CHAPTER 625: HEARTBROKEN

Fiona’s POV

The halls felt too quiet without Xaden and Erik.

Too still.

The kind of stillness that made your skin crawl, like the walls themselves were waiting for something to happen.

Especially after what had happened.

I pushed the feeling away as I opened the small wooden door to Jade’s room.

Warm candlelight painted the walls golden, and the little girl sat cross-legged on her bed, hugging her faded brown teddy bear to her chest.

Her curly hair was a soft cloud around her face, her eyes droopy with sleep.

"Time for bed, little wolf," I whispered gently.

She looked up at me, blinking slowly. "Aunty Fiona?"

"Yes, sweetheart?"

She lifted her arms wordlessly, asking to be carried.

I smiled and scooped her up, feeling her tiny fingers curl around my dress. Her weight was small, comforting.

Her mother, a black omega from the southern pack, murdered years ago by Bale.

Erik had never recovered.

I tucked Jade beneath her blanket, smoothing the covers around her small frame. She clutched her teddy tighter.

"Is Daddy back?" she asked, voice little and sleepy.

My chest tightened.

"Not yet, Jade," I whispered gently. "He went on an errand with Alpha Xaden. He’ll return soon."

She nodded slowly, accepting it.

I stroked her curls, running my fingers over her warm scalp.

"Aunty Fiona?" she mumbled again.

"Yes, darling?"

She hesitated, then whispered.

"Can Anna sing for me tonight?"

My hand froze mid-stroke.

My heart stopped.

But my face didn’t show it.

I forced a soft smile. "Why Anna, sweetie? Why are you asking for her?"

Jade blinked, completely unaware of the way she had just stabbed a blade clean through my chest.

"Because..." She twisted the teddy’s ear shyly. "She’s Daddy’s mate."

I felt the room tilt.

Every breath left me.

But still... I smiled.

I kept my voice even.

Calm. Soft. Pretending the words didn’t slice me in half.

"Oh?" I asked quietly, brushing a curl behind her small ear. "How do you know that?"

I swallowed. "Did Anna tell you something?"

"No." Jade shook her head, curls bouncing.

"Then how do you know?" I whispered.

She smiled, bright, innocent, sure. "Because she smells like Daddy."

My heart cracked.

Jade hugged her teddy tighter. "Daddy is my real daddy, so we share the same scent. And Anna smells like him too. That means she’s his mate. Right?"

Her baby voice, so full of certainty... it nearly destroyed me.

I swallowed hard around the lump in my throat.

"Right," I said softly. Though the word nearly choked me.

Jade yawned. "I like Anna. She always promised she would give me sisters and brothers. Lots of them."

The tears stung my eyes instantly.

Hot.

Sharp.

I blinked them away quickly before she could see.

"That’s... good," I managed, though my voice barely came out. "Now sleep, sweetheart. Close your eyes."

She snuggled deeper.

Her little hand found mine, gripping my fingers tightly.

"I love you, Aunty Fiona," she whispered.

My heart broke in a different way, softer, sweeter.

"I love you too," I whispered, kissing her forehead.

She smiled with her eyes closed. "Please send Anna in when she comes back. She promised to read to me."

A knife twisted deeper inside me.

I forced a smile even though she couldn’t see it.

"Anna... she traveled, Jade," I whispered. "She’ll be gone for a while."

Jade’s eyes flew open, wet with disappointment. "Oh."

I brushed her cheek. "I’m sure she’ll return someday."

She nodded, slow and sad, then curled into her blanket.

"Goodnight, sweetheart."

"Goodnight, Aunty Fiona..."

I slipped out quietly and closed the door.

The moment it clicked shut-

My back hit the wood.

And I broke.

Silent, shaking sobs tore through me, my hand clamped over my mouth so Jade wouldn’t hear.

Tears streamed in hot rivers down my cheeks, dripping onto my hands, my dress, the floor.

Anna.

Her lies.

Her cruelty.

Her games.

And sweet little Jade, innocent and believing every word.

My chest ached so painfully I pressed a palm over my heart, trying to hold myself together.

Why did everything hurt like this?

Why did my heart choose the man whose daughter saw another woman as her mother?

I squeezed my eyes shut.

I would not cry like this forever.

I would not let Anna’s poison linger even in death.

I stayed there for a long moment, trembling, breathing, trying to steady myself.

Then, slowly... I pushed myself away from the door.

I wiped my tears.

Straightened my dress.

And prepared to face whatever the night had waiting for me.

Because something was wrong.

Dangerously wrong.

And Jade needed protecting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I stepped away from the door, ready to return to my room, when a sharp clatter echoed from downstairs.

A guard shouting.

Boots scrambling.

Something thudding against the walls.

My heart jumped straight into my throat.

Before I could move, a door farther down the hall swung open.

Nanny Nia stepped out, wrapped tightly in her night robe, hair messy and eyes wide.

"What’s happening?" she whispered sharply. "I heard shouting."

Her presence alone steadied me a little.

"Nia-" I started, swallowing, "I don’t know. Something’s wrong. The guards sound frantic."

She grabbed her shawl and tied it around her shoulders with shaky hands.

"Let’s go," she said.

We hurried down the corridor together, our footsteps echoing too loudly in the silence.

The torches flickered violently as we passed, shadows jerking along the walls like something was running beside us.

I hated how much that made me speed up.

As we reached the main staircase, two guards rushed past, faces pale, eyes wild.

"What happened?" I demanded, grabbing one by the arm.

The guard flinched.

Hard.

"We saw shadows. Moving. Fast. Faster than wolves. Along the outer walls."

I glanced at Nia. She looked like she already knew.

Dark magic.

My stomach twisted.

"What else?" Nia asked.

The guard swallowed, throat bobbing like he was trying not to vomit.

"There was... a noise... near Loren’s quarters. Like metal scratching. Scraping." He shivered violently. "We thought it was an animal... but when we got there..."

His voice cracked.

"What?" I snapped.

"...the door was clawed open."

Clawed.

Not broken.

Nia stiffened. "Show us."

We marched quickly through the stone halls, the guard leading the way.

The closer we got to Loren’s quarters, the colder the air became, until every breath I took came out like mist.

And then we turned the corner.

The sight punched the air out of my lungs.

Loren’s door was shredded.

But the worst part.

The claw marks were too long.Too wide.

Too uneven.

No wolf made those.

No creature from our land made those.

"Holy goddess..." I whispered, stepping closer despite the dread clawing up my throat.

Nia reached out and touched one of the marks.

Her fingers trembled.

"This isn’t wolf," she murmured. "This is something else.."

The guards exchanged horrified looks.

"What happened inside?" I asked.

They hesitated.

"Answer her," Nia snapped.

One guard swallowed.

"When we arrived, the door was already like this," he whispered. "The torches went out. All at once. Something moved through the hallway, we felt it pass us, cold as smoke."

My skin crawled.

"And when the torches came back on," he added, "Loren was screaming."

Loren.

I rushed inside immediately, Nia close behind.

Loren sat in the corner of the room, wrapped in a blanket, shivering violently. A cup of cold tea lay spilled beside him.

His face was chalk white.

His eyes stared at the center of the room-

At the place where Lisa’s body had been.

But it was empty.

Gone.

"Loren," I said gently, crouching beside him. "What happened?"

He blinked. Slowly. Like someone waking from a nightmare that hadn’t ended.

"Sh–she..." he whispered. His lips trembled. "She moved."

My blood ran cold.

"Who?" Nia asked quietly.

Loren’s stare shifted slow, jerky toward me.

"Lisa."

The name alone made my fingers go numb.

"She was dead," Loren whispered. "I–I knew she was dead. But when the torches died, I heard something like a breath. Like air being sucked in."

His own breath hitched.

"Then I saw her hand move. Just a little. Her fingers twitched. Like something... was pulling her."

"Lisa? Dead? Didn’t we just see her not long ago?" Nia said lost.

"I promise to put you up to speed later." I assured her.

"Before I knew it? She was gone." He said.

I looked around the room.

The floor where her blood had pooled was... clean.

Too clean.

As if someone had wiped it away.

Or eaten it.

My stomach heaved.

Nia stood slowly, her face pale and tight.

"Everyone out," she said. "Now."

The guards stumbled out of the room, too eager to obey.

Loren stayed curled at the corner, trembling.

I pulled Nia aside.

"This isn’t normal," I whispered. "This is feels like the same magic that killed her."

Nia blinked. "What?"

"Princess Chery," I said quietly.

Nia’s eyes snapped to mine.

"You think she’s behind this?" she whispered. "This deep inside the pack’s borders?"

"I don’t know." I swallowed. "But Lisa died the moment she tried to say her name. That was how it happened. Xaden told the guards who saw what happened to keep her here and now she is just gone.And now her body is... gone."

Nia closed her eyes.

When she opened them again, fear shone through every wrinkle of her face.

A chill ran down my back.

"Where is Xaden?" she asked.

"On his way back," I murmured. "I hope."

"Pray he gets here fast," Nia said, voice trembling, "because whatever killed Lisa... it can still be here."

The thought that whatever had come was stillhere terrified me.

Or had it come to finish its job.

Finish off the rest of us?

How did i even explain to Xaden that Lisa’s body had just disappeared with no trace?

A cold gust swept through the corridor behind us.

The torches flickered violently.

Nia and I turned-

And every shadow along the wall shifted at once, as if something had just moved through them.