Chapter 4

My brain was entirely blank.

Before I could even register his accusation, his hand locked around my wrist, violently dragging me out of bed.

Weak and bleeding from the miscarriage, I crashed straight onto my knees, my head spinning with dizziness.

Alexander gave me no room to speak.

In front of nurses and pack members alike, he dragged me across the floor and shoved me into the passenger seat of his SUV.

Stripped of every shred of dignity.

My knees were raw and bloody.

He slammed the accelerator, speeding toward the outskirts of the territory.

I clutched the seatbelt, my voice trembling.

"What are you doing, Alexander?!"

He stayed dead silent.

Ignoring my terrified pleas, he drove the truck deep up the mountain trails.

The early autumn night carried a biting chill.

The mountain wind cut straight through my thin hospital gown, sinking into my marrow.

And right there, on the edge of the dark cliffside, he threw me out into the dirt.

My teeth chattered uncontrollably from the cold.

Alexander stood over me, looking down with unyielding cruelty.

"I'm giving you one last chance. Where is Vivian?"

Where was Vivian?

How the hell would I know?!

Gasping for breath, I looked up at him, pleading with everything I had left.

"I don't know... I swear to Goddess, I don't know..."

Alexander let out a venomous curse, refusing to waste another second on me.

He climbed back into the driver's seat, slammed the gas, and sped away in a cloud of dust.

Leaving me completely alone on the freezing mountain.

Heat suddenly roared beneath my skin.

My forehead burned like fire, and hallucinations began dancing in the corners of my eyes.

I was already weak. My body hadn't recovered from the blood loss of losing my child, and now I had been discarded on a freezing mountain.

The fever hit me like a freight train.

My vision blurred completely; my legs turned to water.

I lost my balance and tumbled down the rocky slope.

Through the haze of dirt and agony, I saw a pair of designer boots step up to me.

A foot slammed violently into my lower abdomen.

Pain flared through my entire body.

It wasn't a hallucination.

Vivian was standing over me, her mouth moving, spitting words I couldn't comprehend.

All I knew was the blinding agony tearing through my flesh.

My mind drifted away, sinking into total oblivion.

When I finally stirred, it was to the sound of Mom's hysterical screams.

I was strapped onto a gurney, being rushed through the doors of the Crimson Pack Hospital.

As one of the largest packs in the region, we had our own state-of-the-art medical facility.

On the surface, it looked just like a modern human hospital.

White walls, bright LED panels, the smell of rubbing alcohol mingled with traditional wolf healing salves.

The only difference: the pack healers didn't rely on scalpels, but channeled ancestral wolf energy to mend flesh and bone.

On the massive flat screen in the main lobby, a broadcast was replaying Alexander's grand proposal to Vivian.

They were wrapped in each other's arms, looking like the ultimate power couple.

Alexander held Vivian close, his voice firm and broadcasted through the speakers:

"I swear, from this day forward, I will never let anyone hurt you again."

A dazed numbness washed over me.

I vaguely remembered... he had whispered those exact same words to me once.

So.

A sacred vow...

Can be handed to two different women without shame?

My lips parted in a bitter, broken smile as Alexander's recorded voice echoed once more:

"We are preparing for our mating ceremony. Thank you all for your blessings."

It was over. Everything was settled.

My heavy eyelids fluttered shut.

In that exact second,

Whatever was left of my shattered heart snapped into dust.

At the same time, the healer's terrified shouts rang in my ears:

"Vitals are crashing! Prepare for emergency resuscitation!"

Mom leaned over the railing of my bed, sobbing uncontrollably.

Through their fragmented shouts, I pieced together my fate:

My internal injuries hadn't healed from the miscarriage, and the brutal fall down the mountain shattered my ribs.

Organ failure was setting in.

I was slipping away.

The healers promised Mom they would do everything in their power.

I weakly curled my fingers around Mom's hand.

Alexander’s face drifted across my mind one last time.

The vow we made to grow old together under the moon.

The promise I made him, swearing I would never be the first to let go.

I guess...

I couldn't keep it after all.

My breathing grew shallower, fading to a whisper.

Mom's wails tore through the corridor.

Right then,

Behind the double glass doors of the ICU,

A frantic figure slammed against the glass.

Alexander.

He was pounding on the reinforced glass like a rabid animal,

Screaming my name,

Chanting "I'm sorry, I'm sorry" over and over again.

Too bad...

I couldn't hear him anymore.