I grabbed Suzette by the wrist, hard. She let out a yelp like a kicked dog.
“Johan, you’re hurting me.”
“Where is Jessica?”
My voice didn’t even sound like me. My wolf pressed against my ribcage like it wanted to tear out.
Suzette’s mouth opened, but she didn’t get to answer. One of my men burst in.
“Alpha. The fire’s been put out. But Ms. Jessica didn’t make it. The body’s at the ruins. The fire department wants to know if we’ll be claiming the remains.”
For a second, the world muted. Like someone shoved cotton in my ears. Like time stopped.
“What did you say?”
My chest tightened until something inside almost snapped.
Jessica didn’t make it?
Impossible. She is twenty four. She laughs too loud. She punches harder than she weighs. She talks too much when she is scared. She promised to marry me.
“You’re lying.” My voice cracked. “There’s no way she’s dead. She promised me. I haven’t even proposed yet. I haven’t given her anything I swore I would.”
My throat burned. I tasted iron.
“She’s not dead.” I shook my head hard. “She wouldn’t just leave like that. She wouldn’t.”
My wolf slammed against my mind, howling. I didn’t even realize my eyes were wet until Suzette tried to touch my arm.
“Johan, you need to-“
“Get out of my way!”
She stepped back like she didn’t recognize me. Maybe she didn’t. I barely recognized myself, either. I swung my legs off the bed. Pain tore through me, but I didn’t give a damn.
My wolf growled hard, pushing me forward, demanding I go to her.
Suzette threw herself in front of me.
“Johan, you can’t go! You’re burned everywhere. You need treatment.”
“What the hell is wrong with you?” She sounded hysterical. “Jessica’s dead! And you-“
“Move!”
The word came out like a blade.
“I am your mate!” Suzette shouted. “You are the CEO of LunaPharmaceuticals! You cannot break down like this!”
I shoved her aside. She hit the floor with a thud, but I didn’t stop. I didn’t look back.
I didn’t care how bad my lungs burned or how my skin stung from the air hitting the open wounds. I just needed to get to the ruins before they touched her again.
I tore down the hall. My men called after me, but I didn’t stop.
My wolf pushed against me so hard my vision blurred, and my face twitched like it wanted to change.
My jaw throbbed like it wanted to stretch, and my arms tingled as if fur was about to break through.
When I reached the car, my claws came out halfway and the keys slipped from my hands, hitting the floor.
I growled and pushed my wolf down with everything I had. I couldn’t shift here. Not in front of humans. I grabbed the keys again with shaking hands and got into the car.
Traffic lights didn’t matter. Speed limits didn’t matter. Nothing mattered except her.
The warehouse was still smoking when I arrived. The ground was soaked. The air smelled like chemicals and death.
“Alpha?” one of the firefighters asked, startled. His voice wavered in a way only a wolf would recognize. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“Where is the body?”
My voice was gravel.
He pointed.
“Over there, Alpha.”
I walked toward the medical examiner.
“Female. Age twenty to twenty four. Past fracture in the right hand. High likelihood of-“
I didn’t hear the rest.
That was her hand. I held that hand. I kissed that hand. I bandaged that hand. I protected that hand.
My knees gave out. I fell on the wet cement.
My wolf screamed so loud inside my skull it made me dizzy.
“No.” I whispered. “No way.”
My body moved on instinct. I reached out and grabbed the remains before anyone could stop me.
“Sir, be careful!” the human medical examiner snapped. “The remains are fragile.”
I didn’t care. I pulled her to my chest. It felt wrong, so wrong, but I held on anyway.
“Jessica…”
All our memories hit me fast, her laugh, her stubbornness, the way she cried when I was in pain. Each one hurt so much it felt like it was cutting the air out of my lungs.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered, my lips brushing the bag holding what was left of her. “I should’ve chosen you from the beginning. I should’ve fought for you.”
If I could turn back time, I’d marry her without a second thought. I’d mark her not just to protect her, but because she was the only one I ever wanted.
I saw everything she went through. I knew her pain. And still, I made her suffer even more, because I was blind, and stupid, and too much of a coward to stand by her.
Footsteps rushed behind me, and I recognized the scent as Suzette.
Her voice was the last thing I wanted to hear.
“What are you all waiting for? Get Alpha away from that body!”
My men hesitated. They were not idiots.
“Alpha,” one of them said gently. “Please take care of yourself. Ms. Jessica is gone.”
“Get away from me!”
My roar shook the air. My wolf surged forward, almost taking my vision. My eyes burned, shifting gold for a split second.
Everyone stepped back.
Suzette looked like she swallowed a nail.
She opened her mouth again, too loud, too desperate.
“Johan, she is dead! You are making a scene! Get a hold of yourself!”
My grip tightened on Jessica’s remains.
“You don’t get to say her name.”
The hatred in my voice made even the firefighters flinch.
Suzette froze. She knew right then that whatever thread was holding us together snapped clean in half.
Then my phone rang.
I pulled it out to shut it off and saw the caller ID.
Immigration Office.
What?
I stared at it.
Why the hell were they calling me?
The ringing stopped. I set the phone aside and looked back at Jessica.
“I’m taking you home.”
I stood up slowly, holding her carefully, painfully. My wolf stayed quiet for once, like it was bowing its head.
Behind me, Suzette growled under her breath.
“Our Alpha is injured and needs rest. Get him back to the hospital.”
The bodyguards didn’t move.
One said quietly, “Alpha is holding Ms. Jessica. We cannot separate them.”
Suzette’s fury filled the air like poison.
I ignored all of it. I walked past them all. Every step hurt like hell, but it didn’t matter.
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