Chapter 4

"Impossible…" My fingers shook as I kept searching.

Ethan came over and gently placed his hands on my shoulders. "Lily, the pressure of trying for a pup… it's been affecting you. Creating fantasies."

I shoved his hands away and ran out of the tavern.

Back to the shrine. Find the Seer. Find the acolyte.

They have to remember.

I burst into the infirmary wing. The acolyte was helping an elderly she-wolf with a healing poultice.

I grabbed her sleeve. "You. You remember me."

She jumped, looking at me with blank politeness. "Luna? Have we met?"

"Of course we have! This morning, you took remembrance images with me—"

She thought for a moment, then shook her head, cutting me off. "I've been in the herbarium all morning, Luna, preparing remedies. I haven't been to the Blessing Chambers. Are you here for a fertility reading?"

The world tilted.

"The Seer, then! The woman who did my scrying!"

The acolyte checked a wax tablet. "The only Seer on duty today is Elder Corvus. He's male. There have been no female Seers in the Chambers today."

A roaring sound filled my ears.

A she-wolf waiting nearby whispered to her companion, just loud enough. "Is she touched in the head?"

"Desperation can do that. My cousin's mate couldn't conceive, started claiming she was having phantom pregnancies…"

"But her belly is flat…"

I fled to the washroom. I stood before the polished metal mirror, hauled my tunic up.

Smooth skin. As if the last seven moons had never happened.

I slid down the wall onto the cold floor, mind empty.

No. There has to be something. A piece I'm missing.

My communication rune buzzed. My mother.

I scrambled to answer.

"Lily, did the patrol deliver the venison?"

I swallowed, a fragile hope blooming. "Mom… you remember I'm carrying, right?"

Silence on the other end for two beats. Then, confused concern. "Carrying? You and Ethan are still trying, aren't you? You haven't been blessed yet."

My hand holding the rune began to shake violently.

"Mom, I sent you sketches yesterday. My belly."

Her voice grew more worried. "No, honey, you didn't. The last time you pulsed me was to ask for the venison. That's all."

I pulled up our mind-link log. The image transfers were gone.

"Lily, are you overtired? Don't push yourself so hard. A pup will come when the Moon wills it…"

Sitting on the floor, a deep, penetrating cold seeped into my bones.

Was I destined to relive this nightmare? Trapped in the same cruel design?

No. I will not just lie down.

I splashed water on my face and walked out. Immediately, I heard raised voices.

"That's her, the one causing the disturbance…"

"Fetch the Enforcers. Her mind is clearly unwell…"

I followed the sound.

A small crowd had gathered near the Blessing Chambers. At its center, Ethan was speaking calmly to a senior Healer. He saw me and hurried over.

"Lily, where did you go? I was searching everywhere."

I looked at him.

My mate of five years. Always gentle, always caring.

Now, his eyes held only deep concern and a patient, aching pity.

I held his gaze. "Ethan. Tell me the truth. You truly don't remember the Blessing? The pup?"

He sighed, reaching for my hand. "My heart, let's go home. You need rest."

"Answer me!"

He hesitated. A flicker of something—not memory, but resolve—in his eyes.

"Lily. You are not pregnant."

I closed my eyes. Of course.

"Luna, you are disrupting the sacred peace." Two Pack Enforcers in leathers approached. "You must leave the shrine. Now."

I took a step back.

Everyone was staring. Whispers slithered through the air.

"Such a shame, she was pretty…"

"I've seen this before. They end up in the isolation caves…"

"Poor Alpha, tied to a broken mate…"

Ethan stepped forward, addressing the Enforcers. "My apologies. My Luna is unwell. I will take her home."

He took my wrist, his grip firm, and began leading me away. I moved like a puppet.

Just then, something on the wall caught my eye.

A large lunar calendar hung in the main hall—etched stone, updated daily with the moon’s cycle.

I stopped dead.

My fingers shot out, grabbing the sleeve of a passing acolyte. My voice trembled.

“That… the date on it… is it accurate?”

She startled at my grip, eyes widening. “Y-Yes, Luna. It’s updated by the Grand Seer every day. Why?”

My breath hitched.

So that was it.

I finally understood!

It wasn’t that my pup had disappeared without a trace!