Rise Of A Shattered Luna (Natalie) by Kave Derry novel Chapter 25

Chapter 25 Dead Or Not

Jensen’s POV

I woke up choking.

Air tore into my lungs as my chest burned with every breath, as if someone had poured liquid metal into my throat and set it on fire.

I tried to sit up.

Hands pushed me back down immediately.

“Alpha Jensen, don’t move,” a woman said sharply. “Your vitals are unstable, you inhaled a dangerous amount of smoke.”

Her voice barely registered.

I closed my eyes and reached inward instead.

For five years, there had always been something there. A steady pull, like gravity towards Natalie. Even when she wasn’t near

me, even when we weren’t speaking, I could feel her. A quiet thread running through the back of my mind, anchoring her to me.

Now there was nothing.

No warmth.

No pull.

Just silence.

My wolf reacted before I did. It recoiled hard, folding

itself, pacing in tight, frantic

circles. It whined low in my chest, confused and panicked, like it had lost its way home.

The bond felt gone..

My eyes snapped open.

“No,” I said, my voice barely there. “No.”

*Jensen!”

Sharon’s voice cut through the room loudly.

I turned my head slowly as pain shot up my neck, but I ignored it. She was sitting beside the

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Chapter 25 Dead Or Not

bed, leaning forward like she’d been there the whole time.

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Her makeup was smeared, ash streaked her cheeks. Her hair was tangled, clothes wrinkled and torn in places.

She looked exactly how she wanted to look.

“I was so scared,” she said quickly. “You scared me half to death, they said you might not wake up.”

Her hand slid onto my arm.

I didn’t even look at it.

The warehouse was still playing in my head, the fire climbing the walls and heat crashing into my lungs.

That shape behind the crates that went still.

I swallowed hard.

“Natalie,” I said. The word scraped my throat raw. “Where is she?”

Sharon’s hand tightened.

“They’re searching,” she said too fast. “The men are still checking the area. The fire was-

I grabbed her wrist.

Hard.

She gasped, trying to pull back, but I didn’t let go. My grip tightened until I felt her pulse hammering under my fingers.

“Where is Natalie?”

My power was leaking with Cairn going skin as the room felt smaller.

“Jensen, you’re hurting

my in my head. I could feel it pushing against my

TANGGAL e,” Sharon said, her voice thin.

I leaned closer.

“I asked you something.”

I didn’t recognize my own voice. There wa

care.

a mix of Cairn and my alpha tone but I didn’t

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Chapter 25 Dead Or Not

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For the first time since I’d met her, Sharon didn’t look like the sick girl I’ve always taken care of.

She looked like an obstacle.

The door opened abruptly.

One of my lead enforcers stepped inside, he stopped short when he saw my grip on Sharon’s wrist. His face went pale and tight.

“Alpha,” he said carefully.

I didn’t look away from Sharon.

“What?” I told him.

He hesitated.

“The fire’s been contained,” he said. “But… Ms. Natalie didn’t make it out.”

The room tilted.

“What.”

“The remains are still at the site,” he continued, voice strained. “The fire department wants to know if the pack will be claiming the body.”

I let

go of Sharon.

Everything went still… even Cairn.

The words didn’t make sense at first, they stacked up wrong, and refused to connect.

Didn’t make it out.

Remains.

Body.

“You’re wrong,” I said.

The enforcer flinched.

“There’s no way,” I went on, my voice rising despite myself. “She can’t be dead, I heard her. I saw her, she was there. She was alive.”

My chest hurt, it felt like something was crushing inward, collapsing my ribs from the inside.

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Chapter 25 Dead Or Not

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“She promised me,” I snapped. “She promised she’d stay, I haven’t even claimed her yet. I haven’t even-”

My voice broke.

“I was supposed to give her a ring,” I said hoarsely. “I was supposed to fix this.”

Tears burned behind my eyes but I didn’t wipe them away. I didn’t even notice they were there.

I shook my head, once, twice, like that might dislodge reality.

“No,” I said again. “You’re wrong.

My legs moved before my mind caught up. I swung my feet off the bed, barely registering the sting of burned skin as they hit the floor.

Sharon jumped up immediately, blocking my path.

“Jensen, stop,” she said. “You’re injured. You need to stay here.”

“Move.”

“Listen to me,” she insisted. “Natalie is gone, you can’t change that. You’re the Alpha, the pack needs you alive. You have responsibilities.”

Something inside me snapped.

I shoved her.

She stumbled backward, hit the edge of the chair, and fell hard to the floor. She stared me, stunned.

I didn’t help her up.

I walked out,

No one tried to stop me.

up at

***

I don’t remember getting the keys. I couldn’t shift and I don’t remember the drive or the speed.

I could feel my hands shaking on the wheel.

Memories kept hitting me out of nowhere.

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Chapter 25 Dead Or Not

Natalie laughing under her breath when she thought I wasn’t listening.

My promises of marriage to her.

Every memory cut.

**

6

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By the time I reached the warehouse site, the fire crews were packing up. Steam rose from the wreckage, the smell of wet ash filled the air.

Cairn stayed rigid the entire time.

“Alpha,” someone called. “You shouldn’t be here

“Where is she?”

My voice was flat now.

Cairn was completely off, I couldn’t feel him anymore.

They pointed.

I stumbled across the blackened ground toward the back hill. A coroner knelt beside something covered in a yellow tarp, speaking into a recorder.