~ALARIC'S POV~
The fire roared louder than I remembered, too similar to the one that took my brother's life.
For a moment, my heart hammered as I kicked open the front door, eyes squinting through the thick smoke.
I saw a blurry figure straight ahead, barely visible behind the couch... a body curled low. Believing it might be Elowen, I instantly took a step forward.
Then, I heard Tazira's scream from the side.
"Alaric! Please, help me!" Her voice cracked from somewhere at the back of the door, closer to the wall.
I hesitated, looking straight again but the smoke shifted violently with the wind, and the shape I thought was Elowen disappeared into a blur of flames.
The smoke got worse, curling around everything like a living thing and my lungs burned.
My wolf thrashed in my head, snarling, 'There! She's right there. Our mate! MOVE!'
But Tazira's cry came again, shakier, "The baby... Alaric, please, help us!"
I coughed hard, shielding my mouth as I finally turned toward Tazira's voice. The image of her clutching her stomach from earlier at her place flashed in my head.
Then my brother's voice echoed in my memory, 'take care of my wife, Alaric.'
I couldn't ignore that, especially now that Tazira has our pup growing inside her. I knelt beside her and through the smoke, I heard her speak, breathless.
"The housekeeper... She moved Elowen to the back entrance. She's safe, Alaric... Please, I can't breathe."
I clenched my jaw as her words gave me just enough pause. If Elowen had been moved, then the fire would only trap me in useless panic.
'It's a lie!' my wolf roared. 'Our mate is still there!'
I turned my head towards the smoke, scanned the room one last time, but saw nothing.
Tazira was crouched on the floor, face wet with sweat and tears. Then I scooped her into my arms without a word and stood up.
The smoke stung my eyes, and every breath cut deep. As we burst through the front door into the open yard of the Pack house, I felt the wind slap my skin, but it didn't cool the fire under my ribs.
We made it to the safe wing of the packhouse and one of the guards rushed to take Tazira, but she clung to me with shaking hands.
"Don't leave me, Alaric. Please… I was so scared. Elowen pushed me and locked me in. She said she'd burn everything."
"Don't talk," I said, placing her on the bench, not looking at her. The moment she was down, my wolf exploded again.
'You left her. You LEFT OUR MATE!'
I flinched as the rage slammed into me. My chest tightened, and for a second I couldn't breathe.
'She was there. You saw her but looked away! You're going to regret this—'
"Shut up!" I snapped aloud before I could stop myself. One of the guards turned toward me, startled. I shook my head and looked away.
'You're just like before,' my wolf went feral. 'You let it happen again. I'll never forgive you for this!'
I gritted my teeth, but the panic building in my chest surged again. The fire was too similar. The screams, the choking smoke, the helplessness... I had lived this before, buried my brother and watched a home turn to ash.
Now… now I had left her inside?
I pushed away from the bench and turned back toward the fire, ignoring Tazira's voice behind me.
"Alaric, don't--please, she was fine. You'll get hurt!"
But my body had already moved. I was sprinting toward the flames before it suddenly hit me.
The pain wasn't like the smoke or the heat. It came from inside... sudden, brutal, and sharp enough to make my knees buckle.
I collapsed onto the gravel, a cry escaping my lips as something inside me split wide open. My hand clutched my chest, but it wasn't a wound I could touch.
The thread that tied us together, soul to soul, pulled tight… and snapped forcefully I thought my heart would tear apart with it.
My wolf howled in agony, the sound echoing so violently in my head I couldn't hear anything else.
Then he whispered, low and final: 'It's too late. She's rejected us!'
"No…" I choked, pushing up from the ground. "... she wouldn't do that."
But I felt it, the bond had shattered. The connection we had, that deep pull toward her soul, was gone.
It was severed in half, and torn out of my chest. The emptiness it left behind was worse than anything the flames could do.
Tazira appeared beside me, tears streaking her cheeks.
"She did this, Alaric," she said softly, clutching her stomach. "I tried to stop her. I tried to protect you but she said awful things… then set the house on fire."
I didn't respond, as her voice didn't reach me anymore.
I stood, ignoring the dull ache still running through my body, and ran straight into the house.
"Elowen!!" I called out whilst the fire was still wild.
Just then, the emergency units arrived. One of the men instantly sprayed down most of the entryway, and foam coated the floor where the rug used to be.
The flames hissed and spat as they were smothered, and gradually, the room cleared but Elowen was gone.
There was nothing left but smoke and ash before my eyes caught sight of something strange. Two thin dark bands, the remains of the mate bond. One mine, the other hers and the fire hadn't touched them.
I dropped to my knees, picked them up. She had rejected me while I was outside, saving someone else first.
That means she's definitely alive.
I closed my hand over the bond marks and stayed there, the heat slowly fading around me. My hands shook as I looked around the smoking ruins of the home I once shared with her.
The room was silent, but inside, my wolf wasn't. He had gone quiet, too quiet, like something in him had broken beyond repair.
I stood up slowly, walked back out of the house, and faced the guards that had formed a small circle near the safe wing.
"Find her," I ordered. "I don't care how far Elowen's gone or what it takes, I want her found and brought to me... alive!"