Morning arrived with golden sunlight spilling through the tall windows of the Alpha Lodge.
The celebration from the night before had faded into routine.
Wolves moved through the halls with renewed purpose, greeting one another with smiles and respectful bows.
Their Alpha had won.
Their future King had proven himself.
Everything should have felt complete.
Yet for Calix…
Everything felt painfully incomplete.
Calix sat across from his father at the long breakfast table.
The polished oak was covered with roasted meats, fresh bread, berries, and warm tea.
Veyl looked…
different.
For perhaps the first time in Calix’s life, his father smiled without criticism hidden behind it.
“You fought well yesterday,” Veyl said, cutting into his meal.
“Better than I expected.”
Calix inclined his head politely.
“Thank you, Father.”
Veyl nodded with visible satisfaction.
“The council is pleased.
The warriors respect you.
The border Alphas have already begun sending congratulations.”
He reached across the table and rested a firm hand on Calix’s shoulder.
A simple gesture.
One Calix had secretly wished for as a child.
Years ago…
He would have treasured that touch.
He would have believed it meant his father was finally proud of him.
Now…
It felt strangely empty.
He smiled because he was expected to.
Inside…
He felt nothing.
His thoughts drifted elsewhere.
To a quiet mountain spring.
To silver moonlight.
To gentle hands weaving a leather band with careful fingers.
To soft laughter that had made even silence feel alive.
His gaze unconsciously wandered toward the empty chair across the room.
She should have been somewhere nearby.
Even if not beside him…
She should have existed somewhere within his world.
Instead…
There was only absence.
Veyl continued speaking.
“The western patrols will report this afternoon.”
“There is also the matter of your coronation.”
“The council wishes to announce—”
Calix heard the words.
Yet none of them stayed.
Every sentence dissolved beneath one question.
Where are you?
Breakfast eventually came to an end.
Veyl rose first.
“You’ve earned this victory, my son.”
There was approval in his voice.
Respect.
Everything Calix had once fought to earn.
“Rest while you can,” Veyl continued.
“Soon the responsibilities of an Alpha will leave little room for peace.”
Calix stood respectfully.
“I understand.”
His father gave one final nod before leaving the hall.
The heavy doors closed behind him.
Silence settled over the room.
Calix remained standing for only a heartbeat before turning toward one of the nearby guards.
“Guard.”
The wolf immediately stepped forward.
“My Alpha.”
Calix’s emerald eyes were sharp with restrained worry.
“I need you to find someone.”
The guard’s heartbeat faltered.
Just for a moment.
Because fate had played a cruel joke.
It was him.
The very guard who had escorted the young woman to the portal the previous night.
The same guard who had watched her disappear into the human world under the King’s direct orders.
His face betrayed nothing.
Years of discipline kept every emotion hidden.
“Who should I search for, Alpha?”
Calix’s voice softened.
“My mate.”
The words carried a quiet certainty now.
No hesitation.
No fear.
“Her home.”
“Our meeting places.”
“No one has seen her.”
A painful silence followed.
“If you find any trace of her…”
Calix swallowed.
“Tell me immediately.”
The guard lowered his head.
“As you command, Alpha.”
He turned and walked away.
Each step felt heavier than the last.
Because he already knew the truth.
And he could never speak it.
Later…
Calix stood alone inside his chambers.
The room felt unbearably quiet.
Almost instinctively, his fingers drifted toward the braided leather band wrapped securely around his wrist.
Your gift.
The one you had placed in his hands beneath the moonlight before his Alpha Trial.
“For your luck tomorrow.”
His thumb traced every careful braid.
Every tiny imperfection made by your hands.
It wasn’t an Alpha’s ceremonial band.
It was something far more precious.
A promise.
A memory.
A piece of you.
His composure finally cracked.
Closing his eyes, he lifted the band to his lips and kissed it gently.
A single tear escaped before another quickly followed.
“I love…”
His voice broke.
He took a slow, shaking breath before whispering into the empty room,
“I’ll find you.”
His grip tightened around the band.
“No matter where you are.”
“No matter how long it takes.”
“I’ll find you.”
Outside his chamber, the Alpha Lodge carried on as though nothing had changed.
Inside…
A newly crowned Alpha mourned someone the world believed had simply disappeared.
And somewhere beyond the hidden boundary between worlds…
The mate his wolf still called for was farther away than he could possibly imagine.
**
The house had never felt so empty.
Nothing had changed.
The fire still burned quietly in the stone hearth.
Lira still prepared meals every morning.
Kael still repaired the fence outside whenever his hands needed something to do.
Oria still watered the small flowers by the window.
Everything looked normal.
Everything felt wrong.
Because one chair remained empty.
No cheerful voice filled the rooms.
No laughter drifted through the halls.
The silence had become another member of the family.
One they could neither welcome nor drive away.
Kael slammed another piece of firewood onto the chopping block.
Crack!
The log split cleanly in two.
Again.
Crack!
Another.
His breathing grew heavier with each swing.
Every strike carried frustration.
Helplessness.
Guilt.
Finally—
He threw the axe aside.
“I can’t do this anymore.”
His voice echoed through the small house.
Lira looked up from the kitchen.
Oria froze in the middle of folding blankets.
Kael ran both hands through his hair, pacing across the room like a wolf trapped inside a cage.
“Every day…”
He laughed bitterly.
“Every single day that boy looks at me hoping I’ll tell him something.”
His jaw tightened.
“He asks if I’ve seen her.”
“He searches the mountains.”
“The forest.”
“The river.”
“He barely sleeps.” New chapters come out on g.com first.
Kael’s fists trembled.
“And I lie.”
His voice cracked.
“I look him in the eyes…”
“…and I lie.”
Lira crossed the room and gently caught his wrist before he could march toward the door.
“Kael.”
“No.”
He pulled away.
“I’m going to tell him.”
“He deserves the truth.”
“He deserves to know what his father did.”
Before he could take another step, Oria stood in front of the door.
Her eyes were swollen from crying.
But she didn’t move.
“No.”
Kael stared at her in disbelief.
“Oria…”
“Move.”
She slowly shook her head.
“No.”
Lira joined her beside the doorway.
The two women stood together.
Not against him.
Against what desperation was trying to make him do.
Lira’s voice was barely above a whisper.
“Do you remember what she asked us?”
Kael closed his eyes.
Of course he remembered.
“Please…
don’t let them hurt you.”
“Promise me.”
The memory cut deeper than any claw.
“She chose this,” Lira continued, tears gathering in her eyes.
“Not because she wanted to leave…”
“…but because she wanted us to live.”
Kael looked away.
“I know.”
His voice was hoarse.
“I know…”
“But every time Calix looks at me…”
“It feels like I’m betraying both of them.”
No one answered.
Because they all felt the same.
The silence stretched until Oria suddenly covered her face.
A quiet sob escaped before she quickly wiped her tears away.
When she looked up again…
Something had changed.
The grief was still there.
But behind it…
Determination.
“I can’t keep watching this.”
Her voice shook.
“But I won’t break my promise either.”
Kael frowned.
“What are you saying?”
She took a slow breath.
“I’ll find another way.”
Lira looked at her.
“What way?”
“I don’t know yet.”
Oria laughed weakly through her tears.
“But I’ll think of something.”
Something that wouldn’t break the promise.
Something that wouldn’t put anyone in danger.
Something that would let Calix discover the truth…
Without them ever speaking it aloud.
She wiped the last tears from her cheeks and repeated, more firmly this time,
“I’ll tell him.”
“My way.”
“Crooked…”
A faint, determined smile appeared despite the pain.
“…or uncrooked.”
“I don’t care how.”
“I’ll find a way.”
Kael looked at the young woman with a mixture of pride and sorrow.
Lira reached over and pulled Oria into a tight embrace.
A moment later…
Kael joined them.
The three stood together in the middle of the quiet house.
Holding one another.
Trying to carry the unbearable weight of a promise made to someone they loved.
Outside, the wind rustled through the trees.
Far away, their Alpha continued searching for the woman he loved.
And inside the little house that had once been filled with her laughter…
Three broken hearts silently prayed that one day, somehow…
The truth would find its way back to him.