Chapter 5
775words
"Alpha!!" A guard stumbled in, face drained of color, forgetting to even knock. "There was a massive explosion at the Border Villa! The entire mountain has been leveled!"
"The guard detail reported... they left the Luna inside before they evacuated..."
"There are no signs of life on site... The Luna... she might be..."
The bowl in Eric's hand slipped, shattering against the floor.
Like a madman, he crashed through the French windows, jumping directly from the third floor.
He shifted mid-air and sprinted toward the border.
When Eric arrived, the villa was gone.
There was only scorched earth and the heavy scent of explosives hanging in the air.
Not just a human—even a resilient Alpha couldn't have survived at the epicenter of that blast.
Eric shoved aside the warriors trying to stop him.
He dropped to his knees on the scalding ruins, digging through the hot slate and rebar with his bare hands.
His palms were burned raw. His fingernails flipped back and tore off from the force of his digging.
His bloody fingers were worn down to the bone.
But he felt no pain.
He was like a machine that knew no fatigue, repeating one sentence over and over: "She's still inside. She's afraid of the dark. I have to get her out."
The Council Elders arrived.
They looked at the crazed Alpha and tried to reason with him.
Eric had only two words for them: "Fuck off."
The search and rescue lasted three days and three nights.
Eric didn't eat, drink, or sleep.
He dug through the basement's load-bearing walls, searched every corner, but didn't even find Bella's corpse.
In that kind of intense heat, a fragile human body would have been vaporized into ash instantly.
In the early hours of the third day, Eric collapsed from exhaustion.
The Elders seized the chance to inject him with a powerful sedative and forcibly dragged him back to the Pack House.
When he woke up, it was the afternoon of the fourth day.
Eric refused the doctor's attempts to bandage him.
He staggered out of the room, instinctively seeking Bella's scent.
As he passed the master bedroom, the door was ajar. It was Victoria's room now.
Eric intended to ignore it, but the sound of Victoria's laughing voice from inside made him stop.
She was on the phone, chuckling softly. "That human woman is finally dead."
"I don't know who pulled the trigger. Heard there wasn't even a bone chip left. Well, at least my performance wasn't a waste of time."
"The silver dagger? Ha, of course I shoved it into her hand during the chaos." Victoria's voice was dripping with malicious satisfaction. "Bella, that idiot, was too dazed after I kicked her to react. She's so weak and stupid; she just took whatever I gave her."
Eric froze.
He remembered three days ago, pointing his finger at Bella, accusing her of being vicious, accusing her of trying to kill his child.
It was a setup.
Victoria paused, her tone becoming even more mocking, tinged with disbelief.
"But the biggest surprise was the guard in charge of the transport."
"He secretly told me Bella started hemorrhaging in the car."
"Crazy, right? The Healers swore humans couldn't carry an Alpha bloodline, but the guard said he saw the miscarriage in the backseat."
"God, it's a medical miracle. That lowly human actually managed to carry Eric's pup."
Outside the door, Eric's pupils constricted violently. It felt like someone had crushed his heart in their fist.
That night, Bella had cried on the phone, begging: Save our child... I'm bleeding...
And what had he said?
He said: There is a limit to your lies.
"It's a shame," Victoria tutted, her voice full of schadenfreude.
"She called the Alpha from the car to beg for help. And do you know the funniest part?"
"The Alpha thought she was lying to get attention, so he hung up on her!"
"Hahahaha... I'm dying. Even if I hadn't interfered, that idiot Eric wouldn't have believed her anyway."
Thud.
Eric could no longer support his own weight.
He dropped heavily to his knees on the floorboards.
The sharp pain from his knees was nothing compared to the agony ripping through his chest.
She hadn't been lying.
The dagger was planted.
She really was pregnant with his child.
Eric knelt on the ground, hands clawing tightly at his chest, a sound escaping his throat like the whimper of a dying beast.
He had personally sent the love of his life, and his unborn child, to their graves.
