Chapter 6: The Truth in the Memorial

The room remained silent after Lucien's words.

No one wanted to say it.

No one wanted to believe it.

But the photograph lying in his hands carried a date that none of them could explain away.

Ten days ago.

The same day Evelyn had supposedly been kidnapped.

My mother reached for the photograph with trembling fingers.

“This has to be fake.”

“Evelyn made it herself. She must be trying to frighten us.”

My father immediately agreed.

“That's exactly what she's doing.”

“She wants us to believe she died so we'll feel guilty.”

Lucien didn't answer.

He couldn't.

Because somewhere deep inside, his wolf already knew the truth.

The scent he had sensed on Evelyn that morning had not been the scent of a living wolf.

It had been something colder.

Something that belonged between this world and the next.

Vivian suddenly appeared behind them.

“Why are you all standing here?”

Her gaze landed on the photograph.

For a fraction of a second, her face went completely blank.

Then she recovered.

“Is that Evelyn?”

Lucien turned toward her.

“Where did this come from?”

Vivian's expression became confused.

“I don't know.”

“You don't know?”

His voice was colder than she had ever heard it.

Vivian took a step backward.

“Lucien, why are you asking me that?”

He stared at her.

For the first time, he noticed how quickly she had stopped crying.

Earlier, she had been sobbing over a minor ankle injury.

Now she was perfectly steady.

His eyes narrowed.

“You knew Evelyn had left.”

Vivian shook her head.

“Of course I knew she was upset.”

“But I didn't know she would actually disappear.”

Lucien stepped closer.

“Did you know about the kidnapping?”

Vivian's face paled.

“What?”

“Ten days ago, Evelyn called for help.”

“She called the Ironwood Pack.”

“She called me.”

“Someone had taken her.”

Vivian's lips parted.

“I didn't know anything about that.”

Lucien watched her carefully.

“Then why did you tell everyone she was only trying to sabotage your ceremony?”

Vivian's eyes filled with tears again.

“Because that's what everyone believed.”

“She hated me.”

“She wanted your Luna position.”

“I thought she was lying.”

Lucien's hands clenched.

He remembered his own words.

If you're so determined to die, then do it.

For ten days, he had believed those words were nothing more than an angry response to Evelyn's manipulation.

Now they echoed in his mind like a curse.

His mother suddenly grabbed his arm.

“Lucien, stop this.”

“Vivian has done nothing wrong.”

“Your sister was always unstable.”

“We can't let her games destroy Vivian's ceremony.”

Lucien slowly looked at her.

“What if they weren't games?”

His mother went silent.

My father stepped forward.

“Enough.”

“Tomorrow is Vivian's Luna ceremony.”

“Whatever Evelyn is doing, we'll deal with it afterward.”

Lucien stared at him in disbelief.

“Afterward?”

“What if she's actually dead?”

My father had no answer.

Then the healing center lights suddenly flickered.

A cold wind swept through the room despite every window being closed.

Vivian shivered.

The wolf healers looked around nervously.

One of the candles near the altar went out.

Then another.

And another.

Until only the moonlight remained.

A faint scent drifted through the room.

Rain.

Smoke.

And the faint cedar scent of an old promise.

Lucien's face changed instantly.

“Evelyn.”

His wolf recognized her before his mind could.

He rushed toward the door.

“Lucien!” Vivian called.

He didn't stop.

He ran through the corridors and out into the courtyard.

The moon was high above the Ironwood estate.

For a moment, there was nothing.

Then he saw her.

A pale figure stood beneath the old oak tree.

Evelyn.

She looked exactly as she had that morning.

Except her body was becoming more transparent.

Lucien stopped breathing.

“Evelyn.”

I looked at him.

I had not planned to see him again so soon.

My second night was almost over.

I had already severed my bond with Ironwood.

Now only two attachments remained.

One was the promise I had made to Lucien.

The other was the question that had haunted me even after death.

Why had no one come for me?

Lucien took a cautious step forward.

“Are you alive?”

I smiled faintly.

“You already know the answer.”

His face turned white.

“You really died.”

I didn't deny it.

Lucien's eyes reddened.

“Where were you?”

I looked at him for a long moment.

“Five hundred meters from your ceremony.”

He froze.

“What?”

“The warehouse.”

“The rogues kept me there for ten days.”

“I called for help.”

“Three times.”

His expression collapsed.

“Who did you call?”

I looked past him toward my parents standing at the doorway.

“Everyone I thought would come.”

Silence spread through the courtyard.

Then I turned away.

“Don't look for me anymore.”

Lucien's voice broke.

“Evelyn, wait.”

I kept walking.

“I can't.”

“Why?”

I stopped without turning around.

“Because I'm not coming back.”

When I disappeared into the moonlight, Lucien finally understood.

The woman he had spent ten years taking for granted had not left him.

Death had taken her.

And this time, he was the one who had been left behind.