Chapter 7: The Day My Death Exposed Every Secret

Kaelen POV

The ballroom erupted into applause.

Selene stood beside me wearing the diamond necklace I had gifted her only an hour ago.

Music filled the air.

Champagne flowed freely.

Pack elites mingled beneath crystal chandeliers.

Everything should have felt normal.

Instead, an unfamiliar sense of unease lingered in the back of my mind.

I ignored it.

For years, ignoring uncomfortable feelings had served me well.

"Kaelen?"

Selene touched my arm.

"Are you alright?"

"Fine."

"You seem distracted."

"I'm not."

The lie came easily.

Because I did not want to examine why Stella's final words kept replaying inside my head.

Goodbye, Kaelen.

Something about the way she said it had felt wrong.

Permanent.

Final.

Almost like a farewell.

Before I could think further, every phone in the ballroom vibrated simultaneously.

Hundreds of notifications.

Dozens of alarms.

Conversations stopped.

Music continued for several awkward seconds before people began checking their screens.

Then confusion spread through the room.

"What is this?"

"Did everyone get the same email?"

"Where did this come from?"

My own phone vibrated repeatedly.

A notification appeared.

EMERGENCY DATA RELEASE

SOURCE: STELLA BLACKTHORNE

My stomach tightened.

"What?"

I opened the file.

Thousands of documents flooded the screen.

Financial records.

Security footage.

Private messages.

Pack reports.

Corporate data.

And at the top of everything—

A single message.

"If you are reading this, I am already dead."

The ballroom went silent.

Completely silent.

My pulse accelerated.

No.

No.

That was impossible.

Stella wasn't dead.

She was in the hospital.

Exaggerating.

Manipulating.

Seeking attention.

Wasn't she?

"Kaelen..."

Selene's voice sounded strained.

I looked up.

For the first time all evening, she looked frightened.

Actually frightened.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

She stepped closer.

"It's probably fake."

The words came too quickly.

Too defensively.

My eyes narrowed.

Before I could respond, another notification appeared.

SECURITY FOOTAGE: VEHICLE SABOTAGE

A video began playing automatically.

The ballroom's central presentation screens suddenly activated.

Someone gasped.

Then everyone turned toward the massive displays.

My blood froze.

The footage showed Selene.

Entering a restricted engineering laboratory.

Accessing autonomous vehicle controls.

Altering software.

Stella's software.

The exact system involved in the accident.

"No," Selene whispered.

"No, no, no."

The crowd erupted.

"That's Selene."

"Is that real?"

"Impossible."

"She caused the accident?"

My wolf stirred uneasily.

For the first time, doubt entered my mind.

Real doubt.

"It's edited!" Selene shouted.

"Someone edited it!"

Another video appeared.

Then another.

Then another.

Different dates.

Different locations.

The same result.

Bribes.

Deleted evidence.

Manipulated records.

Corrupt transactions.

Every secret exposed.

Every lie revealed.

Selene's face turned white.

The crowd began backing away from her.

Pack leaders exchanged horrified looks.

Council members stared in disbelief.

And then the final file appeared.

Hospital records.

My signature.

The transfusion authorization.

The diagnosis.

The warning issued by the Healers.

The words blurred before my eyes.

"Human subject incompatible with Lycan-grade blood transfusion."

"Procedure carries near-certain fatality risk."

"Requires immediate Alpha review."

My signature sat at the bottom.

Clear.

Undeniable.

My breathing stopped.

I remembered that form.

I remembered signing it without reading.

Because Selene had needed me.

Because Stella could wait.

The ballroom seemed to tilt.

"Alpha?"

"Kaelen?"

Voices sounded distant.

Muted.

Meaningless.

My eyes locked onto the final attachment.

A hospital communication log.

Emergency call attempts.

One.

Two.

Five.

Ten.

Fourteen.

All blocked.

Blocked by Alpha Authority.

Blocked by me.

The realization hit like a physical blow.

The Healers had tried to reach me.

Again and again.

And I had silenced them.

To protect Selene's birthday celebration.

"No."

The word escaped my lips.

"No."

My wolf howled inside my head.

For the first time in years, I felt genuine fear.

Not fear for myself.

Fear for Stella.

"Hospital," I whispered.

"What?" Beta Marcus asked.

"The hospital."

I looked at him.

"Tell me she's alive."

Marcus didn't answer.

His silence was devastating.

"Tell me!"

The ballroom shook under my Alpha Command.

Several guests flinched.

Marcus simply stared at me.

His eyes filled with something that looked dangerously close to hatred.

"You blocked every call," he said quietly.

"You ignored every warning."

"Marcus—"

"She died three hours ago."

Everything stopped.

The music.

The noise.

The voices.

The world.

Three hours ago.

While I celebrated.

While Selene laughed.

While fireworks exploded.

Stella died.

"No."

My knees nearly gave out.

"No."

"The Luna is dead," Marcus said.

"And every person in this room now knows exactly why."

Silence consumed the ballroom.

I could feel hundreds of eyes watching me.

Judging me.

Condemning me.

But none of that mattered.

Only one thought remained.

Stella was gone.

My Mate.

My wife.

The woman who spent seven years loving me.

Gone.

And suddenly, for the first time since meeting her, I understood exactly what I had lost.

The realization came too late.

Much too late.

And somewhere deep inside me, the Mate Bond finally shattered.

The pain was unlike anything I had ever experienced.

A soul-deep agony.

A wound that would never heal.

As darkness crept into the edges of my vision, one final truth became impossible to ignore.

Stella hadn't been trying to manipulate me.

She hadn't been lying.

She hadn't been exaggerating.

She had been dying.

And I had signed her death warrant.