One Night

Chapter 144

Edwin & Audrey

Edwin’s POV

“Congratulations, Alpha Edwin. This is joyous news.”

“When is the wedding?”

“You and Fiona make a lovely couple.

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My food sat in front of me, untouched. My stomach felt too leaden to eat so much as a bite, and it was all I could do to offer polite smiles or single-word answers in response to all of the curious guests and well-wishers.

This wasn’t what I wanted. Marrying Fiona. It felt like a prison sentence.

But she had announced our engagement anyway, without consulting me, and I was too much of a bl**dy coward to stop her. Fear had gripped me in those moments she’d made the announcement, fear that if I didn’t comply

That if I didn’t comply, the love of my life would be in danger.

My eyes scanned the room in search of Audrey. Where was she? I noticed her seat was empty, the napkin crumpled on the plate. She must have left at some point.

But then I realized that Fiona, who had said she was going to get another drink at the bar, was also missing.

A cold dread settled in my stomach at that moment. Something wasn’t right.

1 stood abruptly, my chair scraping loudly against the floor. Nearby guests looked at me curiously, their conversations faltering.

“Edwin? Is everything alright?” Claudia asked, toying with the silk scarf that Audrey had given her.

“Yes,” I said curtly, even though that couldn’t have been further from the truth. “Just… going to get another drink from the

bar.”

Claudia shot me a loaded glance, as if she could sense my discomfort, but said nothing more. I strode toward the bar on stiff legs, my eyes scanning the room, my nostrils flaring as I followed that faint scent.

That perfume… Audrey had smelled so sweet tonight, so tantalizing.

It was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. It was intoxicating, drawing me to her earlier despite the risk. I had been physically incapable of staying away from her when I had picked up that scent.

And I could smell it now on the air, but it had… changed. What was once a pleasant, floral scent was now laced with something else. Something concerning.

Fear. Pain.

I knew that she needed me. I didn’t know how I knew, but I knew. If I didn’t move quickly, then Audrey..

Fiona was gone. Something about this wasn’t right, wasn’t….

09:31 Thu, Sep 19

Chapter 144

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My wolf had been quiet-since Audrey had rejected me earlier, going from roiling in rage inside of me to curling up within himself as if he had been burned. But now he had returned, full force, a flurry of angst and fear and fury.

“Go!”

He didn’t need to tell me twice.

I followed that scent like it was a lifeline. I burst out of the front doors, ignoring the confused looks and murmurs, and I howled her name into the air as I began running, running faster than I’d ever moved in my life.

“Audrey!”

Audrey’s POV

My hands stretched out above me as I fell, grasping at nothing. Nothing but the moon and stars, too far away for me to reach, too far away to even sense my turmoil.

Fiona’s twisted face was the last thing I saw before I went over the edge of that railing. I saw her slender hands gripping the rail, that malicious smirk wrenching her beautiful features.

And then she was gone. Running from the scene of the crime.

Time seemed to slow down in those moments as I fell. The wind whipped through my hair, my dress billowing around me. Too long it took far too long to reach the river.

I knew I would meet a horrifying death once I hit the surface of that water. The impact of my body meeting the river would result in a broken neck, shattered spine, fractured skull.

I was helpless. A human like me could never survive such a fall.

But then that voice, the one that had been haunting me all night, spoke in my mind once more.

“But you are not a human.”

That was the last thing I heard before time returned in its usual rush. What was too slow before was now all too quick. Within an instant, I had hit the water and was sinking beneath the surface.

Pain screamed through my body, and the world was lost in a blur of lights and shadows.

First, there was darkness. Inky black darkness and a feeling of… nothing. Just a single consciousness floating through a void.

It was peaceful, in an empty sort of way. If this was what death was like, then… Maybe it wasn’t so bad. I could float like this for eternity. But it would be lonely.

Lonely without him. Without my…

Suddenly, as I thought of him, I felt a tug against my heart-like an invisible thread. And there was that scent,

Edwin.

-I needed to see him one last time, to feel him once more before that blackness swallowed me whole. So I followed that thread, that scent, through a watery haze, my movements slow and painful. My ethereal consciousness ached and that black- void began closing in around me as if not wanting to let me go.

09:31 Thu, Sep 19

Chapter 144

But I clung to that thread. Lfollowed it because my life, my heart, depended on it.

I don’t know how long I was dead. Seconds, minutes… Maybe more.

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All I knew was that one moment I was lost in that void, following that thread, that scent of smoke and something uniquely him. And then the thread grew thicker and became a rope for me to hold onto, and that scent filled my senses, filled my shapeless lungs like fresh air.

And then I heard his voice.

“Stay with me, Audrey… Stay with me…”

In that moment, I knew what he was to me. And everything, suddenly, wholly, made… sense.

My eyes shot open. I was met with the flashing lights of an ambulance, murmuring voices, and lips on mine. Edwin pulled back as I began to choke, chest heaving, and his eyebrows knit with relief.

And then I was on my side, vomiting up water. My lungs burned, my cold, wet body trembled. It hurt like hell, but I was

alive.

Once I was finished vomiting, I whipped my head back up, eyes blazing. The first word I choked out was, “Mate.”

Everyone around us gasped, and I stared at Edwin, both of our eyes wide with shock. Even I hadn’t meant to say it, but in that moment, I realized that it was the truth.

my mate.

Edwin was my

“Oh, Audrey.” Edwin breathed, gathering me in his arms. His clothes were soaked, his white shirt now sheer and plastered to his skin, jacket nowhere to be found. But his body was surprisingly warm against my freezing skin, and I clung to him, shivering

Looking up over Edwin’s shoulder, I realized that I was far below the pylons of the restaurant now, on the shore next to the river. What had happened? How did I get here? I couldn’t remember…

Edwin pulled back to look at me, his hands gently checking me for injuries. But surprisingly, I felt fine. No pain, no broken bonés, just a bit disoriented,

“She shouldn’t be alive,” one of the EMTs said, looking up at the restaurant far overhead. “A human would never be able to survive a fall like that. At the very least, she should have multiple broken bones.”

I leaned back a bit, surveying my arms, my legs. My lungs hurt from the water that had been in them a few moments ago, my body was sore and freezing and my head was fuzzy, but…

“I’m. I’m alright,” I murmured, slowly lifting my gaze to meet Edwin’s-those two blazing yellow suns staring at me.

Edwin cupped my cold face in his hands, forcing me to maintain eye contact. He whispered, “You’re not a human You’re

my mate.”

Before I could muster a response, he was tugging me close and pressing the fiercest kiss that I had ever felt to my lips. I melted into him, tangling my fingers into his soaking wet hair.

Mate.