Everyone knows it, and I know it. It’s been proven over and over again. The way she looked at , the way she stayed, the way she chose every ti...
So maybe, just maybe, she’ll co around.
Maybe she’ll hate at first, maybe she’ll break, but in the end... she’ll understand why I did this.
That’s what I keep telling myself.
And the marriage to that so-called Monster Duke, Maddison’s idea, I’ve already convinced myself it’s for her own good, too. If Ashley gets thrown into a place like that, if she’s forced to face sothing worse... then she’ll see it, won’t she?
She’ll realize how good she had it with .
She’ll rember.
And when she does... she’ll co back. She’ll ask to take her back, to fix things, to...
...to...
Crash!
Before I can even finish that thought...
Bang.
The doors to the hall slam open so hard the sound cracks through the room like a gunshot. Every head snaps toward it at once, the air shifting instantly, tension slicing through the ceremony like a blade.
For a second, I thought she was here.
That this is it. That I got so lost in my own head, I didn’t even notice Ashley arriving.
But what walks in... isn’t her.
It’s them.
Two warriors looking pale as death, clothes torn, bodies shaking like they barely made it here in one piece. They stumble forward, reckless, desperate, like sothing’s chasing them even now. And before anyone can stop them, before I can even process what I’m seeing...
They drop.
Hard.
Their knees hit the ground with a dull thud, bodies collapsing forward as they bow low, almost slamming their foreheads against the floor.
"Alpha—!"
Their voices crack, raw, panicked, wrecked.
"Forgive us, please—!"
"Alpha Nathan... we—we’re sorry... we didn’t watch Miss Ashley properly... she... she..."
His voice breaks apart in his throat, teeth chattering so hard it’s almost pathetic. He can’t even get the words out.
And the mont I hear her na...
That sa dread from last night crawls back up my spine.
Cold. Heavy. Suffocating.
My face hardens without realizing it, everything in going still and sharp.
"What happened?"
My voice cos out low, too low, laced with a growl I don’t bother to hide. Rage spikes fast, violent, coiling tight in my chest like it’s ready to snap. For a split second, I really do want to grab them by the throat and crush it until they stop stuttering and just say it.
But beneath that...
My wolf... It lets out this broken, aching sound.
Like it’s grieving.
And I don’t understand why.
"Speak!" I snap, the word cracking through the hall as my control starts slipping.
"Miss Ashley... she... she’s—"
He chokes on it again, shaking so badly it looks like he might collapse.
"She’s dead."
Then everything... Just stops.
It’s like sothing explodes inside my head, loud and blinding, and then there’s nothing but ringing silence. My body moves before I can think, one step back, then another, like I’ve been hit with sothing I can’t see.
My legs almost give out.
My chest feels hollow. Empty. Like sothing’s been ripped straight out of it and left nothing behind but a gaping void.
"No..."
The word barely leaves my mouth.
"What happened?!" This ti I roar it.
My Alpha aura surges out violently, crushing down on them without restraint, forcing submission, forcing them to speak. The pressure is imdiate and brutal; both of them coughed hard, one of them spitting blood as they slamd themselves lower, foreheads pressed to the floor.
"Forgive us—!"
They’re shaking. Breaking.
But it doesn’t help.
It doesn’t fix anything.
Because even as I stand there, towering over them, forcing them down... I don’t feel in control.
I feel worse.
Like sothing inside is already collapsing... and I can’t stop it.
"Miss Ashley... she fell off the cliff... we searched all night, but..."
He doesn’t even get to finish.
His shaking hand reaches into his pocket and pulls sothing out, sothing small, torn, dirt-stained, and the second I see it, my world just... stops.
Cloth.
A torn piece of cloth.
And I know it.
I know it so damn well it makes my chest cave in.
Because I’m the one who bought it.
A long ti ago, so long I almost forgot it even existed. But Ashley didn’t. She held onto it like it ant everything. Said it was our ’couple shirt’ because I had the sa one. Made laugh back then... I didn’t think she took it that seriously.
But she did.
She always did.
And now... That piece in his hand... the tear runs right through the part with our initials. The embroidery I rember so clearly, it feels like soone carved it into my skull.
There’s no mistaking it. No denying it.
That’s hers.
...That’s Ashley’s.
Sothing inside snaps.
And before I even realize what’s happening.
All I see is red.
I snap.
The roar tears out of so violently that the glass around shatters, sharp cracks exploding through the hall as if the air itself can’t withstand it. My chest feels like it’s splitting open, rage surging so hard it drowns everything.
Rage... and sothing heavier sinks in my chest.
Sadness.
This wasn’t supposed to happen.
I was only supposed to teach her a lesson. Break her just enough to make things "fair" for Maddison, to prove we weren’t favoring Ashley, that she wasn’t untouchable. That we could drag her down just like anyone else if it ant keeping the balance.
I thought I could fix it after.
I thought I’d make it right.
So why...
Why the hell did it feel like that was the last ti I’d ever see her?
No... no... this isn’t real...
Ashley can’t be dead.
She’s too sharp. Too stubborn. Too damn hard-headed to go down like that. I know her, I wouldn’t have even dared to pull sothing like this if I thought she’d actually break.
She doesn’t give up.
She fights.
So how the hell...
Unless...
My thoughts stutter, twist, turn on themselves.
She’s prideful. She wouldn’t just accept being thrown aside, humiliated, and discarded like she ant nothing. If she knew sothing, if she figured it out...
No... that’s impossible. Maddison told she didn’t know. She reassured .
...Right?
My head snaps up.
"Maddison..."
The na cos out rough, dragged through my teeth as sothing colder starts creeping in beneath the rage. A different kind of unease. Sharper. More dangerous.
Did she... say sothing?
Do sothing?
My gaze sweeps the entire hall, frantically searching...
But I can already feel my control slipping.
"Where’s Ashley?!"
The roar rips out of , raw and feral, loud enough to shake the walls. My nails lengthening into claws, sharp and trembling, fur already pushing through my arms, my neck, and my control slipping, piece by piece.
I can hear the commotion around , my people scrambling, ushering the dia out, dragging them away before they see too much. Caras are being shoved down, voices raised, chaos spreading through the hall, but it all sounds distant, muffled, like I’m underwater.
Because I can’t fucking focus on any of that.
I’m losing it.
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