A week passed...….
Seven long days where the kingdom slowly stitched itself back together after the blizzard.
Roofs repaired, paths cleared, life moving on like nothing had cracked open beneath the snow...… nothing had cracked open inside me.
I told myself I was fine...told Amy I was just adjusting..... I told myself that what happened in the cabin was sealed away...….. buried under the ice exactly the way I asked for.
But my body never listened...….. every morning, I woke up expecting to feel him...…. Every night, I lay staring at the ceiling, my chest aching with something I refused to name.....
Asha stayed quiet, watchful like she was guarding something fragile inside me.
I was walking through the lower corridor when I saw him.
He stepped into the hall like a force of nature...….. taller, broader somehow, his presence darker, sharper.
His aura pressed outward, cold and commanding...…. This time, there was no warmth beneath it...… no kindness or softness.
This was the Alpha king I feared..... the one people feared... the one everyone was warned about..... and yet...… my heart stuttered.
He looked different…... harder.... his jaw was set like stone, eyes distant, unreadable...…..
As if something had been locked away...… as if I had been locked away with it.
"Good evening, Alpha King." I said quietly my voice steady even though my chest burned.
His gaze flicked to me for half a second, then he nodded once.
That was all....
No pause, nor recognition, no flicker of the man who had shielded me with his body while the world collapsed around us. He walked past me like I was nothing...…. exactly what I asked for and it hurt like I'd been carved open.
I stood there frozen my fingers curling into my palms, throat tightened, breath shallow, eyes stinging.
Why?
Why did it hurt this much?
I had begged for distance. I had demanded we forget and I told him to stay away.
So why did his obedience feel like punishment?
I forced myself to keep walking. I didn't turn around couldn't let anyone see the crack spreading through my chest, by the time I reached my room my hands were shaking.
I shut the door..... locked it and pressed my back against the wood.
The sob tore out of me violently, like it had been waiting all week. My knees buckled and I slid down to the floor, clutching my chest as if I could hold my heart together with my hands.
"I didn't mean it like this...…" I whispered into the empty room.
"I didn't mean for you to look at me like that...…..…"
Asha stirred softly, uneasy.
He felt like a stranger now....the man who had held me through terror.... the man who had whispered comfort into my hair... who had looked at me like restraint was killing him.
He was Gone...….
I cried until my throat burned..... until my body ached... until there was nothing left but exhaustion and a hollow ache where something precious had been.
And the sad part of all this, i still wanted him. I wanted his arms….. his voice... his comfort... his care.... He's protectiveness....his body...… the safety I wasn't supposed to crave.
I still wanted him...
...….
I was lying in bed staring at the ceiling, the early morning light soft against the walls of my room.
My thoughts were a tangle of sadness, worry, and exhaustion.
A soft knock at my door made me sit up so fast I nearly tipped the lamp on the nightstand.
"Luna?" Amy's voice was careful almost hesitant but there was a weight to it that made my chest squeezed.
She stepped face scrunched reading a file.
"My father... he wants to speak with you. It's about your journey east...…. your training."
......….
The walk to the King's quarters felt longer than usual. every step echoed in the silent hallways of the pack house, and I couldn't stop my mind from racing back to the cabin, to Rhage's presence, to the way he had held me, protected me.... Kissed me.
Amy knocked lightly on the massive oak door.
"Father? Luna is here." she said.
"Come in." his voice was low and measured, colder than winter frost.
The door opened, and there he was sitting at his table, posture perfect, back straight, hands folded lightly over the papers in front of him. His presence filled the room, as it always did, but today it was sharper, colder, like the beast I had feared as a child, had finally claimed him entirely.
"Sit," he commanded eyes briefly flicking to me then returning to his work. I did as he asked, careful to keep my distance.
"I have reached out to your aunt, she's undertaking a prophetic mission. You will remain here, in the kingdom, for the next two months."
Questions formed in my throat, but for some reason, a strange relief settled in my chest. I would not be traveling yet. I would remain here...
"If there is anything you need adjusted...… arrangements, resources... you will inform Amy, she will pass it to me." he continued his tone devoid of warmth, yet carrying that unspoken authority that made everyone obey.
"That is all," he added turning his attention back to the papers in front of him, as if I weren't even there.
I wanted to speak, to say something but the words lodged in my throat. I swallowed hard, letting the silence fill the space between us.
"Thank you." I murmured finally finding my voice. I rose, trying to keep my composure as I turned toward the door.
A single tear slid down my cheek as the door closed softly behind me. My heart aching with a familiar, lonely longing.
He hadn't looked at me once after speaking, yet the weight of his presence lingered, like a shadow etched deep into my chest.