Crosb

the emergency room, my entire existence focu

sharp and annoyed over the background noise of clinking gla

he immediate assumption that I was a problem. The desperate plea that had risen t

daughter Alanna Crosby has been in a serious attack. She's at Centr

u want me to come there? Do you have any idea how much a cab

soaked, inexpensive clothes, then back at the phon

it! That good-for-nothing! Nothing but trouble since

made my spirit tremble. This

ead connecting me to the world snap.

d. I remember sitting alone in her kitchen, watching her count crumpled bills, muttering about what I cost her. She called me a burden. A drain. She remarried later-a gambler she met at the tables. I became a ghost in my own mot

y was

isbelief. "Ma'am, this is a nece

ve a daughter! It's better if she's dead, saves her the trouble of dragging me down a

unned into silence, he

lled her father, and now she's trying to ruin

p click, more final, more hate

hone, her hand trembling slightly. Her eyes, when they flickered tow

n tired. He saw the look on the nurse

a low whisper. "Her family...

n the heart monitor. "Record the time of death. Notify Socia

imed

y soul. I had a mate. I had a mothe

he white sheet. Then, they pushed the gurney toward

me next-cremation or burial, whichever

was I meant to rest.

pull. The mate-bond. It was being severed. The pain was excruciat

To Caden. I don't know if it reached him. I don't know if he felt a single echo of what I was suffering. The bond was already too wea

wn to that kind of power-and I was nothing but a lowly, worthless dormant wolf, wired by i

in passed, my spirit

g from the direction of the Fowler Pack. My home

drawn to him. Perhaps it was Lyra,

a tether that death itself could not sever. I knew what I was now. A ghost. A remnant.

The question was why. Why did the Moon Goddess bind us together-only for him to despise me? Wh

r me like ash. But I couldn't leave without knowing. I coul

Alpha's mansion. Not for love. Not for mercy. For answers