Chapter 6
1089 Words
Garrett's POV
I sat alone in my study for hours, staring at the ceiling.
The pen was still exactly where I left it after impulsively signing the divorce papers. My chest felt tight, and regret pressed down on my heart.
I signed the papers because my stupid pride was wounded, but now that the house was silent, Jasmine's crying face kept flashing in my mind. Her tears were so real, and she looked crushed.
My wolf was shattered because of my rejection, and my heart was in pieces.
Did I make a terrible mistake? Did I blindly trust Jenny and destroy the woman who cared for me for three whole years?
Before I could answer my own questions, the door of the study flew open. My Beta rushed into the room. His face was pale, devoid of any color, and his chest was rising and falling with panicking gasps.
"Alpha," he said, his voice shaking violently. "Something terrible happened in the forest near the borders."
I stood up from my chair instantly as my Alpha instincts flared up, sensing the terror in my Beta's voice. "What is it? Speak clearly."
"It... it's Luna Jasmine," He choked out, wiping sweat from his forehead. "She was ambushed by wild rogues. The warriors ran over as soon as they heard the noise, but... they were too late. Jasmine's body has been recovered from the forest."
The world stopped moving.
I froze in shock, and my ears started to ring loudly, making it hard to hear anything else.
Jasmine? Dead? No. That's impossible. She was just standing right here in this room a little while ago. She was breathing and speaking.
She couldn't die.
I can't lose her.
"No," I barked, my voice full of denial and rising anger. "You're lying. She cannot be dead!"
"Alpha, please," William said, tears forming in his eyes. "The warriors are at the scene right now. They tore her apart, and she succumbed to her injuries."
I refuse to accept it because it is possible, and I refuse to even think about it. Without saying another word to my Beta, I pushed past him and sprinted out of the pack house. I shifted into my black wolf and ran into the dark forest faster than I ever had.
A part of me was hoping and wishing it wasn't true because it couldn't be, but I could also feel the suffocating weight of guilt.
If Jasmine is dead, it's my fault. I had driven her out. I rejected her and let her walk straight into a pack of killers.
Please be alive, Jasmine.
Please don't leave me like this.
When I reached the deep part of the woods near the western border, the heavy smell of blood hit my nose. Several of my pack warriors stood in a circle under the dim moonlight, their heads bowed in sadness.
I shifted back into my human form, my breathing ragged and heavy. The warriors immediately moved aside, clearing a path for me.
There, lying on the cold grass, was a body.
My knees felt weak as I walked closer. She was wearing the exact same distinctive jacket that Jasmine wore when she walked out of my study. The body was badly disfigured. Deep, vicious claw marks destroyed her face and skin.
I felt my whole heart and soul break harder than ever, and for a second there I couldn't even breathe as the heartbreak threatened to bury me under.
"Garrett! Oh my god, Garrett!"
A loud, sobbing voice broke the silence as arms wrapped around me.
Jenny.
The moment she saw the disfigured body on the ground, she let out a loud gasp and fell to her knees.
"No. Not Jasmine," She screamed, covering her face with her hands as tears streamed down her cheeks. "This is so horrible. The poor girl, she must have been so scared. Why did she have to leave the pack so quickly? If only she stayed, she would still be alive."
I did this. I caused all of this because she would be here if it weren't for me, and just thinking about that had me shaking violently, and the tears were falling down my face as I broke in front of everyone.
I turned my eyes back to the dead body on the ground, forcing myself to look past the blood and the familiar clothes.
My senses picked up on something scattered around the crime scene.
Something wasn't right.
I leaned closer to the disfigured corpse and took a deep breath, focusing on my sense of smell.
Jasmine’s scent was always sweet, gentle, and comforting to me. But this body didn't smell like Jasmine at all. Even under the heavy smell of blood and rogues, the faint scent belonging to this corpse was completely different.
I couldn't tell who it was but this couldn't be my wife.
My eyes snapped over to the ground nearby. The grass was trampled heavily, showing signs of a struggle.
I stood up and followed the faint tracks. There were two sets of footprints running away from the main fight. One set of prints went toward the east, and those prints matched the wounded steps of the person lying here. But there was another, lighter set of footprints sprinting desperately toward the west.
What on earth happened here?
Jenny was following behind me the whole time, and her hands trembled. She looked scared and heartbroken, which is strange because she's only met Jasmine once.
She rushed over to me, grabbing my arm tightly.
"G... Garrett, please," Jenny begged, pulling at my arm to make me step away from the tracks. "I'm so scared. The rogues might still be hiding in the shadows. They killed Jasmine, and they'll come back to kill us too. Please, take me back to the pack house right now. I can't stay in this awful place for another second."
I looked down at Jenny’s gripping hands, and as much as I didn't want to go, I knew that being here must bring her memories about the time that she was kidnapped and taken away from here, and I have already done one of the women in my life wrong, and I can't do it again.
"I want you to gather another team of trackers. Hunt for any trace of Jasmine. Search the woods, search the riverbanks, search every single inch of this territory."
My Beta looked confused, glancing at the dead body in Jasmine's clothes. "But Alpha... the body..."
"I don't believe that's Jasmine."
- Writer
