Chapter 2
The phone rang from the hospital.
“Miss Martinez, the patient won’t be with us much longer. Please come to see him one last time…”
“One last time…” I whispered, feeling the tears flow uncontrollably.
Jaliyah shouted frantically, pounding on the door repeatedly, her voice trembling with desperation. “Francis! Quentin! Come out! Your father is dying! Do you even care?!”
Only silence answered her cries, thick and suffocating, like the oppressive aura of an Alpha’s command.
I noticed Jaliyah’s Victorian-style dress, now stained with blood. “Jaliyah…”
She glanced down at herself and managed a bitter smile, her voice barely above a whisper. “My pup… is gone too…”
“Let’s go! To the hospital!” I stood abruptly, pulling her along as we stumbled out the door, our footsteps echoing through the empty halls of the pack house.
When we arrived, Idris lay on the hospital bed, his face pale as paper, with barely any rise and fall in his chest. He strained to open his eyes, and his clouded gaze fell on Jaliyah and me. Seeing us, a flicker of hope appeared in his once-dull eyes, but it quickly faded when he realized we were alone.
“Dad…” I threw myself beside the bed, clutching his cold hand, my tears unstoppable.
He moved his cracked lips, his voice so faint it was nearly inaudible, “Fran…Francis… Quentin…”
I loathed the brothers’ heartlessness and my own helplessness even more. How could they abandon him like this? How could they betray their pack, their family, their own father?
“Dad… I’m sorry… it’s all my fault…” I choked out, my voice breaking.
Jaliyah held Idris’s hand, her voice choked with emotion, “Dad, I’m sorry we couldn’t bring them both here…”
Idris tried to smile, tears slipping from his eyes, “It’s not your fault; it’s mine. I failed to raise my sons right, and you both suffered for it…”
He attempted to lift his hand to comfort us. But as soon as he raised it halfway, it fell back, lifeless.
“Dad!” I screamed in anguish, the sound tearing through the sterile hospital room.
Jaliyah’s vision darkened, and she began to faint backward; I quickly caught her, my own legs barely holding me up. She was rushed into surgery, and I collapsed onto a bench, feeling utterly defeated.
The final image of Idris’s eyes replayed in my mind: filled with regret, unwillingness, concern, but no blame. He had passed away without his beloved sons by his side. Such a kind man, leaving with so many regrets.
Francis and Quentin Martinez, how could you live with yourselves? How could you live with yourselves!
Although Idris had protected me during the accident, I was in bad shape after my surgery. Jaliyah and I spent a week recovering in the hospital before we found the strength to arrange his funeral.
Francis and Quentin didn’t show up once, as if they had vanished into thin air. They didn’t answer calls, ignored messages. I scrolled through old chats with Francis, the last message lingering on our third anniversary. He had lovingly called me “darling,” promising a candlelit dinner.
Idris’s ashes sat on the coffee table; I reached out to gently touch the cold urn. Silent tears fell.
I remembered our early days as mates, when Francis was affectionate and attentive, treating me like a treasure, afraid I would slip away. We shared so many joyful moments as a family, strolling through pack lands, running under the full moon, experiencing all the happiness together.
It all faded away after Alena returned. Her scent of rosemary, sharp and intoxicating, seemed to consume him, pulling him further from me and from his duties as a healer and a son.
I stared blankly at Idris’s photo on the coffee table, his kind face smiling back at me. “Sigh… how can Dad be gone…”
He had been so full of life, making breakfast for us every morning when he learned we were expecting. A kind, vibrant wolf, reduced to a handful of ashes.
Jaliyah sighed deeply beside me, her voice heavy with pain. “I remember Quentin saying his mom died in a tragic accident, which is why he became a warrior—to protect his family…”
“Francis said something similar, that he pursued healing to take care of loved ones…” My tears started to flow again.
“We used to praise them for being devoted sons, and now… they’ve forsaken their father for a woman! It’s so ironic…”
I turned to Jaliyah with determination, my voice firm despite the ache in my chest. “Jaliyah, I’m going to dissolve the mate bond.”
Without hesitation, Jaliyah declared angrily, “Yes, I will too!”
“Those ungrateful wolves don’t deserve mates!”
“Let them be together forever!”
Without dragging it out, Jaliyah and I immediately contacted the pack’s Gamma to draft the formal rejection vows. We decided to give Idris a dignified funeral, honoring him as the wise elder he was.
We went through our contact list, notifying pack members and allies one by one. Before I could finish the calls, Francis and Quentin returned, their presence like a storm rolling into the room.
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