Sold to Bastard Alpha after My Divorce!-Chapter 69

Aria’s POV

Cold.

That was the first thing I felt. Bone-deep, teeth-chattering cold.

My eyes opened slowly. Everything was blurry. Gray. Wrong.

Where was I?

I blinked. Once. Twice. The world refused to come into focus.

Gravel bit into my cheek. My fingers were numb against rough pavement. The smell of wet earth and gasoline filled my nose.

A road.

I was lying on the side of a road.

How did I get here?

I tried to move. Pain exploded through every muscle. My arms. My legs. My back. Everything screamed in protest.

"Ah!" The cry escaped before I could stop it.

For a long moment, I just lay there. Breathing. Trying to remember.

The kidnapping. The bag over my head. The woman’s voice. The bitter liquid forced down my throat.

Then nothing.

Complete emptiness.

How long had I been unconscious? Hours? Days?

And where was I now?

I forced myself to roll over. The movement sent fresh waves of agony through my body. I gasped. Waited for it to pass.

The sky above was gray. Overcast. No sun to tell me what time it was.

Get up, I told myself. Get up. You can’t stay here.

My arms shook as I pushed myself to sitting. The world spun violently. I pressed my palm against the gravel. Waited for the dizziness to fade.

When I finally looked around, my heart sank.

I was in the middle of nowhere.

A narrow road stretched in both directions. Empty. No cars. No buildings. Just trees on either side. Dense and dark and endless.

No signs. No landmarks. Nothing to tell me where I was.

"Hello?" My voice came out as a croak. "Is anyone there?"

The wind answered. Cold and indifferent.

I was alone.

Completely alone.

My hands moved instinctively. Checking for injuries. Running over my arms, my legs, my torso.

Pain everywhere. A deep, aching soreness that went down to my bones.

But no cuts. No wounds. No blood.

Just pain.

What had they done to me?

I lifted the edge of my shirt. Looked at my stomach.

The baby.

Oh god. The baby.

My hands pressed flat against my belly. Still flat. Still unchanged. I couldn’t feel anything different. Couldn’t know if—

No. I couldn’t think about that. Not yet. Not here.

One thing at a time.

I tried to stand. My legs wobbled like a newborn deer’s. I grabbed a tree branch. Steadied myself.

Every muscle screamed at me to lie back down. To rest. To give up.

I ignored them.

Something was wrong.

Beyond the pain. Beyond the fear. Beyond the confusion.

Something inside me felt... empty.

Hollow.

Like a part of me had been scooped out and thrown away.

*Artemis?*

The name formed in my mind automatically. The same way I’d called to my wolf a thousand times before.

Silence.

*Artemis, are you there?* 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Nothing.

No warmth. No presence. No familiar voice answering in my head.

My chest tightened.

*Artemis!*

I called louder this time. Threw the thought out with everything I had.

Still nothing.

The hollowness inside me grew. Spread. Became a gaping void where something vital used to be.

No. No, this was wrong. This was impossible.

I stumbled forward. One step. Two. My legs threatened to give out with each movement.

*ARTEMIS!*

The scream tore through my mind. Desperate. Terrified.

Silence.

Complete, absolute silence.

Where was she? Why couldn’t I feel her?

Even when we’d been drugged with wolfsbane, I could always sense her. Faint and distant, maybe. But there. Always there.

Now there was nothing.

Just emptiness.

"No." The word came out as a whisper. "No, no, no."

I pressed my hand against my chest. Over my heart. Where I’d always felt her presence.

Cold. Empty. Dead.

"ARTEMIS!"

This time I screamed it out loud. The sound echoed off the trees. Bounced back at me like a mockery.

No answer.

No response.

Nothing.

My knees buckled.

I hit the ground hard. Gravel scraped against my palms. Fresh pain shot up my arms. I didn’t care.

"Artemis, please." My voice cracked. Broke. "Please answer me. Please tell me you’re there."

The wind blew. Leaves rustled. Somewhere in the distance, a bird called.

But inside me, there was only silence.

Tears burned in my eyes. Hot and unstoppable.

This couldn’t be happening. This wasn’t real. Wolves didn’t just... disappear. They were part of you. Bonded to your soul from birth.

You couldn’t lose them.

You couldn’t.

But I couldn’t feel her.

I couldn’t feel anything.

"Come back." The words tumbled out between sobs. "Please come back. I need you. I can’t do this without you."

Nothing.

I curled into myself. Right there on the cold ground. My arms wrapped around my knees. My forehead pressed against my thighs.

The sobs came then. Ugly. Violent. The kind that shook your whole body. The kind that made it impossible to breathe.

I’d lost so much.

My marriage. My daughter. My home. The man I loved.

But this?

This was different.

This was worse.

Artemis had been with me since I was eighteen. Since my first shift. She’d been the voice in my head when I had no one to talk to. The strength in my limbs when I wanted to give up. The warmth in my chest on the coldest nights.

She’d protected me.

Comforted me.

Loved me when no one else would.

And now she was gone.

"Why?" I screamed at the empty sky. "WHY?"

No answer came.

Of course it didn’t.

The universe didn’t owe me explanations. Didn’t owe me anything. I was just another broken Omega lying on the side of a road.

Nobody.

Nothing.

The cold seeped deeper into my bones. My tears had soaked through my shirt. My hands were raw from the gravel.

Was that what they’d done to me? Was that what that woman had forced down my throat?

Had she stolen my wolf?

The thought made my stomach heave.

I turned my head. Retched onto the gravel. Nothing came up except bile. My body had nothing left to give.

When the spasms passed, I lay back down. Staring up at the gray sky.

Alone.

So completely alone.

The tears had stopped. I’d run out of those too.

I had lost my wolf.