LOGINI lingered in the mortal world for a while longer.My anchor was Mira.She was placed with a good family.Her new mother was a mediator for the Clan Council. Calm. Patient. Steady as stone.Her new father was a healer. Gentle, warm, a little awkward in ways that made him honest.Mira was their only child.It took my little girl two full moons to settle.Two long, fragile cycles of fear and silence.Then—She laughed again.She ate with bright, eager hunger.She slept without trembling.She was young.Memories blurred.Pain softened.A full belly and sunlit days became her world.That was all I had ever wanted.I stayed close.An unseen shadow.A quiet presence.I watched her new mother wash her tiny clothes until they were spotless, folding each piece with care.In summer, she pressed cool cloths to Mira’s back.In winter, she wrapped her hands in soft mittens before she ever stepped outside.Her new father was… less graceful.He relied heavily on a thick, worn book titled Rearing the
On the day of my pyre, my body had been reassembled.The mortician was skilled.I looked… almost whole.For a moment, I studied the still figure laid out before the sacred flames.I had to admit—Death became me.I looked better than I had in years.No fear.No pain.No exhaustion carved into my bones.Just stillness.Peace.My parents came to see me off.Caden could not.Pack justice for killing Seraphina had been swift—and merciless.I noted the change in them.Their hair had gone completely grey.Their movements were slow, heavy—like wolves who had lived far too long.Not middle-aged.Ancient.“My dear girl…”Mother’s voice trembled as she looked down at my face, tears spilling endlessly.“I’ve come to beg your forgiveness.”“I made a terrible… terrible mistake.”Her hand shook as she wiped her tears.“After you were taken at five… I was lost.”“Every night, I howled for you. The pack feared I would go feral.”Her voice cracked.“Then we found Seraphina. She was… light. Warmth. Some
My family stood in the wrecked living room.No one spoke.No one moved.They looked like ghosts more than I did.I drifted closer.Mother’s lips were trembling, her voice barely audible as she whispered to herself.“No… Seraphina wouldn’t…”“She always spoke so kindly of Elena to Kael…”The words sounded fragile.Even she didn’t believe them.Father’s voice cut through the silence, hoarse and strained.“Where is Seraphina?”No one answered.A heavy, suffocating pause followed.Then Caden turned—And walked out.My parents followed, their movements stiff, uncoordinated, like sleepwalkers being pulled toward something inevitable.I went with them.The pull of this unraveling… I couldn’t look away.The pack infirmary was brightly lit, sterile, untouched by death.Seraphina was there.Alive.Unharmed.Safe.She had claimed “shock” and refused to leave.Of course she had.We entered her private room.She sat upright in bed, wrapped in soft blankets, sipping warm broth.Color had already ret
The Pack Enforcers found Kael barely alive.Caden had reached him first.My brother had beaten the Alpha-heir within an inch of his life.Another few minutes…Kael would have died where he stood.I drifted through what had once been my home.For the first time since my death, something inside me stilled.Mira was safe.She would not grow up under his shadow.She would not starve in silence.She was free.Days later, the Enforcers brought Kael back to the house to reconstruct the crime.He looked less like a man and more like something broken and discarded—his movements stiff, his face hollow.My parents were there.So was Caden.All under guard.Caden held a hunting knife.The moment he saw Kael, he lunged.Pure instinct.Pure rage.Two Enforcers intercepted him instantly, forcing him back.“Let me go!” he roared, voice tearing into something feral.“I’ll kill him!”Father looked decades older.His hand shook as he pointed at Kael.“You animal!” he roared, though the Alpha command in h
Screaming. Shrieking. Chaos.My mother’s piercing scream tore through the entire estate, dragging everyone toward the room.Footsteps thundered from every direction. Doors slammed open. Voices overlapped in confusion—until they saw the screen.Until they saw me.The pack house erupted.Seraphina, standing closest to the screen, went deathly pale—then collapsed instantly, her body crumpling to the floor.Caden staggered backward as if struck, crashing hard into a heavy oak table.Father’s face drained of all color. He swayed, barely able to remain standing.Mother…Mother simply broke.Her whole body trembled violently before her legs gave out beneath her. She hit the stone floor, hard—then began to crawl.A raw, animal sound tore from her throat.“Elena… Elena, what’s happened to you?”“No… no, this isn’t real… Elena!”It wasn’t just grief.It was denial clawing its way out of her chest.She dragged herself forward, inch by inch, toward the screen—toward the open freezer.She couldn’t
The following days fell into a grim routine.Kael became a nocturnal creature, disposing of me piece by piece across his vast territory.But even Kael couldn’t risk everything.But the city and the surrounding woods were watched by rival packs. It wasn’t easy. My head remained in the freezer.Back at the mansion, Mira obeyed.She never disobeyed him. Not once.She only came downstairs when Kael was gone.Each time, she moved the same way.She would stand in front of the basement freezer, her tiny hand pressed flat against the cold metal.Then she would run.She survived on whatever Kael left behind—dry cereal, sealed snacks, bottles of water abandoned on the stairs like scraps for a pet.The isolation would have broken a grown wolf. For a pup, it was a slow suffocation.And I could do nothing but watch.The pain inside me twisted into something deeper than grief—something that pulled at me, dragging my awareness away from the mansion.The last remnants of a pack bond that had never tru







