Darrian's POV
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I sat in the infirmary, my hands clasped around Heather's cold ones. Her skin had gone pale as snow, her lips tinted blue. Every shallow breath sounded like a countdown.
She was slipping away.
I refused to accept it.
Healers moved in and out quietly, administering what little remedies they had left, but nothing worked. The wolfsbane had invaded her bloodstream, coiling like a parasite around her organs. They whispered that she might not survive the night.
I closed my eyes and lowered my head to her chest, feeling the softest thud of her heartbeat, slow and irregular.
"Please," I whispered. "I'll do anything. Just let her live."
Silence answered me.
Until it wasn't silence at all.
A wind swept through the room, cold but not of this world. The candles extinguished themselves in a breath of air, and a soft, silvery glow illuminated the walls.
I stood abruptly, my wolf clawing to the surface.
Then she appeared.
The Moon Goddess.
A tall, radiant figure cloaked in starlight, with eyes like galaxies and skin kissed by moonlight. She stepped toward Heather's bed, her expression unreadable.
"Alpha Darrian," she said, her voice echoing through my very soul. "You summon me with desperation."
I dropped to one knee, bowing. "Please. Don't take her. Don't take my mate."
The goddess turned her gaze to Heather, her features softening for a brief moment.
"She suffers," the goddess said. "And yet she does not surrender. That alone is rare."
"She's strong," I said quickly. "Stronger than anyone gives her credit for."
"Stronger than you gave her credit for," she corrected.
My jaw clenched.
"Why her?" I asked. "Why did you give her to me only to take her away?"
The goddess turned toward me. "I gave you a Luna. Not for comfort. Not for convenience. But to challenge you. To help you grow into the leader your pack needs. And now, she walks the edge of death, because your bond has been wounded. Distrust. Doubt. Pain. These things sever your souls."
"Then what can I do?" I asked. "Tell me what to fix. I'll do it."
Her eyes glimmered. "Do not ask me to save her, Alpha. Ask her soul. She alone must decide if she wants to return."
She moved to Heather's side and touched her brow. Heather's body shimmered faintly beneath the touch.
"She walks between worlds. Speak to her. Remind her who she is."
And just like that, the goddess vanished.
The candles relit on their own.
I collapsed to my knees beside Heather's bed, my hands trembling.
I cupped her face gently. "Heather. Baby, you've got to come back to me. You're not done. Not like this."
I closed my eyes, pressing my forehead to hers. "Come back to me. I'll fix everything. I'll prove you're not weak. You never were. I was the weak one—for not seeing you."
Her breathing hitched.
A flicker of hope lit in my chest.
"Come on, little wolf," I whispered. "Find your way home."
And I waited, willing her to fight.
But the hitch turned into a long exhale. A long, quiet breath that didn't come back.
And then… nothing.
The machines flatlined.
A single, high-pitched tone sliced through the silence like a blade.
"No," I whispered, grabbing her shoulders, shaking her gently at first, then with increasing desperation. "Heather? Heather, wake up."
Her head lolled slightly to the side, mouth parted just so. Her chest didn't rise. Her lips were too pale.
"Heather!" I shouted.
The door burst open and doctors rushed in, surrounding the bed, pushing me back. I stumbled, still reaching for her. Still praying this was some cruel illusion.
I watched helplessly as they began. Defibrillator pads slapped to her chest. A healer muttered incantations. A nurse injected something directly into her veins. Her body jerked with every shock, every surge of magic—but there was no response.
"Again," someone barked.
"No response," came the answer.
"Again!"
But I already knew.
I felt it. The bond between us—our mate connection—had gone silent. A crushing emptiness spread through my chest like wildfire. Where once there had been a constant thrum of her presence in my soul, there was now a gaping void.
The moment the tether between us severed, I knew.
I fell back against the cold wall, my legs giving out beneath me. The room blurred at the edges, voices muffled like they were speaking underwater. I could barely hear them declare the time of death.
"Time of death: 3:46 a.m."
I covered my face with my hands, but nothing could stop the agony.
I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think.
My mate was gone.
All the battles I'd fought, all the enemies I'd destroyed—none of it had prepared me for this.
A hand rested on my shoulder. I looked up through the haze to see the head healer, her expression solemn.
"I'm so sorry, Alpha."
I pushed her hand away and stood on trembling legs, staggering toward the bed. Toward Heather.
She looked… peaceful. As if she had simply fallen asleep.
But I knew better. This wasn't sleep.
I sat on the edge of the bed, brushing her hair from her face, letting my fingers memorize every line, every curve. She was so warm still. Maybe if I just held her… maybe if I begged a little harder, the Moon Goddess would come back. She had to come back. She couldn't have shown herself to me only to watch this happen.
"She wasn't supposed to die," I whispered, voice cracking. "You said she was strong. You said she had a choice."
But there was no answer. No divine wind. No radiant glow. Only stillness.
I curled myself around her, pressing my lips to her forehead. I stayed like that for what felt like hours, until a hand touched my arm again.
"Alpha Darrian… we need to prepare the body. The toxins—"
"No," I growled. My wolf rose to the surface, snarling at anyone who dared come closer.
"She's not a body. She's my mate."
They backed away.
I kissed her hand one last time, breathing in her scent.
It was already fading.
Tears I didn't know I still had fell freely now, soaking into her skin, into her hospital gown.
"I didn't get to say goodbye," I whispered. "I didn't get to fix things."
And maybe that was the worst part.
She had died thinking I didn't love her enough. Thinking she wasn't enough.
But she had been everything.
And now, she was gone.