My palms met the dive bar’s filthy, scuffed floors as my entire body sagged. The tile must’ve been cold, but I couldn’t feel it.
It was over.
There was nothing else I could do.
Someone kneeled next to me. The scent was familiar. Feminine. I remembered it from the last time everything had gone to hell for me.
“Breathe, Bloom,” Sutton murmured. “Harper’s not dead yet.”
“She’s gone.”
“Come on.” She eased me to my feet, carrying most of my weight.
“If Velour turned Harper, he’s the only one who should die for this,” Timber rasped. “Bloom wouldn’t hurt anyone. She?—”
“She’s the Alpha’smate,” Sutton said sharply. “No one is going to kill her.”
She basically dragged me to the door, her grip much gentler than her voice implied before she hauled me into a car waiting just outside the doors. It was so close, no one could’ve seen past it into the bar.
“Your ex is even more obnoxious than mine,” she murmured.
She was talking to me, trying to lighten the mood, but it didn’t register.
Harper let out an unholy scream from the passenger seat, where Rhone held her securely on his lap. She fought and snarled and yelled.
She wasgone.
Whatever else had happened or was going to happen, she was gone.
And if the wolves weren’t going to let anyone in the Guild kill me, I was going to have to live with that.
The driveto the tower was only thirty minutes, but it felt endless.
I disassociated after a few minutes, shutting down and separating myself from the horror of everything that had happened.
My eyes continued water, though.
My body kept shaking, almost violently.
I heard my name, and Maverick’s, but I didn’t look up.
He wasn’t there.
Why wasn’t he there?
I knew he would still be fighting, but I couldn’t process that or anything else.
My brain shut down further. I lifted my feet onto my seat and pressed my face to my knees.
It didn’t help.
Nothing did.
At some point, we parked in the garage of the tower. Someone let Rhone out first. I couldn’t watch where he was taking Harper.
He was going to kill her. She was going to die. I didn’t even get to say goodbye.
A new wave of tears had my entire body rocking with the awful, wracking sobs.
