Chapter 374
Chapter 374:
“Charles Hawthorne is stable. The Blackstone blood reserves saved him,” Leo reported quietly. “But the preliminary police report just came through. The Mercedes didn’t malfunction, Alpha. The brake lines were cleanly severed p>
A cold, absolute fury seized my chest. Attempted murder.
Someone had realized Carmella was back in my world. Someone was terrified that she was getting too close to her past and was trying to bury the Hawthornes — to keep seven years of secrets permanently silenced. The safe, fabricated world I had allowed her to inhabit was cracking.
“Deploy the Shadow Hunters,” I commanded, my voice a low, dangerous rumble. “I want every camera, every street contact, and every digital footprint scoured. Find whoever touched that car before the NYPD finishes their paperwork. I want them alive p>
“Yes, Alpha.” Leo bowed his head and stepped out immediately to make the calls.
I turned back to Carmella. Carefully, I lifted her into my arms again and carried her into the private bedroom adjoining the suite. The room was dark, the morning light just beginning to threaten the edges of the horizontal blinds. I laid her on the bed and pulled the heavy white duvet over her shoulders.
W𝘩𝖺𝘁 е𝗏е𝗋𝘆𝘰𝘯e 𝗶𝗌 𝘳e𝗮𝖽𝗂𝘯𝗀 𝗈n
I sat on the edge of the mattress and reached out, my fingers tracing the faint white scar on her wrist with the lightest possible touch.
My Inner Wolf let out a low, agonizing whine. I remembered the exact moment that scar had been made. Seven years ago. The ambush. The silver blade that had sliced into her flesh as she desperately tried to protect our unborn pup. She didn’t remember any of it. She didn’t remember me, our bond, or the blood that had been spilled.
She believed she was nothing more than an abandoned orphan. She had no idea she was the center of my universe — the only reason I still breathed.
I leaned down and pressed my lips against her forehead, breathing in her chaotic, frightened scent.
“I will hunt down every stolen memory, every shadow in your mind, and bring them back to you,” I whispered into the dark, making a vow to the Moon Goddess herself. “You will be whole again, with me. And I will never let anyone hurt you again — even if I have to build a cage of lies around you to keep you safe p>
Carmella POV
I woke to the sterile, suffocating smell of bleach and the sharp lines of morning light slicing through the horizontal blinds of the VIP lounge. But beneath the hospital’s chemical stench, the heavy, undeniable scent of rosemary and rain blanketed the room.
Grant was sitting in the leather armchair beside my bed. He looked immaculate, his dark eyes fixed on me with an intensity that made my wolfless body instinctively shrink into the white sheets. Yesterday’s revelation — my AB blood type, the undeniable proof that my entire life as a Hawthorne was a fabricated lie — crashed into me all over again.
I needed answers. And the terrifying, powerful Lycan sitting inches away was the only one who could give them to me.