Chapter 9: Too Late to Be Sorry

Kaelen POV

Three months later.

The Blood Moon Pack was falling apart.

Not in a single catastrophic collapse.

Not with explosions or fire.

But piece by piece.

Day by day.

Secret by secret.

Exactly as Stella had planned.

The evidence she released had destroyed everything.

Pack investors withdrew support.

Corporate partners terminated contracts.

Government regulators launched investigations.

The Pack Council stripped me of most of my authority.

And Selene...

Selene was awaiting trial.

The adopted sister I had protected for years was now the most hated woman in the territory.

I should have felt satisfaction.

I didn't.

Nothing mattered anymore.

Because every morning I woke up to the same reality.

Stella was gone.

The mansion felt unbearably empty without her.

For years, I barely noticed her presence.

Now her absence haunted every room.

The kitchen.

The library.

The garden.

The balcony where she used to sit reading.

Ghosts lingered everywhere.

I entered her old study.

It had become my prison.

Every night I came here.

Every night I reread her journals.

The journals I discovered after her death.

The journals I should have read years ago.

My hands trembled as I opened another page.

"Year Three," Stella had written.

"Kaelen forgot our anniversary today."

"I told myself he was busy."

"I told myself next year would be different."

"I wonder how many more excuses I can invent for him."

My chest tightened.

The next entry.

"Year Four."

"Selene ruined another dinner."

"Kaelen blamed me."

"I cried after he left."

"I hope he never finds out."

Another page.

"Year Five."

"Today I realized I no longer remember the last time he smiled at me."

"I still love him."

"I wish I knew why."

The journal slipped from my hands.

I could barely breathe.

Every page was another wound.

Every sentence another reminder.

She had loved me.

Far more than I deserved.

Far more than I ever appreciated.

A knock interrupted the silence.

"Enter."

Marcus stepped into the room.

His expression was cautious.

"The Council meeting starts in ten minutes."

"Cancel it."

"You already cancelled the last four."

"Then cancel another."

Marcus sighed.

"This can't continue forever."

"Why not?"

"Because the Pack still needs leadership."

I laughed bitterly.

"Leadership?"

"From me?"

"The Alpha who killed his Mate?"

Marcus fell silent.

Neither of us could deny the truth.

"There's something else," he said quietly.

"What?"

"Selene wants to see you."

The temperature in the room seemed to drop.

"No."

"She says it's important."

"I don't care."

"Kaelen—"

"I said no."

My wolf growled violently.

The mere mention of her name filled me with disgust.

How blind had I been?

How stupid?

How many times had Stella tried to warn me?

Too many.

Far too many.

"She claims she loved you," Marcus said.

"Then she never understood me."

Marcus looked surprised.

"What does that mean?"

I stared out the window.

"Because if she truly loved me, she would never have hurt Stella."

For a long moment, nobody spoke.

Then Marcus nodded.

"I think Stella would have liked hearing that."

The words nearly destroyed me.

Because Stella would never hear anything again.

After Marcus left, I found myself standing before the large portrait hanging in the hallway.

A portrait of Stella.

One of the few photographs she actually liked.

She was smiling.

Softly.

Genuinely.

The way she smiled before this world broke her.

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

The portrait didn't answer.

"I know it doesn't matter."

"I know it changes nothing."

"But I'm sorry."

Silence.

The apology came three months too late.

Just like everything else.

A notification suddenly appeared on my phone.

Unknown sender.

My pulse quickened.

For a brief, impossible second, I hoped.

Stella.

Maybe somehow.

Maybe impossibly.

Maybe—

The message opened.

It wasn't Stella.

It was the final scheduled release from her dead-man's switch.

A single video.

Recorded shortly before her death.

With trembling hands, I pressed play.

Stella appeared on the screen.

Pale.

Weak.

Dying.

Yet somehow stronger than anyone I had ever known.

"If this video reaches you," she said, "then enough time has passed for me to say one final thing."

I couldn't look away.

"Kaelen, I spent years waiting for you to become the man I imagined."

"That was my greatest mistake."

"People are not who we hope they are."

"They are who they choose to be."

"And every day, you chose someone else."

My vision blurred.

"I used to think losing you would destroy me."

"It didn't."

"What destroyed me was losing myself while trying to earn your love."

"So if you're watching this and feeling guilty, don't."

"Regret won't bring me back."

"Pain won't change the past."

"And apologies don't heal graves."

A tear slid down my face.

"Live with your choices, Kaelen."

"That's all any of us can do."

"Goodbye."

The video ended.

I remained frozen.

Staring at the dark screen.

The final words of the woman I had loved too late.

Outside, the Blood Moon Pack continued to crumble.

Council members fought.

Businesses failed.

Allies abandoned us.

Everything I built was disappearing.

Yet none of it compared to the emptiness inside my chest.

Because Stella had been right.

Regret couldn't bring her back.

Pain couldn't change the past.

And apologies didn't heal graves.

I finally understood that now.

The lesson had only cost me everything.