Chapter 4

KELSEY POV:

Bennett didn't come home that night. He didn't even come to my hospital room. All I got was a single, detached message through our Mind-Link.

*Aria was badly shaken. I'm staying with her tonight. Don't wait up.*

He never asked about my injury. He never asked if I was okay.

The next day, I left the hospital and went to the one place that held the last vestiges of our shared history: the pack's historical museum. The grand hall housed the Silver Moon lineage scrolls, ancient artifacts, and the large, silver-bound book where we had signed our names on our covenant day.

And of course, they were there.

I saw them in the Hall of Alphas, standing before the portrait of Bennett's father. Aria was giggling, playfully swatting at Bennett's chest. He caught her hand and kissed it, looking at her with an adoration I hadn't seen in his eyes for years. They looked like any young, happy couple in love.

I ducked behind a large display case, my heart pounding a sick rhythm against my ribs.

"Being with you... it makes me feel like a real Alpha," I heard Bennett say to her, his voice full of a genuine warmth that twisted something inside me. "With Kelsey... it always just felt like I was performing my duties."

My duty. My entire life with him, reduced to a chore.

I turned to leave, but it was too late. I rounded the corner of the display case and ran straight into Aria. We both stumbled back.

At that exact moment, a heavy, silver plaque on the wall above us-one depicting an ancient battle-came loose from its moorings. It tilted, and then it fell.

Everything happened in a flash. In a split second of pure instinct, Aria shoved me hard. I stumbled out of the way just as the plaque crashed to the ground right where I had been standing. But it wasn't a clean fall. The corner of it caught Aria on the shoulder, and she cried out in pain.

Bennett was there in an instant. He saw Aria clutching her shoulder, he saw me standing a few feet away, and his face contorted into a mask of pure fury.

He didn't ask what happened. He didn't check to see if I was okay. He pointed a trembling finger at me, and for the first time ever, he used the full force of his Alpha's Command directly on me.

"What did you do to her?!" he snarled. The power in his voice slammed into me, forcing me to my knees, pinning me to the floor under an invisible, crushing weight. He thought I had done it. He thought I had tried to hurt her out of jealousy.

He scooped a whimpering Aria into his arms. "Stay away from us," he growled at me, his eyes burning with a hatred that seared my soul. And then, for the second time in two days, he left me behind.

I followed them to the hospital. I had to see.

Aria had lost a lot of blood. The healers were frantic. "She has Moon Goddess blood type," one of them said, a rare and special wolf bloodline. "We don't have any in storage."

A cold dread filled the waiting room.

Then, Bennett stepped forward. "I have it," he said, rolling up his sleeve. "I'm the same type."

The head healer shook his head. "Alpha, you can't. Giving her that much of your blood, your life energy... it could kill you."

"I don't care," Bennett said, his voice raw. "Save her."

I watched from the doorway as they hooked him up. I watched as the color drained from his face, as his powerful form began to tremble with weakness. I watched him sacrifice his own life force for her, an act of ultimate devotion.

He passed out just as they finished the transfusion. As the healers rushed to stabilize him, he mumbled a single word, a name whispered from the depths of his unconscious mind.

"Aria."

And just like that, the last flicker of love I held for him died. It wasn't a painful death. It was quiet, cold, and absolute.

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