Rise Of A Shattered Luna (Natalie) by Kave Derry novel Chapter 44

Chapter 44 The Witch Doctor

Chapter 44 The Witch Doctor

Jensen’s POV

My mind was stuck on that phone call–the cold mockery in that man’s voice.

“I’m not selling, Alpha Jensen.”

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The thought that Natalie’s final masterpiece was meant for someone else was a sharp blade twisting in my gut. I drove straight back to the Pack House.

Natalie was a creature of habit; she backed up every sketch, every watermark, and every line of her transcribing work on a secure cloud. I’d never bothered to ask for the password when she was alive because I’d assumed everything she did was for the Nightfang Pack. For me.

I sat in my study, the room dark save for the glow of the laptop, my fingers shook as I typed.

I tried her birthday… nothing.

I tried our anniversary… nothing.

And finally, I typed in the date she escaped to the pack at eighteen.

The folder opened.

I scrolled through the files until I found the most recent entry: Cufflink Design–Sacred Stone Commission.

I clicked it, and the high–resolution sketch filled the screen… It was beautiful–terrifyingly so. The wolf’s eye watermark was there, but as I zoomed in, my heart stopped.

There were no initials, no “J.N.,” no mark of the Nightfang Alpha, and usually, she’d hide my name in the scrollwork, a secret only we knew.

This time, there was nothing but the Eye and a series of runes I didn’t recognize.

“They really weren’t for me…” I whispered, the words catching in my dry throat.

Natalie, why? You told me you’d only ever design for one man. Who was he? Who managed to pull your gaze away from me?

“No,” I growled, slamming my fist onto the desk No matter what it costs, I’m keeping those cufflinks. They’re the last thing she touched. They’ll never leave me.”

I clutched the tablet, my eyes burning with a mix of grief and a sudden, toxic jealousy. Cairn, my wolf, stirred in the back of my mind.

and

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Chapter 44 The Witch Doctor

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“You pushed her into his arms,” Cairn rasped. “Why should she design for a man who didn’t see her?”

“Shut up!” I snapped at the empty room.

Just then, my internal line buzzed. It was the Hansel at the main gate.

“Alpha, there’s a woman lying outside the Pack House gates. Her arm is covered in blood; you should come take a look. I think it’s Ms. Sharon, but I’m not sure, sir.”

I froze. “Sharon? What happened to her? And what do you mean you’re not sure?”

“Yes… But Alpha… it’s her soul. She looks like a shell… her scent seems off… it’s like she’s been muted.”

“How?”

“I don’t know, sir. A black SUV just… dumped her here and vanished. But her scent… Alpha, it’s gone; she smells human.”

The words jolted me upright so violently that the tablet on my lap clattered to the floor, the screen shattering. I didn’t even look at it.

“What did you just say?”

“She’s been hollowed out, sir. There’s no aura… no scent. Just like…”

He didn’t have to finish… not long ago, Sharon had been the one who ordered Natalie’s soul muted–performing the Rite of the Hollow Soul to strip her of her soul.

Now Sharon lay mangled in the same way.

Could it be… Natalie was still alive?

The possibility made my pulse race. “I’m coming right now, take her to the pack hospital!”

I hung up and ran out the door. I had to see Sharon’s condition with my own eyes.

If it mirrored Natalie’s, then it meant only one thing–Natalie might still be alive. The thought filled me with wild hope. If she lived, I would find her.

When I reached the gates, Sharon was already unconscious. Her aura was gone… like dead silence where her wolf should have been.

When Natalie’s soul had been muted, I hadn’t seen the immediate aftermath before she was taken away. I’d only seen the shell she became later. But now, seeing Sharon like this, my chest clenched painfully.

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Chapter 44 The Witch Doctor

Had Natalie looked like this, too?

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The ambulance arrived quickly, and I watched them lift Sharon inside and climbed in after

her.

She was rushed into the room the moment we reached the hospital, and the healers started attending to her.

I turned to Hansel. “Who attacked her? And who dumped her at the Pack House? I want the full surveillance footage with nothing missing.”

Hansel stiffened, then hurried off to check.

“Wait.” I stopped him suddenly. “Find me the surveillance from when Natalie was admitted, too. I want to see the footage from before she was taken into the ER.”

“Mr. Luke, should we notify her parents?”

“No, lock this down. No one leaks word that Sharon’s wolf was muted, and if they ask, we’ll say she had a relapse.”

In my mind, the image of Natalie’s face came back. Was it her? Natalie, was it you who returned? Because I silenced you, forced you to endure that emptiness–was this your revenge?

“No,” Cairn roared, his fury finally breaking through. “You coward! You killed her, and now you’re blaming her even after death? She deserves better.”

I ignored Cairn, my mind racing as Hansel returned twenty minutes later.

“Alpha, I have the footage. This is the night of Natalie’s admission. The video from tonight looks like it’s been edited… the frames are jumping.”

I went straight to Natalie’s footage first… she was unconscious on the stretcher, her face paper–white, her eyes already hollow from the Rite we had allowed. Why hadn’t I looked?

My whole body shook; she must have been in agony. I can’t imagine how it feels to have a part of you being forcefully taken.

I quickly pulled up Sharon’s footage from tonight, desperate to catch even the faintest shadow of Natalie in it. But there was nothing.

“Get someone who knows computers,” I told Hansel, my voice trembling. “I want the original

restored. Now.”

I grabbed Hansel by the collar. “Natalie’s remains–was DNA ever tested?”

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J

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15:48 Mon, May 11.

Chapter 44 The Witch Doctor

“No. Ms. Sharon insisted it was her and had her cremated immediately.”

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