He didn’t hear her. Or worse, he didn’t care.

Maddison’s breath hitched. She pressed in closer, desperation creeping in, until her body was flush against his. Her chest pressed against him, seeking that familiar pull, that instinctive tether of the mate bond. If words couldn’t reach him, then maybe this would, maybe the contact would drag him back before he went too far.

"Nathan..." Maddison’s voice softened into a fragile, coaxing murmur, trembling just enough to slip past the edges of his rage.

For a brief second, it worked.

The storm inside him faltered, his anger easing, if only slightly, like a tide pulling back. But it wasn’t enough. The moment cracked, and just as quickly, it surged back and became tighter, harsher. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

His chest constricted, something raw and violent twisting beneath his ribs. He couldn’t accept it, couldn’t make sense of it. Ashley... dead? From a fall? It didn’t add up. It wasn’t supposed to end like this.

This wasn’t the plan.

He wanted her ruined, yes, stripped of pride, broken down until she had nowhere else to turn, but not dead. Never that. He had never taken it that far.

In his mind, there was always a limit, always a point where he would step in. He would be the one to pull her back at the last second, to become the only hand she could cling to, the only pillar left standing in her world.

Even when he planned to hand her off to someone else, it wasn’t abandonment; it was control. The contrast alone would break her: cruelty from others, measured mercy from him. It would drive her back, make her depend on him without even realizing it.

And the Monster Duke... Nathan had never once believed that man would kill Ashley outright, not without weighing the consequences, not without hesitation. Even if she’d been cast aside, even if Nathan himself had turned his back on her... death was never supposed to be part of this.

One of the reasons Nathan staged all of this was to send a message to the Monster Duke, clear and undeniable. Ashley meant nothing to him. Whatever ties they once had were severed, publicly and brutally.

He needed the Duke to believe it, to erase any suspicion that he was planting his former childhood sweetheart as a spy in another man’s territory.

If the act was convincing enough, the Duke would lower his guard. Maybe even pity her.

And that was the angle Nathan was relying on.

Because once Ashley was in the Duke’s territory, her status might be low, but her life wouldn’t be under immediate threat. She’d be overlooked rather than targeted. With her exile from her former pack, no one else would take her in, and bringing her back into his own pack was never an option, not without disrupting everything around Maddison.

So this was the only path he saw.

In his mind, he wasn’t just ruining her; he was securing her survival, giving her a place to exist when no one else would. Every move he made had a purpose, even if it came wrapped in something brutal.

Or at least... that’s what he convinced himself to believe.

But not once, never had he imagined Ashley dying on him.

And now it was all he could see.

Her face kept breaking through the chaos, flashes of her smile cutting into him over and over, each one twisting the knife deeper. The more he remembered, the harder it became to hold himself together.

His emotions slipped further out of control, raw and violent, refusing to be contained. Even Maddison’s soft, coaxing voice couldn’t reach him anymore; it barely grazed the surface before the surge swallowed it whole.

Inside him, his wolf was howling.

Not in rage but in grief.

It tore through him, restless and relentless, like it had lost something vital... like a piece of him had been ripped out and left bleeding. And that made no sense. It shouldn’t. His fated mate was right there beside him, Maddison.

So why did it feel like he’d just lost a part of his heart and soul?

Why did it feel like something in his chest had been hollowed out, leaving nothing but pain clawing through his heart and soul?

He couldn’t understand it.

All he knew was that it hurt and he hated it.

"Now tell me, what did you do to Ashley?!" Nathan roared, his grip tightening with lethal intent. "Or you die."

The threat wasn’t empty.

Maddison felt it, felt how far gone he was, and for the first time, even she went pale. This wasn’t the Nathan she could easily steer. If the truth slipped out now... he wouldn’t spare anyone.

Not even her.

So she acted.

Her Alpha aura surged, layering over Nathan’s, pressing down on the two warriors with suffocating force. To everyone watching, it looked like she was helping, adding pressure so they’d break, so they’d finally speak. But that wasn’t her goal.

She pushed harder than necessary. Deliberately.

The weight crushed into them, forcing blood up their throats, their bodies trembling under the strain. She needed them weakened, needed them on the brink. If they lost consciousness here, they’d be dragged away for interrogation instead of finishing their confession.

And once they were out of sight...

She would silence them for good.

If anyone questioned her actions, she already had her excuse prepared; she had only been trying to help Nathan, just trying to force the truth out, and she’d overdone it in the heat of the moment. An accident. Nothing more.

No suspicion. No loose ends.

Just the truth, buried before it could ever reach him.

Cough!

It didn’t take long.

Under the combined weight of Nathan’s fury and Maddison’s calculated pressure, the two warriors began to break. Nathan didn’t notice the shift because his focus was locked entirely on the answers he wanted, blind to everything else. That was all the opening Maddison needed.

She pushed harder.

The pressure crushed down until their bodies gave out. Within seconds, both men went limp. The one in Nathan’s grip sagged completely, his weight dead in his hand. For a brief moment, Nathan stilled, his anger faltering as the thought hit him that he might’ve just killed him without meaning to.

It dulled the edge of his rage.

But only for a second.

With a sharp, impatient motion, he flung the warrior aside. The warrior’s body slammed hard against a stone pillar, bone against stone with a sickening crack, forcing another violent cough of blood from the man’s throat before he went still.

This time, there was no doubt.

He was dead.

And Maddison... was satisfied.

One less loose end.

Nathan had done it himself, without question, without suspicion. That only made things better. Now, all that remained was the other unconscious warrior, and the two more back in Nathan’s territory.

Once they were gone, too, the truth would disappear with them.

"Nathan!" Maddison cried out, forcing shock into her voice as if she hadn’t seen it coming.

But he didn’t even look at her.

Whatever was left of his control was fraying, and he dragged his wolf back by sheer force, shoving it into the depths of his mind where it snarled and resisted. When he finally surfaced, the shift was abrupt, stripped of everything but intent.