Third Person’s POV

    Riley’s bodyy motionless upon the cold b of the surgical chamber. The harsh white blights /babove bmade /bher skin look even paler than the sheets beneath her, drained of every trace of warmth. The thin hospital gown was torn and stained, streaked with blood both scarlet and ck. Her lips were cracked, still btainted /bby the poison she had vomited in her final moments.

    When Carmen entered the room, her knees nearly buckled. The sight of Riley–once vibrant, once fierceb, /bonce stubbornly alive against all odds–reduced to a fragile corpse, gutted her soul.

    Her hands trembled as she reached out, brushing Riley’s hollow cheek with frozen fingertips. The touch was reverent, almost worshipful.

    “Riley…” Her voice rasped, the sound breaking like a bowstring. “You’ve left me. You really left me.”

    Her chest heaved, but no more tears came; she had already cried herself dry. She had nothing left but pain and fury.

    Yet even as her grief consumed her, the doors burst open.

    Lucien Duskgrave staggered in.

    The Alpha Prince of Stormridge, heir of the Duskgrave bloodline, was broken beyond recognition. His hands shook violently as he pushed his wheelchair forward, only to abandon it halfway and drag himself across the floor, his paralyzed legs scraping uselessly against the tiles. His wolf’s howl echoed in the silence, reverberating inside his chest, a desperate call to the mate lying lifeless before him.

    He gathered Riley into his arms, clutching her against his chest, his lips pressed to her bloodied hair.

    “No… no, Moon above, no!” Lucien’s voice shattered as he rocked her body. “Wake up, Riley! Please… you promised me. You promised to stay.”

    Then–something impossible happened.

    A faint glow began to emanate from Riley’s body. It shimmered like moonlight through fog, soft but undeniable. Lucien froze, his breath catching as his wolf surged forward.

    Mate!

    The voice of his wolf thundered inside his soul, louder, clearer than it had been in years. His curse shattered like ss. His blood burned with power as his wolf roared, calling for Riley, calling for their m

    to answer.

    But there was no response.

    Riley’s wolf did not stir. Her body glowed, yes, and the curse broke, yes–but she remained silent, lifeless

    in his arms.

    Lucien gasped as sensation returned to his legs. He was originally very powerful, but the Moon Goddess cursed him to not be able to find his destined mate. But now, he has found it, and his wolf nature has be even stronger. At this moment, his legs are healing rapidly. He stumbled to his feet, staggering as

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    bhe /bbrealized /bhe could stand again, walk again, bfight /bbagain/b.

    bYet /bbnone /bbof /bit mattered.

    bHe /bpressed desperate kisses against Riley’s cold skin–her eyelids, her nose, her lips–trying bto /bbcoax /blife back into her. “Breathe, Riley. Just breathe, damn you! Come back to me! Don’t leave me here balonel /b

    But she did not move. Her chest did not rise. Her lips stayed cold.

    Lucien howled, a sound so raw and primal that the walls themselves seemed to tremble. The grief of ban /bAlpha whose mate had been stolen was the most terrible sound in the world.

    Carmen copsed to the ground, covering her cars, her own wolf wailing in unison with Lucien’sb. /bHer heart cracked open as she watched Riley remain unresponsive.

    Mia, the old housekeeper who had loved Riley like her own, knelt beside Carmen and wrapped her barms /baround the trembling girl. “Hush now… child. Don’t shatter yourself. Riley wouldn’t want that…” Her voice quivered, but she held Carmen tightly as though to keep her from breaking apart entirely.

    Momentster, Matriarch Duskgrave herself entered, her noble figure trembling with grief, tears streaming down her face. Lady Seraphina Duskgrave and Mrs. Beck followed close behind, each pale and broken.

    They had truly loved Riley–loved her for her spirit, her kindness, her unyielding strength. And now, seeing her gone, they mourned as though their own blood had been stolen from them.

    “My granddaughter…” Matriarch Duskgrave whispered, her voice as fragile as winter wind. She reached for Riley’s still hand but faltered, unable to bear the cold of it.

    Carmen, holding herself steady only through fury, lowered her head. Inside, a vow etched itself into her soul, carved deep as a scar.

    Elira ckthorn. Caden Wilson.

    You will die for this.

    If Riley was gone, if Lucien’s soul was torn apart, then Carmen would carry the burden of vengeance. She would hunt them both, rip them apart piece by piece, andy their blood at Riley’s grave.

    -As dawn broke, the funeral rites of the Stormridge Packmenced.

    By ancient custom, a wolf who died in tragedy was given to the Moon through a sacred ritual of fire and earth, their bodies burned so that their spirits might run free under the Moon’s eternal light.

    Lucien resisted with all his might, refusing to let Riley’s body go. “She is mine! You will not take her fro me!” he snarled, clutching her to his chest like a beast guarding his kill. His eyes were bloodshot, his bteeth /bbared, the Alpha power in him wild and unstable.

    But Duke knelt before him, his own tears staining his cheeks. “Alpha… please. It is her right. She belongs to the Moon now.”

    Caelum Knox stood at his side, his hand firm on Lucien’s shoulder. “This is the way of our kind. If you her, let her run free beneath the Moon’s gaze. Denying her will only chain her spirit.”

    love

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    bLucien /bbtrembled/b, bhis /bbbreath /bbbreaking /binto sobs. Finallyb, /bwith a sound bthat /bbwas /bbneither /bbhuman /bbor /bwolf i bsomething /bbroken in between, he let them pry Riley from his arms,

    Her bodyb, /bpale and bfragile/bb, /bbwas /bced upon the funeral bier and wheeled toward bthe /bsacred bgrounds/b. The bpack /bbbowed /btheir heads as bshe /bwas taken away.

    Lucien copsed to his knees, his hands wing the earth, his throat raw from screaming her bname/bb. /b

    The bier reached the secluded ce of the Moonlit Pyre, deep within the woods where no outsiders bdared /bto tread. The pack waited outside as the priests prepared the rites.

    And then-

    In the hush, in the shadows unseen, a flicker of darkness moved.

    A shadow slipped between trees, faster than any eye could follow. The bier was left unattended for only ba /bheartbeat… but when the priests returned, Riley’s body was gone.

    Vanished.

    The biery empty, the air tinged with the faintest scent of smoke and shadow.

    None of the pack knew.

    None of them saw.

    The Alpha Prince still knelt in grief, unaware.

    But somewhere, beyond their sight, Riley had been taken.

    By who–or by what–none could say.

    Only the Moon bore witness.

    And the story of Riley was not yet finished.