CHAPTER 115: CHAPTER 115

Chapter 115

Kaeleen’s POV

The sight of Elara, her usual serene composure shattered into a million pieces of raw panic, confirmed the depth of the abyss we had just fallen into. Her eyes, ancient and wise, were wide with a terror that mirrored my own.

"Oh no," she breathed, the words a ghost of a sound in the cold night air. She rushed towards me, her gaze fixed on Astrid’s still, pale face. "By the Goddess, Kaeleen, what is she doing outside the gate? Why did you let her leave?"

The accusation, though born of fear, struck a nerve. "I didn’t let her do anything!" I snarled, my voice a low, dangerous rumble. My own guilt and fear were coiling into rage, and I needed a target. "I just got here and she...she collapsed."

My mind was a storm of confusion. Alex’s call about Rebecca, Lila’s story about a different call from Alex, my ambush, Astrid’s collapse, the pieces didn’t fit. They were from different puzzles, forced together into a mosaic of chaos. But none of that mattered now. All that mattered was the cold, limp weight of my mate in my arms.

Her skin was like ice. Her breathing was so shallow I could barely feel the rise and fall of her chest against my own. I thought back to the last few days, seeing her through a haze of my own exhaustion and focusing on the pack-wide crisis. I saw her, really saw her for the first time in my memory, the deep, purple shadows under her eyes she tried to hide with a smile, the slight tremor in her hands she’d pass off as a chill, the way she’d look at me with an ocean of unspoken words in her eyes before turning away.

I had seen it all. And I had done nothing.

I had been so consumed with protecting the pack from the enemy outside that I had failed to see the one festering right beside me. I had failed to protect her. The realization was a shard of ice in my gut, twisting with a pain far sharper than my broken ribs.

"We have to get her inside. Now!" Elara’s voice cut through my thoughts, sharp and commanding. She placed a hand on Astrid’s forehead, and a flicker of green energy, faint and weak, pulsed from her palm before sputtering out. Elara recoiled as if burned. "His influence... it’s too strong out here. The gate, Kaeleen! We must get her behind the wards!"

As she spoke, the passenger door of her car swung open. A woman I had never seen before emerged, moving with a calm, deliberate grace that was a stark contrast to Elara’s frantic energy. She was around Elara’s age, her skin the warm, sun-kissed brown of someone who had lived her life under a kinder sun. Her long, dark hair was streaked with silver and woven into a thick braid that fell over one shoulder. She wore simple, practical clothing, but around her neck was a necklace of polished black stones and intricately carved koa wood. Her eyes, dark and deep, held a profound stillness as they surveyed the scene.

She walked towards us, her gaze landing on Astrid. Her expression was not one of shock or panic, but of grim, solemn recognition.

"Elara," the woman’s voice was low and melodic, with a gentle cadence that spoke of distant shores. "Is this the one? The Luna with the tethered spirit?"

"It is, Leilani," Elara confirmed, her voice trembling. "And we are too late. She crossed the boundary."

My head snapped up, my protective instincts roaring to life. "Who is this?" I demanded my grip on Astrid tightening. "What is going on, Elara?"

"Explanations will come," Elara insisted, her focus absolute. "But every second we stand out here, the hook sets deeper. Into the house. Her bedroom. Now!"

I didn’t need to be told again. I turned and moved, carrying Astrid as if she were made of fragile glass. We swept past the terrified guards, through the main gates, and into the relative safety of the compound. The moment we crossed the threshold of the wards, I felt a subtle shift in the air, a lessening of a pressure I hadn’t even been consciously aware of. But it did nothing to warm Astrid’s skin or deepen her breath.

We rushed through the silent main house and up the stairs to our chambers. I laid her gently on our bed, her dark hair fanning out against the white pillows, making her pallor even more pronounced. She looked like a fallen queen from a tragic fairytale. My queen. And I had let this happen.

The woman, Leilani, moved to the bedside. She didn’t touch Astrid at first. Instead, she closed her eyes, her hands hovering inches above Astrid’s body. She took a long, slow breath, and the air in the room seemed to grow heavy, thick with an energy that was ancient and wild.

I couldn’t stand the silence, the not-knowing. I turned on Elara, who was standing by the door, wringing her hands. "You will tell me what is happening right now, or so help me, I will tear the answers from you," I said, my voice dangerously quiet.

Elara flinched but met my gaze, her own eyes filled with a mixture of guilt and despair. "I couldn’t help her, Kaeleen. The magic... the curse that binds her to Leon... it is not of our lands. It’s old, primal, and it was beyond my knowledge. The tonic I gave her was merely a balm, a temporary shield. I knew it would eventually fail."

"You knew?" The words were laced with disbelief. "You knew she was in danger, and you didn’t tell me?"

"I wasn’t in any position to tell you." She told me.

The confession was a physical blow. Astrid, my brave, selfless Astrid, had been suffering in silence. The guilt I felt became a monstrous, clawing thing inside my chest.

"So you left," I stated, the pieces clicking into place. "You left the compound today..."

"To find her," Elara said, gesturing toward the woman at the bedside. "To find Leilani. I have known her for decades. She is a Kahu, a guardian of knowledge from the Hawaiian islands. Her lineage has dealt with spiritual tethers, with curses that bind one soul to another, for generations. She was the only one I knew who might have the knowledge to sever this bond. I went to the airstrip to bring her here."

At the sound of her name, Leilani opened her eyes. She turned to me, her expression one of deep, weary compassion. "I am Leilani," she said, her voice a calming balm on my frayed nerves. "And your mate is in a deep struggle. Her spirit is not her own."

I just nodded, the word ’mate’ from this stranger’s lips somehow solidifying the terrifying reality of the situation. I was her mate, and I had known nothing.

"Astrid wasn’t supposed to leave the compound," Elara reiterated, her voice filled with anguish. "That was the one absolute rule. The wards act as a filter. They couldn’t block his influence entirely, but they weakened it, muffled it. By stepping outside, she tore the filter away. She gave him a direct, untethered line straight to her soul."

Lila, who had followed us in and stood silently by the door, finally spoke, her voice small and shaky. "She was looking for you, Elder Elara. Just before... before the call came. She ran to your shrine. She came back and was... different. Angry. Scared. I’ve never seen her like that. And then...Alex called."

Every word was another nail in the coffin of my ignorance. Astrid had been drowning, and I hadn’t even seen her thrashing.

Leilani turned her full attention back to Astrid. She opened a small leather pouch she carried and removed a handful of dark, dried leaves and a small, smooth volcanic rock. "The time for blame and regret can come later, Alpha," she said, her tone gentle but firm, leaving no room for argument. "Right now, what was opened must be closed. He is using the connection, pulling at her, trying to drag her spirit into darkness with him. I must fight for her now."

She looked at the three of us. "I need space. I need silence. Her spirit is a frightened bird, and your panic will only scare it further away. Please. Leave me with her."

The thought of leaving Astrid’s side with a stranger, no matter how capable she seemed, was abhorrent. My every instinct screamed at me to stay, to stand guard, to protect her.

But I looked at Leilani’s eyes and saw not the arrogance of a healer, but the grim determination of a warrior preparing for a battle I didn’t understand. I looked at Astrid, so still and fragile on our bed, and knew that my rage and my strength were useless here. This was not a fight that could be won with claws and teeth.

With a guttural sigh that felt like it was torn from the depths of my soul, I nodded. I gave Astrid one last, lingering look, my heart aching with everything I hadn’t said, everything I hadn’t seen.

I turned and walked out of the room, gently guiding a weeping Elara and a shell-shocked Lila with me. I closed the door, the soft click of the latch sounding like a prison gate locking. I stood in the hallway outside my own bedroom, the Alpha of Emerald Glade, a warrior who had just defeated a dozen armed men, now utterly, terrifyingly helpless.

From inside, I could hear the faint, melodic sound of Leilani beginning a low, ancient chant, a language I did not know, fighting a war for the soul of my mate. And all I could do was wait.