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Outside, Riven's friend was leaning against the wall smoking. He looked up when Riven came out.

"What did you tell her?"

Riven's ears were red.

"Childhood friends."

The friend choked on the smoke. He coughed for a long time.

"You? Childhood friends? You spent your whole childhood hiding that you liked her and tormenting her instead."

Riven looked at the ground.

"I didn't know what I was doing then. I left to study abroad and when I came back — Cade Thorne had already gotten to her first."

He looked through the gate at where Mara was saying goodbye to Agnes, packing her things.

"If I'd come back sooner," he said quietly. "She wouldn't have had to go through any of it."

His friend sighed and put a hand on his shoulder.

Mara walked out. She looked at Riven.

"Riven. Let's go."

He looked at her for a moment. He reached out carefully and took her hand.

"Let's go," he said. "I'm taking you home."

Thorne Pack grounds. The Alpha's office.

Cade stood at the window. Files were scattered across the floor behind him. His guards stood with their heads down.

"Half a month," he said. "And you're telling me you couldn't find her."

"Alpha, we searched the entire coastline, but—"

"But what?"

A guard swallowed.

"Yesterday — we found a body on the shore."

Cade's back went rigid. He turned slowly.

His eyes were wrong.

"Say that again."

His hands were tight at his sides. The next second he was through the door.

He drove with both hands on the wheel. They were shaking.

He stopped the car and was running before it finished parking. He saw the corridor at the end — a bed with a white sheet over it.

Every step toward it was heavier.

He was almost there. He reached out.

A hand caught his wrist.

He turned. Eleanor was there, eyes red.

"Don't look," she said. Her voice shook. "She's not... she didn't go peacefully. Let her keep some dignity."

She exhaled.

"I looked," she said quietly. "The build and the markings... it's Mara."

Cade stared at the sheet. His vision went black. He went down.