FAZER LOGIN~RAELIYA~I held him and waited. The cave was quiet except for our breathing. His came first, ragged and desperate, then mine, matching it breath for breath. His body was warm now, alive in my arms, and I couldn't stop touching him, his face, his chest and his hands, making sure he was real and stayed."Raeliya." His voice was rough, barely a whisper. "Raeliya, I'm here.""I know." I pressed my forehead to his. "I know. I'm not letting go."He tried to sit up and I helped him, my arms around him, holding him steady. He looked around the cave, confusion in his eyes."The sickness?" He touched his chest. "It's gone. I can feel it. It's really gone."I nodded, tears streaming down my face. "The goddess was merciful. She gave you a new mark. You're free, Kaelric. Free of everything."He stared at me for a long moment. Then he pulled me close and held me like he'd never let go and we stayed like that until the moon began to set.Dante found us at the cave entrance as dawn broke.He stopped
~RAELIYA~Three weeks, that's how long we had to wait for the full moon.Three weeks of preparing, praying, and watching over his body. The hybrid elders kept him preserved with magic I didn't understand, his cold form lying on a bed of herbs and ancient symbols. I visited him every day, sat beside him, talked to him and told him everything I should have said when he could still hear me."I'm sorry," I whispered on the tenth night. "I'm so sorry I didn't listen. I'm sorry I let my pride keep me away. I'm sorry you died thinking I hated you."He didn't answer, he never did but I kept talking anyway.Dante found me there most nights. He never said much, just sat with me in silence, keeping vigil over the brother he'd failed and the woman he'd tried to protect. The guilt in his eyes matched my own.On the twentieth night, he finally spoke."The people confirmed the ritual. It's real and it’s possible." He paused. "But Raeliya, it comes with a price."I looked at him. "What price?""Blood
~KAELRIC~My scream didn't stop, it tore out of me, raw and endless, filling the cells, the corridor, and the valley above. Guards rushed in and hands reached for me, tried to pull me away from him. I fought them, clawing, kicking, and refusing to let go."Get away from him! Don't touch him!""Raeliya, please—""Get away!"Someone grabbed my arms, pinned them behind my back. Someone else lifted Kaelric's body from my lap. I watched them carry him out, his arm dangling, his face peaceful, and something inside me shattered completely."No. No, bring him back. Bring him back!"They held me as I screamed, as I fought, and as I fell apart piece by piece. Minutes passed, maybe hours, I don't know, time had stopped meaning anything.Eventually, the screaming stopped and the fighting stopped. I just sat there on the cold stone floor, staring at nothing, empty.Dante found me like that. He knelt in front of me, his face wet with tears I'd never seen him cry before. His hands reached for mine,
~RAELIYA~I didn't sleep that night. Dante's words played over and over in my head, a relentless loop I couldn't escape. “You need to see him. Before it's too late.” I tossed and turned, punched my pillow, stared at the ceiling until my eyes burned but nothing helped, nothing silenced the voice that kept asking what if.What if he was telling the truth?What if I was wrong?What if he died and I never knew?By dawn, I couldn't fight it anymore. I got dressed slowly, mechanically, my body moving while my mind raced. The walk to the cells felt longer than ever before and each step heavier than the last. The guards saw me coming and stepped aside without a word. They'd been expecting this, everyone had been expecting this except me.The corridor stretched before me, torchlight flickering against stone. I'd walked it once before, eight days ago, and turned back but this time I kept going until I got to the last cell, then I stopped.Through the bars, I could see him. He was slumped agains
~RAELIYA~Eight days passed since they threw him in the cell, I knew because I counted every single one and not that I cared, I didn't care. He was here because he chose to be here, because he walked into my people's territory and demanded to be locked up. That was on him, not me.I went about my days like nothing had changed, training in the mornings, pushing my body harder than ever, learning from the elders in the afternoons, absorbing centuries of hybrid knowledge and eating meals with my new family, laughing at their jokes, while pretending I was fine.At night, alone in my room, I stared at the ceiling and thought about him.He was dying, everyone said so. The guards who brought him food, the healers who checked on him, the gossip that traveled through like wind through trees. He was dying, and he was doing it in a cell because he wanted to be close to me.I told myself I didn't care but I knew I was lying.On the third day, I almost went to see him.I got dressed in the middle
~KAELRIC~I made my decision at dawn, Chase found me packing the few things I had left. He stood in the cave entrance, blocking the light, his face a mixture of confusion and concern."What are you doing?""I'm going down there."He moved closer, his voice urgent. "Kaelric, you can't. They'll kill you.""Maybe." I kept packing, not looking at him. "But she won't let them.""You don't know that."I stopped and turned to face him. "Yes, I do. She's angry and she's hurt but she's not cruel. She won't watch me die at the hands of her people."Chase stared at me, searching my face for something. Doubt, maybe or certainty."You're dying," he said finally. "You could spend your last days in comfort, with people who care about you. Instead, you choose a cell?"I thought about it, about dying alone in the pack, surrounded by wolves who pitied me, with nothing but memories of her face. I thought about dying here, close to her, even if she hated me."Yes," I said. "That's exactly what I choose."
~RAELIYA~ Distance is a strange thing.When you first decide to create it, it feels empowering. Like finally stepping out of a storm and shutting the door behind you. Quiet settles in. Peace follows.But then the echoes start.Every footstep you don’t hear.Every presence you no longer feel hoveri
~RAELIYA~ When Kaelric called it a mistake, something inside me went quiet.Not shattered.Not screaming.Just… quiet.I lay awake long after he left the living room, staring at the ceiling while the echoes of his voice replayed over and over. The way he’d said it wasn’t cruel. That almost made i
~RAELIYA~ Distance doesn’t weaken an Alpha.It exposes him.I learned that Kaelric stood beside me in public for the first time, not because he wanted to, but because the pack expected it.The council had called for a gathering at the eastern grounds. Nothing dramatic. Just reports, patrol rotati
~RAELIYA~ learned quickly that ignoring an Alpha was far more dangerous than confronting one.Not because Kaelric lashed out, he didn’t.But because he noticed.Every absence.Every missed glance.Every time I slipped past him like a ghost instead of a presence he could command.And it unsettled







