Chapter 5

In the aftermath, the world seemed to lose its color. The vibrancy of the city’s hum was now a distant echo. The once comforting scent of her perfume was now tainted with the unmistakable stench of death. I touched the back of my hand to my nose, the scent of her blood clinging to my skin, a macabre reminder of the senseless violence that had taken place within these walls.

The apartment felt like a hollowed-out tomb, a place where life once flourished, now reduced to a mausoleum of solitary confinement. The walls, once a comforting embrace, now seemed to close in on me, suffocating me with their oppressive silence. I wandered through the rooms, my footsteps echoing in the empty spaces, each step a testament to the profound isolation that had become my life.

I clenched my fists, the rage simmering just beneath the surface, a volcano ready to erupt. My mother’s face, serene even in death, flashed before my eyes, and the fury bubbled over, consuming me. I roared, the sound reverberating off the sterile walls, a primal scream that did nothing to ease the agony in my chest. I punched the wall, my knuckles connecting with a dull thud, the pain a fleeting reminder that I was still alive, even though I wished for nothing more than to join her.

The grief hit me like a tidal wave, crashing over me and pulling me under its relentless current. I crumpled to the floor, my body racked with sobs that tore through me, each one a testament to the unbearable loss I felt. My mother, my rock, my guiding light – gone. The woman who had sung me to sleep, who had bandaged my scraped knees, who had been my anchor in the tumultuous sea of life, was now a memory, her laughter replaced by the deafening silence of her absence.

I hurt in places I never knew could ache. The loneliness was a living, breathing entity, wrapping its icy tendrils around my heart, squeezing until I could scarcely draw breath. I was alone, truly alone, in a world that seemed to have turned its back on me. The pack I’d never had, the connections I’d never formed, they all mocked me in my solitude. I had always been the loner, the one who didn’t need anyone, but now, the truth of my isolation was a bitter pill to swallow.

My thoughts spiraled, each one darker than the last, a descent into the abyss of my own mind. I thought of my childhood, of the days when my mother’s love was all I needed. She had been my world, my entire universe, and now that she was gone, I felt as though a part of me had been irrevocably torn away. The memories were a double-edged sword, slicing through the fog of my grief with moments of warmth and love, only to plunge me deeper into despair as I realized they were all I had left.

As an alpha, my instincts screamed for retribution, for justice. The monster who had taken her from me would pay, of that I was certain. My skills as a mortician would be put to use in a way I had never imagined, a grim twist of fate that would see me ensuring the eternal rest of her killer. I would be the last face they saw, the last whisper of air they breathed. There would be no mercy, no salvation for the one who had dared to extinguish the light of my existence.

I would find the killer, and when I did, they would learn what it meant to cross an alpha like me. They would learn what it meant to take everything from someone and leave them with nothing but the smoldering ashes of their former life. I would become the monster they should have feared, the reaper of their final moments.

I lay on the cold, hardwood floor, the tears drying on my cheeks, the resolve hardening in my heart. The world outside continued on its way, oblivious to the storm brewing within these walls, indifferent to the gaping hole that had been torn in my life. I was a solitary figure in a city of millions, a lone wolf howling into the void, a shadow slipping through the cracks of society.

And as the night closed in around me, I knew that this was only the beginning. The path to revenge was a long and winding road, but I would walk it willingly, for in the end, it was all I had left. My mother’s memory would be honored, her death avenged, and in doing so, I would find a semblance of peace in the chaos that had become my life.

A shrill ring pierced the silence of my apartment, ripping me from my thoughts.

My heart pounded in my chest, a relentless drumbeat echoing in my ears as I fumbled for my phone. The caller ID flashed an unfamiliar number, a string of digits that seemed out of place in the chaos of my thoughts. I swiped to answer, my voice a low growl that betrayed the turmoil within.

“Harlen,” I said, my grip on the phone tightening.

“Mr. Blackwood?” The voice on the other end was crisp, professional. It was a tone I had heard countless times in my line of work, a tone that rarely heralded good news.

“Speaking,” I confirmed, bracing myself against the inevitable wave of bad news.

“This is Officer Daniels with the NYPD. I’m calling about your mother’s case.”

The world seemed to shrink to the size of a pinprick, every atom in my body attuned to the officer’s next words. The silence stretched between us, a taut wire humming with tension.

“We’ve apprehended a suspect,” he continued, the weight of his words settling heavily in the air. “It’s your mother’s boyfriend, Ronald Fischer. We found evidence linking him to the crime scene.”

A red haze clouded my vision, my instincts roaring to the forefront. Ronald, the man who had charmed his way into my mother’s life, the man she had trusted, the man who had betrayed that trust in the most heinous way imaginable. The monster had a name, and now, he had a face.

My voice was a controlled whisper, a dangerous calm that belied the storm raging within. “Where is he?”

“He’s in custody,” Officer Daniels replied, his tone cautious.

Well, that wouldn’t do. That wouldn’t do at all.