The sterile, white-tiled hallway of the infirmary wing doesn’t feel like a place of healing right now. Beneath all the grief weighing the atmosphere down, this place now feels like a tomb. It has been three days since Morgan vanished into the shadows, leaving behind a trail of violet fire and a broken family.

Three days. Heidi’s feet are heavy, her heart even heavier. She leans into Darien’s side, whose arms are wrapped around her shoulders. He is trying to be her anchor, but she can feel the frantic skip of his pulse against her skin. He is just as terrified as she is.

"One mate is in a shroud, and another is a ghost," Heidi’s wolf whispers somberly. "We are losing them, Heidi. We are falling apart."

Heidi looks at Luna Rayne, and it physically hurts to see her. She looks like a woman hollowed out by a storm. Her eyes are bloodshot, her silk gown wrinkled and stained with grief. To lose Grayson to the grave and Morgan to the darkness in the same breath... It’s a cruelty the Goddess shouldn’t allow.

Beside her, Daphne and Isolde stand like statues of salt. Daphne’s eyes are red-rimmed, her usual sharp wit dulled into a daze. Heidi closes her eyes, but all she sees is the blood leaking from Morgan’s ears. She sees the way he looked at her—or rather, the way he didn’t look at her. Like she was a shadow. Like she was an obstacle.

Beside them, the silence is broken.

"If my daughter dies, Nash will reject you before the sun sets!"

The Beta’s wife, Lira’s mother, is screaming. Her face is blotchy red with anger as she looms over Isolde.

"I will not allow my son to be mated to a girl whose brother is a murderer!" the Beta’s wife bellows, her voice echoing off the ward doors. "Your family is a curse, Isolde! You are all poisoned! I should have never let Lira breathe the same air as the Bellamys!"

Isolde flinches, her face turning bone-white. She looks at Nash with pleading eyes. Nash steps between them and raises his hands in a desperate, shaking gesture.

"Mother, stop! Isolde didn’t do this! She loves Lira! We are all hurting!"

"Hurting?" the Beta’s wife laughs. It’s a high, hysterical sound. "You call this hurting? Your sister is behind those doors because a Bellamy decided she was a sacrifice! They are monsters, all of them!"

The Beta stands behind his wife, his jaw set in a hard, unforgiving line. He doesn’t stop her. He just stares at Amias with a look of cold, simmering hatred.

"Mom, but Isolde didn’t do this," Nash groans.

"I don’t care!" his mother wails, her voice echoing off the vaulted ceiling. "Look at them! Grayson is dead. Morgan is a demon. Tobias is a traitor. The Alpha’s family is a plague, Nash! I should never have let Lira get involved with them. I should have locked her away before she ever looked at a Bellamy!"

Isolde says nothing, but Heidi sees the way her bottom lip quivers. She loves Nash, but the weight of her brothers’ sins is being draped around her neck like a noose.

Valentina and Ace stand near the wall. Ace has his hand firmly on Valentina’s waist, anchoring her as she watches Heidi with eyes full of pity. Heidi hates that look. She hates that the world has turned into this pot of melancholy.

"The pack is eating itself," Heidi’s wolf whimpers. "Look at them. The bond is fraying. If Lira dies, the Beta and the Alpha will go to war."

Suddenly, the heavy double doors of the ward swing open. The head healer steps out. Her face is drawn and pale. They all rush forward chaotically. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

"Is she—?" Amias starts, his voice strangled.

The healer raises a hand, silencing the commotion. "She is awake. But... the damage to the skull and the internal hemorrhaging... we cannot help her wolf stop the decline. It is a matter of hours, not days."

A collective sob ripples through the hall. Lira’s mother collapses into her husband’s arms, her wails turning into guttural moans.

"She has requested to see you," the healer continues, her gaze shifting over them. "All of you. Together."

"Absolutely not!" the Beta’s wife shouts, blocking the door. "I will not let these people near her! They have done enough!"

"The Alpha’s family will stay back!" the Beta commands, his voice hard, his hand going to his hip where a blade usually sits.

Suddenly, a weak, wet cough sounds from behind the partially open door. It’s followed by a voice that sounds like grinding glass.

"Let... them... in."

It’s Lira.

"All of them," the voice insists, followed by another fit of coughing that sounds like someone drowning in their own lungs. "I want... them all... to hear."

The Beta’s wife looks ready to fight, but Nash places a firm hand on her arm. "It’s what she wants, Mom. Let’s go."

The ward is dimly lit, the only light coming from the various monitors chirping a slow, agonizing rhythm. Lira is buried under white sheets that make her look even smaller, even more fragile. Her head is wrapped in thick gauze, stained with a dark, spreading bloom of rust-colored blood. Her skin is the color of parchment and her lips are blue.

Even though Heidi has never seen eye-to-eye with Lira—even though she was often the thorn in her side and the woman who vied for the attention of the men Heidi loves—her heart breaks. No one deserves to look this withered. No one deserves to be a broken doll at the end of a tragedy.

"Come... closer," Lira whispers.

They gather around the bed. Amias is at the front with a blank expression, though Heidi can see his pulse jumping in his neck. This was his wife. This was his future.

Rayne reaches out to touch Lira’s hand, but Lira flinches away, her clouded and bloodshot eyes fixing on the Luna.

"Don’t," Lira wheezes. "You won’t... want to touch me... when I’m done."