Chapter 11: The Impossible Truth About Stella

Kaelen POV

One year later.

The Blood Moon Pack still existed.

Barely.

Most of our influence was gone.

Most of our wealth had disappeared.

Most of our allies had abandoned us.

The Council allowed me to remain Alpha in name only.

A punishment far worse than exile.

Every day I was forced to live with my mistakes.

Every day I walked past Stella's portrait.

Every day I remembered what I had done.

A knock interrupted my thoughts.

"Enter."

Marcus stepped into the office.

For the first time in months, he looked shocked.

"Kaelen, you need to see this."

"What now?"

"It's about Stella."

My heart immediately clenched.

"What about her?"

Marcus handed me a weathered journal.

"The Council recovered this from an abandoned vault beneath the old Moon Temple."

I frowned.

"What is it?"

"Read page ninety-two."

I opened the journal.

Ancient handwriting covered the pages.

Old prophecies.

Dimensional theories.

References to souls crossing worlds.

Then I found the marked page.

"A Traveler shall arrive from beyond the Veil."

"She will belong to another world."

"Her death shall become the key that returns her home."

"The man who destroys her shall lose everything."

My hands started shaking.

"This is impossible."

"There's more," Marcus said quietly.

Several photographs slid onto the desk.

Security footage.

Images recovered from Stella's hidden files.

One picture showed her bedroom.

Pinned above her desk was a note.

"One death. Then I go home."

The room spun.

"No."

"Kaelen..."

"No."

The realization crashed into me.

Stella hadn't simply died.

She hadn't ceased to exist.

She had gone home.

Back to a world beyond mine.

A world I could never reach.

A world where my apologies meant nothing.

For the first time in a year, hope appeared.

And somehow that hope hurt even more than grief.

Because Stella was alive somewhere.

Alive.

Breathing.

Living.

And completely beyond my reach.

The Moon Goddess had not taken her from me.

I had lost her myself.

Forever.