#Chapter 22 The Alpha is Dead

Selene’s POV

“Selene, are you ready?” Odette is knocking on the dressing room door, her kind voice unusually somber.

“Yes.” I call, smoothing my skirts. “You can come in.”

The door pushes open, and my mother-in-law’s lovely face peeks inside. She sidles through the narrow opening, approaching me with a wistful expression. “Oh my darling.” Odette murmurs bleakly, her eyes shining as she studies my reflection. “I really thought you two would make it.”

“I thought we might too” I admit, keeping my gaze high to ward off tears. “For a while.”

Her hand closes around mine, squeezing gently. “What happened, Selene?” She asks gently.

All at once it hits me that I’m not merely losing my husband, but the only parental figures I’ve known since my mother died. I swipe at an escaped tear, “It’s what Bastien wants.”

Odette frowns, the edges of her warm brown eyes crinkling beneath the weight of her drawn brows. She opens her mouth to speak but before any words can escape, all the blood drains from her face in a frenzied rush, leaving her white as a sheet. Her eyes go wide and her body crumples, bowing and bending against her will. Her mouth gapes open in a breathless gasp, emitting a strangled cry.

“Odette!” | exclaim, catching her by the arms so she does not fall. “What’s wrong?

Her mouth is opening and closing soundlessly, her body trembling beneath my hands. “It’s Gabriel.”

Before I can stop her, Odette rips herself from my hold, flying out of the room and down the hall. I race after her, blood rushing in my ears. I’ve never seen someone look so anguished, so afraid.

into action the moment they see the look on Odette’s face. She bursts into Gabriel’s

to see her stumble back against the door frame, sinking to the ground with shaking limbs. I do not need to hear the screams that follow, or the weeping. I do not need to see her crawling across the floor on her hands and knees,

blood, her body thrown atop his, wracked with violent, heaving sobs. The

my mouth, trying to hold back my own grief. I can’t fall apart, not when others are hurting so

to stop them. He shouldn’t have to

into my wedding dress, smearing over my skin and pooling beneath our huddled bodies. The stench

know my prayers have not been answered. Bastien towers in the doorway, looking suddenly very young

cry from the look on Bastien’s face alone. He looks so lost, a child adrift in

leaving his father’s body. Sinking to his knees by my side, Bastien roars with fury and

but he’s never wept as he does now. The sight of my indomitable husband broken and helpless tips me over the edge. Tears stream from my eyes, and then Bastien

me like a security blanket while he pulls his mother into his other side. We lie

Bastien’s shoulder and gently telling him we need to move so the investigators can sweep the

grief, Bastien nods, setting me on my feet. I stand protectively at his side while he attempts to rouse Odette, trying to pull her from Garbiel’s body as tenderly as possible. She won’t budge. She bares her fangs

Bastien assert his dominance over countless pack members over the years in precisely this way – I’ve

Kane is here. Bastien and I help Odette to her feet, and Aiden asks Dr. Kane to administer a sedative. While the doctor speaks with her, I pull Bastien aside. His silver eyes move up and down my body, taking in the

my hands, pulling his attention to my face. “I’m going to get her cleaned up and into bed.” I explain

hands clamp down on my hips, his grip so strong I fear I might bruise. His head shakes slightly from right to left, and I think he’s going to refuse. Instead he pulls me into the circle of his arms, “Take care of

my lips to

help of the doctor’s sleeping pills, I return to the Alpha’s office. Gabriel’s body has been removed and though the once-cozy space is now full of crime scene tape and evidence markers,

hands. The man I knew a few hours ago is gone, replaced by a leader with the

I

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