No matter what it took.

Vera

“I told you we should have prepared her! Now neither of us is there, and she’s completely exposed, Eleanor. Do you understand what will happen if that witch gets hold of her? She can’t even summon her Wolf!”

“Shh! She’s waking up.”

“Vera? Oh, Vera, sweetheart. Can you hear me? Are you all right? How do you feel?”

I tried to answer, but my body would not obey me. Where was I? I could hear voices around me, clear enough to understand every word, yet I could not see the people speaking. My eyes felt open, but everything before me was covered in a strange haze.

“I don’t know where I am,” I managed to say. “I don’t know what happened.”

My own voice sounded distant. There was no pain. No fear, at least not at first. Instead, I felt incredibly light, almost weightless, like I had been lifted away from my own body and left floating somewhere beyond it.

Am I dead?

The thought came without warning. Was this what death felt like? Yet there was something strange about this place. It felt familiar. The voices felt familiar too, even though I could not put names to them.

I tried to move my arms, but nothing happened. I tried opening my eyes wider, yet the fog remained.

“Hello?” I called, not knowing who might hear me.

“Oh, Vera, sweetheart. Please don’t be frightened. We won’t hurt you. I’m your gr…”

“Don’t you dare, Mother!”

The sudden interruption made me turn towards the voice.

“We agreed this was for the best!”

“You agreed this was for the best!” another woman snapped. “Look at her! Do you have any idea what this kind of magic can do to her? She cannot even defend herself, for Moon’s sake!”

My confusion only grew. Who were these people? Why did they know my name?

“Vera, darling, listen to me carefully.” The woman who had first spoken to me sounded desperate now. “You are in terrible danger. Your entire pack is in danger too. You have to fight it. You can fight it. I will guide you.”

Something warm brushed against my fingers.

“Take my hand.”

I had no idea what was happening, but I trusted the voice. Slowly, I reached forward. I expected to feel one hand closing around mine, but instead, several hands touched me at once.

I could feel them. Every one of them. Their presence surrounded me, yet there was no fear in it. Somehow, I recognised them. I could not explain how, but each person felt familiar, almost like they belonged to a part of me I had forgotten.

How could that be possible?

My body seemed to grow lighter. Lighter and lighter. It felt like I was being pulled away from everything around me. My fingers seemed to disappear first, then my arms, then the rest of me.

“No…”

I wanted to hold on. I wanted answers. Before I could ask another question, the woman's voice reached me one final time.

“It is done, my child.”

Darkness took me again. Or at least, I thought it did.

When awareness returned, I was no longer surrounded by voices. I was somewhere else. Images appeared around me, one after another, yet I had no control over any of them. I felt like I was watching a play from somewhere beyond the stage. People moved, spoke and laughed, completely unaware of my presence.

I looked around. The clothes were old-fashioned. The buildings belonged to another time. Even the vehicles looked like they had come from a history book.

What was this? How could I possibly be seeing these things?

“Victor!”

A voice called from behind me. I turned quickly, expecting someone to finally notice me. Instead, a figure walked straight through me.

I stared after him in disbelief. He crossed the room and embraced a man wearing a black tuxedo.

“Master Ackley.”

The man in the tuxedo straightened and gave him a polite nod.

“Nonsense!” the other man replied with a laugh. “My close friends should never call me master. Are you on your way to the Grand Ball? Come with us. You can ride in my carriage with my wife and me.”

“You are too kind, my friend. I would gladly accept. It seems there may be a storm coming.”

The man glanced towards the sky. I looked up with them. The sky was perfectly clear. There was not a single cloud above us.

I lowered my gaze again. That was when I noticed Victor. He was staring directly at me.

My breath caught. He could see me. Couldn’t he? I lifted one hand and waved frantically.

“Can you see me?”

Victor did not answer. Instead, he gave the smallest shake of his head. Then he raised his hand.

The world around me changed.

In an instant, I was standing inside an enormous hall. Gold covered almost everything. Huge mirrors lined the walls, reflecting the brilliant chandeliers hanging from the impossibly high ceiling. Paintings filled every available space, while elegant statues stood between them.

The place was breathtaking. It looked too magnificent to be real.

I walked slowly through the hall, taking everything in. Then something caught my attention.

A painting.

I moved towards it. The image showed Jade Waterfall.

I knew that place. I had seen the waterfall countless times, yet there was something wrong with this painting. The real waterfall was at its most beautiful beneath a full moon. This painting showed it beneath a new moon.

There was no moonlight at all, yet the waterfall itself seemed to glow.

I stepped closer.

Why? Why had someone painted it this way?

“You always knew how to throw a party, Allen!”

A loud voice came from behind a closed door, followed by several bursts of laughter. I turned towards it. Curiosity pulled me forward. I placed my hand against the door. It opened.

I stepped inside. Nobody was there.

The room looked like an office. Shelves covered the walls, packed with more books than I could count. Two enormous fireplaces stood at opposite ends of the room, and an old wooden desk occupied the centre.

I knew that desk. My stomach dropped.

“This is Sofia’s desk.”

But how? Why would Sofia’s desk be here? I looked around again. Something had changed.

The grand hall outside was no longer beautiful. Dust covered everything. Spider webs hung from the walls and ceiling. The paintings were gone. The statues had disappeared. The golden decorations were either broken or buried beneath years of dirt.

What had happened? I rushed towards the door.

Night had already fallen outside. The darkness seemed impossible considering that only moments ago the hall had been bright and full of life.

I stepped through another doorway beside the office. A balcony appeared before me. I walked towards the railing and looked down.

The gardens that had once looked magnificent were now ruins. Broken structures littered the ground. Trees had been torn apart. Stone walls had collapsed. Nothing remained of the beauty I had seen before.

“What in the Goddess’s name happened here?”

I gripped the railing.

Now I understood one thing.

A war had happened here.

A long time ago.

I lowered myself onto the balcony floor, trying to make sense of everything. Maybe I really was dead. Perhaps my mind was creating all of this during my final moments, trying to make sense of whatever had happened to me.

Eli could have killed me. Maybe he had done it because I treated his wounds. Maybe it was because I was his protégé mate. I had no idea.

Then I thought of Noah. The moment his name entered my mind, the sadness became unbearable. They said losing your mate could be worse than death. They said a mate was not simply someone you loved. Losing one meant losing part of yourself.

I had never truly understood that.

Not until now.

I sank to the ground. Tears ran down my face as I struggled to breathe. My breathing became faster, and my head began to spin.

All I wanted was Noah.

I wanted to see him. I wanted to hear his voice. I wanted to be beside him.

Only a few days ago, I had questioned whether I even wanted him in my life. Now, the thought of living without him felt impossible.

I barely knew him. Yet somehow, I loved him. When I had been with him, I had never understood how strong our connection was. Now that we were apart, I could feel it more clearly than ever.

I needed him. I wanted him. I loved him.

Whatever had happened to me, whatever this strange place was, I refused to accept that it was the end. If I was dead, then I would find another way. If I was trapped somewhere between life and death, I would fight my way out.

I would find Noah again. No matter what it took.