Chapter 455
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Four hundred and fifty seven
Emma POV
I woke up with a strange tightness in my chest that wouldn’t ease until I cried. I knew I had to keep moving, but the optimism I kept shoving in people’s faces wasn’t working anymore.
Everyone wanted me to stay strong, but willpower alone couldn’t force Alexander’s eyes to open.
My mom came with me to the prenatal checkup that morning. We went through the motions at the clinic while a nurse checked my vitals. The baby was fine, despite the chaos tearing my world apart.
Afterward, my mom dragged me to a restaurant for lunch. She knew I wasn’t happy and tried to soften her tone, telling me to look at the bright side.
“You’re having a baby with your mate, Em,” she said gently, pressing her hand over mine across the table. “You have a piece of him right there p>
“It’s not the same,” I snapped, my voice shaking. I pulled my hand back, staring into my untouched food. “If he dies, holding a baby isn’t going to fix the empty space beside me. It just means I get to raise his child alone in a pack that never wanted us p>
My mom went quiet, her eyes filling with sadness. I hated myself for biting her head off, but the grief was making me feral.
I headed to the hospital the next day to see Alexander, leaving the house before sunrise. I wasn’t allowed inside the isolation unit, so I stood against the glass partition, watching the machines beep and Alexander lying there lifeless. A burning need to touch him filled me, and I pleaded with Dr. Harry.
“Please let me go in. Just for a minute. I’ll wear gloves and a mask p>
Dr. Harry sighed and unlocked the glass door. “Five minutes, Emma. And don’t take off the gloves p>
I hurried inside, the smell of medicine burning my nose. I pulled the chair close to the bed and slid my gloved hand into his tangled dark hair.
“Wake up, Alexander,” I whispered, my voice breaking as tears spilled down my cheeks. “You survived years as a rogue just to die in a hospital bed. Everything you fought for is being vindicated. You have to be here to see it p>
I held his limp hand.
“Cherry misses you. Lucas is falling apart. And I am breaking down. I am angry, exhausted, and I miss you so damn much. Please come back p>
While I begged him, a thought crossed my mind.
What if I mark him?
Would that blood bond pull him back?
Reality crashed down instantly. Marking required sharing blood, and his heart was flooded with Meridian poison. If I tasted his blood right now, it would kill the baby.
I let out a sob, still holding his hand.
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Then his fingers twitched. It was a tiny jerk against my palm.
I stared down at his hand, paralyzed. Did I just imagine that?
His thumb flicked against my wrist.
“Doctor!” I screamed, bolting toward the door to tell them what had just happened.
Dr. Harry and two nurses came rushing into the room. They flashed penlights into his eyes and checked his pulse points while I held my breath, praying.
Dr. Harry straightened up, pulling off his stethoscope with a small smile. “It’s just an involuntary muscle spasm, Emma. His nervous system is reacting to your touch, but he isn’t waking up p>
The hope that had flared in my chest was crushed to dust. I sank against the wall, my legs refusing to hold me up. He wasn’t dead, but he was still trapped in the dark.
The media circus kept getting louder. Later that night, Lucas called me, furious.
Zachary’s loyalists were flooding the region with petitions, trying to stall the final verdict. They wanted to drag the legal process out until either Alexander died or pack law protected Zachary’s Alpha title.
“My men want to storm the Iron Wells borders,” Lucas yelled over the phone. “They’re done waiting for your courts and your judges p>
“You think that will help us?” I snapped, exhausted from the day. “If your men attack now, they’ll play right into Zachary’s hands. They’ll declare you all criminals and justify a military crackdown p>
I didn’t tell Lucas the whole truth: that Alexander’s life was tied to a dead soul, and that Zachary’s mother’s dark spell required a blood sacrifice or an anchor destruction to truly break. Telling him would make him do something drastic, like attempting to kill Zachary. Wesley and the council were still searching for a way through
After the call, I drove over to Uncle Cameron’s house for a meeting with the Roots from the Daughters of the
Moon.
I expected old, intimidating crones draped in robes. Instead, the women sitting around the living room looked completely ordinary. The oldest Root-ranked priestess couldn’t have been more than fifty, and the youngest looked close to my own age, wearing a short jean skirt and boots. It was interesting to realize that rank in their order had nothing to do with age and was tied to the power they carried.
Luna Lisa sat among them and waved me over as I walked in.
“The problem is the anchor,” one of the younger Roots said. “We are dealing with a dead soul. When a practitioner binds a curse to their own death, the spiritual backdraft is lethal. If we try to sever it blindly, the backlash could wipe out every priestess in this room p>
“We searched Elizabeth’s burial site on the Iron Wells estate,” Luna Lisa reported, looking at me. “My husband and his enforcement team went through the family graves. But Elizabeth isn’t there. Meridian must have taken her body away p>
“So where is her grave?” I asked, my heart sinking.
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“We don’t know,” another Root replied. “Unless we find her remains or her anchor, the spell cannot be undone. And there is another complication. If Zachary is the living anchor keeping his mother’s dead spell bound to Alexander’s heart, stripping his Alpha status or breaking the spell might kill Zachary in the process p>
I didn’t hesitate. “If it kills Zachary, then let him drop dead p>
“Emma?” Luna Lisa said, mildly horrified. “The Daughters don’t kill victims under dominion p>
“He’s not innocent,” I insisted. “He helped torture his wife, Veronica. He helped frame Alexander, and his mother destroyed dozens of lives. I don’t care what happens to him p>
Luna Lisa promised to use her contacts, along with the Daughters, to find whatever information she could. I went home not knowing whether I felt better or worse.
To keep from losing my mind, I forced myself to go back to work the next day. I managed half-days at the office, using the spreadsheets and numbers to anchor myself to reality. Harrison, who had been promoted to assistant head accountant, stepped up and kept everything running smoothly.
“I’m so sorry I missed your wedding to Iris,” I said, managing a smile as he dropped a folder on my desk. ” Isabella told me the ceremony was wonderful p>
Harrison smiled warmly. “Don’t worry about it, Emma. You have more important things on your mind p>
By afternoon, Wesley called me into his office. I walked in and dropped into the chair across from his desk.
“Please tell me this isn’t more bad news p>
“It’s not bad news,” he said, offering me a cookie. “We’re looking into Alexander’s history with Desmond. We need to figure out why Desmond hid Alexander the night Edward died p>
I stared at him and then at the cookie, lost in thought.
“If Desmond was Edward’s brother-pack Alpha and close friend, maybe he hid him to protect him from a mob,” I suggested.
“Or maybe Desmond was playing both sides,” Wesley muttered. “If Zachary turns out to be Desmond’s son, then Desmond had his eyes on Edward’s throne. Every day I feel less and less bad about killing Desmond p>
I let out a chuckle. “So how do we find out the truth p>
“I need to talk to Lucas and Cherry,” Wesley said. “They grew up with Alexander after the exile. They might know something about Desmond’s involvement p>
“Cherry doesn’t speak,” I said. “Do you think her mutism is tied to Meridian, like Veronica’s p>
“Veronica lost her voice from trauma. I think Cherry was just born mute p>
“Well, Veronica needs to start speaking. She has a lot of truth locked inside her head p>
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