Goodbye, My Mate

Chapter 247

Leah's POV

I remained silent. Father killed his son. Justice was almost done.

Al Cosa continued, "And my son Tommy... He was burned alive in an elevator. Forensic team said his charred, deformed body burned so badly that... they needed tweezers to collect him."

Two fat tears carved paths through his ashen stubble. I mirrored his grief - shoulders curling inward, breath catching - as the incinerator roared to life behind him. Its hunger vibrated in my molars.

"They found nail marks," he whispered. "Inside the elevator door. My boy...my Tommy clawed iron hot metal until his fingers..." A wet choke. "You know what fire does to lungs before death comes?"

I let my own eyes glisten. "Mr. Cosa, I..."

"You're about to find out."

I pretended to be horrified. "Mr. Cosa, I'm..."

"Sorry?" The wheelchair lurched forward. "You shoved my Tony off a balcony! Trapped Tommy in that metal coffin!" Spittle hit my cheek. "And now you're standing here, telling me that you are sorry?! Do you really think that you can fool me, the almighty Al Cosa, and get away with all this?! I should have listened to my Tommy and killed you the moment you stepped into my office the other day!"

I staggered back - not too quick, letting them corner me against a coolant pipe. "The hotel lobby had witnesses!" My protest trembled artfully. "Four male models waiting with me for an audition - check security footage! We left when..."

"What? A coincidence?! Is that your confession?!" He spat the word like rotten meat. A nod to Johnny. "Burn the truth out of her."

Hands seized me - hot, sweating hands that remembered kneading dough, not binding wrists. I thrashed with precisely measured weakness, letting the gag slip askew to show bitten lips. "Please! I'm innocent!" The lie dripped honey-sweet.

They hoisted me toward the incinerator's glowing throat. Heat blistered my thighs. I screamed - not for effect, but genuine shock - as Al halted them.

"Leave it open." His finger hovered over the ignition. "I want to watch her eyes melt."

The first flames licked my ankles. I braced for agony... and felt nothing. No searing nerves, no blistering flesh. My silk blouse blackened and curled like dead rose petals. I stared at my burning hand, pristine beneath dancing blue flames.

Al's triumphant snarl died as my scream tore through the plant - not pain, but rage. The Lycan curse that made childbirth lethal now rendered me fireproof.

What happened to me?! I could still feel pain when Darren penetrated me last night.

Now I couldn't feel pain anymore. Is this a sign that my body was about to leave me? Or it became my ultimate cage?

I was reborn in flame. Flame would do no harm to me. Everything happened according to the plan, except for the pain part. Through the flames, I saw Darren's video camera glint behind distant machinery. This video would be the sole evidence to put Al Cosa on trial. And when justice is served, Liam will finally get the closure that he long deserved. And my work in this damn place will be done.

But the real horror wasn't the fire. It was realizing I'd trade a thousand burnings to feel that pain - to feel human - just once more.

Darren's POV

The camera in my hand weighed heavy, its lens still drinking in the horror - Cosa's men dragging Leah, her body limp as a ragdoll, toward the incinerator's gaping maw. The door clanged shut behind her, sealing her inside with a hiss of heat. My claws dug into my palms, but I didn't move. Not yet. The footage had to be clean.

They left, and then another car came.

It tore through the yard like a bullet, skidding to a halt in a spray of gravel. Liam erupted from it before the engine even died, his human legs unsteady but relentless. "Leah!" His voice was raw, a blade dragged over stone. He lunged for the incinerator door, hands scrabbling at the blistering metal. The stench of searing flesh hit me before his scream did.

I moved without thinking. My grip locked around his collar, yanking him back. His eyes - wild, bloodshot - flicked to mine, and for a second, I saw the madness there. Not fear. Not grief. Just a feral, foolish refusal to accept the inevitable.

"Leah's in there!" he roared, spittle flying. "Why didn't you do something to save him?!"

I shoved him down, my knee pinning his chest. "She's dead." The words were ice. "Burn that into your skull, human."

He thrashed, fists swinging. A weak punch glanced off my jaw. Pathetic. I caught his wrist, twisted. "You shouldn't be here," I snarled. "You have to leave now."

Liam's breath came in ragged sobs. "She can't be dead!" His voice cracked. "She..."

Then the incinerator door groaned.

I immediately knocked Liam out.

I turned. The metal screeched open, inch by inch, and a blackened hand clawed out. Fire licked up the arm, skeletal fingers curling like a spider's legs. Liam went still beneath me.

The body that emerged was a nightmare...charred flesh sloughing off in ember-lit ribbons, the stink of cooked meat thick in the air. But then the flames shuddered, dying as the figure straightened. Skin peeled away like old parchment, revealing porcelain beneath. Hair regrew in waves, silk spilling over naked shoulders.

Leah stood there, whole. Unscathed.

I was at her side before I realized I'd moved, shrugging off my coat to drape over her. She barely noticed, her gaze locked on Liam. When she pushed past me to crouch beside him, her fingers hovered over his burned hands. "What happened to him?" she whispered.

I answered for him. "He tried to pull you out."

Her throat worked. "But I was already..."

"Dead?" I scoffed. "Tell that to that fool."

Liam's breath hitched as Leah cradled his head in her lap. Moonlight gilded her tears, diamond-bright. I watched, something sour curdling in my gut. "You love him," I said. It wasn't a question.

She shook her head. "I don't feel anything." Her voice was hollow. "Not pain. Not love. Just... nothing. This is it, isn't it? This is what I'm going to be for the rest of my life... Without love or pain... Just... numb."

I grabbed her shoulders. "You're still alive, Leah. That's more than enough."

Her laugh was a broken thing. "Is it?" She stared at Liam's blistered palms. "He felt more for my corpse than I feel for either of you now. This must be some sort of punishment from the Moon Goddess. I rejected my mate twice. He's half dead and I'm almost there."

I kissed her then - hard, desperate. She stiffened, but I didn't care. Let her hate it. Let her fight. My teeth grazed her lip, claiming, proving. She melted by degrees, her body betraying her words.

When I pulled back, her eyes were glazed. "We'll leave," I promised. "You, me, our child. We'll have a family."

Her whisper gutted me. "You don't understand. I'm already gone."

I crushed her to my chest. "Then I'll love the ghost of you. I can't afford to lose you again."

Her next words froze my blood.

"You were bailed out by my brother, weren't you?"

The silence that followed was louder than the incinerator's roar.