Chapter 4: The Silence After Me

At the Ironwood Pack’s healing center, a simultaneous wave of unease washed over Lucien and the Harts as they waited for the healers to examine Vivian. The severed pack heart-link left a phantom ache, a void that set their instincts on edge.

My mother pulled out her phone to call me, only to realize there was no one to call anymore.

Her thumb hovered over my name for several seconds.

Then she pressed it anyway.

The call went straight to voicemail.

She frowned.

“Why isn’t she answering?”

My father glanced at the screen. “She’s probably still at the house.”

Lucien said nothing.

He was standing beside the window, staring into the darkness beyond the healing center.

Something inside him felt wrong.

Not pain. Not exactly.

It was more like standing in a familiar room after someone had removed every piece of furniture without warning.

Empty.

Cold.

Wrong.

He rubbed his chest and frowned.

“What is it?” my father asked.

Lucien shook his head. “I don’t know.”

The healer finally stepped out of Vivian’s room.

Everyone immediately turned toward her.

“How is Vivian?” my mother asked.

The healer smiled reassuringly. “She has a minor sprain. Nothing serious. She should recover within a few days.”

My mother released a breath of relief.

My father immediately softened.

Lucien’s shoulders relaxed as well.

For a moment, everything returned to normal.

Except it didn’t.

The healer’s smile slowly disappeared.

“But there is something strange.”

My father’s expression hardened. “What?”

“When I examined Miss Vivian, I sensed a disturbance in the pack’s spiritual connection.”

Lucien’s eyes narrowed.

“What kind of disturbance?”

The healer hesitated.

“Someone’s subordinate bond with Ironwood has been severed.”

Silence filled the room.

My mother’s fingers tightened around her phone.

“Who?”

The healer looked at them with uncertainty.

“I can’t tell from here. But whoever it was severed the bond willingly.”

Lucien suddenly remembered my face.

The cold skin.

The empty eyes.

The strange stillness in my body.

And the words I had spoken before he threw me away.

Never.

His jaw tightened.

“Evelyn.”

My mother immediately shook her head.

“She wouldn't.”

But her voice lacked conviction.

My father remained silent.

Then his phone rang.

He answered impatiently.

“What?”

The voice on the other end sounded nervous.

“Alpha, there’s something you need to know.”

My father’s expression changed.

“What happened?”

“Miss Evelyn’s room…”

The guard swallowed hard.

“Her room is empty.”

My mother stared at him.

“Empty?”

“Her clothes are gone. The drawers are empty. Even the photographs have disappeared.”

My father frowned.

“Find her.”

“Yes, Alpha.”

The call ended.

Lucien stared at the floor.

For the first time that night, an uncomfortable thought entered his mind.

Maybe Evelyn had actually left.

Not to threaten them.

Not to gain sympathy.

She had simply left.

Vivian appeared at the doorway, supported by a healer.

“What happened?” she asked softly.

My mother immediately rushed toward her.

“Nothing, sweetheart. Don’t worry.”

Vivian looked past her toward Lucien.

“Where is Evelyn?”

Lucien looked at her.

Vivian's expression was innocent.

Too innocent.

“She went home,” Lucien said.

Vivian lowered her eyes.

“Did she?”

My father glanced at her sharply.

“What do you mean?”

Vivian hesitated before whispering, “She was very angry earlier. I’m afraid she might do something reckless.”

Lucien’s chest tightened.

He suddenly remembered the memorial photograph lying inside Evelyn’s suitcase.

Her own face.

A black mourning border.

Why had she possessed a memorial photograph of herself?

Why had her body been so cold?

Why had he felt nothing when he grabbed her wrist?

And why had her scent seemed so faint?

He closed his eyes.

For one brief second, he heard her voice again.

I don’t love you anymore, Lucien.

His eyes opened.

“I’m going to find her.”

My father stopped him.

“The ceremony is tomorrow. We cannot have another disturbance.”

Lucien stared at him.

“She severed her bond with Ironwood.”

“Then let her go.”

The words came easily from my father.

Too easily.

Lucien looked toward the hallway where Vivian stood leaning against the healer.

Then he looked back at my father.

Something inside him cracked.

For nearly ten years, Evelyn had always been there.

Waiting.

Fighting.

Forgiving.

Coming back.

But tonight, for the first time, there was no trace of her anywhere.

No scent.

No heartbeat through the pack bond.

No angry voice.

No desperate eyes following him.

Nothing.

Lucien suddenly felt afraid.

He didn't know why.

He only knew that somewhere deep inside his wolf, something was howling.

And for the first time, Lucien Ashford wondered if the woman he had spent years taking for granted was already gone.