Chapter 84 – Whispers Through the Bond
Chapter 84 – Whispers Through the Bond
Scarlett’s POV
The air that night tasted like iron and ash.
I stood at the edge of the valley, my eyes fixed on the forest that had once been the sacred border between our packs. Now it was shrouded in mist and silence, haunted by the ghosts of what we’d lost.
A faint pulse thrummed beneath my skin slowly, unevenly, but unmistakable. The bond.
It shouldn’t have been possible. The moment the beacon exploded, I thought it was gone for good, burned away with everything else. But over the past few days, I’d felt it stir again faint as a dying ember, yet enough to make my heart lurch each time it flared.
He was alive.
John.
Every rational part of me wanted to hate him for what he’d done, for what he’d become, for leaving me to bear the weight of the ruin alone. But hate was an easy mask to wear; the truth underneath was harder. I missed him. The memory of his voice still lingered in the corners of my mind, quiet but steady, like a song I couldn’t forget no matter how hard I tried.
“Scarlett.”
I turned to find Elara standing behind me, her cloak pulled tight against the chill. Her hair was streaked with soot and moonlight, her expression carved in concern.
“You feel it again, don’t you?” she asked softly.
I hesitated, then nodded. “It’s stronger tonight.”
She stepped closer, her gaze scanning the dark treeline. “That’s not a good sign.”
“I know.”
Ever since the beacon’s destruction, Elara and I had worked to rebuild what little remained of the Northern Sanctuary. Most of the survivors were still shaken wolves without packs, homes, or faith. The beacon was meant to protect us, not tear the world apart. But the Goddess had twisted it, just as she twisted everything she touched.
And now, somehow, John was tied to her.
The first time I felt his energy return, it nearly broke me. I’d been meditating in the temple ruins when the mark on my neck burned like fire, the connection flaring alive for the briefest moment. I’d seen flashes through his eyes of darkness, movement, and pain. And a voice that didn’t belong to him.
The Goddess.
Elara watched me quietly, as if sensing my thoughts. “If he’s alive, he’s not the same, Scarlett.”
“I know,” I said again, though the words tasted like glass.
She reached out, touching my shoulder. “Then you know what that means. If the Goddess lives through him—”
“I’ll stop her.”
The words left me before I could think. The moment they did, my chest tightened with something close to grief.
Because to stop her meant to stop him.
Elara’s eyes softened. “You may have to kill him.”
My throat went dry. I turned away before she could see the tears threatening to spill. “I won’t make that choice until I have to.”
The wind shifted, carrying the faintest whisper through the trees. It wasn’t sound, exactly more like an echo brushing the edges of my mind. For a second, the bond flared again, and I heard it clearly this time.
Scarlett…
His voice.
So faint, I might’ve imagined it. But no, it was real.
“John?” I whispered, stepping forward, my pulse quickening. “John, can you hear me?”
Nothing. Just the low hum of the forest.
Then, an image flashes behind my eyes. Trees. Smoke. Blood. And something else… a shadow wearing his face.
I gasped, stumbling back. Elara caught my arm. “What happened?”
“He’s fighting something,” I breathed. “Something that looks like him.”
Elara frowned. “The Goddess?”
“No.” I shook my head. “Something worse. She’s made him her vessel… but there’s a piece of him still resisting.”
Elara’s silence was heavy. Finally, she said, “Then you have less time than we thought.”
I didn’t ask what she meant. I already knew. The next full moon was two nights away and every instinct in my body screamed that it would mark the end of something.
Later that night, I sat alone in the remains of the old Luna Temple. The once-magnificent chamber was now a skeleton of stone and vines, its walls cracked and bleeding moonlight through the gaps.
I traced the old runes carved into the altar’s base. The same ones that once glowed when we made our vows as Luna's protectors of the balance.
Balance.
The word felt hollow now.
How do you protect balance when the one you love becomes the weapon of chaos itself?
I let my head fall into my hands, the ache behind my eyes throbbing. The bond pulsed again stronger this time, sharper, almost painful.
And then his voice came again, clearer than before.
Scarlett… don’t come after me.
My breath caught. “John—”
It’s not safe. She’s… she’s inside me. I can’t—
The connection crackled like fire, distorting his words.
If you see me again, don’t hesitate. You have to end it before she—
His voice cut off abruptly, replaced by a low, feminine whisper that sent ice down my spine.
> “Poor little Luna. You think love will save him?”
The Goddess.
My entire body went cold. “Get out of my head.”
> “Oh, but I’m already here, my sweet. You bound your soul to mine the moment you marked him. Did you really think you could sever that?”
I pressed my palms to my temples, forcing my breathing to steady. “You can’t win. You’ll destroy him before you ever touch me.”
Her laugh was a sound of pure cruelty.
> “Destroy him? Oh no, darling. I’m remaking him. Every fear he’s ever had, every guilt he’s buried, I'm shaping it into something divine. When I’m done, he’ll be everything you were too afraid to love.”
My stomach turned. “You’ll never break him.”
> “I don’t have to. I just have to break you.”
The connection snapped like a whip, leaving me gasping, the echo of her laughter fading into the dark.
I didn’t move for a long time. The cold seeped into my bones, and my tears hit the cracked marble floor without sound.
When Elara found me an hour later, I was still there silent, trembling, the mark on my neck faintly glowing.
She didn’t ask what happened. She just looked at me and whispered, “It’s time, isn’t it?”
I nodded once.
“It’s time.”
We left at dawn.
The sky was painted in muted golds and violets, the forest ahead veiled in mist. Behind us, the Sanctuary slept unaware of the storm about to come.
I could feel John’s energy pulling me eastward, toward the old borderlands. Each step made the bond pulse faster, hotter, like a heartbeat quickening before a fall.
I knew I was walking into danger. I knew I might not come back.
But if there was still even the smallest chance that I could save him or, gods help me, end him before the Goddess took full control I couldn’t turn away.
Elara walked beside me in silence until we reached the first ridge overlooking the valley. She stopped there, watching me with eyes full of things she couldn’t say.
“Whatever happens,” she said quietly, “remember who you are.”
I gave her a small, tired smile. “That’s the problem, Elara. I’m not sure I do anymore.”
She didn’t try to stop me as I descended into the mist.
And as the forest swallowed me whole, the bond pulsed once more harder, faster and I heard him again, faint but clear.
Scarlett… It's too late.
The ground beneath me trembled, and in the distance, a figure stepped from the fog tall, familiar, but wrong.
His eyes glowed silver and black.
And even though my heart screamed his name, every instinct I had told me the truth.
That wasn’t John anymore.