Annis POV:
The drive back was a blur of motion sickness and terror. I was trapped in the passenger seat of Elroy's SUV. He drove like a madman, the speedometer climbing past 100. His knuckles were white on the steering wheel, the headlights cutting through the pitch-black forest like knives.
"It's not true," he muttered to himself, over and over. "It's a lie. Korey is lying."
I sat there, staring at him. I remembered the day we met. I remembered how he smelled like rain and pine. I remembered how his touch used to make electricity dance under my skin-the classic sign of Mates.
Now, looking at him, I felt nothing but cold ash.
He pulled out his phone and dialed Ivonne.
"Elroy?" her voice came through the speakers, sweet and cloying. "Did you find the body? Is the marrow on its way?"
Elroy didn't answer immediately. He just breathed.
"Elroy?" she asked again, a hint of panic in her tone.
"Ivonne," Elroy said, his voice surprisingly steady. "Do you remember the gala last year? The one where I collapsed?"
There was a pause. A beat of silence that lasted too long.
"Of course, darling," she said. "You were working so hard."
"Did you hire anyone that week?" Elroy asked. "Any... contractors?"
"What are you talking about?" Ivonne laughed, but the pitch was too high. "Just focus on our son. He is getting weaker."
Elroy hung up.
He didn't go home. He drove to the Pack archives. He stormed in, ignoring the surprised clerk, and went straight to the financial records. As the Alpha, he had access to everything.
He pulled up the accounts. He searched for the date of my death.
He cross-referenced the "Paris" withdrawals. He traced the IP addresses. They didn't originate in France. They originated from a burner phone registered to a shell company.
Elroy traced the shell company. It took him ten minutes. The trail led to a known Rogue mercenary group.
He stared at the screen. The blue light illuminated the horror on his face.
"She paid them," he whispered. "She paid them to kill my Mate and faked her life to keep me blind."
He stood up, the chair crashing backward.
Rain began to lash against the windshield as he drove back to the villa. The sun was setting, casting long, bloody shadows across the lawn.
He walked into the house. Ivonne met him at the door, a glass of wine in her hand. She looked perfect. Too perfect.
"Where is the body?" she asked, looking behind him.
Elroy stopped. He took a deep breath. He inhaled her scent.
For years, he had smelled lavender and honey. But now, with the truth shattering the illusion, his nose finally worked.
Under the perfume, under the magic, she smelled of sulfur. She smelled of rot. And she smelled of excitement.
She wasn't grieving for her sick son. She was excited about the power she would gain if he survived.
"You smell like a corpse," Elroy said flatly.
Ivonne froze. The wine glass slipped from her fingers and shattered on the floor. Red wine pooled like blood around her feet.
"Elroy, you're tired," she said, her smile faltering. "Come, let me-"
She reached for him.
Elroy stepped back. It was a small movement, but it was monumental. He rejected her touch.
"Don't," he growled. The Alpha tone was back, but this time, it was directed at her.
"Where is Annis?" he asked.
"She's dead, Elroy! You know that!" Ivonne cried. "Why do you keep asking about that useless woman?"
"Because," Elroy said, his eyes burning with a terrifying light, "I think I just realized that I am the one who killed her."
He turned and walked out the door again. He jumped into his car.
"Where are you going?" Ivonne screamed from the porch.
"To see my daughter," Elroy said.
He drove back to the incineration pit.
I sat next to him, silent and cold. I watched him unravel. And for the first time, I didn't want him to suffer. I just wanted him to let me go.
He arrived at the pit. It was dark now. The fire was out.
He walked to the slab where he had thrown Emma.
It was empty.
Elroy fell to his knees on the concrete. He touched the spot where her little body had been.
"Emma," he choked out.
Then, he threw his head back and howled.
It wasn't a human cry. It was the sound of a wolf that had lost its pack, its mate, and its pup. It was the sound of a monster realizing it was a monster.
I stood over him, looking down at his shaking shoulders.
"Cry all you want, Elroy," I whispered into the wind. "Tears won't bring us back."
The moon broke through the clouds, illuminating the empty slab, and the broken Alpha kneeling in the ashes of his own making.
