CHAPTER 56: CHAPTER 56: RETRIBUTION BEGINS AT THE EDGE

He was so close...so damn close.

But before he could reach them, before he could even stretch out his hand to catch a glimpse of her, he had already transferred in the air to catch her.

But a wall of bodies crashed into him.

He slammed against the ground, his body skidding across the dirt and stopping just inches from the cliff’s edge. Snarling, he tried to rise, to leap after her—but hands gripped him, rough and unrelenting.

Pack warriors.

They pinned him down, holding his limbs, his shoulders, his throat—anything to keep him from throwing himself over the ledge.

"LET ME GO!" he roared, thrashing with every ounce of strength in him. "She’s falling—SHE’S—!"

But they didn’t loosen their grip.

Because they knew.

Anyone who jumped wouldn’t survive.

The others were caught too. Lucian roared like a beast betrayed by the world itself, thrashing against the hands that held him. His claws slashed through flesh, but still they didn’t let him go.

"LET ME GO!" he howled. "SHE’S DOWN THERE—SHE’S—LET ME F*CKING GO!"

But they wouldn’t.

Kael and Luca fought just as fiercely, their voices breaking as they screamed her name, watching the edge like it would answer them. But nothing came.

Just endless silence.

The cliff dropped down into a place no one had ever dared to go. A pit where even light refused to reach. At the bottom—rushing water. A river cursed by the gods. And worse—it was not their territory.

No one had returned from there.

"She’s gone," someone whispered.

But none of the brothers heard.

They couldn’t.

Because in that moment, it felt like their world had ended.

Like the moon had shattered and fallen from the sky.

Because Selene wasn’t just gone. They had failed to protect her, their mate.

Lucian dropped to his knees, blood pouring from his mouth as he coughed and screamed into the dirt. Kael stood frozen, his wolf fading beneath the weight of helplessness.

Luca smashed his fists into the ground again and again until they bled. And Aeron... Aeron just stared at the cliff, like if he looked hard enough, he could still see her.

Like if he wished hard enough...

He could bring her back. But the only thing that answered them was the wind.

The scent of blood still clung to the wind.

The forest, once alive with chaos, now lay in eerie stillness—littered with the mangled corpses of rogue werewolves, their bodies twisted and torn, strewn across the earth like discarded shadows of the war that had just ended.

It was over.

The pack warriors had arrived in full force, cutting through the chaos with brutal precision. Every rogue that remained had been slain, and the few who still clung to breath were dragged to the center—forced to shift under the command of the pack’s warriors.

The surviving rogues dropped to their knees, heads bowed in defeat, their madness finally silenced.

Cyrus—Aeron’s Beta—stepped forward from the blood-soaked bodies, his face streaked with sweat and gore, but his expression was calm and collected. The kind of calm that was needed when the alphas were falling apart.

"Alpha," Cyrus said carefully, his voice quiet but firm. "You can’t go down there. No one who’s jumped has ever come back. That river—it’s cursed. And worse, it’s not our land. It belongs to the eastern tribes... the ones who don’t tolerate trespassers."

Aeron didn’t respond.

He stood still, rooted near the edge of the cliff, his jaw clenched, eyes locked on the abyss like it might still give her back. His shoulders heaved with ragged breaths, but his expression was carved in stone, unmoving.

Until he finally spoke.

"I’m going below," he said, his voice low and final. "Take Lucian back to the packhouse. Treat his wounds. Get Kael and Luca out of this forest. Gather warriors who are willing and follow me down."

"No," Cyrus said immediately, stepping in front of him. "With all due respect, Alpha, we cannot allow you to risk your life. The pack needs you—"

"She needs me," Aeron growled, his eyes flashing. "And I’m not leaving her to die alone in that cursed hell."

Lucian, still held down by three warriors, snarled from the dirt, blood dripping from his mouth as he thrashed again. "Let me go! I’ll go! I’ll find her! She’s my mate too—she’s—"

"No," Aeron snapped, his voice edged with fury and grief. "You’re bleeding out. You can barely stand. If you go down there now, you won’t survive ten steps. Don’t make me chain you myself."

Lucian let out a guttural scream, the kind that made bones rattle and wolves back away. But his body gave out again, too broken to argue.

That’s when Luca stepped forward.

His fists were clenched. His face was covered in blood, not all of it his. And for once, there was calm resolve in his eyes. Just raw, blinding desperation.

"I’ll go," he said. "You can’t. You’re the hope of the pack. If something happens to you, the whole pack crumbles. But I’ll go. I’ll find her."

Aeron turned sharply toward him, his voice cold. "You won’t make it alone."

"I don’t plan to," Luca muttered.

Kael stepped out of the shadows, his knuckles cracked open, blood trailing down his forearms. His voice was softer, but no less steady. "I’ll go with him."

Everyone went silent.

Because Luca’s strength was terrifying—but his judgment? Reckless. He fought with rage, not strategy. And they all knew it. If he went alone, he’d tear through the unknown like a battering ram and likely never make it back.

But with calm Kael, there was a balance.

"You’re sure?" Aeron asked, eyes narrowing.

Kael nodded once. "We’ll bring her back."

Aeron’s chest rose sharply, pain flickering through his expression as he finally turned away from the edge. His voice was hoarse when he spoke again. "Take Lucian home. Stabilize him. And prepare for war if this search offends the eastern tribes."

"Alpha..." Cyrus stepped forward again, more gently this time. "We’ll find her. I swear it."

But Aeron didn’t answer.

Because even as he gave the orders, even as he stood there trying to hold together what remained of his mind, his soul was already at the bottom of that cliff, screaming with her.

And when Kael and Luca began their descent, the forest held its breath.

Because gods help anyone...man or beast...that tried to keep them from bringing Selene back.