Harlan POV:

The morning sun streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows of my penthouse office, but I felt no warmth. Last night's punishing kiss hadn't brought the satisfaction I'd expected. It had only made my inner wolf more agitated.

Seraphina's scent—that damn, infuriating mix of sunshine and wildflowers—seemed to cling to my skin, refusing to wash away.

My wolf snarled in my head. Go back! Find her! She is ours!

Shut up! I snapped back internally. She is a mistake made by the Moon Goddess. A manipulative Omega who uses tears and weakness to try and control me.

I forced my attention to the documents on my desk, but her face kept flashing in my mind—her blue eyes filled with a mixture of pain and raw hatred.

My phone vibrated. A text from Cora, asking if I could join her for a walk in the garden at lunchtime. I replied with a simple "Yes," but felt nothing. My duty to Cora was a responsibility, not a desire. It stemmed from my brother Aiden's dying words, a garbled mind-link about "taking care of the Hayes girl." I assumed he meant Cora.

Suddenly, a frantic, furious mind-link slammed into my consciousness. It was Dr. Evans, our Pack's chief physician, a respected elder.

Alpha Kensington! Get to the Pack medical center now! Immediately! His mental voice was shaking with a rage I had never heard from him before.

I frowned, but Dr. Evans was not someone to be ignored. I left my work, took the private elevator to the garage, and drove to the medical center. The entire way, my wolf howled with a sense of dread that clawed at my gut.

The moment I stepped into the emergency wing, I saw her.

Seraphina was lying on a gurney, her face as white as the sheets she lay on, her lips pale and cracked. An IV was taped to her wrist, and a heart monitor beeped with a slow, weak rhythm. She looked like a flower that had been crushed.

Dr. Evans marched toward me, his face a mask of fury. His grey eyes burned.

"Look what you've done!" he hissed, his voice low but sharp enough to flay skin. "She is your mate! Your Luna! She almost died from internal bleeding and psychic shock caused by the mate rejection! Did you know that?"

The nurses and doctors nearby shot me looks of condemnation. I felt a flash of annoyance and embarrassment.

"She's just being fragile," I replied coldly, trying to defend myself.

"Fragile?" Dr. Evans laughed, a harsh, bitter sound. "Any wolf whose fated mate sleeps with another Omega right after being intimate with them would have their soul torn apart! You are murdering her, Alpha!"

His words hit me like a punch to the gut. I had... gone to comfort Cora last night. That was a secret only I should have known.

Dr. Evans pointed to the faint marks on Seraphina's neck, the lingering traces of my own pheromones. "Her body and soul were open to you, and you drove a knife into them! You are a disgrace to the Blackwood Pack!"

Before I could respond, a flash of red hair burst into the room. Hallie Cantrell, Seraphina's warrior best friend.

"Harlan Kensington!" she screamed, lunging for me. Two of my warriors intercepted her just in time.

"You bastard! What did you do to Sera? I'll kill you!" she shrieked, struggling against their hold, her green eyes filled with tears and murder.

I watched the scene with disgust. One unconscious, the other hysterical. So much trouble.

I turned my back on the chaos. "Heal her," I told Dr. Evans. "Bill the Pack."

I didn't look at Seraphina again as I walked out of the medical center. I told myself this was all her own doing.