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“Arlene deserves to be cared for with dignity. She deserves to be prepared by people who understand what she meant to this pack. What she meant to you and your pups.” His voice softens. “Let them take care of her, Darian. Not because she isn't your mate anymore. She is. Let them do it because she is your mate.”

Keep mate.

My arms tighten around her. “I can't let her go.”

“Then don't.” Rylan shakes his head. “Don't call this letting her go. You're placing your mate into their care so they can honor her.”

My throat closes.

“You protected her all the way home,” he continues. “You carried her here. You gave her everything you had until your body collapsed. Now let them care for her.”

“I don't want them to take her.”

“I know.”

Don't take mate.

“What if they take her and I can't...” My voice breaks. I look down at Arlene's face and stroke her cold cheek. “I can't feel her anymore, Rylan.”

Rylan's eyes fill with tears. “I know.”

“There's nothing there.” Another sob catches in my chest. “I don't know how to do this without her.”

“Neither did I.”

Those three words break something else inside me.

I look down at Arlene. Her skin is still cold beneath my hand. There is no breath against my chest, no movement in my arms, no body heat sinking into mine, and no mate bond answering when my wolf desperately reaches for her again.

Please keep mate.

“I don't know if I can do it.”

Rylan stays beside me on the cold floor. “Then I'll stay right here while you do.”

I stare at him through my tears before looking back at my mate. Rylan doesn't rush me. He doesn't ask again. He just stays.

I don't know how much time passes. Minutes. Hours. Time doesn't mean anything anymore. Rylan remains on the floor beside me while I hold Arlene, and no one else comes near us. I keep my arms wrapped around her lifeless body, rubbing her cold skin even though no warmth returns. I listen for a breath that never comes. Wait for a movement that never happens. Reach through our mate bond again and again, only to find the same emptiness waiting for me.

Eventually, I lower my face into Arlene's hair and breathe in her scent.

It's still her.

Beneath the antiseptic, blood, and lingering silver, my mate is still there. I close my eyes and breathe her in again, trying to memorize something I've known so well that I never imagined there would come a day when I'd be terrified of forgetting it.

My wolf whimpers. Mate.

"Always."

I run my thumb slowly across her cold cheek. “They're going to take care of you, baby.” My voice shakes so badly I can barely force the words out. “They're going to honor you the way you deserve.”

Mate stays with us.

"Always."

I press my lips against her forehead and leave them there for several seconds. “I love you.”

Keep mate.