Roy's voice carried through the pack link, steady but heavy with unease. "Alpha Bolton, I've sent more than a hundred wolves to scour the river. Trackers ran the banks, swimmers dived into the currents. We searched every stretch from the cliff to the downstream edges. There's still no trace of Luna Bolton."
For a heartbeat, silence pressed against the walls of Caleb's den. Then he leaned back in his chair, the tension in his brow easing into something cruel. A cold smirk curved his lips, sharp as a fang.
"What did I tell you? She's always been good at putting on a show. That's enough. Pull them back. I won't have the pack wasting its strength chasing shadows."
Roy hesitated, his scent betraying his unease even through the link. "Alpha… even if the Luna didn't leap by choice, she's still gone. What if "
"She's sulking," Caleb cut him off, his tone harsh with dominance. "She's hiding, waiting for me to cave. Let her. When her tantrum burns out, she'll crawl back."
The link severed with a snap.
Caleb's gaze drifted to the desk, to the silver frame that gleamed beneath the firelight. His fingers brushed over the picture within me, seventeen, caught mid-laugh after a sparring match on the training grounds. My hair tangled, my smile wide, my eyes shining with a light only freedom could give.
From the shadows, unseen and untouchable, I watched him. Rage and grief gnawed at my spirit. Nostalgia? For the girl he destroyed? For the smile he smothered beneath betrayal? He had been my alpha, my protector yet it was his claws that gutted me. My executioner.
"Caleb." Serena's voice sliced through the silence, sweet as poisoned honey.
She slipped inside, locking the door with a soft click. The scent of her perfume too sweet, too cloying invaded the den. Without hesitation, she climbed onto his lap, her body curling into his as if she belonged there.
Caleb stiffened. His hands pressed against her hips, resisting, though his jaw was tight with restraint. "Serena, enough. Don't do this here."
But she leaned closer, pressing her chest against his arm, her lips brushing his ear with shameless hunger. "Why pretend, Caleb? You wanted me last night. You reached for me. You love me too. Why play the gentleman now?"
Her words grew darker, dripping with venom. "This den Isabel's den it makes it even more exciting, doesn't it?"
A growl ripped from me, though they couldn't hear. This place had been mine. My last sanctuary. My scent clung to its walls, my spirit bound to every corner. And she dared to foul it with her touch.
"Get out! Both of you, get out!" I howled, my spirit thrashing against the void, claws scraping uselessly against the walls of death. My fury scorched through the room, but it reached no ears but my own.
Caleb's gaze hardened, ice over steel. There was no lust in his eyes, no warmth, only a warning etched in dominance.
"Serena," he said, his voice low and edged like a blade, "we agreed. Last night was it. Nothing more."
Her smile faltered for a moment, then curved back, sly and unrepentant. She didn't care about rules or bonds. She was bold enough to keep clawing, certain that his restraint would break again.
And him? My alpha. My mate. He hadn't defended me, not once. He hadn't ripped her from his lap, hadn't claimed the truth before the pack. He only laid new boundaries in whispers, bargains struck in shadows.
The ache of betrayal cut deeper than any blade. Even in death, my spirit raged. I screamed until my soul trembled, until the air quaked with fury only I could feel.
But the truth stood unshaken. Caleb would never hear me. He had already chosen his path. He had already chosen her.
"Caleb, don't worry, I won't tell anyone. You're not losing anything. I just… miss you."
Serena's voice slithered through the den, low and sticky as honey gone sour. Her hand caught his, dragging it to her chest. "Feel my heart. Can't you sense how fast it beats?"
The pulse beneath her flesh throbbed, but Caleb didn't yield like he had the night before. His eyes narrowed, dominance reclaiming its edge, and he shoved her away without hesitation.
"I've got something to handle. I'm leaving."
And as he turned, my spirit was bound to him, dragged with his steps like a shadow chained to its master.
Before crossing the threshold, I cast one last glance over my shoulder. Serena stood in the dim light, her expression twisted, her beauty hollowed into something that looked more corpse than wolf. Her lips moved, soundless to Caleb's ears but crystal clear to me.
"It's a pity Isabel will never come back."
Her whisper chilled my spirit, sharper than claws against bone.
So it was true. My death her doing. Serena killed me.
Rage surged inside me, primal and raw. My instincts screamed to lunge, to sink my teeth into her throat until she bled out every lie she'd ever spun. But no matter how I fought, I couldn't draw closer than nine feet from Caleb. I was tethered, chained to the one who had let me die.
All I could do was watch as her vile face faded into the distance, my fury gnawing at me like fire under the skin.
Caleb started the car, the growl of the engine vibrating through the air. I sat in the passenger seat, unseen, staring out at the rushing trees and shadows. My thoughts tore into themselves like wolves fighting for dominance.
Was the one who ended me just a hired fang, sent by Serena to finish what she couldn't risk staining her own claws with?
But no… his eyes. Even behind the mask, they had cut into me with a sharp familiarity. I had seen them before, somewhere within the pack's borders, though my fading memory couldn't yet place the wolf who owned them.
When my blood spilled, my consciousness had ripped away from my body. Before I could even piece together who he was, I had already been dragged to Caleb's side, bound to him as a spirit.
The faceless wolf tossed my wedding dress into the water after the kill, its white fabric stained red, sinking into the black river. But where was my body?
Why leave me hidden, lost? If the aim was only to kill, he could have thrown both me and the dress into the depths, erasing every trace.
And if it had been for gold, for greed the dress alone was worth a fortune. Diamonds glittered on its fabric, each one worth more than most wolves would see in a lifetime. Even if the gown couldn't be sold whole, the gems could have been ripped free and traded in the dark markets.
Yet the police had shown the pack the evidence: the gown was intact, unmarred except for the knife slashes that mirrored my wounds. No jewels stolen, no threads pulled apart.
Why?
The question gnawed at me. The cruelty of it wasn't in the act alone, but in the precision. It was more than a kill. It was a message. A warning.
And Serena… her whisper told me she knew more than anyone else.
Her lips had curved with the satisfaction of one who already savored victory.
But if she thought death had silenced me, she was wrong. I would claw through the veil itself if I had to. I would tear apart secrets, one by one, until the truth was laid bare.
What does Serena know?
The thought echoed like a growl in the back of my skull, pulsing with every beat of my spirit's fury.