Chapter 2 2

Chapter 2:

My phone erupted into violent vibrations against my palm.

I stared down at the screen through blurred vision. "Mate" flashed relentlessly, demanding my attention.

From inside the office, I could hear Lucian's voice rising in panic.

The calls kept coming, one after another, each ring more desperate than the last.

"What the hell, Alpha Lucian? Why are you losing your mind?"

The sound of a chair crashing to the floor echoed through the door. Lucian's voice cracked with urgency.

"She always responds within three minutes. Always."

"Maybe she's busy. Could be napping or something."

"You don't get it! Isabella isn't like other she-wolves!"

My mind flashed back to that business trip six months ago. I'd been caught in a terrible storm while visiting the Eastern Territories. Poor signal, dead phone battery. When I finally got it working again, there were ninety-nine missed calls waiting for me.

Lucian had materialized out of nowhere, looking like he hadn't slept in days.

He crushed me against his chest, his tears soaking into my hair. "I thought I'd lost you. I was terrified. I can't exist without you."

Since that day, I never let a message go unanswered for more than three minutes. I picked up every call on the first ring.

But now, watching the seventeenth missed call light up my screen, I hit decline for the very first time.

The office went dead silent.

My fingers shook as I typed out a response.

"Sorry, just getting some water. What's wrong?"

The phone rang immediately. I forced myself to breathe before answering. I could hear the relief flooding through his voice.

"Baby-"

That gentle, almost childlike tone he used when he wanted to charm me. I clamped my hand over my mouth to stop the sob threatening to escape.

"You terrified me," he whispered. "Don't ever do that again."

Through the crack in the door, I watched him smile as he spoke to me. The tears came harder.

The drive home passed in a haze.

I kept touching my still-flat stomach, staring at nothing.

This baby was everything we'd dreamed of for three years.

After the doctors delivered their crushing diagnosis three years ago, Lucian never mentioned children again. He endured all the whispers and speculation alone. People still said he was cursed by the Moon Goddess for not producing an heir.

Whenever the gossip reached his ears, he would pull me close.

"You're all I need."

He loved me completely.

So why would an Alpha who claimed to love me more than life itself secretly bond with another woman?

The motion sensor triggered as I stepped through our front door, bathing the entryway in soft, golden light.

Lucian had installed that system himself. Warm lighting, he'd said, so I wouldn't trip in the darkness when I came home late from the clinic.

Every wall displayed our memories. Photos of us at every stage of our lives together.

Five-year-old me in a pink princess dress while he awkwardly adjusted a paper crown on my head. "Lucian will always protect Isabella."

The paper shredder devoured that first memory with a mechanical whir.

Fifteen-year-old us at the pack's formal dinner, him tugging uncomfortably at his tie while his ears burned red as he held my waist. "I'm the only one who gets to dance with you from now on."

Our college graduation when he'd covered the entire courtyard in rose petals for his confession. The proposal in the snow, him kneeling with the ring while his nose turned bright red from the cold.

His eyes shining with unshed tears as he lifted my veil during our claiming ceremony.

Photo after photo disappeared into the machine.

By sunrise, my fingernails were caked with paper fragments and splinters.

The shredder had overheated hours ago. Shredded memories formed a mountain beside my feet.

But Lucian never came home.

Today was supposed to be our claiming anniversary.