the first magic I'd seen from her in thirty years.

Cornelius backhanded her.

She hit the tent pole and crumpled, the light dying.

"*NO!*" I screamed, thrashing against the net. It only tightened, silver burning deeper. The pain was white-hot, all-consuming, but worse was the helplessness. The *failure*.

I'd walked right into it. Again. Just like when I was four years old.

*History repeating,* some distant part of my mind whispered.

Cornelius crouched in front of me, grabbed my chin. Forced me to meet his eyes.

"You have your mother's defiance," he said almost fondly. "But also her foolishness." He released my face, standing. "Sleep now, daughter. When you wake, you'll help me reshape this world."

I felt the needle bite into my neck. Ice flooded my veins.

*No,* I thought desperately. *Not like this. Not again.*

In the last seconds before the darkness took me, I did something I'd never tried before.

I opened my mind. Not to Cornelius—never to him—but *outward*. Throwing my consciousness as far as I could, a desperate mental scream to anyone, *anyone* who might hear:

*Western woods... creek... trap... help... please...*

I don't know if it reached anyone.

The world went black.

---

Eileen

I jerked awake with a gasp, my hand flying to my chest.

For a moment I couldn't orient myself—the room was too dark, my heart was racing, and there was this awful *pressure* behind my sternum like I couldn't get enough air.

"Easy," Regis murmured beside me, immediately alert. His hand found mine in the darkness. "What's wrong?"

"I don't... I don't know." I pressed my other hand to my forehead, trying to make sense of the feeling. "Bad dream, I think. But it felt..."

*Real.*

Someone screaming. Calling for help. I couldn't remember the details, just the overwhelming sense of terror and pain.

And something about Nina.

I threw back the covers. "I need to check on her."

"Eileen—"

"Please." I was already reaching for my robe. "Something's wrong. I can feel it."

Regis didn't argue. He'd learned to trust my instincts about these things. "I'll come with you."

The walk was short—one benefit of moving into Dr. Hawthorne's guest suite. After the recent chaos, I'd insisted we leave the cottage and stay in the main building so that we could help at once if anything happened.

But when we reached Nina's door and I knocked softly, there was no answer.

"She might be asleep," Regis said.

I tried the handle. Unlocked. I pushed it open slowly.

The room was empty.

Not just empty—*still*. The kind of cold, undisturbed quiet that said no one had been here for hours. The bed was made with military precision, the desk neat. Everything in its place except—

"Regis." My voice came out strangled. I'd crossed to the bed, and my hand had automatically checked under the pillow like I used to do when hiding things from my own parents.

The notebook was there.

I pulled it out with shaking fingers, opened it to the last written page.

*If I don't return by dawn: Western woods, the creek where wild mint grows. Cornelius contacted me through link. He claims Mother is alive. I had to know. I'm sorry. —N*

The words blurred as tears filled my eyes. "No. No, no, no—"

Regis was there instantly, reading over my shoulder. I felt him go rigid, felt the fury that flooded through our bond.

"How long ago?" he asked, his voice dangerously calm.

I looked at the window. Still fully dark. "It's past midnight. Sunset was hours ago."

Which meant Nina had been gone for *hours*. Walked into a trap we should have seen coming, should have protected her from—

Through our bond, I felt Regis's control slip just slightly. His eyes flashed gold in the darkness.

"Get Kieran," he said. "Wake everyone. I'm going to the creek *now*—"

A wolf's howl split the night. Long, mournful, coming from the direction of the western woods.

Whether it was a warning or a lament, I couldn't tell.

But I knew, with sick certainty, that we were already too late.