Elroy POV:

The world was spinning.

Dead.

The word echoed in my skull, bouncing around until it became a physical pain.

Mate is gone, my Inner Wolf howled. It was a sound of pure devastation. He threw his head back in my mind and screamed, a sound that tore through my mental barriers.

I grabbed the photos, my hands shaking so hard I nearly ripped them. "This is fake. You faked this!"

"Read the coroner's report," Korey said, leaning against the doorframe. He looked tired. "Time of death: approximately 180 days ago. Cause of death: Silver poisoning and blood loss."

"She can't be dead," I gasped. "If she were dead, the bond... I would have felt the bond snap."

"Did you?" Korey asked quietly. "Or were you so drugged by Ivonne's sorcery that you missed the moment your other half died?"

I froze.

Six months ago. I remembered a night. I had been at a gala with Ivonne. Suddenly, I had felt a sharp pain in my chest, like a heart attack. I had collapsed. Ivonne had given me a drink, told me it was just stress. She had massaged my temples, her scent overwhelming everything else.

I had forgotten it by morning.

"Ivonne..." I whispered.

"She paid the Rogues," Korey said. "I found the transaction records. She wanted the Luna position. Annis was in the way. She used a blood-mimic spell to keep the bond dormant so you wouldn't suspect."

I scrambled backward, away from the photos, away from the truth. My back hit the wall. "No. Ivonne loves me. She is my Mate."

"She is a witch and a whore," Korey said calmly. "And you are the fool who let her kill your true Mate."

I couldn't breathe. The air in the cabin felt thin.

Suddenly, Korey's eyes changed. The gold of his iris shifted, swirling with a silvery mist. It was Spirit Sight. A rare ability, usually found in Seers, not Alphas.

He looked past me. He looked into the empty corner of the room.

His expression softened. The anger drained away, replaced by a profound sadness.

He began to hum. It was a low, haunting melody. I recognized it. It was a lullaby Annis used to sing to her belly when she was pregnant with Emma.

Korey raised his hand, palm open, reaching out to the empty air.

"Hello, my White Wolf," Korey whispered.

I looked at the corner. There was nothing there. Just dust motes dancing in the light.

"Who are you talking to?" I croaked.

"She is here," Korey said, his eyes fixed on the invisible spot. "She has been screaming at you for an hour, Elroy. But you are too blind to see her."

Annis POV:

He saw me.

For the first time in six months, someone looked at me, not through me.

Korey's silver gaze locked onto mine. I felt a warmth spread through my spectral form. It wasn't the heat of a fire, but the warmth of recognition. Of being acknowledged.

"Korey," I wept, though no tears fell. "You found me."

"I never stopped looking," he whispered.

I floated toward him. I wanted to touch him. I wanted to feel the solidity of a friend.

But then, Elroy scrambled to his feet.

"Stop it!" Elroy yelled, looking between Korey and the empty corner. "Stop playing games! There is no one there!"

His denial was a physical force. It hit me like a wave.

"She is right in front of you," Korey said, his voice hard again. "She is looking at you with hate, Elroy. Can you blame her?"

Elroy turned to where Korey was looking. He squinted. For a second, just a split second, I saw his eyes widen. Did he see a shimmer? A distortion in the air?

"Annis?" he whispered.

Then he shook his head violently. "No. She's dead. You said she's dead. Ghosts aren't real."

He turned and ran. He shoved past Korey and bolted out the door, into the forest.

And the curse yanked me backward.

"No!" I screamed, reaching for Korey. "Help me! Don't let him take me!"

Korey stepped forward, his hand swiping through the air where my arm was. He shivered. "I will come for you, Annis," he promised the air. "I will break the tether."

But I was already being dragged away, pulled through the trees, following the coward who was fleeing from his own sins.

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.