Chapter 118

Lucas' POV

Before Elara, I was untouchable. Cold. Ruthless. An alpha who ruled through fear and power. I killed without remorse, led without mercy. My wolf was a beast even I could barely control. Then she walked into my life, a girl who somehow believed so low of herself. How could I have known that a broken little wolf would patch up my broken pieces. Without the usual muscle and skill that appeals to the Lycan race, she proved stronger than anyone I've ever known. Perfect than any woman I've ever met. She came in with her quiet strength, and somehow the walls I'd built over centuries began to crack.

She taught me how to love. More terrifying – she taught me how to accept love. For the first time in my existence, I learned what it meant to care for someone more than power, more than control, more than my own life. And what did I do with that gift? I destroyed it.

The day I rejected her, something broke inside me. I watched the light die in her eyes as I spat those cruel words at her. Every syllable was poison in my mouth, but my body wasn't my own. Trapped in the back of my mind, I screamed apologies she couldn't hear. I fought against invisible chains as I watched her world shatter because of me.

My wolf, once a creature of pure violence and rage, now whimpers like a wounded animal. For the first time in our shared existence, we're in perfect agreement – we're nothing without her. The great Lycan King, brought to his knees by the absence of one small woman.

I've forgotten how to breathe without her scent in the air. Food tastes like ash in my mouth. Sleep is impossible – every time I close my eyes, I see her face, hear her voice, feel her absence like a physical wound. The mighty Alpha who never needed anyone now can't function without her.

The guards whisper about the bodies piling up in the dungeons. Enemy warriors, traitors, anyone who dares cross me – I tear them apart with my bare hands, trying to fill this void with violence. But the blood doesn't help. The killing doesn't ease this ache. Nothing helps.

I have panic attacks now. Me – the unstoppable Lycan King who's lived for centuries. Sometimes the walls close in, and I can't breathe, can't think, can't exist in a world where she isn't by my side. These moments of weakness make me even angrier. I destroy everything in reach, trying to prove I'm still strong, still in control.

The irony doesn't escape me. I spent centuries building walls, keeping everyone at a distance, ruling through fear and power. Then Elara slipped past every defense, made me feel things I never wanted to feel, taught me what it meant to be whole – only for me to throw it all away.

But through all this darkness, I hold onto one small hope. Our bond isn't broken. I can still feel it, humming beneath my skin. Nature itself rejected my false rejection because she never said those crucial words: "I accept your rejection." Even now, our bond fights against what I did. Every cruel word I spoke, every hurt I caused – I took them back a thousand times in the prison of my mind, watching helplessly as my body betrayed everything my heart wanted. The compulsion turned me into a puppet, but it couldn't change what Elara means to me.

Now she was back in my arms, but this wasn't the reunion I'd dreamed of. Her skin was cold, her breathing shallow.

"Aurelio, tell me everything," I demanded, forcing myself to step away from her bedside.

My beta's face was grim. "The Luna was right about Sabrina. They're keeping her in Matthew's packhouse basement, heavily guarded. Elara must have discovered her while she was there."

"What did they do to my mate?" My voice came out as a growl.

"They performed some kind of ritual last night." Aurelio's jaw clenched. "I couldn't get close enough to see exactly what happened, but I overheard something disturbing. Matthew was talking to Elara on the balcony before it happened. He claimed they share a past – that they were childhood friends, but Elara's mother and aunt used magic to erase those memories from his mind. They've apparently been manipulating both of them for years."

I hadn't told anyone that I'd sent Aurelio to watch over Elara. The thought of her being unprotected, even for a moment, had been unbearable. Sending her away had torn me apart, but with my father's growing hatred for her witch heritage, she'd been in danger here. Since that day in the village when he'd discovered what she was, he'd been plotting against her. My own father, determined to destroy my mate because she dared to be both wolf and witch.

The doctor emerged from Elara's room, her face drawn. "Alpha, I have news."

"Tell me."

"The baby is strong – the heartbeat is steady. Whatever they did to the Luna, the child seems unaffected."

Hope flickered in my chest. "And Elara?"

The doctor's hands trembled as she gripped her medical chart. She couldn't look at me, and in that moment, I knew.

My heart broke before she even spoke the words.

"I'm sorry Alpha, she's gone.''