Chapter 40 DEATH PAIN

Chapter 40 DEATH PAIN
Dalton's POV

The explosion knocked me out of bed.

Dr Reeves grabbed my arm, but I was already moving. The antidote had cleared most of the silver, but my legs still felt like lead.

"You need another hour," she said.

"People are dying."

The medical wing doors slammed behind me, and I hit the stairs.

Taylor met me at the bottom. "Library. Four are dead."

We ran together. The library looked like something had ripped it open from the inside.

Firefighters pulled debris off bodies, and ambulances lined Main Street. 

Joyce stood at the barrier.

I reached her. "Are you hurt?"

"No."

She did not look at me. 

The first stretcher came past us. Lisa Reeves. Dr Reeves's cousin. Her face was covered in soot and blood.

The second stretcher held Rita Malachi. She ran the toy drive every Christmas. I had seen her yesterday, wrapping presents for children.

Third was Tom Paul, a retired firefighter, who still volunteered at every event.

Joyce made a gasp.

The fourth stretcher stopped right in front of us. Kelly Price. The woman who organised Pine Ridge's Christmas festival every year.

Her husband fell to his knees. Someone tried to hold him up, but he just screamed her name over and over.

Joyce turned away. I reached for her, but she stepped back.

"Do not," she said.

"Joyce."

"I cannot fall apart right now. People need me." She wiped her eyes. "We have eleven bombs left."

Victoria appeared beside us. "The police are asking questions. The fire chief wants to know what caused the explosion."

I looked at the human authorities gathering evidence. Gas leak was the usual cover, but this blast pattern was too clean.

"Tell them we are investigating," I said.

"They will not accept that for long."

"Then make them accept it." I turned toTaylor. "Get our people to sweep every building within a mile radius. If Vane planted one bomb here, there might be more nearby."

Taylor left at a run.

A woman in a police uniform walked toward us. Chief Morrison. 

“Mr Dalton." Her voice was steady, but her eyes were red. "I need answers."

"We are working on it."

"That is not good enough. Four people are dead two days before Christmas. I need to know what happened."

Victoria touched my shoulder. "Dalton. We found something."

She led us to the coffee shop across from the library. The front window was shattered. Inside, a laptop sat on the counter, still running.

The screen showed security footage of the library. Timestamped thirty minutes before the explosion.

"Vane was watching," Victoria said. "He detonated the bomb remotely."

Joyce leaned over the laptop. "Can we trace where he sent the signal from?"

"Already tried. He bounced it through six different towers. Could be anywhere within fifty miles." Victoria pointed at the screen. "But look at this."

She rewound the footage. Twenty seconds before the explosion, someone walked into the library. A woman in a red coat.

"Kelly Price," Joyce said. "She was early for her shift."

The timestamp changed to fifteen seconds. 

Kelly walked toward the back of the library, where the children's section was located.

The screen went white.

Joyce turned away and walked outside. I followed her into the snow.

"She died because she was early to work," Joyce said.

"She died because Vane is a monster."

"She died because of me." Joyce looked at the library. "How many more people have to die before this is over?"

I grabbed her shoulders. "This is not your fault."

"Then whose fault is it? Yours? Emma's?" She pushed my hands away. "We keep saying it is not our fault, but people keep dying."

"Vane made this choice. Not us."

"We find the bombs," I said. "We stop Vane. Then we figure out the rest."

An unknown number called my phone.

I answered. "What do you want?"

"To give you a choice, Alpha." Vane's voice was smooth. "Reject Joyce publicly, or I detonate the bomb at Pine Ridge Hospital."

My blood went cold. "There are fifty people in that hospital."

"Sixty-two, actually. I counted." Vane laughed. "But who is keeping track?"

Joyce grabbed my arm. "Put him on speaker."

I did.

"Hello, Joyce," Vane said. "How does it feel knowing you killed Kelly Price?"

"How does it feel knowing you are a coward?" Joyce said.

"I am many things, but a coward is not one of them. I am simply giving your Alpha a choice. Reject you in front of the whole town or watch sixty-two people die." Vane paused. "You have one hour."

The call ended.

My phone buzzed again, displaying a video link.

I opened it.

Vane stood in a concrete room. He held a detonator in his hand and smiled at the camera.

"Tick tock, Alpha. The hospital is waiting."

The feed went live. I could see the timestamp counting down. Fifty-nine minutes. Fifty-eight. Fifty-seven.

Victoria looked at the screen. "We can evacuate the hospital."

"Not in an hour." I looked at Joyce. "He wants me to reject you publicly."

"Then do it."

"No."

"Dalton, there are sixty-two people in that hospital. Dr Reeves is in there. Taylor's sister. Children." Joyce grabbed my phone. "Reject me."

"I once rejected you, Joyce."

"Do it again. Give Vane what he wants. It would save those people. We can figure out the bond later. Right now, we save lives."

I looked at the video feed. Vane was still smiling and holding the detonator.

Fifty-six minutes.

"There has to be another way," I said.

"There is not." Joyce stepped back. "Reject me, Dalton."

My phone rang. David Jesse.

I answered. "What?"

"I heard about the hospital bomb. " David's voice was cold. "He wants you to break completely, and rejecting Joyce publicly would do that."

"I will not use her like that."

"Then people die. Your choice." David hung up.

Joyce looked at me. "Please."

I looked at the ruins of the library. At Kelly Price's husband, who is still screaming. 

Then I looked at Joyce.

"I will not do it," I said.

"Then I will." Joyce grabbed my phone 

I grabbed the phone. "Stop."

"Let me go."

"No."

She fought me for the phone. We struggled, and it fell in the snow.

The screen showed Vane's video feed.

Fifty-two minutes.

Victoria picked up the phone. "We will find the bomb and disarm it. We do not give Vane what he wants."