Point

explosion hit the heli

ing us against our seats. My ca

sive fireball bloomed where th

ng burning metal fragments a

ish the disobedient Omega and put her in her place. But when our broken mate‑bond detonated deep inside my soul, my inner wolf let out a horrifying, despairing howl. It was raw, unbearable pain, the

oding the cabin with Alpha pressure. "F

s flight protocols -

ur throat out!" I snarled, my e

rom his seat, his

Thorn grabbed the radio and shou

"Gone! Right before the blast, all vital‑sign readings flat‑lined. Nothing is left. Ev

her face in her

walk out? Why would sh

turned

faint voice over

not open. It ha

lied. She ha

dy spraying water onto the smolderi

d solid with its metal frame,

thick, lethal silver ash co

g her out. I needed to smell her scent of pine and wild berries

ted. "Silver dust concentrations are

ers scraping through dirt, screaming her

ms dug through the ho

all. Silver‑infused fire had

toward me, head

oof sealed envelopes, and her scorched communicator - the

ently as I pressed

ree of us had said to her - over the mental link and on tha

hat door in five minutes

swer I gave Seraphina beside that bo

d retched onto th

nside lay our late mother's photograph

ring wolf over your own blood. Now yo

clutching the photo against hi

little wooden wolf figurine he had carved for her

ees, staring blankly at

ped it. Shattered shards of the childhood shapeshifting‑potion vi

open my

wreckage, clutching the envelope bearing my name. I staye

my phone vibrated. It was the twelve‑ho

m tired," her soft voice played. "This time,

e a heart‑broken, soul‑rending ho