As I approached the wreck, my wolf growled, low and dangerous. My eyes locked on the mangled car in front of me, and with a sickening jolt, I recognized it.
No.
The warriors tried to stop me. “Alpha, don’t—”
I ignored them, using my strength to rip the door open, the twisted metal screeching in protest. My heart stopped when I saw her.
Lilian.
She was slumped against the seat, her body eerily still. Blood smeared across her pale skin, and my heightened senses caught the faintest scent of iron.
“No,” I breathed, shaking my head.
Then I saw it. A piece of paper fluttering on the passenger seat. My trembling hands reached for it, my vision blurring as I unfolded it.
A pregnancy certificate.
The world tilted again, and this time it wasn’t from the crash. My knees buckled, my breath coming in short, ragged gasps as the words on the paper blurred together.
Pregnant.
My child.
My wolf howled, the sound raw and guttural in my mind. I couldn’t move, couldn’t think. The realization hit me like a physical blow, stealing the air from my lungs.
“Alpha!” someone shouted, grabbing my arm and pulling me back. “The car—it’s going to—”
Before he could finish, an explosion tore through the air, the force knocking me to the ground. Flames engulfed the wreckage, and the heat seared my skin.
But all I could think was: She’s gone. She was carrying my child. And now… she’s gone.
My wolf howled in anguish, but I couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. My eyes fixed on the flames, a single, devastating truth sinking in:
Lilian was gone.
***
LILIAN
The plan was simple and I was going to die.
If Mason believed I was gone, I could finally be free. Faking my death was the only option. That was why I wanted the mating ceremony to happen here, where chaos and familiarity would be on my side, easy to manipulate. But Mason, ever unpredictable, decided to have it elsewhere, forcing me to rely on Alpha Dexter’s hastily concocted plan—a car accident.
Now, in Mason’s eyes, I was dead. That was the end of it.
All that remained was to burn the last thread binding me to him.
“Not all of us have all day, Lilian,” Alpha Dexter’s voice broke through my thoughts, pulling me from the flickering flames before me.