I stared at Jude, and everything inside me twisted into something ugly.
Jude was Johan’s warrior. That meant one thing. If he was here to hurt me, then Johan knew.
Johan knew.
My stomach dropped. My hands shook violently. Did he really allow this?
Did he want to ruin the part of me that created, the part of me that gave my life meaning, the part that once made him proud?
All because Suzette snapped her fingers?
Because I refused to hand over my formulas? Because LunaSkin did not belong to her?
My wolf whimpered inside me, small and scared. She pressed against my ribcage, begging me to run, begging for anything but this helpless place inside a locked car.
I lunged for my phone, dialing the Council crime department, my last chance.
But Jude was faster.
He grabbed the phone from my hands and threw it out the window. I watched it disappear into the dirt.
Then he reached into the glove compartment and pulled out a hammer. A real hammer. Heavy. Cold. Deadly.
Fear spread across my skin like fire.
He twisted in his seat and leaned back toward me as far as the driver’s chair allowed. “Miss Jessica, please don’t blame me.”
“Stay away from me,” I screamed. “What you’re doing is illegal. Jude, stop. You cannot do this.”
I pounded on the window with everything I had, but this car was reinforced for Alpha security. My fists bounced back pathetically. I grabbed the handle. Locked. I kicked the door with all my strength, but it barely shook.
My wolf clawed at me from the inside. Shift. Escape. Break the glass.
I was burning from the inside out. I could not shift because of Johan, because I sacrificed my soul wolf bone for him, and now I was in danger because of him!
My heart sank completely.
The central control panel was on the driver’s side. Too far. Too late.
Jude stared at me with guilt all over his face, and somehow that made it worse. Like he knew exactly how much of my life he was about to steal.
I did something I never imagined I would do.
I begged.
“Please,” I whispered, my voice cracking. “Please don’t hurt my hand. I will do anything. Just do not take this from me. Please.”
“I am sorry, Miss Jessica,” Jude muttered, his expression tight. “You should not have crossed Luna Suzette.”
Suzette. Of course. Who else hated me enough to want me destroyed?
He raised the hammer.
“No!”
I jerked away at the last second. The hammer slammed into the seat instead of my hand. The sound blurred my vision with terror.
Jude’s eyes flashed red with frustration, the kind of red that came from desperation, from fear, from someone who felt trapped and dangerous.
“If you keep resisting,” he growled, “I cannot promise you will not end up worse.”
“Help! Somebody help me!” I screamed, even though we were in the outskirts. Empty fields. Abandoned roads. No wolves. No humans.
No one to save me.
Jude panicked. He lunged forward and slammed his palm into my neck. Pain shot through me, and the world went dark. Even unconscious, my hand clung to the door handle like instinct was trying to save me.
I could feel my wolf crying inside me, even in the dark.
Jude’s breathing was shaky. His panic bled into the air.
I forced my voice out through the pain. “I know you are only following orders, Jude. But you are a good warrior. You would never do something like this. I have always been good to you. I helped you get that training slot, and I covered for you when you were late. I even lent you money when your sister was sick. You know I would never hurt you. Please.”
Jude’s jaw tightened. Guilt flickered in his eyes, but he kept his grip steady. “I am sorry, Miss Jessica. I know you have been so good to me. But if I do not do this, Luna Suzette will punish me, and I will face consequences I cannot survive. If only you did not fight our Luna, we would all be at peace right now, instead of being here in the middle of nowhere with this conflict. I am really sorry.”
He lifted my limp hand and brought the hammer down.
The first strike ripped me out of unconsciousness.
“Ahhh!”
I choked on my own scream. My entire arm went cold, then hot, then numb, then screaming again.
Jude did not stop.
The hammer struck again. And again. Bone cracked with a wet crunch. Skin split open in ragged tears. Blood sprayed across the window and streaked down my wrist in hot streams. My fingers twisted at angles that made my stomach turn. The hammer drove them flat against the seat, smashing knuckle after knuckle until everything looked like torn meat and shattered bone. The sound was thick and sickening, like breaking branches soaked in mud.
I saw flashes of my work table. My bottles. My formulas. The life I built. The future I guarded. Everything that made me me.
Shattered.
My wolf howled inside me. A scream full of grief and rage and betrayal. Not even physical pain hurt as much as the knowledge that Johan let this happen.
Suzette wanted me ruined. And Johan let her.
My hand was no longer a hand. It was a crushed, swollen mound of exposed bone and mangled flesh, hanging from my wrist by skin that looked ready to tear. Blood pooled on the floor mat, dark and sticky, filling the car with the metallic smell of slaughter.
Chunks of bone glimmered white beneath ribbons of skin. My nails had been smashed clean off. One finger hung by a thin strip of tendon, swinging slightly each time Jude breathed.
He gagged, eyes wide, but he still forced himself to drag my ruined hand free from the seat.
A fresh wave of agony exploded through me.
My consciousness finally ripped away from the pain. The world slipped into silence before I could even gasp.
The very last thing I caught was the sound of the car screeching away from me.
Johan’s POV
I wanted to get this meeting over with so I could check on things at the villa.
Then the doors swung open and Beta Kain walked in.
One look at his face, and everything in me went still.
He mindlinked me right away.
“Alpha, I got a report that Miss Jessica was brought to a hospital in the city.”
I stood so fast the chair flew back.
My claws shot out without warning, ripping deep into the polished council table.
“What the hell do you mean she’s in a hospital?” I shouted. “How would she end up in a human hospital? She was in the villa!”
The nobles stared. The elders whispered. No one dared speak.
Kain cleared his throat. “Alpha… that is the report I got from the woman who found her along Colorado Highway.”
Woman.
What woman? Why was Jessica on a highway? What the fuck happened?
I stormed out, leaving half the council confused and the other half terrified.
By the time I reached the hospital emergency room, my wolf was clawing so hard he nearly tore through my skin.
I shoved the sliding doors open hard enough that they slammed into the wall.
“Jessica!” I roared. “Where is Jessica? I’m looking for someone named Jessica Brookes! Tell me where she is!”
People gasped. Nurses froze. A kid started crying.
A nurse rushed toward me. “Sir, please calm down. You’re scaring the other patients.”
“I don’t give a damn,” I growled. “Bring me to her.”
Security guards walked up, trying to look brave.
“Sir, we warned you. If you keep shouting, we’ll have to escort you outside.”
“Try,” I snapped, stepping closer with a glare sharp enough to cut. “See what happens.”
Then I heard a quiet voice behind me.
“Alpha. Miss Jessica is this way.”
Alpha?
I turned.
A woman with red hair stood there. Leather jacket, biker pants, boots. And the scent hit me next.
Wolf.
Not my pack, but still wolf.
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