CHAPTER 146 — THE GHOST IN HER RIBS

CHAPTER 146 — THE GHOST IN HER RIBS

The whisper faded, leaving the clearing colder than before.

Every wolf still kneeling flinched.
Some bowed their heads instinctively, others whimpered, sensing something they didn’t have names for. Whatever had spoken wasn’t wolf. Wasn’t spirit. Wasn’t anything the pack knew how to fear.

But Asher knew.

And Luna
Luna felt it.

A presence curled in the empty place where her wolf should have been.
Not filling it.
Not healing it.

Just…
occupying it.

A ghost in her ribs.

“Asher,” she breathed, stepping back instinctively.

He caught her wrist before she moved too far.
“Don’t. Don’t pull away from me right now.”

She paused, chest rising and falling too quickly.

“I felt something,” she whispered. “In the space where she should be she’s not there, but something else is.”

His jaw tightened, shadows crawling up his arms like ink drawn to fear.

“I know. I heard it.”
His voice dropped, rough and shaking.
“And if it’s reaching for you, I’m not letting it take another inch.”

Luna swallowed.

“It didn’t feel like the curse.”

“No,” he muttered, staring at the empty space just above her heart like he could see into her soul.
“It felt older.”

She shivered.

Asher pulled her closer, his power curling protectively around her, the storm responding to his fear like a beast guarding its wounded. The air around them crackled as warriors crouched lower, submitting under the pressure.

“Asher,” Luna whispered, “they’re still kneeling.”

His eyes flicked to his pack
their bowed heads, trembling shoulders.

He winced.

With visible effort, he inhaled deeply, dragging his shadows back into himself until they dissolved against his skin.
One by one, the warriors blinked up from the dirt.

None of them stood.

Not while their Alpha’s aura was still unsettled, still vibrating with danger.
Not while Luna clutched her chest like her soul was bleeding.

Asher turned back to her.

“Come with me,” he said softly, thumb brushing her wrist before his fingers laced tightly with hers.
“We need to get you somewhere safe.”

She didn’t argue.

He led her through the trees, never loosening his hold. Every few steps she felt him glance at her, checking
for breath,
for balance,
for the bond still threading between them.

But with every minute

The bond weakened.
Just slightly.
Just enough to terrorize him.

By the time they reached the edge of the forest, Luna staggered, gripping a tree trunk.

“Wait”
Her heartbeat misfired, stumbling unevenly under her palm.
“Asher something’s wrong.”

He was at her side before the words finished leaving her mouth.

He pressed his hand to her back, steadying her.
“Tell me.”

“It’s like” she gasped, trying to breathe through the strange pressure building under her ribs.
“Like something is pushing… from inside.”

His eyes went black.

“Luna.”

She squeezed her eyes shut.

The pressure rose in a wave
not painful,
not sharp

but wrong.

As if two pieces of her soul were shifting, scraping, searching for each other but missing entirely.

Asher’s hand slid to her cheek, grounding her.
“No. Stay with me. Keep your eyes open.”

She did.

Barely.

Her vision blurred, the world bending at the edges.
Her knees buckled

Asher caught her before she hit the ground, lifting her effortlessly into his arms. His power spiked, flaring out in an instinctive warning to anything watching.

“This isn’t the curse,” he murmured, voice low and dark.
“This feels like”

He didn’t finish.

Luna’s breath hitched.
Her fingers curled into his shirt, gripping weakly.

“Asher…”
She swallowed hard.
“I think something is calling me.”

He froze.

Every muscle, every breath, every heartbeat.

“What do you mean calling you?”

She shook her head, tears pricking her eyes.
“I don’t know. It’s faint. It feels like like I’m being tugged somewhere. Like I’m supposed to follow it.”

“Absolutely not.”
His voice dropped into a growl hot enough to scorch the air.
“I am not letting you walk into whatever is whispering in the empty place where your wolf should be.”

Her breathing steadied enough for her to whisper:

“It feels familiar.”

His arms tightened around her instantly.

“Familiar how?”
The fear in his voice hid behind anger, but she heard it anyway.

Luna blinked, her vision sharpening for one brief heartbeat.

“I think…”
Her chest rose.
Fell.
Rose.

“I think it’s her.”

Asher went completely still.

“Your wolf,” he whispered.

Luna nodded weakly.

“I think she’s calling from somewhere far. Somewhere outside me.”

Asher stood there in the dark forest, holding her like the world could collapse and he would still be the thing holding her up.

Then
with a trembling breath
he whispered the truth neither of them wanted to say:

“If your wolf is out there…
then something tore her out.”

The forest exhaled
like a warning carried on the wind.

And somewhere deep in Luna’s hollow chest

the whisper returned.

Find me… before he does.

Asher’s grip closed protectively around her, power rising like a shield.

“Over my dead fucking body.”