Chapter 8: The Alpha Who Lost Everything

Kaelen POV

The Mate Bond was gone.

For seven years, it had existed in the background of my life.

A quiet presence.

A constant connection.

Something I had taken for granted.

Now it was gone.

And the emptiness it left behind was unbearable.

I could not breathe.

I could not think.

I could only hear Marcus's words repeating endlessly in my mind.

"She died three hours ago."

Three hours.

Three hours earlier, Selene had been laughing beneath fireworks.

Three hours earlier, I had been placing a diamond necklace around her neck.

Three hours earlier, Stella had been dying alone.

A horrible pressure built inside my chest.

"Alpha?"

Someone was speaking to me.

I ignored them.

"Alpha Blackthorne?"

Another voice.

I ignored that too.

The ballroom no longer mattered.

The guests no longer mattered.

Nothing mattered.

Only Stella.

Only the woman I would never see again.

"Move."

My voice came out rough.

Broken.

The crowd parted immediately.

Marcus followed behind me.

"Kaelen."

"Not now."

"You need to think clearly."

"I said not now."

I pushed through the ballroom doors.

The night air hit my face.

Cold.

Sharp.

Merciless.

Exactly what I deserved.

Within minutes I was inside my vehicle.

The engine roared to life.

I drove faster than I ever had before.

Traffic lights.

Speed limits.

Road signs.

None of them mattered.

Only the hospital.

Only Stella.

Please be alive.

The thought repeated again and again.

Please.

For the first time in years, I prayed.

Not to the Moon Goddess.

Not to fate.

To anyone willing to listen.

Please let me be wrong.

Please.

The hospital appeared ahead.

I barely waited for the vehicle to stop before running inside.

"Alpha!"

"Where is she?"

The receptionist froze.

"The Luna—"

"Where is Stella?"

The entire lobby fell silent.

Fear flashed across several faces.

Not fear of me.

Fear of the answer.

"Third floor," someone whispered.

I was already moving.

The elevator was too slow.

I took the stairs.

Three floors.

Four.

Five.

The numbers blurred together.

When I reached her room, the door was already open.

Several Healers stood outside.

No one tried to stop me.

No one said a word.

I stepped inside.

And my world ended.

Stella lay peacefully beneath a white sheet.

Still.

Silent.

Gone.

No machines.

No alarms.

No heartbeat.

Nothing.

"No."

The word escaped my lips.

"No."

I crossed the room.

Slowly.

As though moving through water.

My hand reached toward hers.

Cold.

Her skin was cold.

The realization shattered something inside me.

"Stella."

No response.

"Stella."

Still nothing.

"Wake up."

Silence.

"Wake up."

My voice cracked.

"Please."

The room remained silent.

Because she couldn't hear me anymore.

Because she was dead.

Because I had killed her.

The truth struck harder than any enemy ever had.

I sank to my knees beside the bed.

For the first time since becoming Alpha, I broke.

Not anger.

Not rage.

Grief.

Pure, devastating grief.

"I didn't know," I whispered.

"I didn't know."

But excuses sounded meaningless here.

Meaningless beside the body of the woman I had ignored.

The woman who had begged me to listen.

The woman I never chose.

A movement near the doorway caught my attention.

Marcus.

The Head Healer.

Several Pack Council members.

All watching silently.

"Leave," I growled.

Nobody moved.

"Leave!"

The room shook under my Alpha Command.

Still nobody moved.

The Head Healer finally stepped forward.

"No."

I stared at him.

No one had ever refused my command before.

"What did you say?"

"No."

The Healer's eyes were filled with anger.

"You don't get to command us anymore."

The room became dangerously quiet.

"Explain."

"The Council has convened an emergency session."

"And?"

"Evidence released by Luna Stella has been verified."

A folder landed on the bedside table.

"Selene Blackthorne is under investigation for attempted murder, fraud, evidence tampering, theft of Pack assets, and conspiracy."

"And you?"

The Healer looked directly into my eyes.

"You are being investigated for criminal negligence resulting in the death of your Mate and Luna."

The words should have angered me.

They didn't.

Because they were true.

"Where is Selene?" I asked quietly.

"Detained."

Good.

A dark satisfaction stirred inside me.

For the first time in years, she would face consequences.

But it didn't matter.

Nothing mattered.

Not anymore.

Because Stella would never know.

"There's more," Marcus said.

"What?"

"You should see this."

He handed me a tablet.

A video file played automatically.

Stella appeared on screen.

Alive.

Weak.

Pale.

But alive.

My heart stopped.

"If you're watching this," Stella said calmly, "then I'm already dead."

The room fell silent.

Every eye fixed on the screen.

"Kaelen, I spent seven years loving you."

"Seven years believing that one day you would choose me."

"I was wrong."

My chest tightened.

"The truth is, you chose Selene every single time."

"When she lied, you believed her."

"When she hurt me, you protected her."

"When I needed you most, you abandoned me."

"And when I died, you were celebrating her birthday."

The words hit like knives.

"I used to wonder what was wrong with me."

"Why I was never enough."

"Now I know the answer."

"There was never anything wrong with me."

"The problem was you."

Tears blurred my vision.

"I forgive myself for loving you."

"But I will never forgive you for what you did."

"Goodbye, Kaelen."

The video ended.

Silence followed.

A horrible, suffocating silence.

I stared at the blank screen.

Then at Stella's motionless body.

And finally understood the full weight of what I had lost.

Not just my Mate.

Not just my wife.

The only person who had ever loved me unconditionally.

And I had destroyed her with my own hands.

Outside the hospital room, alarms suddenly began ringing throughout Blood Moon Headquarters.

More evidence releases.

More scandals.

More secrets.

The empire I spent years building was collapsing.

But I barely noticed.

Because none of it hurt as much as the empty hospital bed before me.

For years Stella had begged me to see her.

Now it was too late.

And I would spend the rest of my life paying the price.