Catherine POV:

The flight was a blur. We stopped in Italy for refueling.

I stood at the edge of a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean. The wind felt like freedom.

Kaden stood beside me. He didn't smell like lies. He smelled of ozone and steel.

"I wasn't going to jump," I said.

"I know. You were just looking."

I looked at my hand. The platinum wedding band was a shackle.

I pulled it off.

"Do it," Kaden said.

I threw it. The ring arced and vanished into the whitecaps.

I fell to my knees.

"I, Catherine," I whispered, "reject the bond. I reject the past."

Thunder cracked. The rotting connection in my chest didn't snap; it dissolved like sugar in hot water.

"May we be strangers," I finished.

Kaden offered a hand. "Ready?"

"Yes."

"We have a new identity waiting in Zurich," Kaden said. "Kate Harding. Geneticist. Single."

"Perfect."

Catherine Hale was at the bottom of the ocean. Kate Harding got into the car.

Derek POV:

I was peeling an apple for Anjelica.

Suddenly, the knife slipped.

Pain exploded in my chest. A void opened up inside me, cold and absolute.

My wolf, Shadow, threw his head back and howled.

Gone, Shadow whimpered. Mate is gone.

"What?" I gasped.

I ran out of the room. I burst into Catherine's room.

Empty.

No note. No scent. Just the smell of bleach.

Dr. Evans walked by. I grabbed him by the throat.

"Where is she?"

"She left! After the donation!"

"Donation?" I froze.

"The blood," Evans stammered. "For Anjelica. We took three pints."

I let him go. Three pints? From a crash victim?

"I signed a general consent," I whispered. "I didn't order an execution."

"Anjelica said..." Evans started.

"What did she say?"

"She said you wanted her dry."

I staggered back.

I tried to Mind-Link. Catherine?

Silence. Dead air.

Derek POV:

"Explain," I growled.

Leo, my Beta, was sweating. "I'm accessing the logs."

He turned the tablet.

Grainy footage. Two orderlies dragging a half-conscious Catherine. Then, hours later, Catherine stumbling out. She stopped at Anjelica's door. She watched me feeding her strawberries.

She had seen everything.

"Track her," I said.

"I can't," Leo said. "Her ID was flagged 'Deceased' two years ago. By your login."

I froze. I remembered signing a stack of papers Anjelica brought me. 'Routine cleanup,' she had said.

"She's a ghost," Leo whispered.

"Pull up the pier footage," I ordered. "From the night at the car."

The screen changed. There she was. Standing in the shadows. Watching me cheat.

My knees gave way.

"She knew," I whispered. "She knew, and I let them bleed her."

Shadow whimpered. You broke it.

"Find her," I told Leo. "I don't care if she's a ghost. Find my wife."

Leo walked into my office holding a red folder like a bomb.

"The independent lab results," Leo said. "Anjelica's blood type is O Positive."

The world stopped.

"O Positive," I repeated. "That's the most common type. I'm O Positive."

"Dr. Evans lied," Leo said. "Or he was paid to lie."

A red haze crept into my vision. My bones cracked.

It wasn't a medical emergency. It was a trophy hunt.

I ran to the nursery.

Anjelica was holding a yellow blanket.

"Derek! Look—"

She stopped. She smelled my rage.

I grabbed her by the throat.

"You are O Positive," I said.

"Derek... the baby..."

"There is no baby!" I roared. "Or if there is, it doesn't need rare blood! You stole it!"

"Don't lie to me!" The Alpha Command thundered.

Anjelica's mask fell. "Because she wouldn't die!" she hissed. "Five years! I crashed her car! I drugged you! I turned her son against her! But she was still there! I wanted her empty!"

I let go. She crumpled.

"Drugged me?" I asked, my voice quiet.

"Pheromone blockers and suggestibility serum," she spat. "Mixed with your cologne. You think you fell in love with me? You were high, Derek."

I looked at my hands. I had been a puppet.

"Get up," I said coldly.