Not a single mindlink reached me. Not even sending a word.
No “Are you healed, Luna?”
No, “Forgive us for the fire.”
Nothing. Not even false concern from those who once swore loyalty.
By the second night, I found myself holding my crystal communicator without purpose. Some part of my wolf still believed the Alpha or the Beta would reach out. Instead, what appeared were images.
Selene. She stood smiling in a new crimson gown, glowing beneath lantern light, pressed between Alden and Draven. Moonwine cups were lifted high. Her smile carried that same satisfied curve she always wore when she knew she had won.
“Grateful to Alden and Draven for the greatest nameday under the moon! I will treasure this always! Look at our new bond cords!!!”
I stared at the three identical woven cords that circled their wrists. And then I noticed that they no longer wore the old bond cords we once shared.
I turned the crystal communicator down and placed it beside the stone bed. Silence returned to the healing chamber. My heart beat slowly, but there was no pain now. Only a hollow space where it used to live.