Rise Of A Shattered Luna (Natalie) by Kave Derry novel Chapter 45

Chapter 45 The Shattered Cemetery

Baron’s POV

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The digital glow of the hospital’s security feed reflected in my eyes as I sat in the darkness of my temporary headquarters, watching Jensen lose the last remains of his composure.

On the screen, Jensen was a pathetic mess. His eyes were bloodshot as he lunged at Felix over the phone, desperate for a lead on the “Witch Doctor.” I watched him beg, watched him unravel, and felt nothing but satisfaction.

I leaned back, my lips curving into a thin, dangerous line. Watching him beg for information about the “Witch Doctor” was like making Raze a little too excited.

“He thinks he can find us,” Raze growled in the back of my mind. “He thinks he can fix the unfixable. I want to see the moment he realizes there no mercy for him or his mate.”

I leaned forward and keyed the comms. “Yvonne” I said, my voice cutting through the silence of the room.

“I’m here, Baron.” She responded instantly.

“Leak the word,” I commanded, my eyes never leaving Jensen’s face on the monitor. “Tell the back channels that the Witch Doctor is operating out of Nightfang’s black market… make it look like a slip in security.”

“On it,” she replied.

I watched the live feed as Yvonne’s work took hold, and within seconds, the rumor bloomed on the dark web. Jensen’s assistant, Hansel, checked his device and leaned in to whisper the news. Jensen’s reaction was instantaneous–a surge of hope that almost made me laugh.

“How’s the investigation on the fire?” Jensen asked, his voice cracking through the patched audio. “Were there any others inside?”

Hansel shook his head. “Just Ms. Sharon and Miss Natalie. The body was likely hers, and… the hackers restored the surveillance, sir. A man in a mask and a white coat went into Ms. Sharon’s room. But no one from the hospital recognized him.”

I watched as Jensen’s face turned from a flicker of hope to a mask of absolute, frozen terror.

“Look at him,” Raze sneered, his amber eyes flashing in my mind’s eye. “He thinks he can save Sharon…”

The doctor standing near Jensen perked up suddenly. “Alpha Jensen, if the Witch Doctor really is in the pack, then Ms. Sharon’s wolf might still be saved. He can help get it recovered.”

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15:48 Mon, May 110

Chapter 45 The Shattered Cemetery

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Jensen looked at Sharon’s pale, unconscious face through the glass of the recovery ward. He couldn’t save Natalie, so he was probably going to double down to ease his own guilt.

I almost laughed at his delusions.

“I understand,” Jensen said, his voice flat. “I’ll go to the black market myself to find the Witch Doctor. In the meantime, take good care of Sharon.”

I stood up, the chair scraping against the floor. The game at the hospital was moving into its next phase.

Jensen was heading for the black market, but before I met him in the shadows of the underground, I had a more personal errand to run.

The cemetery was exactly what I expected it to be: silent with damp air and flowers. I moved through the rows of marble and granite to where Natalie was supposedly buried. I didn’t trigger the sensors; I knew exactly where the blind spots were.

I reached the plot, and it sent another wave of anger. It was a sprawling, pretentious piece of land by the extreme end of the cemetery… Natalie deserved much more than this.

But the sight of the headstone made something snap within me.

“Here lies my mate Natalie. Erected by Jensen.”

“Destroy it,” Raze roared, his fury mimicking mine. “He dares to claim her? He dares to put his filthy name on her memory?”

“You don’t deserve to speak her name, let alone carve it in stone,” I said, my voice barely a breath.

I reached for the heavy iron hammer I’d brought. I didn’t care about the noise, nor did I care about the guards. I wanted this stone to feel the weight of how Natalie felt.

CRACK

The first strike sent a web of fractures through the marble, but I didn’t stop. I swung again and again, the vibrations traveling up my arms. Each blow felt like a release I never knew I needed.

Fuck him… He doesn’t deserve her… How dare he claim her?

I repeated as I smashed through.

A jagged shard of marble flew up, slicing across my cheek. I felt the warm, metallic trickle of blood sliding down my face.

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15:48 Mon, May 11

Chapter 45 The Shattered Cemetery

I knew how I looked–deranged, blood–streaked and batshit crazy.

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I turned the hammer on Jensen’s name. I pulverized the letters until “Erected by Jensen” was nothing but white dust.

“You’re nothing to her,” I spat.

“She is ours now,” Raze purred, the blood on my face exciting him. “He has no place here.”

I dropped the hammer and pulled out a spade as I began the grim work of digging. It didn’t take long.

This wasn’t Natalie beneath the dirt… This was Phantom, the girl who had died in the warehouse, Yvonne’s sister. She didn’t deserve to spend eternity under a headstone that claimed she was the mate of a man she’d never met.

I reached the urn and pulled it from the earth. As I stood up, the beams of flashlights began to dance through the trees. The guards were finally coming.

I tucked the urn under my arm, wiped the blood from my cheek, and melted into the shadows. I was gone before they even reached the shattered remains of the plot.

Not long after I left, the sirens and shouts filled the air. They called Jensen at once, but I was already back at my monitors in the safehouse, watching the cemetery feed remotely. I watched him arrive, watched him fall to his knees in the rubble of the headstone I’d just smashed.

I watched him claw at the dirt, his fingers coming away red. He looked like a man who had finally lost his mind.

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