Catherine POV:

Pain was my roommate now.

I woke up in the hospital. My arm was casted, ribs taped.

Errol stood in the doorway. He looked smaller than usual.

"Is the monster gone?" he asked a nurse.

"She's awake, sweetie," the nurse said coldly.

Derek walked in. He held a phone to his ear. "Yes, Mother. She's awake. Anjelica is shaken but fine. Catherine... she lost control of the car."

He hung up and looked at me. His eyes were empty.

"Why did you try to hit her, Catherine?"

"She PIT-maneuvered me," I rasped.

"Anjelica is carrying my heir. She wouldn't risk the baby," Derek said robotically. "I will pay for your recovery. But you cannot stay at the Manor. I'm moving you to the guest lodge on the eastern border."

The wasteland.

"Kick her out," I whispered. "She is poison."

"She is my future," he said. "And you are a liability."

He turned to leave.

"Derek," I called out. "I'm hungry."

"I'll tell a nurse," he said without turning.

He left.

I looked at the ceiling. I wasn't fighting for my marriage anymore. I was fighting to survive.

Two days later, the door burst open.

Dr. Evans, the head of the hospital, looked sweaty and nervous.

"We need you," he said.

"What?"

"Anjelica fell. She's hemorrhaging. She has a rare blood condition. You're the only match in the database."

"No," I said. "I just crashed a car. I'm anemic."

"Derek signed the consent forms," Evans said, avoiding my eyes. "General medical proxy. He said 'do whatever is necessary'."

Two orderlies grabbed me.

"Derek!" I screamed. "Let me talk to him!"

"He's sedated," Evans lied. "Anjelica's orders take precedence."

They dragged me to a procedure room.

"How much?" the nurse asked.

"Take three pints," Evans said, his voice shaking. "Miss Vance was specific."

"That will kill her," the nurse whispered.

"Just do it!"

I watched my life flow into the bag. It wasn't a donation. It was a harvest.

When I woke up, the room was spinning.

I had to leave. Now. Or I would die here.

I dragged myself out of bed. I found my bloodstained clothes.

I walked down the hallway, holding the wall. I passed Anjelica's suite.

The door was open. Derek was sitting on the bed, feeding Anjelica strawberries. He looked happy. Or high.

I reached into my pocket. My burner phone.

"Code Ghost," I whispered. "Zurich."

"Transport is at the secondary airstrip," Kaden said. "Forty minutes."

I walked out the back door.

My phone—the one Derek paid for—buzzed.

I know about the blood. Thank you. When you're better, we can send you to Hawaii.

He thought a vacation would fix exsanguination.

I dropped the phone into a trash can.

"Goodbye, Derek," I whispered. "You'll never find me."

Catherine POV:

The flight was a blur. We stopped in Italy for refueling.

I stood at the edge of a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean. The wind felt like freedom.

Kaden stood beside me. He didn't smell like lies. He smelled of ozone and steel.

"I wasn't going to jump," I said.

"I know. You were just looking."

I looked at my hand. The platinum wedding band was a shackle.

I pulled it off.

"Do it," Kaden said.

I threw it. The ring arced and vanished into the whitecaps.

I fell to my knees.

"I, Catherine," I whispered, "reject the bond. I reject the past."

Thunder cracked. The rotting connection in my chest didn't snap; it dissolved like sugar in hot water.

"May we be strangers," I finished.

Kaden offered a hand. "Ready?"

"Yes."

"We have a new identity waiting in Zurich," Kaden said. "Kate Harding. Geneticist. Single."

"Perfect."

Catherine Hale was at the bottom of the ocean. Kate Harding got into the car.

Derek POV:

I was peeling an apple for Anjelica.

Suddenly, the knife slipped.

Pain exploded in my chest. A void opened up inside me, cold and absolute.

My wolf, Shadow, threw his head back and howled.

Gone, Shadow whimpered. Mate is gone.

"What?" I gasped.

I ran out of the room. I burst into Catherine's room.

Empty.

No note. No scent. Just the smell of bleach.

Dr. Evans walked by. I grabbed him by the throat.

"Where is she?"

"She left! After the donation!"

"Donation?" I froze.

"The blood," Evans stammered. "For Anjelica. We took three pints."

I let him go. Three pints? From a crash victim?

"I signed a general consent," I whispered. "I didn't order an execution."

"Anjelica said..." Evans started.

"What did she say?"

"She said you wanted her dry."

I staggered back.

I tried to Mind-Link. Catherine?

Silence. Dead air.

Derek POV:

"Explain," I growled.

Leo, my Beta, was sweating. "I'm accessing the logs."

He turned the tablet.

Grainy footage. Two orderlies dragging a half-conscious Catherine. Then, hours later, Catherine stumbling out. She stopped at Anjelica's door. She watched me feeding her strawberries.

She had seen everything.

"Track her," I said.

"I can't," Leo said. "Her ID was flagged 'Deceased' two years ago. By your login."

I froze. I remembered signing a stack of papers Anjelica brought me. 'Routine cleanup,' she had said.

"She's a ghost," Leo whispered.

"Pull up the pier footage," I ordered. "From the night at the car."

The screen changed. There she was. Standing in the shadows. Watching me cheat.

My knees gave way.

"She knew," I whispered. "She knew, and I let them bleed her."

Shadow whimpered. You broke it.

"Find her," I told Leo. "I don't care if she's a ghost. Find my wife."

Leo walked into my office holding a red folder like a bomb.

"The independent lab results," Leo said. "Anjelica's blood type is O Positive."

The world stopped.

"O Positive," I repeated. "That's the most common type. I'm O Positive."

"Dr. Evans lied," Leo said. "Or he was paid to lie."

A red haze crept into my vision. My bones cracked.

It wasn't a medical emergency. It was a trophy hunt.

I ran to the nursery.

Anjelica was holding a yellow blanket.

"Derek! Look—"

She stopped. She smelled my rage.

I grabbed her by the throat.

"You are O Positive," I said.

"Derek... the baby..."

"There is no baby!" I roared. "Or if there is, it doesn't need rare blood! You stole it!"

"Don't lie to me!" The Alpha Command thundered.

Anjelica's mask fell. "Because she wouldn't die!" she hissed. "Five years! I crashed her car! I drugged you! I turned her son against her! But she was still there! I wanted her empty!"

I let go. She crumpled.

"Drugged me?" I asked, my voice quiet.

"Pheromone blockers and suggestibility serum," she spat. "Mixed with your cologne. You think you fell in love with me? You were high, Derek."

I looked at my hands. I had been a puppet.

"Get up," I said coldly.