Elara's POV

The klaxon screamed, deafening in the narrow corridor.

"Get away from that box!" Julian roared from the far end of the hall.

I didn't answer. The ceiling panels hissed. Ice-cold water blasted downward. The sudden deluge soaked my hair, washing the fresh blood from my collarbone straight down into my shirt.

"Lock down the stairwells!" Julian shouted. He slapped his phone against his ear, his voice barely cutting through the mechanical wail. "Do not let her reach the lobby!"

I turned my back on him. I pushed my weight against the heavy fire doors. They groaned open, revealing the concrete stairs.

I stepped through. The door slammed shut behind me, muting Julian's frantic orders.

The stairs stretched below me, steep and gray.

My left leg dragged against the rough tread. The severed bond gnawed at my nerve endings. It felt like someone had wrapped barbed wire around my spine and pulled tight. My muscles turned to lead.

I gripped the cold iron railing. I forced my knee to bend. Step by step.

Down to the third floor.

The alarm blared here too. The sprinklers hammered the carpeted hallway. Water ran down my pale cheeks, stinging my eyes.

I limped toward the end of the hall. Room 301. The VIP suite.

I slammed my wet palm against the heavy oak door and shoved it inward.

"I told the nurses no visitors," Kael snapped, not turning around.

He had Selene pressed hard against the floral wallpaper. His hands gripped her waist. Her lipstick was smeared across her chin.

"It's a good thing I don't work here," I said. I stayed near the doorway, refusing to step further into the room.

Kael spun. He shoved Selene aside.

"Elara," Kael said, his voice hard. "What are you doing on this floor?"

"Delivering a message," I replied.

Selene peered out from behind him. She adjusted the strap of her silk camisole. "You look terrible, Elara. Is that blood?"

"Observant as always, Selene," I said.

Kael closed the distance between us, stopping a few feet away. "Julian said you were with Leo. Why aren't you in his room?"

"It got crowded," I told him. "Lots of doctors. Lots of machines."

"Did he wake up?" Kael demanded.

"He choked on black sludge," I answered.

"And you left him?" Kael's eyes narrowed. "You're his mate."

"Not anymore," I said.

Water dripped from my chin. I looked past Kael's broad shoulder. The analog clock on the wall read exactly two-fifteen.

My chest rose and fell. The breathing was flat. Mechanical.

"He flatlined at two-twelve," I stated.

Kael froze. "The Alpha is in stable condition. I spoke to the head surgeon ten minutes ago."

"Ten minutes is a long time," I said. "Poisons work fast."

"Poison?" Selene squeaked. She shrank behind Kael. "Who poisoned the Alpha?"

"Ask your boyfriend," I suggested, keeping my eyes on Kael.

Kael flinched. "Watch your mouth, Elara. You have no proof."

"I don't need proof," I said. "I'm not the pack executioner."

"You're coming back upstairs," Kael ordered. He reached for my arm. "You're going to fix this."

"Drop my arm," I warned.

I twisted my wrist, using the slick water to slip from his grasp. I stepped back, creating distance.

"Fix him!" Kael yelled.

"Dead men do not heal," I said.

I reached into my soaked jacket pocket. My fingers brushed the ruined critical condition notice. Then I found the heavy chain.

I pulled the bloody mass free.

I tossed the object onto the plush wool rug at his feet.

It landed with a wet, heavy thud.

Kael stared down.

A ragged chunk of my own skin rested on the white fibers. Entangled in the bloody tissue was the silver chain and the carved wolf tooth. The Alpha's mate necklace.

Selene shrieked. She pressed her hands over her eyes.

"What is this?" Kael asked.

Elara's POV

"Lower it faster," I told the two men standing in the pouring rain.

Three days after the hospital alarms faded, I stood at the edge of the public cemetery. The gravediggers grunted, their boots slipping in the sludge as they eased the undersized pine coffin into the narrow trench. The cheap ropes groaned under the weight, fraying against the rough wood.

I held a rusted shovel. Rain soaked my black coat, chilling the fresh bandages wrapped tightly around my neck. The wound throbbed with every heartbeat, a constant, sharp reminder of the severed bond.

"That's far enough," the older gravedigger muttered, pulling his rope free. "We ain't getting paid enough to drown out here."

"Just leave," I told him.

The men didn't argue. They grabbed their gear and hurried toward the cemetery gates, leaving me alone with the open grave.

I scooped up a mound of wet earth and hurled it downward. The mud slammed against the cheap wood with a hollow thud.

Tires screeched on the wet asphalt. A black SUV slammed on its brakes just outside the wrought-iron gates.

Kael marched through the puddles. He held a black umbrella over Selene, who clung tightly to his left arm. Her sheer silk blouse offered zero protection against the storm, sticking to her skin in translucent patches.

He reached the gravesite and kicked the spare shovel resting near my boots. The metal clattered violently against a neighboring stone marker.

"Stop digging," Kael ordered.

Mud splattered across my leather boots. I tightened my grip on the wooden handle. The rough grain dug into my skin. A splinter pierced my palm, sharp and grounding.

I didn't look up. I drove the metal spade into the pile of dirt, lifted another heavy scoop, and dumped it into the hole.

"I said stop," Kael yelled, his voice cutting through the downpour.

"He belongs in the ground, Kael," I answered. "Unless you want to keep him on ice forever."

Selene wrinkled her nose, stepping carefully to avoid the mud. "You buried the Alpha in a public plot? In a pauper's box?"

"He died without a pack bond," I reminded her. I kept my eyes on the wet dirt filling the grave. "The elders refused him the sacred grounds. This is what he gets."

"Because of you!" Kael snapped. He dropped the umbrella, letting the rain wash over him.

Selene shrieked and covered her head with her designer purse. "Kael, my hair!"

"Because of the rot in his veins," I corrected. I swung the shovel again.

"You abandoned him on that bed," Kael argued. "You cut the tie. You left him to choke."

"I left a corpse," I stated. "He was dead the moment the poison hit his heart."

"You could have healed him!"

"And died with him?" I asked, finally turning my head to meet his furious stare. "I told you to fix it, Kael. You failed."

Kael stepped closer to the edge of the grave. The water plastered his dark hair to his forehead.

"The pack council wants you in chains," Kael threatened. "Julian is rallying the enforcers right now. They are searching the hospital, the packhouse, everywhere."

"Let them come." I wiped a streak of rainwater from my cheek. "I am right here."

"You don't care at all," Selene murmured from behind Kael, shivering violently. "You really are a monster. He was your mate."

"Go back to the car, Selene," I instructed. "Your shoes are ruining the grass."

"Don't speak to her like that," Kael warned.

"I'll speak to my husband's mistress however I please," I replied. "Or are we pretending you two weren't fucking in the VIP suite while he flatlined?"