My stomach dropped.
I walked further in.
The hearth was empty.
The Moonstone Charm Chain was gone.
That little wind chime made out of stones she gathered under full moons while praying for me. I used to tease her about those rocks. Used to say they were too simple, too fragile for a place like this.
But when I healed, I had them forged into a chain and hung them there anyway, because they meant devotion. Because they meant her.
I stood there staring at the bare hook like a man punched in the throat.
“Who took it down?”
I tore through the Villa like a wolf gone feral. Drawers. Closets. Under the bed. Behind the shelves. Nothing. Not a single moonstone left.
Then my eyes landed on something on the table.
Her moonstone mirror.
The one she used at my product event to show me Suzette’s torture. The one she used to expose the my conversation with Suzette.
My hands started shaking before I even touched it.
I picked it up.
The surface flickered.
Old footage lit up.
I watched myself that night, and how my stupid face tighten when Suzette mindlinked me.
I watched myself walk out of the bathroom and tell her I had to go.
I watched her freeze.
She did not cry. She did not scream.
She just stood there like something in her chest snapped clean through.
My throat went dry.
So that was what she looked like when I left her.
I kept watching.
She went to the windor and talked to someone.
“I accept your offer,” she said softly. “I will join the Healer’s Circle. I will live without a mate. I am leaving Johan for good.”
I sank onto the couch like my legs gave out.
“What the hell, Jessica,” I whispered. “Was I really that easy to leave?”
Hot tears blurred my vision as my wolf pressed against my ribs, shaking with me.
Jessica did not just die in those flames.
She left me first.
Johan’s POV
The video kept playing, and I should have stopped it.
But I couldn’t.
My eyes locked on Jessica like she was right in front of me, alive, breathing, breaking all over again.
She stood up in the footage to close the window, reaching out to steady the frame on the table, our picture inside it.
Except when she lifted it, another photo slipped out from behind.
A photo of me and Suzette.
My entire body went cold.
What the hell was that doing there?
I never put that picture in our home. I never framed it. I never hid it behind anything. I avoided keeping anything with Suzette’s face on it because it felt wrong, disrespectful.
So why was it there?
My wolf let out a low, confused growl in the back of my mind.
In the video, Jessica stared at the photo like she had been punched. She looked lost, like someone had just told her the world was collapsing under her feet.
“Jessica, why would you even believe that? Why would you think I would put her picture in our home? You must not have believed your own eyes.”
But she did.
She actually did.
I watched her wipe her face with shaking hands. I watched her crumble quietly, silently, because that’s how she always broke. Like she was afraid to bother anyone with her pain.
Then she reached up to the hearth, grabbed the Moonstone Charm Chain, and yanked it down.
The sound of the stones hitting the floor echoed through the video like bones breaking.
Then she smashed it.
Then she swept it aside like trash.
A sharp, brutal pain tore through my chest. I pressed a palm against my ribcage, gasping.
“Why? Why would you do that? Do you know how many nights it took you to make that chain?” My voice shook. “You knew what it meant to us. How could you throw it away?”
My lungs burned. My head spun. I couldn’t breathe right.
All just because I wasn’t there on her marking night?
But I offered to resume the ceremony the next morning.
I told her we could redo it. I told her it was just one night. So why… why wasn’t that enough for her?
What did I even mean to her?
What place did I actually hold in her heart?
Pressure built in my chest until it felt like something inside me tore open. I coughed once, twice.
Then blood exploded from my mouth.
A mouthful of it splattered across the moonstone mirror, dragging a shocked curse out of me.
My wolf yelped inside, worried, but I pushed him away.
I staggered to my feet and tore through the drawers. If there was something that could explain why Jessica walked away from me, I needed to find it. I needed answers before I lost my mind.
Then I froze.
A suitcase sat tucked under her side of the bed.
It wasn’t dusty. It wasn’t forgotten. It was packed.
My stomach twisted.
I pulled it out, flipped open the latches, and stared.
Inside were only a few clothes carefully folded, not shoved. A worn scarf. A travel coat. A folder of documents.
It wasn’t a weekend bag.
It was an escape.
I dumped everything onto the floor.
Papers scattered everywhere, and I clawed through them until I saw her birth certificate.
Then requirements for entry into the Healer’s Circle.
Finally, I noticed a sealed report from the head healer.
I opened it with trembling fingers.
My eyes skimmed the lines.
“Subject identified with Seer’s Gene expression.”
“Warning: Capable of intercepting private mate-link frequencies when emotionally triggered.”
My entire world stopped.
Seer’s Gene?
Private link interception?
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