My heart breaks, shattering into a million pieces. I clutch the phone to my chest and stifle my sobs with a hand over my mouth. Emily… was my ride or die, my person. She knew when to give it to me and when to take me out of my head. She neverheld back what she thought, and I loved that about her. I didn’t deserve her. I was a horrible friend, always caught up in my own shit. But she was always there for me. In times like this, I would have called her first.
I am such a selfish bitch. Here I am, wishing she was here to talk to when it’s my fault she’s gone. Guilt, regret, anger, and loneliness harden into my chest. She is the very reason why I can’t be Alpha. My best friend in the whole world died at the hands of monsters, and I couldn’t protect her. I couldn’t stop it from happening. Still clutching my phone to my chest, I fall to my knees and scream. Lightning streaks the sky, and thunder booms, my scream lost in the sound.
My mind spins out of control. How am I supposed to protect a pack? How am I supposed to protect a territory that caused the deaths of so many innocent shifters? How many more people need to die because of me?
I can’t do this. I’m not strong enough. I just want to fall apart.
Then, I hear it—a voice. My phone falls from my grasp, as if someone slapped it out of my hand. As I reach down, I realize I accidentally dialed someone.
“Jessica? Jess! Is everything okay?”
Chapter 15
Divine Intervention
LUKE
TWO WEEKS AGO:
March 14, 2025: 11:45 a.m.
Alpha Kings Mansion
Iknock on my father’s door to his study. “Jessica is on her way to talk to you. She’s quite upset. I think she’ll need to talk with Mom, too.” I sit in one of the leather armchairs in front of his antique grand desk. Casting a quick look over his shoulder, I survey the towering shelves that stretch from floor to ceiling along the wall behind his desk, brimming with a blend of books on Luna Solar Territory Laws and photographs of our family. I am absent from every photo that includes Jessica. A pang of sadness causes my heart to ache.
“The funeral must have wrapped up by now. I still can’t believe I wasn’t invited to Alpha Agnus’s funeral. It’s not customary for the Alpha King to be absent from an Alphas funeral. I would have liked to be there for both the pack and Jessica.”
I rub the back of my neck. “Alpha Agnus’s passing isn’t the sole reason for her distress—I mean, it’s part of it.” I exhale deeply. “Alpha Agnus named Jessica as her successor, and in doing so, the truth came out that Anders is her biological father.”
My father frowns. “Let me guess. Anders hadn’t told her before the reading of the will.”
“Doesn’t sound like it.”
Through gritted teeth, he sneers, “Shit! We talked about this!” He grabs his phone, rapidly typing a text.
“Did you ever wonder how, of all places, she came to us? She literally ended up in Anders’s backyard. She ran blind and broken into Alpha Agnus’s home.”
Without missing a beat or glancing up from his phone, he answers, “Divine intervention.”
I huff and, under my breath, mutter, “Divine intervention.”
His eyes lift to mine. “Or fate, whatever you want to call it. She ended up where she needed to be. I believe in that, at least.”
I grimace. “Fate sure has a fucked-up sense of humor.”
He smirks. “I take it you haven’t talked to her yet?”
I shake my head. “No, and I think it will be even longer now before I have a chance.”
Suddenly, the twins crash through the door. “Where’s Jess?” Jeremy asks. “I could have sworn she’d be here by now. She’s so loud.”
“Loud?” I ask.
Justin shrugs. “She’s freaking out. Her thoughts are shouting in our heads.”
Jeremy straightens his posture, and a look of surprise crosses his features. “Holy shit! She’s the Whitemore pack’s successor?” He looks at Justin. “What the fuck? Anders?—”
My mother enters the room and slaps Jeremy in the back of his head. “Can’t you wait until Jessica gets home so that she can tell us herself?”
