Chapter 243: Chapter 243

Amber

My scream tore out of me so violently it felt like it ripped something apart inside my chest.

It wasn’t just a sound. It was grief. It was terror. It was the sound of my world collapsing in on itself.

Rayne hit the ground hard.

I watched it happen in slow motion; his body crumpling, his blood spreading over the concrete in a widening, horrifying stain that looked far too bright, far too real. The sight was grotesque. Wrong. It felt like a nightmare I should have been able to wake up from.

But I couldn’t wake up.

“Rayne!” I screamed.

My legs gave out beneath me as I dropped to my knees beside him. The concrete scraped against my skin, but I didn’t feel it. I didn’t feel anything except the overwhelming, suffocating dread clawing up my throat.

My hands trembled uncontrollably as I reached for him.

There was so much blood.

It coated my fingers instantly, warm and slick and impossibly red. My vision blurred as tears flooded my eyes, distorting everything into a nightmare haze.

“Rayne!” My voice broke. “Rayne, please look at me. Can you hear me?”

His face was pale. Too pale. His jaw clenched tightly as he fought through the pain, his breathing uneven and strained.

Behind the roaring in my ears, I faintly heard Erlan’s voice.

“Come here, Amber.”

It sounded distant. Muffled. As though I were underwater.

I couldn’t focus on him.

All I could see was Rayne.

All I could feel was the way my heart was slamming violently against my ribs, so hard it felt like it might burst straight out of my chest. My hands were covered in his blood. It was everywhere. On me. On him. On the ground.

Inside me, Irma was losing her mind.

She was howling, her anguish reverberating through my bones.

“Our mate. Our mate. Save him.”

“Amber, come here right now!”

Erlan’s voice was sharper this time, closer.

I didn’t care.

Nothing else existed except Rayne lying broken at my feet.

Then suddenly pain exploded across my scalp.

A fist tangled violently in my hair and yanked upward with brutal force.

I screamed as my head was jerked back, my body dragged upward by nothing but my hair. My scalp burned, white-hot agony radiating outward, but it was nothing compared to the devastation shredding through my chest.

“Let go!” I cried out instinctively, clawing at his wrist.

Erlan didn’t loosen his grip.

He dragged me backward toward the helicopter, my heels scraping uselessly against the ground as I struggled.

And as he did, the truth began to sink its poisonous teeth into me.

This was my fault.

Every second of this.

If I had just told Rayne about Erlan’s threats… If I hadn’t tried to handle it on my own… If I hadn’t insisted on proving that I wasn’t that helpless Omega anymore… we wouldn't be here right now.

I had been so determined to show strength. To show my independence. To show that I didn’t need to be protected.

And in doing so, I had led him straight into this.

If I had just let go of my stupid grudge.

If I had swallowed my pride.

None of this would have happened.

The thought twisted inside me like a knife.

I couldn’t even let myself imagine it; what would happen if Rayne didn’t survive this.

The death of one’s fated mate was devastating for an Omega. Some never fully recovered. Some faded slowly. Some lost their will to live entirely.

And if he died because of me…

I wouldn’t be able to survive that guilt.

I wouldn’t be able to look at myself in the mirror again without seeing blood on my hands.

Erlan dragged me mercilessly, my cries dissolving into helpless sobs as I struggled against him. My fingers clawed at his arm, at the ground, at anything.

“Rayne!” I screamed again.

Behind us, I heard movement.

A strained, ragged sound.

“No!” Rayne’s voice roared hoarsely. “Let go of her. Erlan, I swear to the goddess, I’ll fucking kill you if you don’t let go of Amber right now.”

My heart shattered all over again.

He was trying to get up.

I twisted enough to look.

He was dragging himself forward.

Dragging.

One arm braced against the ground while the other trembled violently. His leg left a smeared trail of blood behind him, dark and sickening.

Erlan ignored him.

But Rayne had never been one to give up.

He kept moving.

“Let go of Amber, you bastard,” he growled through gritted teeth. “You’re hurting her.”

And then he reached Erlan.

With the last of his strength, he grabbed Erlan’s leg.

His fingers latched on like steel.

“Take your filthy hands off me, mutt!” Erlan snarled.

He tried to shake him off but Rayne didn’t let go. He clung to him despite the blood loss, despite the pain, despite everything.

So Erlan released my hair.

For a split second I stumbled forward, free—

And then another gunshot cracked through the air.

Rayne’s body jerked violently.

The bullet struck his arm.

The sound he made; that low, guttural groan of agony, will haunt me for the rest of my life.

His grip finally loosened.

His body collapsed back against the concrete.

Erlan kicked him hard.

His boot connected with Rayne’s temple, and I watched in horror as Rayne’s head snapped to the side and his body rolled limply across the ground.

“Rayne! No!” I screamed, my voice splintering.

Everything inside me was breaking.

Erlan turned to face me fully.

His expression wasn’t angry.

It was calculating.

“Don’t make this harder than it needs to be, Amber,” he said almost casually.

I could barely breathe. My chest felt compressed, like something heavy was sitting on it.

“The longer you struggle,” he continued, “the more Rayne’s suffering will be prolonged.”

My stomach dropped.

“He came all this way because of you,” Erlan deadpanned. “The least you can do is make sure he doesn’t suffer more than he needs to.”

Each word landed like a blow.

My lungs burned.

“There are really only two options for you,” he went on. “Come quietly and accept your new life.”

His gaze darkened.

“Or defy me once more… and not only will I end Rayne here and now—”

He lifted the gun slightly, emphasizing the threat.

“—I’ll punish you until you’re broken. Until you become my mindless little pleasure slave instead of the queen who stands by my side.”

Revulsion flooded me.

“Make your choice.”

The world narrowed.

Rayne lay on the ground, barely conscious, blood pooling beneath him.

If I fought, Erlan would kill him.

If I submitted… I would lose myself.

My chest constricted so painfully I thought I might collapse.

Inside me, something shifted.

Irma rose.

Not in grief or fear but in pure, unrelenting fury. It ignited like a thousand suns exploding at once, scorching through every inch of my being.

“You know what to do,” she growled.

Her rage vibrated through my veins, steady and powerful.

I swallowed hard.

My tears slowed.

My breathing steadied.

I did. It would be the final act in this twisted play.