Page 105 of Fated
Lena looked toward the altar. “It’s not about me. It’s about them—this pack, this place.”
Jace rested an assured hand on her back. “They’re lucky to have you. So are we.”
For the first time in a week, Lena allowed herself to lean into the moment, to feel the solid presence of her family. The tightness around her ribcage loosened just enough to allow deeper breaths, her pulse steadying to a manageable rhythm despite the ache of every beat. For now, that would have to be enough.
The ritual grounds filled as the Bloodstone wolves and guests arrived, their movements solemn and subdued under the glow ofthe torches. Families clung together, their grief evident in every bowed head, in every whispered word of comfort. The air pulsed with shared suffering, a collective mourning that wrapped around the clearing like a shroud.
Tears threatened as Lena watched the gathered wolves, noting how they moved to support one another—hands resting on shoulders, arms interlocked in gestures of solidarity. Despite everything they’d endured, the pack’s strength remained unbroken in its unity.
A figure stood slightly apart among the crowd, his tall frame casting a long shadow in the flickering torchlight. Alpha Caleb. He held himself with quiet dignity, hazel eyes scanning the ritual grounds as though committing every detail to memory. He didn’t draw attention to himself, nor did he seem to expect recognition for being there. Yet his respect was apparent in the way he nodded solemnly to those who caught his eye, a silent acknowledgment of their loss.
Lena found herself observing him longer than she intended. Caleb’s head dipped to an elderly she-wolf who passed him, her shoulders shaking with sobs. He murmured something low, his voice lost in the swell of the crowd, but whatever he said eased her pain. She reached for his hand, squeezing it before moving on.
Gratitude swelled in Lena’s throat at the sight. Alpha Caleb stood as one of them tonight—a living embodiment of the invisible bonds between packs, of the implicit responsibility that all leaders shared to honor and protect all wolves.
A murmur of voices beside her drew Lena’s attention back to her family. Her father stood in quiet conversation with Cian as they watched the pack gather. The air in the clearing seemed to grow denser, charged with the significance of what was to come.
Lena straightened her shoulders, hands brushing over the edges of her jacket. As the gravity of the evening descended uponher, she readied herself for the ceremony that would honor the fallen and bring a flicker of peace to a grieving pack.
A hush settled over the gathered wolves as Alpha Darius stepped into the circle, leading the procession of the grieving families. The flickering torchlight painted his broad shoulders in shadow and flame, a solemn figure carrying the burden of the fallen and the pack’s hopes for healing.
The air thickened with collective grief making each breath labored. The soft crunch of feet on the sacred ground was the only sound breaking the stillness. Her gaze followed the procession, pausing on each family, cataloging their grief—their bowed heads and trembling hands as they walked toward the altar where the urns, lined carefully on the bloodstone surface, gleamed in the torchlight.
Heal their hearts, Lena prayed silently, fingers tightening into fists at her sides.Grant them strength.
Guilt crept into Lena’s chest as she watched the mourners. She had poured herself into their pain this past week, but couldn’t deny the sharp edge of her own.
I’m not sure what hurts most—Kai’s distance, or the sheer weight of standing here among lives forever altered?
The two seemed inseparable now—her fracturing mating bond and the pack’s grief twining together until she couldn’t distinguish where one ended and the other began.
She focused on Elias’s family approaching the altar. Lyric walked between her parents, hands clasped as though holding herself together. Talon’s broad frame shadowed her on one side, while Maris, her auburn hair showing the first kisses of silver, rested a gentle hand on Lyric’s arm.
Over the past week, Lena had grown close to the Gamma family, their quiet strength offering solace she hadn’t anticipated. A memory of Lyric’s trembling voice surfaced.
“It’s like he’s still here.” The young she-wolf’s whisper quivered with wonder. “Guiding me toward something...like he knows there’s still something I need to find.” Lena had squeezed her hand, her own voice steady despite the emotions building in her chest.“He’ll always be with you, Lyric. In your heart, in your memories. In everything you do.”
She blinked back the memory, exhaling through the pressure building in her throat as she watched Lyric and her parents step into place near the altar. Elias’s spirit endured here, in this sacred place, in the hearts of his family, and in the whispers of the pack. Lena closed her eyes as she sent another silent prayer to Selene:may they find peace in his memory.
As Lena opened her eyes, her gaze stilled on the last two figures entering the circle.
Kai.
And Ava.
The sight of them together sent her heart plummeting to the bottom of her stomach. Kai’s hand was braced low on Ava’s back as she leaned heavily into his arms, her tentative steps faltering. The sight burned into Lena’s mind, vivid and inescapable, as though the torches lining the circle cast an unrelenting spotlight on them.
Kai’s expression was a mask of calm as he supported Ava—intimately, protectively. Their contact felt personal, as though their connection had deepened in Lena’s absence.
Elara shifted in the back of her mind—the first strong movement from her wolf in days. A gentle pressure nudged against Lena’s thoughts, urging her to look closer.
“See his burden, not just his touch.”
Lena pushed her wolf’s insight away. The image of Kai in that hospital bed flashed before her—Ava’s bare form, save for her bandaged chest, draped over him, his arms wrapped protectively around her. She’d seen enough.
Did Kai use the tenderness we shared in Moonshadow to heal Ava with his touch?
The ruminations clawed at her heart. What she’d once believed sacred between them now twisted into something unrecognizable—their intimacy borrowed and given to another.
