hapter 15
The third moonrise loomed, each heartbeat bringing Valdrin closer to the moment Ravenna should return. “Soon,” he promised Ash, though doubt poisoned his certainty. These three days had revealed an emptiness he’d never known existed a void he was powerless to fill.
“As midnight struck, desperation drove him to stalk the territory’s edges. He haunted their old paths the night markets where she’d traded, the meadow where she’d gathered herbs, the ancient oak where she’d first accepted his mate–bond. Each passing face held promise; each recognition brought fresh pain.
This wasn’t like the times before, when she’d returned swiftly to his side, drawn by their bond. No matter what form she’d worn then, her essence had called to him instantly.
Dawn found him at the healing den, exhausted and hollow. Winter flourished there, her color strong, moving with renewed grace. “Alpha, you came for me?” Her eyes brightened, but Valdrin barely saw! her, his gaze searching endlessly through the passing pack members.
“Alpha?” Winter’s hurt whisper barely registered as a familiar silhouette caught his eye. He lunged forward, hope burning. “Ravenna!”
The stranger’s startled rejection froze him in place. Not her. Never her.
Winter’s mother rushed to steady her daughter, fury in her eyes. “Have you lost your mind? She’s barely healed!”
“Mother,” Winter soothed, “he misses sister.”
“That heartless wolf?” Her mother’s words dripped venom. “Better she stays gone-”
Valdrin’s roar shook the stone walls to silence.
“Am I wrong?” she challenged, though fear edged her voice. “When has she shown any care for Winter? Cold, selfish beast that she is-”
“She’ll return.” Valdrin’s voice cracked, claws drawing blood from his palms. “She must.”
His raw desperation silenced even Winter’s mother.
Home brought only Ash’s hopeful question: “Mother?”
In Ravenna’s chamber, Valdrin found their mate bond portrait shattered in the waste bin, torn by
Lained & Soul Reborn
Chptet is
her own claws before she left. Understanding struck like a killing blow as he gathered the fragments with trembling hands.
Some bonds, once broken, could never be restored.
The Alpha’s
