chapter 5

Catherine's phone rang and she wiped the sweat from her forehead before pressing it to her ear.

"Catherine, did you get the money from Edward?" Mary's voice came through sharp and demanding.

Catherine sat up slowly, one hand clutching her stomach as she rubbed at the pain. Her lips had gone pale and her eyes looked dull and lifeless. "I'm not asking him for money."

"Then go to Leon from the Thornhowl Pack. He's obsessed with you, isn't he?" Mary's voice went shrill. "You gonna just let your father die?"

Catherine's fingers twisted in her shirt, and her eyes turned cold. "Funny. From the way you sound, someone might actually think you give a damn about him."

Mary went quiet for a beat. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Catherine thought about what Leon had shown her and wiped at her stinging eyes. "Jack Spencer."

The name of Mary's lover.

Silence stretched on the other end, and then Mary hung up without a word.

*****

Bob wanted her admitted to the hospital, but Catherine refused. She left with a bag full of prescriptions instead, enough to get her through the next few weeks at least.

When she got back to the Alpha Manor, Edward was already rushing out the front door.

She'd rarely seen him this frantic. She wanted to ask what was wrong, but he didn't give her the chance and brushed past her to his car.

Inside, a servant told her that something happened to Jane.

Jane had always been fragile. Now, apparently, the doctors had found severe heart failure.

Catherine drove to the hospital where her father was staying. She remembered running into Jane here before.

She found him pacing in the corridor. He wore a black shirt and black slacks, and his hair was messier than usual. His blue eyes were rimmed with red, and his lips pressed into a bloodless line.

He must be so scared right now, so heartbroken. He loved Jane more than anything, after all.

During those years with Edward, Catherine had known he truly loved her. She'd seen what he looked like when he gave himself completely to someone.

She'd been happy once. Really, genuinely happy. And maybe that was enough.

She was dying anyway. Maybe she could do something for Edward before the end.

Maybe then he wouldn't hate her so much after she was gone. And if there was a next life, she hoped she'd never meet him again.

Edward's team was searching desperately for a heart donor. Jane couldn't wait much longer.

Catherine signed the organ donation agreement and got tested for compatibility with Jane.

Outside the hospital, she pulled out the prescriptions Bob had given her and tossed them in the trash. She didn't need them anymore.

"Catherine."

The voice froze her in place. A large hand gripped her shoulder, and she felt the familiar roughness of his palm against her skin.

His index finger had a scar, the one she'd given him with her teeth years ago, when she'd refused to betray Edward and wouldn't agree to be this man's girlfriend no matter what.

He stepped around to face her. Buzz cut, thick eyebrows, deep-set eyes, sharp nose—his features were striking in a way that made people stare.

He smiled easily, but there was always something predatory in it, an Alpha's dominance radiating from him like a warning.

Her gaze caught on his neck. A jagged scar ran across his throat, ugly and brutal.

"Leon." Catherine closed her eyes.

Leon leaned down and smiled at her, then pointed to the scar on his neck. "Edward did this to me. What do you think I should do to pay him back?"

The words hit her like ice water, and suddenly Catherine was three years ago again, hearing Leon's voice with that same edge. "You don't come with me? Then tell me—how should I kill Edward?"

Back then, if Stormclaw Pack hadn't just been attacked, Catherine wouldn't have been afraid. But Thornhowl Pack was the strongest pack on the continent, and Stormclaw had been left defenseless after the assault.

She'd watched Edward quietly beg for help from packs he'd once called allies. She'd seen him stripped of every bit of pride he had.

And one word from the Thornhowl Alpha family was all it took to make sure no one would help him. One word, and Edward would never recover.