Chapter 5

"Search everywhere, now!" Ethan commanded into his phone, his voice cold and hard. "Notify all the surrounding packs. Anyone who dares to shelter Freya will be considered an enemy of the Blood Moon pack!"

"Yes, Alpha," replied his most trusted Beta, Marcus.

After hanging up, Ethan turned to Caleb and Noah. "You two split up and check our businesses and territories. She's holed up somewhere, waiting for us to come crawling back."

"What a pain," Caleb scowled. "She acts like her healing powers give her a free pass to be a brat. Nothing like Lily, who's so obedient and sweet."

"I'll take the North and East sectors," Noah said, adjusting his cuffs with a sneer. "She'd better pray I'm not the one who finds her first."

Obedient and sweet?

I remembered after our parents died, how I would cry silently into my pillow every night, trying not to worry my brothers. Caleb found me once. He stroked my hair and told me, "We'll do anything for you, little sister. You never have to learn to be 'obedient'."

But everything was different now.

Including my healing powers.

They didn't know that I had lost my healing abilities the very same month Ethan became Alpha. Our father's sudden death had left the Blood Moon pack vulnerable, with rival packs circling like vultures. Ethan's position was unstable. I saw how my brothers struggled day and night to hold everything together.

I wanted to help.

So I sacrificed my healing powers to the Moon Goddess in exchange for the pack's good fortune, to secure Ethan's position as Alpha. The ritual was excruciating, like having my heart carved out piece by piece. But I endured it.

After that, the Blood Moon pack stabilized. I watched it happen with a secret pride. I never told them. I didn't want them to feel guilty. When they asked why I never used my powers anymore, I'd just say I was tired. Even my own wounds now had to heal slowly, over time.

They never noticed.

How ironic. The very power they thought was protecting me had been sacrificed to protect them.

Caleb and Noah rushed off, leaving only Ethan and Lily in the vast hall.

"Ethan…" Lily's voice was a soft, tearful whisper. "If… if I'm the reason Freya won't come back…" She bit her lip, a tear tracing a path down her cheek. "Then I should be the one to leave. I don't want to be the reason you and your sister are fighting."

She made a show of turning to leave.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Ethan grabbed her arm, his eyes filled with a pained tenderness. "This has nothing to do with you. It's Freya. She's the one with the twisted heart, consumed by jealousy."

"Don't worry," he continued, "when she comes back, I'll make sure she treats you right. Or else…"

"She'll no longer be my sister!"

Hearing those words again, I found they no longer cut me like a knife. Perhaps being a ghost had numbed me.

Though he couldn't hear me, I whispered, "If I had a choice, I wouldn't want to be your sister anymore, either."

Just then, Ethan's phone rang. It was Marcus. His voice was frantic. "Something terrible has happened!"

"What is it? Did you find Freya?"

"No… it's the Wolf Stone!" Marcus's voice trembled. "The stone that symbolizes the luck of our pack—it's suddenly gone dim!"

"What?!" Ethan's face drained of color.

The Wolf Stone was the most sacred relic of every pack, a symbol of its fortune and prosperity. It only dimmed when the pack faced a grave crisis, or when it lost something—or someone—of vital importance.

"And there's more!" Marcus continued. "Chaos is erupting all over our territory. Families are fighting in the North, our businesses in the East are under attack by an unknown force, and in the South… three of our own went feral and attacked civilians!"

"How…" Ethan's usual composure was gone. "Why is this all happening at once?"

"We don't know, Alpha," Marcus sounded baffled. "But we've checked the timelines. It all seems to have started… right around the time Miss Freya disappeared."

"Alpha," Marcus hesitated, then asked carefully, "Are you sure Miss Freya is just… missing? Is it possible that… something actually happened to her?"

That question struck Ethan like a bolt of lightning. His face went bone-white.

He finally seemed to remember the mind link he had so carelessly discarded. He clutched his chest, closing his eyes, desperately reaching for the connection that should have been there.

There was nothing. A dead, silent void.

I watched his panicked expression and laughed a hollow, soundless laugh.

It's no use. I'm dead. Of course I can't answer you.

"No… impossible…" Ethan muttered, his voice trembling.

"Ethan?" Lily looked at him with concern. "What's wrong?"

Ethan didn't answer. He just suddenly turned and sprinted back toward the dungeons. The ever-composed, authoritative Alpha was now sprinting with a wild desperation, stumbling like a man possessed.

My spirit followed him to the dungeon entrance.

Just in time to see my body being consumed by the flames of the incinerator, turning to ash.