XADEN'S POV
Lisa's body was still warm when I forced myself to look away.
Her eyes, burned out to hollow darkness.
Her chest, gorged open where her heart should have been.
Her lips were still parted in the shape of the tale she never got to say.
I didn't let myself feel anything.
Not shock.
Not fear.
But Rage? Oh I felt rage and fury.
The anger that just when the bitch would have confessed about everything she ever did, she had been cut short.
Dead, but not at my hand
"Keep her body in Loren's quarters," I said quietly. My voice came out colder than steel.
"Lock the door. Don't touch her. Don't speak about her. I'll deal with it when I return."
The guards' faces paled.
They bowed so fast their armor clattered
"Yes, Alpha."
I turned.
The smell of the room still stuck to me.
The memory that I didn't recall hung to me.
The memory of Jasmine writhing in pain on this exact floor I stood on while she lost our baby.
I was haunted but it.
