She paused, and something crept into her tone, faint and unmistakable. Superiority.
"I know these past weeks have been hard for you, but that's just how fate works. Your luck has never been as good as mine. So you might as well learn to let go and look ahead."
Her words were a dull blade, sawing slow across my heart. My breath caught. The color drained from my face. I was about to speak, to push back, when a deafening crash tore through the air.
Then screams erupted from every direction.
"Caelan!!!"
I jerked my head up and realized something had gone wrong on the track.
Sylvia Nightfang's race vehicle had lost control entering the first curve, slamming straight into the barrier wall. The impact threw the entire raceway into chaos. Pack healers rushed forward. It took a long time before they lifted his blood-soaked body onto a stretcher and carried him toward the Pack Infirmary.
The race was halted. Spectators rose from their seats in a wave of panic. Everyone wore grim expressions as they hurried toward the infirmary. Hazel Ashford didn't bother saying anything more to me. She was crying so hard her whole face was streaked with tears, and she followed the emergency transport out of the grounds.
Only I remained, from start to finish, calm to the point of numbness.
The conversation I had overheard still echoed inside my skull. I knew perfectly well that this crash was no accident. He had arranged this ending for himself, with his own hands.
To stay by Hazel Ashford's side, he was willing to gamble with his own life.
In that moment, I didn't even know whether to marvel at the madness of that devotion or grieve for how pathetic my own years of giving had been.
On the third day, I received a call from the Pack Infirmary.
"Miss Ashvale, the remains you placed in cold storage at the facility have exceeded the holding period. Please come to collect them at your earliest convenience."
The word remains made my eyes burn red instantly.
Of course. To them, it was nothing more than a pair of lost pups. Nothing more than an item filed under a number.
The pain of that day still seemed to echo through my body. I pressed my emotions down hard and answered in a low voice, "All right. I'll come now."
After I ended the call, I went to the infirmary immediately.