Rise Of A Shattered Luna (Natalie) by Kave Derry novel Chapter 50

Chapter 50 And Survival

Jensen’s POV

I felt a cold, mocking smile curl my lips.

Always the self–interest, I thought. Sharon would never pick her pack over herself.

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I couldn’t help but think of Natalie. My wolf, Cairn, let out a low, mourning whimper in the back of my mind.

If it were Nightfang pack in danger—if it were the pack’s legacy on the line–and Natalie had to choose between the pack’s survival and her own soul, she wouldn’t have hesitated for a second.

She would have offered up her life if it meant I wouldn’t have to suffer a single loss. To Natalie, I was everything. I was her first choice, her only choice.

And that woman–that selfless, beautiful soul–was the one I had discarded like a broken tool. I hadn’t just lost her; I hadn’t even been able to protect her ashes.

A wave of heat rose up in my throat, hot and bitter. I swayed, the world tilting for a millisecond. Hansel, always the shadow at my side, reached out instinctively to steady me.

“Alpha?”

I pushed his hand away, my voice a raspy growl. This is all my own doing, Hansel. When she loved me with her whole heart, I didn’t cherish her. Now she’s gone, and everywhere I look, I see her shadow in the corners of this godforsaken world.”

I turned my gaze toward the window, the gray sky reflecting the void in my gut. “Hansel, tell me–be honest with your Alpha. Do you think Natalie really died? Is there any chance she’s still out there?”

Hansel’s silence was its own kind of torture. He looked away, his eyes full of a pity I didn’t want. “Alpha Jensen… with a fire that big and the warehouse collapsing… unless by some miracle, there’s no way she survived.”

The “miracle” I had mated was proving to be a nightmare of my own making.

“Let’s go,” I snapped, turning on my heel. “To the black market. I need to find those ashes. I won’t let some back–alley trader boast about holding her remains. And I want to see the Witch Doctor. I want to know exactly what she promised him five years ago to save my life. I want the truth, Hansel. Even if it kills me.”

Hansel gave a small nod; he knew the doubt I’d carried. When Natalie was alive, I’d been too

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Chapter 50 And Survival

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much of a coward to ask, afraid that the answer would shatter the “pure” image I had of her. Now, the image was all I had left.

The black market–the “Labyrinth“-was exactly as I remembered it: a border of the pack filled with lawlessness that thrived on the things the sun refused to touch.

The air was thick with the smell of damp and old blood. Security was tight; even an Alpha of my standing had to submit to the search.

They took my sidearm, but they couldn’t take the claws beneath my skin.

Hansel leaned in, his voice a whisper as we navigated a narrow, red–lit alleyway. “Mr. Luke, the word is that the shop at the far end of this street is the one. The dealer claimed he picked up an urn from the warehouse ruins.”

“Go,” I commanded, my pace quickening. The thought of Natalie’s remains sitting on a dusty shelf next to stolen relics made my blood boil. “Take me there now!”

I strode off, my focus narrowed to a singular point at the end of the alley.

The attack came from above.

I didn’t even hear the rustle of fabric before a heavy burlap sack dropped over my head, the coarse fibers stinging my skin.

Before I could draw a breath to roar, a heavy boot slammed into my ribs. A fist found

my jaw.

I snarled, trying to shift, trying to rip through the fabric, but every time I moved, a fresh blow rained down with calculated, bone–deep precision.

“Ah! Who–who’s hitting me?” I shouted, my voice muffled by the sack.

I fought with everything I had, but these weren’t the clumsy swings of a street thug.

These hits were landing on pressure points, hitting the soft tissue between the ribs and the nerves in the thighs. It was a professional beating.

I heard a scuffle nearby. Then a muffled grunt as he was dragged away. I was alone in the dark, being hammered like a piece of iron on an anvil.

“Coward!” I spat, blood pooling in my mouth from a split lip. “If you’ve got any guts, let me out and fight me one–on–one! Show your face!”

A sharp, chilling laugh echoed through the alley. It was distorted, the metallic rasp of a voice changer making it impossible to identify.

“Fight you?” the voice mocked. “You’ve watched too many dramas, Alpha. If I’m here to take

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Chapter 50 And Survival

you down, why would I give you a fair chance? Idiot.”

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The word was a slap in the face. I thrashed, my Alpha strength surging as I tried to burst the sack, but a heavy blow to my kidneys sent me to my knees.

“Oh sure, you’ve got the high ground,” the voice continued, dripping with a loathing so deep it felt like a physical weight. “You’ve got it all–playing both sides, milking Natalie’s transcriptions to build your empire, and when Natalie wasn’t useful anymore? You burned her alive. You left her with no grave. Who could possibly stand taller than the great Alpha Jensen?”

I froze. The pain in my ribs was forgotten, replaced by a cold dread.

“Who are you?” I wheezed, my forehead pressed against the damp ground inside the sack. “What’s your connection to her? Do you have her ashes?”

I struggled again, I had to see him. I had to know if this was the man she had run to–if there was a man who loved her enough to hunt an Alpha in the dark.

The answer was a fist to the temple.

A dull crack echoed in my ears. The world turned into a mixture of gray and red, and then, mercifully, it went black.

When I finally drifted back to consciousness, the first thing I felt was the biting cold of the pavement against my face. Every breath felt like a sharp blade moving in my chest.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, shaking me.

“Alpha! Alpha Jensen, wake up!”

I groaned, rolling onto my back. Hansel was hovering over me, his face a mask of worry and shame. My vision was blurry, but I could see the blue and purple blotches blooming across my skin. I felt… light.

My wrists felt cold.

I looked down at my sleeves.

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