Chapter 27
When clarity returned, warmth flooded his hands. Winter’s heart – Ravenna’s heart – lay exposed before him. The sight transported him back to that fatal ritual day.
“Alpha, shall we proceed with the transfer?” the healer had asked.
“No!” His voice cracked. “Never!”
This heart belonged to Ravenna. He had to return it to her. But looking around frantically, she was
nowhere to be found.
He stumbled up, cradling the heart, desperate to find her.
The pack guards found him collapsed in the snow that night, crimson staining the white ground.
Winter’s father lay paralyzed by shock, her mother lost to hysteria.
The investigation revealed the truth of the forced heart ritual, sending shockwaves through all
territories.
Cyrene learned of it three days later. She’d shut herself away from all news of her past life, trying to move forward. But her new father told her how Winter’s pack had crumbled.
After Valdrin’s arrest, the truth of trading one daughter’s life for another couldn’t stay hidden. Their healing den closed, all involved were imprisoned.
Their pack lost everything. Winter’s father, too late to treatment, lay half–paralyzed, dependent on others for basic needs. Her mother went mad, clutching Ravenna’s
portrait endlessly.
Sweet, motherless now, was taken by her father to distant lands.
Valdrin, diagnosed with moon–madness, was confined to the healers‘ isolation den. The
once–brilliant Alpha reduced to a broken shell, subject of endless whispers.
When Cyrene visited, she found him gaunt and shorn, a shadow of his former self. His scattered
gaze focused on her briefly: “You look like someone I knew.”
“Who?”
“My mate. But I destroyed her. She’ll never forgive me. Never…”
The Aljalia’s Soilasi pinto Luna
laimed. A Soul Reborn.
He dissolved into broken laughter and tears.
As Cyrene left, she thought: Let our eight years of pain end here. I release my hatred. Forget me, as 1 forget you. Let us both begin anew.
She visited the pup sanctuary where young Ash now lived. After arranging a generous donation, she watched from above as he sat alone, drawing.
“He’ll adjust,” the caretaker assured her. “We have experience with traumatized pups.
Below, other pups approached Ash: “What are you drawing? Can we join?”
Once, he would have refused. Now, he hesitated, then nodded.
“My pack will support the sanctuary,” Cyrene said softly. “I’ll check on him sometimes. Care for him well.”
“Won’t you see him?” the caretaker asked as she left.
Cyrene shook her head.
Some wounds were better left untouched. Seeing Ash find his way was enough of a balm for her
heart.
Time would carry them all forward on different paths now. Let the seasons turn, let the moons pass,
let healing come as it may.
