CHAPTER 29: UNKNOWN CHAINS

The more Julian tried to hold on, the more I felt him slipping like his soul was reaching for something it could never grasp again. His desperation bled through the pack link, raw and trembling, until it shattered completely.

I could feel it the snap of our bond right as my spirit burst free into the night sky. For one fleeting second, I burned bright against the darkness like a shooting star across the moonlit clouds. Then... nothing. Silence.

I was gone.

The bracelet around his wrist the one I’d tied there when we first sealed our bond broke with a sharp crack. The beads scattered across the snowy ground, bouncing like tiny moons before disappearing into the frost. Just like us.

Julian stood there, frozen. His eyes were hollow, wide with disbelief. He looked at the empty air where I had stood, his breath uneven, his wolf scent filled with grief and confusion.

Then, without warning, he ran toward the statue toward me.

But his legs gave out halfway there. His body dropped into the snow, the sound of his knees hitting the ground sharp and final. Still, he crawled forward, dragging himself across the frozen earth with trembling hands.

"Elena!" His voice tore through the air, rough and broken. "Please, come back! Don’t leave me again! Look at me!"

Only he could see me. Only he could feel the faint trace of our bond lingering in the cold air. To everyone else, he looked like a man who had finally lost his mind a wolf broken beyond repair, calling out to nothing.

Alpha James rushed over, his heavy steps crunching in the snow. "Julian! What are you doing?"

Julian turned to face him, wild-eyed and trembling. "Dad... she was here. I saw her! She looked at me she spoke to me!" His voice cracked. "She said her biggest regret was meeting me."

The old Alpha’s expression faltered. He looked between his son and the empty space, torn between disbelief and fear. "Julian... there’s no one there. You’re grieving. You’re seeing things that aren’t real."

A patrol wolf stepped closer, his tone careful but firm. "Alpha, we need to secure the statue. It contains remains. Please, step back."

But Julian didn’t move.

He grabbed the base of the statue with both hands, pressing his forehead against the cold stone. His voice was a low, trembling growl. "No! You can’t take her! She’s mine! She’s my mate!"

The words echoed through the clearing, trembling with heartbreak. Every wolf present felt the weight of them through the pack link that raw pain that only comes when a bond is torn apart by death.

My mother’s cry broke the silence next. Her body crumpled in my brother’s arms as he caught her. Nolan tried to steady her, his own eyes wide and unfocused, his wolf scent thick with confusion. He didn’t understand how could he? None of them did.

Even my father cold, distant Alpha that he was stepped forward with shaking hands. He looked up at the statue, his gaze tracing the familiar lines of my face carved into stone. His voice came out hoarse. "My daughter... how could this be? How could my Elena truly be gone?"

He didn’t roar. He didn’t rage. His grief came out quiet the kind that breaks slower, deeper.

Then, suddenly crack!

The sound cut through the air.

All heads turned toward Julian. He knelt at the base of the statue, motionless, his head bowed. The snow around him was streaked with tears and melted ice. The once-strong Alpha looked... small. Broken.

Behind him, Vicky stood frozen, her hands pressed over her mouth. She had never liked me much always watched from a distance, pretending not to care but now, her face was pale, her eyes wide with horror. "W-who could do something so cruel?" she whispered.

But the one who looked the most destroyed was Jeffrey.

The color drained from Jeffrey’s face until he looked almost ghostly beneath the cold moonlight. The old wolf once proud, steady, the kind of male who’d never shown weakness before his pack now stood trembling. His cane shook in his grasp, his shoulders sagged, and his Beta rushed to steady him before he collapsed.

His voice cracked, low and broken. "My... Elena..."

The air was thick with grief. Every wolf in the clearing could feel it a weight pressing against our chests, a shared ache that rippled through the pack bond. Even the wind went still, as if mourning with us.

Off to the side, forgotten by most, Lewis sat motionless in his chair. The Alpha’s heir the man the others whispered about but never dared approach. His expression was unreadable, carved from stone, yet his hands told another story. His fists were clenched so tight his claws had pierced through his palms. Dark blood dripped slowly, staining the snow beneath him a deep, haunting red.

He didn’t even flinch. Didn’t notice the pain.

Because he’d seen me.

Through the falling snow, his sharp eyes had followed my spirit me in that thin white dress, the same one I’d worn the night I was supposed to take my vows. I’d appeared as I had at seventeen soft, gentle, untouched by time. But I hadn’t looked at him. I hadn’t smiled. And then... I vanished.

Just like before.

Lewis’s jaw tightened. I could feel his instincts fighting inside him the urge to chase the ghost of what he’d lost, the Alpha within him straining against the reality that she was gone. His fingers twitched as if reaching out for something he could never touch again.

Then, a sound tore through the silence a raw, primal scream.

My mother.

She’d just come to, and the moment her mind caught up with the truth, her wolf’s grief erupted. Her cries were wild and heart-wrenching, echoing through the cold night. She stumbled forward, falling to her knees before the statue that had hidden my remains, her claws digging into the frozen ground.

Julian’s voice joined hers an agonized howl that split the air, raw and desperate. The sound of a wolf mourning his mate. His pain clawed through the air, thick and heavy, and even the strongest of wolves couldn’t look away.

The pack was chaos. Shouts. Sobs. Trembling bodies. The truth had struck harder than any battle wound.

And then crack.

The sharp, echoing sound cut through everything.

Before anyone could react, the statue the one that had held my body, my secrets, my story split right down the middle. The noise was deafening, like thunder rolling through the heart of the pack. Then came the crash.

Stone shattered into countless pieces, scattering across the snow. Dust rose like smoke, mixing with the cold air. For a heartbeat, no one moved.

It was as if my body had broken apart all over again only this time, they all had to watch it happen.

One shard a sharp, uneven piece still glistening with snow landed right at Camilla’s feet.

She froze.

Her eyes locked onto it, and in that instant, all the color drained from her face. Her wolf scent changed fear, sharp and sour. Her legs gave out beneath her, and she crumpled onto the snow, trembling.

For the first time since I’d known her, the proud Luna mask she always wore the calm, the grace, the control was gone.

What stared back at the statue’s remains wasn’t a Luna anymore. It was a frightened wolf.

And for the first time... I saw it clearly.

She was terrified. Completely. Truly. Terrified.