Chapter 78
The pack doctor stepped out of the private ward, his white coat fluttering like wings in the cold, sterile air of the Blackthorn Healing Hall.
“The Elder Alpha is out of danger,” he said gravely, “but he needs complete rest.“@
Alpha Draven Blackthorn took a step forward–only to be blocked by the doctor’s outstretched hand.
“Alpha Alaric has given explicit orders,” he said hesitantly, his eyes flicking downward, “He only wants to see the Luna, Ella Moonfall.”
The air thickened with tension. Draven’s sharp canines dug into his bottom lip as he restrained the growl rumbling in his chest. He could hear the whispers of the lower–ranked wolves behind him.”
‘The Elder Alpha Alaric still refused to see his son.”
The doctor spoke carefully, aware of the volatile power thrumming beneath Draven’s skin. “His heart almost stopped from the shock. His blood pressure is unstable. He said seeing you again might push him over the edge.“}
Draven stood rigid outside the ward, his jaw clenched, his eyes golden and glowing with suppressed rage. He waved at one of the pack guards. “Escort Freya home. Now.“>
He climbed into his car and didn’t start the engine, instead, he sat there in silence. The scent of old parchment and broken trust wafted up from his suit pocket. The divorce agreement Ella had signed dug into his chest like a blade- mocking him.”
He stared at the wheel, his knuckles white from gripping it. The mere idea was unthinkable.
Ella Moonfall, his Luna. The only female his wolf had ever recognized. His fated mate.>
She had left.
How could she possibly leave?}
She had endured so much–his coldness, his betrayal, his neglect. She had loved him in silence, bled for him without ever demanding anything in return. Even when he strayed. Even when he claimed another she–wolf, an Omega, Freya, and got her pregnant.
And now… she returned the Blackthorn heirloom pendant–his mother’s sacred mark of Luna bloodline–alongside the divorce papers.} “No,” he muttered, voice low and guttural. “No fucking way…“)
He slammed the gas pedal. The engine of the car roared like a beast, tearing through the shadowed roads of the pack lands under the cloak of night.”
Alpha Draven parked outside an old house. The ancestral home Ella had clung to all her life–a sanctuary carved from moonstone and enchanted cedar. He waited, watching. But no matter how long he waited, there was not a single light flickering through the glass windows.
Not a single soul stirred.
As the horizon lightened with the silver fingers of dawn, his patience finally shattered.}
“Ella!” he thundered, banging his fist against the door. The wood groaned under his power.”
It creaked open, revealing not the woman he longed for, but a middle–aged male with dull eyes and the scent of a mundane.}
“Who the hell are you?” Draven barked.”
The man yawned. “The owner of this place. Bought it months ago. What’s with all the noise, man? Are you drunk?”
Draven’s eyes narrowed, his wolf snarling beneath his skin. “Where’s Ella?”
“Ella?” the man blinked. “Don’t know any Ella. Whoever she is, she hasn’t lived here in a long time.”>
The door slammed shut.
He stood frozen. For a moment, he couldn’t breathe.
She had sold her ancestral home. The last relic of her bloodline. The home was blessed by the Blue Moon Priestess. She’d given it up…} for good.b
His mate was gone.”
There was only one other place she might go- the graves of her parents, buried on sacred lunar ground deep within Hollowcrest.
He drove like a feral beast through the twisted forest path, only slowing when the howls of night–guard wolves echoed through the air. But halfway there, he remembered.”
She’d always brought flowers.
He growled in frustration, slammed the brakes, and veered off course to buy the first bouquet he could find–white ghost chrysanthemums, often used in mourning rituals.
By the time he reached the cemetery, the mist was thick with the scent of old souls. The crescent moon hung like a wound in the sky as he approached the tombstone.
Then he froze.!
A bouquet of fresh blood–red roses lay at the base, dew still clinging to the petals.
And next to it–half–burned pages, curling in the wind.”
Draven crouched, snatching them up. He immediately recognized the elegant loops of Ella’s handwriting, as familiar as the sound of her laugh
“Mom, Dad… I’m exhausted. I can’t carry the pain anymore. I don’t want to love him anymore. Not like this,”
The pages trembled in his grip.
20
10:47 AM
He staggered back, struck by an invisible force–regret, it was sharp and merciless.
Just then, the wind howled violently, more than mere nature–it was laced with ancestral wrath. A thick branch from a gnarled silver wood tree cracked and fell hard, smacking him across the head.
Draven stumbled, his blood trickling from his temple as he grabbed onto the tombstone for balance. His wolf snarled and hissed in his mind, furious at the insult.
Were her parents cursing him from beyond the veil?}
Was the Moon Goddess herself punishing him?
No. He wasn’t the only one at fault, was he??
She couldn’t give him an heir. A child. That was why he looked elsewhere. That was why he-
His thoughts shattered.”
When he returned to his car, he found the tires slashed–clawed clean through. The stench of enchantment lingered in the air. Magic. Powerful, feminine. Protective.}
She had covered her tracks.M
“DAMN IT!” He roared, kicking the side of the car. The metal screamed with the blow, but it didn’t ease the pressure in his chest.
His fingers flew over his phone. He sent her message after message–through texts, through calls, through every enchanted bond they once shared.
[Ella, answer your damn phone!]}
[Where the hell are you?]
[I won’t accept this. You’re my mate. You can’t run.]
Each message vanished into the void. Their bond, once warm with her essence, was now sealed. Burned shut. She had severed their bond.
He didn’t know that she’d already changed her scent with sacred herbs, vanished from every traceable wolf path, and deleted everything, every binding that could tether her back to him.
Then the truth finally struck him, like thunder and lightning were colliding.”
She vanished like moonlight at dawn.”
She had erased herself entirely from his world.
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