HELENA'S POV
I knocked gently on Jeremiah’s door, half hoping there wouldn’t be an answer. He had asked me to check on his mate, and I thought for a moment, just maybe, that he had come to his senses. Maybe they had finally completed the mate bond. But as I stood there, waiting, my stomach turned with dread. What if it wasn’t that? What if it was something worse?
No one answered.
I knocked again, this time a little louder, and still, nothing. My hand hesitated over the doorknob, and that’s when I smelled it—the sharp, metallic scent of fresh blood. My heart skipped a beat, and without thinking, I pushed the door open.
The sight inside hit me like a punch to the chest.
Astrid was sitting on the floor near the bed, wrapped in a white bedsheet, stained red. Her own blood. She was staring
