"So you finally stopped bleeding for him."
My jaw tightened. “Just tell me you can help.”
"I can."
“Good. Make it convincing.”
"Done. You disappear now."
I cut the link and crushed the moonstone pendant used for communication, scattering its shards across the ground. Arwen of Silvermoon died tonight.
The plan was simple.
Levan—a gamma from an enemy’s pack, a wolf whose life I’d once dragged back from the brink—owed me more than a few blood debts. He secured everything I needed: a stolen travel wagon, forged runes of identity, and most importantly—a corpse.
The body belonged to a rogue female about my height and build. A nameless wolf who’d met a violent end in some border skirmish. Maybe I should’ve felt something.
But guilt is a luxury the hunted don’t get.
We drove toward the far edge of Silvermoon territory, to a forgotten cliff road where patrols rarely passed. Levan positioned the corpse in the driver’s seat, coated the wagon in oil, and pulled out a flint spark.
But before I disappeared from this world, there was one last thing I had to do.
One last call. To say goodbye. To him.
I pressed Alpha Brexon’s frequency rune. My heart thudded as the bond-stone pulsed.
Once. Twice. Then—
“The Alpha is busy,” a honey-slick voice purred.
My gut tightened. “Lyssa.”
Her laugh slithered straight down my spine. “Still clinging to hope?” she sighed. “Calling him one last time, praying he’d take you back? Pathetic.”
My jaw clenched. “Put him on, Lyssa.”
“Why?” she mocked sweetly. “So he can claw you again? Remind you of how great a disgrace to the Silvermoon Howlers you are?”
I swallowed hard, fingers digging into the rune stone. “Enjoy your victory while it lasts.”
“Oh, Arwen,” she giggled, “I already have.”
I stayed silent, breath sharp, pulse thundering.
Then she said something that ripped the air out of my lungs.
“Strange, isn’t it,” she mused, voice thick with amusement, “how your little pup died… when Orrin was never sick at all.”
My world tilted. “What did you say?” I whispered.
Her laughter was pure venom. “We made it all up,” she sang. “And your noble Alpha? He believed every word.”
I couldn’t breathe.
Nyra died… for nothing. Brexon gave her lifeblood to a boy who didn’t even need healing. They let my daughter die for a lie.
The call ended, her laughter echoing like a curse.