Chapter 61

Chapter 61


POV Damien

I ran toward Kat's house, completely anxious. Andrea had felt something was wrong with her brother, and the sky had quickly turned pitch black when the moon lost its glow—an ominous omen for the Pack. When I arrived, the sight before me knocked the air from my lungs. For a moment, I couldn't move. I stepped toward the couple locked in an embrace, a very real fear gripping my soul and heart.

Jared and Kat were silent, their bodies pressed together. Jared's body shielded Kat, but his skin was pale, his eyes closed. I wanted to rush to them, but my feet refused to obey. Each step was slow, deliberate, as I analyzed the scene. I spotted Roxane’s body in the distance, and a growl rumbled in my chest. My mind raced to what could have happened to Kat—but Jared was bleeding too? What the hell had happened here?

More deaths, more unanswered questions. Pain gripped me, this time slicing through me from the inside, as though I were bleeding without a wound. Then, through the macabre silence of the night, I heard a faint sound—a shallow, but present breath. I didn’t hesitate. I ran, falling to my knees beside them.

"Jared? Kat?" My voice came out as a whisper. I cleared my throat and repeated their names with more force. I reached for Kat’s hand, checking her pulse, then did the same with Jared—whose eyes slowly fluttered open.

“Damien?” Jared murmured, hope returning to his voice. “Take Kat—save her!”

“What happened, Jared?” I asked, desperate for answers, reaching for Kat. But she opened her eyes and stared at me with intensity.

“No… Damien…” I managed to say with the last shred of strength within me. “Help us both—or I’ll never forgive you… if I survive…”

“Damien…” Jared closed his eyes again, inhaling deeply against his mate’s neck, kissing her mark and smiling faintly as he heard her voice. “Take her… we don’t have much time. That’s an order…”

“Jared…” I stood there, torn, staring at them both in disbelief. For some reason, the bleeding had stopped—maybe from the cold surrounding them—and that might buy us time. I acted quickly, grabbing my phone and calling Alex and Erick. I carried Jared and Kat inside, then began calling everyone I could to save our Alpha and his mate—my dear friend.

The news spread quickly, stirring chaos in the Pack. When Isac arrived with reports of rumors circulating through town about Jared and Kat's critical condition, I knew I had to go to Andrea.

POV Andrea

Damien stormed into the house and found me frozen, staring at nothing, in shock. He came straight to me, pulling me into his arms. I broke down instantly, sobbing uncontrollably.

“I’m here, love. I’m here…” His pain matched mine. His heart was shattered from seeing me like this, helpless. He held me tighter and kissed the top of my head.

It couldn’t be real. It had to be a nightmare—an awful nightmare. My thoughts scattered until I realized Damien was the only one who could help me through this.

“Tell me it’s not true. Tell me…” I screamed, collapsing in his arms. The weight in my chest grew heavier with every beat, with every moment I was forced to face the truth that Jared and Kat were at death’s door.

Damien tensed, gripping my arms. He looked at me, tears welling in his eyes. There was no good news. By LuPKan, he didn’t know if they would survive.

“It is a nightmare, yes… something you can’t even believe…” he said gently, kissing me with care. “But we have to have hope, my angel.”

He kissed my forehead and held me again, tightly, as my tears slowed but my sobs continued. “Cassandra… Ulisses’s mate… she came to help us. She’s trained in medicine. We have to have faith.”

I could only widen my eyes as a new wave of tears burst forth. Damien caressed my hair, trying to support me mentally, tenderly. But how? He was shattered too. His silent tears joined mine, and he couldn’t stop them—he couldn’t bear the thought of losing Kat.

All her smiles flashed through his mind, all her warm hugs, her kind words—even her punches when he said something that annoyed her. He slid his hands down my back, burying his face in my neck, releasing his pain with mine.

I stayed lost in my grief until a mental wave from Damien hit me so hard it knocked the breath from my lungs. He was suffering deeply, yet still supporting me. I ran my fingers through his hair, trying to soothe him.

“It can’t be that serious… it can’t…” My own words stabbed like knives in my chest. Shaking my head, I looked up at him again. I couldn’t stay in this house if I lost my brother.

“I can’t stay here, Damien. I can’t! If they…” I couldn’t finish. The words caught in my throat. “I’ll have to leave… too many memories… I won’t survive it.”

“Don’t think about that…” he whispered. He had returned to what he thought was home, but now he knew—home was the people we love. Without them, there was nothing here for him either. He stroked my long red hair.

“If you wish to leave, then we’ll go. You’re my mate… I’ll take you to new places. We’ll build a home of our own, one without bad memories. If something happens… only the good memories of Jared and Kat will remain.”

His voice cracked at their names, but before anything else could be said, a soft voice came from the doorway.

“They did all they could…” Alex said, filled with frustration and pain. “We have to wait and see what happens.”

We both turned to him. His shaky voice unsettled me even more. Inside, my wolf howled in agony. Then, a vivid vision struck me: I saw myself running as a wolf through the forest toward the clearing. The entire Pack stood gathered, making way as I approached the pyre where Jared and Kat’s bodies lay.

I stopped abruptly, taking in each face. I kissed my brother’s forehead… then Kat’s face—my childhood friend.

She looked like an angel. Her hair was brushed, and she wore the only white dress she had ever kept in her closet. I clenched my jaw, letting my tears fall freely. It was time to say goodbye—to release their wolves to roam freely in the forest with our ancestors. A beautiful ceremony, though devastating.

I felt Damien’s hands on my waist as I collapsed, sobbing over the joined hands of Jared and Kat. Even in death, they were together. We have to let them go, I heard Damien’s voice in my mind. I stared at him in disbelief for a moment. Alex stood beside me, holding a lit torch. I focused on the intense flame—it was time to let them be free, to love each other in the Afterlife.

I took the torch from Damien, and together we lit the pyre. The fire quickly consumed them, and brilliant colors rose into the sky. I heard the crying around me. Damien held me close as we watched the spirits—glowing in hues of blue and green—manifest. Jared and Kat’s wolves twined around each other in the air, caressing one another before rising toward the moon that had always loved them.

“May LuPKan welcome you into his arms… alongside our ancestors,” Damien whispered, trying to ease my burden. But I couldn’t accept that vision. The pain almost killed me. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye—not yet.

POV Andrea

I ran out of the house, leaving everyone behind. Shaking my head, trying to erase the vision, tears poured uncontrollably down my face. My wolf took over, racing to the Wolf’s Peak—the highest point in the forest where the moon felt closest, as if it waited to receive their spirits.

My human form returned as I stood beneath the glowing moon, arms raised, ready to make my final sacrifice.

“Please… let them live…” I sobbed. Damien appeared, panting, just in time to catch me as my trembling body collapsed.

“Please, Moon Goddess… save them from this fate…”

“Andrea, my love…” he said, his voice choked with emotion. He feared for my mind, my body. “Everything will be alright. We have to believe that.”

“Yes… we must have faith…” I turned to him, inhaling deeply, trying to calm myself. I gently caressed his face, stood up, and reached out toward the moon.

“For LuPKan’s sake… I beg you, save them—and I’ll give up my wolf.”

Damien froze. He held his breath, shocked by the sacrifice I was willing to make. He moved closer, tense but silent. Then, looking up at the moon, he repeated the same words.

“LuPKan, I willingly give up my wolf for their lives.”

“No! Damien…” I gasped, clutching my chest. “You don’t have to sacrifice yourself too!”

Suddenly, the moon flared again, its light nearly blinding us. It directed itself to a single point behind us. We turned, stunned, and saw something we’d never imagined.

From the light, a massive silver-furred wolf stared at us. Damien quickly placed himself in front of me protectively. The wolf nodded, then spread enormous wings of the same silver hue.

“You don’t need to be afraid,” the wolf’s voice echoed in our minds. “You called me. You offered a sacrifice.”

We nodded at once.

“Please… save them,” I pleaded, stepping forward even as Damien held me back.

“Are you truly willing to give up the lupine spirit within you, in exchange for Jared and Kat’s lives?” The wolf studied us, eyes penetrating as if reaching our very souls. “You’ll live as humans for the rest of your lives. Are you ready for that?”

“Yes, if that’s the price,” Damien replied without hesitation, wrapping an arm around my waist. We looked at each other, sorrow and resolve in our eyes.

The wolf beat its wings twice before taking flight. A whirlwind surged around us. As he disappeared into the heavens, he looked back one final time.

“What you offer is rare—a selfless love so pure it renews my hope in all the animal spirits that dwell in me.”

The Wolf God rose into the sky, the moon glowing brighter than ever, blinding us. Though we could no longer see him, his voice echoed down:

“Two spirits shall be sacrificed as requested… in exchange for two human lives. When the time is right… it shall be done.”

I looked at Damien, my hope rekindled. I quickly transformed and ran home with him, heading back to Kat and my brother. My heart pounded, but my tears had stopped. I had faith—deep, unwavering faith—that they would live. No sacrifice was too great, not when it came to saving the ones I loved.