Part Twelve: Goodbye My Love
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When Sloane finally woke from the abyss of his sleep, he was a different man. His heart felt like it had been torn open, yet somehow the pain felt. cleansing, like fire scorching away everything he had once been. All the bitterness, anger, and resentment that had filled him seemed to have faded into smoke, leaving only a fragile desire for one thing–a second chance. To somehow, impossibly, make amends for the life he had squandered.
He started with a simple word, one he’d never truly spoken before: *Sorry.* He went to Collins, his longtime friend and beta, the one who had stood by him. through his worst moments, even when he barely deserved it. Collins looked at him with a mix of shock and relief, perhaps not fully believing Sloane’s apology but seeing a glimmer of the man he had once followed so loyally.
One by one, Sloane sought out those he had wronged. He apologised to the pack warriors, who had once been the proud protectors of their people but had grown wary of him because of his outburst, their loyalty faltering as his rage had spun out of control. He sought out the pack physician, who still bore the memory of the tray Sloane had thrown in a fit of anger. Sloane bowed his head, offering an apology he knew couldn’t erase the past but that, perhaps, could be a balm to begin to heal it.
He even visited the witch doctor, the one who had once warned him of the darkness gathering around his heart, a prophecy he had laughed off as nonsense. She regarded him with a piercing gaze as if searching his soul for sincerity, and though she said nothing, he could feel a sense of grudging acceptance in her silence.
Each apology was a tiny step toward redemption. He couldn’t erase the pain he had caused, but he could try, piece by piece, to rebuild something he had destroyed. He gathered his pack, those who had once feared him, and spoke from his heart. For the first time, they looked at him not with fear, but with hope.
Meanwhile, my family had laid my body to rest in a final rite of passage, an intimate ceremony that Sloane missed entirely, lost in his slumber after his breakdown. They kept my burial hidden from him, believing he had no right to be there. To them, he was the reason my life had been so tragic, and they wanted nothing to do with him.
But Sloane was still the alpha, and few secrets could be kept from him for long. It only took a few quiet questions, and soon the soldiers revealed
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22:08 Thu, 13 Jew quiet questions, a soothe soldiers revealed
Ma Tong. It only
everything: the location of my grave, the words spoken over my body, the way my family had wept for me, shielding me even in death from the man who had caused me so much pain. With a mix of sadness and determination, Sloane set out to find me, to say the goodbye he hadn’t been allowed.
The search consumed him. He combed through the land in silence, driven. by a need deeper than words. Time meant nothing to him as he scoured the countryside, his eyes scanning each hill and valley. When he finally stumbled upon the small, unmarked plot where I was laid to rest, he felt both relief and an aching emptiness.
Sloane knelt by my grave, breathing in the stillness. He began to clear the weeds and wildflowers that had grown around it, his hands working with a gentleness he had never shown me in life. He arranged a small wreath of lavender and wild roses, the flowers he knew I loved, then lit a ring of scented candles around the grave, their soft glow casting a faint warmth over the earth.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the necklace, the same one he’d found with my broken orb. In his hands, he’d carefully replaced the orb with fresh lavender oil, ensuring it glowed once again with the soft purple light that I had cherished. He placed the necklace on the ground above my resting place, his hands trembling slightly.
“Seline,” he whispered, his voice breaking, “this belongs to us. It’s our bond, a symbol that ties us together… in this life and the next.” As he finished speaking, he felt a sudden chill creep over him. He froze in place, his body not longer his to command, as if the earth itself had claimed him.
I watched him from beyond, his form now as lifeless as mine, and though I felt a strange pang of sorrow, I couldn’t quite bring myself to pity him. In hist final moments, perhaps he understood the pain he had caused, and that was enough.
A gust of wind swept through the clearing, lifting the necklace off the ground and carrying it up toward the sky, as if to deliver it to the heavens. I felt. a strange release, as if the weight of all that had bound me to this world had lifted at last. The sun grew warm over the grave, heating the air, and I could feel myself beginning to evaporate, to fade completely from the world of the living.
As I dissolved into the light, I whispered my final farewell, a soft breath carried in the wind.
“Goodbye, Alpha. Goodbye, my love.”
