He didn’t answer. The warrior lowered his head. “It was the Luna’s instruction.”
I laughed once. A short, dead sound.
“The nerve of that woman.”
I looked at the grave again. Jessica deserved light, flowers, honor, everything. Not this hellhole.
“She is Ms. Halloway,” I said slowly. “She will always be Ms. Halloway. Jessica is the only Luna of Vale. If I hear anyone call Suzette Luna again, I will take their tongue myself.”
“Yes, Alpha,” he said instantly.
I sent him away and lowered myself to the ground in front of the marker. Her picture stared back at me, smiling the same soft smile she used to give only me.
My chest caved in.
“Jessica,” I whispered. “I loved you. Didn’t you feel it?”
My hand trembled on the cold stone.
“We had ten years. Ten years of you chasing me. Ten years of you giving me every part of yourself. How did I lose you?”
The wind blew lightly, brushing across the grave as if it were answering me. My wolf whimpered inside me.
“When I ran into that building, why didn’t you call for me? You saw me. Why didn’t you say my name?”
I closed my eyes.
If she had called out, even once, I would have run to her. I know I would have.
I sat there until the sky turned orange, then purple. Hours passed but it felt like minutes.
When I finally stood, it felt like someone aged me twenty years.
“I’ll come back tomorrow,” I murmured. “I’ll fix all of this. I promise.”
I brushed my thumb over her photo one last time and walked back to the car.
My phone buzzed just as I got in.
Immigration Office.
I frowned. They had called several times. I was in no shape for bureaucratic nonsense.
I answered anyway.
“I am not traveling,” I snapped. “My documents are updated. Stop calling.”
There was a pause on the other end. I heard papers flipping.
“Alpha Johan of Vale,” the agent said carefully. “We have a question regarding a woman named Jessica Halloway. Do you know her?”
My entire body went rigid.
“She is my mate,” I said. “Why are you asking about her?”
Johan’s POV
“Alpha Johan, good afternoon. This is the SilverFang Travel Authority. We are calling regarding Miss Jessica Halloway’s travel documents.”
For a second, I just stared at from afar. “P-Pardon?”
“Her application was approved, but we have not been able to contact her. Should we send the papers to her home address, or will someone from Vale Pack pick them up?”
My brain did not click.
What the hell?
I actually let out a short laugh, more disbelief than humor.
“You sure you have the right name? Jessica Halloway did not apply for any travel papers. Fix your records. You are mixing up identities.”
The staff member replied carefully, like they were stepping around a sleeping predator.
“No, Alpha. It was Miss Jessica. We have her signature on file, and we keep recorded confirmations. There is no mistake.”
My chest went cold.
My wolf went still. Like he had just heard a gunshot in the dark.
“When did she apply?” My voice did not sound like mine.
“Ten days ago, Alpha.”
Ten days ago.
Ten days ago was the day I was supposed to mark her privately. The day I told her to wait for me. The day I left her behind to run to Suzette because my recognized mate was calling and I was too damn weak to say no.
The day she stood in our penthouse with that stiff little smile and said she was fine while her scent screamed she was dying inside.
A chill crawled up my spine so sharp it felt like silver.
“And how did she look that day?” I asked, quiet but raw. “Was she okay?”
The staff hesitated. “I apologize, Alpha Johan. We handle many clients from different packs every day. I do not remember individuals clearly.”
Of course they did not. To them, she was a file. A signature. Just another wolf passing through.
To me, she was ten years of my life.
I swallowed past the burn in my throat. “Alright. Thank you.”
I ended the call before I said something stupid.
I shoved myself into the car like I was running from my own thoughts, slammed the door, and stared straight ahead. “Kain, take me to the villa. Now.”
Since Jessica’s death, I had avoided going back.
That place was ours. Ten years of shared air. Shared sleep. Shared everything I thought mattered. I could not bear the silence there. It felt like walking into a grave that still had my scent on the walls.
But now I needed to see and understand what I had missed.
Because even after everything, she was still the one I loved.
She had always been the one.
I did not fall in love with Suzette. Yeah, she was my fated mate, the one my wolf recognized the second I ladi eyes on her.
But that bond felt more like an obligation my wolf carried, not something my heart chose.
That is the part nobody ever understood. Not the pack, not my parents, not even Suzette herself.
Suzette was fire. Loud. Beautiful. Reckless. She watched me like I was a trophy worth chasing. When I was younger, I craved that hunger. I wanted to be wanted like that. I wanted the world to see me through her eyes.
So I ran with her.
I hunted too far past safe borders because she liked danger. I fought rogues just to hear her gasp and call me brave. I killed beasts bigger than me because she liked watching blood on my hands.
Then I got ambushed.
One rogue pack, half starved, half insane, came at me for killing one of their pups in the last hunt. I remember the silver blade sliding into my side. I remember falling. I remember thinking, damn, this is it.
Suzette ran.
She vanished. Left the country. Left me there bleeding out in the dirt.
Jessica stayed.
I do not even know how she found help. I just remember waking up days later with dark magic stitched into my bones, my body held together by something old and ruthless.
Jessica had sold her moon locket. Her father’s gift. Her only real memory of a man who loved her before the Halloways turned her into a punching bag.
She traded her last piece of family for my pulse.
Suzette only returned when she heard I was dying. She offered a soul bone to help me shift again. The elders called it fate. Called it a bond. Called it a debt I could never repay.
So I married her for the pack.
But my heart stayed with Jessica.
It had always stayed with her.
That is why I kept giving her everything. The villa. The gifts. The protection. The nights I held her when she broke. The way I looked at her in meetings like she belonged beside me.
That was love. The real kind. The kind that made my wolf calm.
So why did it still end like this?
The car ride home felt too long, like every street was stretching just to torture me.
When I stepped inside the villa, I knew instantly something was off.
The air felt lighter, like someone ripped a piece of the place out.
I took a slow breath and searched with my senses first. Scent check. Territory check. My wolf’s habit.
Jessica’s scent was faint now, not because of time, but because so much of her stuff was gone. The soft lavender trace that used to cling to curtains, pillows, even the couch, it was barely there.
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