CIAN
The bond snapped back into place like a rubber band pulled too tight and released.
One second there was nothing. Empty space where she should have been. The next second, panic slammed into me so hard I couldn't breathe. Not my panic. Hers. Raw and animal and drowning in something that felt wrong. Felt like poison.
My body moved before my brain caught up. I shoved Garret aside, yanked open the door, and dragged him out of his seat. He hit the ground with a grunt. I didn't care. I couldn't.
I was already behind the wheel, throwing the limo into drive.
"Alpha Cian, what—"
"Shut up."
Garrett's voice died in his throat. Smart man.
I slammed my foot on the gas. The limo surged forward. Too slow. This thing was built for comfort, not speed, but I pushed it anyway. The engine roared. Trees blurred past the windows.
The bond pulled at me like a fishhook lodged in my chest. This way. Faster. She's dying.
I should have felt satisfaction. Should have felt vindicated. This was exactly what she deserved, wasn't it? She'd schemed her way into my life. Hurt her sister. Manipulated everyone around her. And now she was facing the consequences of her own stupidity despite the chance that I had given her.
But the bond didn't care about any of that. It just screamed danger, danger, danger with every pulse of my heartbeat.
How the fuck did she even harm herself so quick? Was she a fish out of water?
My knuckles went white on the steering wheel. The speedometer climbed. Sixty. Seventy. Eighty on a private road that wasn't meant for this kind of driving.
I took a curve too fast. The tires squealed. The back end fishtailed, but I corrected and kept going.
Then I saw it.
There. A white shape on the side of the road ahead. Too still. Too crumpled.
I hit the brakes. The limo skidded to a stop sideways across both lanes. I was out of the car before it finished moving.
She was face down in the gravel. Her wedding dress was shredded. Covered in dirt and blood. Her feet were bare and torn up. Dark hair spread around her head like a funeral shroud.
I dropped to my knees beside her. Grabbed her shoulder and rolled her over.
Her face was pale. Lips tinged blue. She wasn't breathing right. Shallow gasps that barely moved her chest.
That's when I saw the flowers.
Purple petals stuck to her dress. Caught in her hair. Ground into the fabric like they'd been growing on her. My stomach dropped.
Mourning moon.
"No. No no no."
I knew these flowers. I'd ordered them planted along the borders of my territory four years ago after a rival pack tried to send assassins through the forest. The flowers were perfect for what I needed. Beautiful. Deadly. Their pollen would incapacitate anyone who didn't know to avoid them. Made you dizzy first. Then sick. Then it shut down your organs one by one until your heart just stopped. My pack members knew. Everyone who had legitimate business on Skollrend land knew.
But she didn't know.
Of course she didn't know. She was from Silver Creek. She'd never set foot on my territory before today. And I'd thrown her out into a forest full of poison because I wanted to teach her a lesson about defiance.
.She must have walked through miles of them. Been breathing in the poison for a long while.
I scooped her up. Her head lolled against my shoulder. She weighed nothing. Felt like bones and torn fabric and desperation.
The pollen on her dress brushed against my face. It had a sweet smell. A wrong smell. I knew what it meant. Knew what I'd just done to myself by touching her.
But it did not matter. It couldn't matter.
I carried her to the limo and laid her across the back seat. Her breathing was getting worse. More ragged. Like her lungs were filling with something thick.
Then I got to the driver's seat. My hands gripped the steering wheel hard enough that my knuckles went white. My feet went down the second the engine started and the speedometer climbed. Sixty. Seventy. Eighty. The limo wasn't built for this kind of speed on these roads but I didn't slow down.
I grabbed my phone with one hand. Kept the other on the wheel. Hit Garrett's number.
He answered on the first ring. "Alpha Cian, what—"
"Run." I cut him off. My voice sounded like it was coming from somewhere far away. Like it belonged to someone else. "North on the main road. Run as fast as you can. I'm coming back for you but I might not make it."
"What do you mean you might not—"
"Mourning moon." The words came out flat. Final. "She walked into a field of mourning moon."
"What?" He was apprehensive.
"I've been poisoned too by contact." The words felt strange in my mouth. Too real. Too final. "Maybe I'll reach you. Maybe this car will crash before that. But you better be running toward me right now."
"I'm running." His breathing was already hard. Fast. "I'm running, Alpha."
"Good."
I hung up.
The next call went to my pack's head healer. Dr. Maren. She'd been with Skollrend for twenty years. Knew her stuff. If anyone could fix this, it was her. After all, there was no way I dropped a lethal poison in my grounds with no means of controlling its power.
She answered on the second ring. "Alpha Cian?"
"Three severe cases of mourning moon poisoning are coming your way." My tongue felt thick. The words came out slurred. "You better be ready."
"Three? Alpha, what—"
"Just be ready."
I ended the call and threw the phone onto the passenger seat.
The limo surged forward again. I pushed the gas pedal to the floor. The engine screamed. The whole car shook with the speed.
My vision started to blur around the edges. Just slightly. Just enough to notice.
I blinked hard. Focused on the road. On the white line down the middle. On keeping the car straight.
Fia made a sound in the back seat. A whimper. Broken and small.
"Shut up," I said. My voice echoed in the empty car. "You don't get to make sounds. You did this to yourself."
She didn't respond. Probably couldn't hear me. Probably didn't care.
The bond pulsed between us. Weaker now. Flickering like a candle in the wind. I could feel her slipping away. Feel death creeping closer to both of us.
My hands cramped on the wheel. The shaking was getting worse. Spreading up my arms. Into my shoulders.
The road curved ahead. I took it too wide. The tires hit gravel on the shoulder. The car jerked. I corrected that shit and kept going.
Why was I doing this?
The question surfaced through the fog creeping into my brain. Why was I risking my life for a woman I hated? A woman who deserved exactly what she was getting?
The bond pulled at me. Insisted. Demanded.
But that wasn't enough. The bond was just biology. Just the goddess playing her fun games with people's lives. It didn't mean much. It didn't change what Fia had done.
So why?
My vision doubled. The road split into two paths. I aimed for the middle and hoped I was on the right one.
Another sound came from the back seat. Wet. Choking.
I glanced in the rearview mirror. Fia's lips were moving. Like she was trying to say something. Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.
"Don't you dare die." The words came out harsh. Angry. "You don't get to die until I say so. You hear me?"
No response. Just more of that terrible wet breathing.
My chest hurt. Not from the poison. From something else. Something that felt like panic but tasted like guilt.
I'd done this. I'd left her on the side of the road. Driven away. Smiled while I did it.
This was my fault.
The thought hit me like a blow to the chin. My foot slipped off the gas. The car slowed.
No. No, this was her fault. She chose to walk away. She chose to defy me. She chose pride over safety.
But I'd given her no choice. I'd backed her into a corner and then acted surprised when she fought back.
The road ahead shimmered. Heat waves or poison, I couldn't tell anymore.
My arms felt heavy. Like they were made of lead instead of muscle and bone. Each movement took more effort than the last.
I was going to pass out soon. Could feel it coming. The darkness creeping in from the edges of my vision. The way my thoughts were starting to scatter and reform in strange patterns.
But I couldn't stop. Not yet. Not while she was still breathing in the back seat.
Then I saw some movement ahead. Something dark against the pavement. Running toward me.
A wolf. Big. Gray and white fur. I knew that wolf.
Garrett.
Relief hit me so hard I almost laughed. He'd actually done it. Ran fast enough to meet me halfway.
I aimed the car straight at him. Let my foot ease off the gas. The world was tilting now. Spinning slow like a carousel winding down.
The wolf got bigger. Closer. His paws ate up distance impossibly fast.
My foot found the brake. Pressed down. The car slowed. Stopped.
I reached for the door handle. Missed twice. Got it on the third try.
The door swung open. Hot air rushed in. Or maybe I was just cold. Everything felt wrong. Backwards.
I tried to move. Tried to slide over to the passenger seat. My body didn't respond. Just slumped against the steering wheel like a puppet with cut strings.
Fur brushed against my arm. Then Garrett was there. Naked and human. He grabbed me under the arms and hauled me sideways. Shoved me into the passenger seat.
"Hold on, Alpha Cian." His voice sounded far away. Underwater. "I got this."
He slammed my door shut. Ran around to the driver's side. The car rocked as he threw himself behind the wheel.
The engine roared back to life. We surged forward again.
I tried to keep my eyes open. Tried to focus on something. Anything. The dashboard. The windshield. Garrett's hands white knuckled on the wheel.
But the darkness was winning.
My last thought before I slipped under was bitter and sharp and completely honest.
Why the hell did I save her?
She wasn't worth this. Wasn't worth dying for. She was manipulative and scheming and she'd hurt her own sister.
But my hands still smelled like the flowers in her hair. My arms still remembered the weight of her. The way she'd felt small and broken and so terribly fragile.
The bond whispered mine even as everything else went dark.
I hated her.
I hated her so much.
So why did saving her feel like the only choice I could have made?
The answer slipped away before I could catch it. Everything slipped away. Just darkness and the distant roar of the engine and Garrett's voice saying something I couldn't quite hear.
Then nothing at all.