I woke up paralyzed, feeling as though a crushing weight had pinned me down.

I couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't even fully open my eyes. My consciousness was trapped, a prisoner inside my own flesh and blood.

But I could see. Through the narrow slits of my lashes, my gaze fell upon the room beyond the sheer bed curtains. The master bedroom was brightly lit by the fire.

There were two figures out there.

Kael had Lyra by the throat, his face twisted in cold, murderous rage.

"How dare you!" he snarled, his voice guttural and menacing. "How dare you use sleeping powder on her? If she comes to any harm, I will make you suffer for a thousand years!"

Lyra choked, her face turning crimson as her legs kicked wildly.

He held her there, letting her suffer for a long moment before violently tossing her aside.

She collapsed onto the floor, gasping for air, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"I only did it because I missed you!" she sobbed, playing the role of the pathetic, innocent victim. "The dust won't hurt her! It just makes her sleep! So she can't see, can't hear..."

Kael remained silent.

Seeing this, Lyra seized the opportunity to crawl toward him, sliding her hands up his legs as she stood. She pressed her body flush against his.

"You can kill me, Alpha," she whispered, her voice trembling with feigned fear, "but I would rather die than live without your touch."

She was wearing a sheer silk robe. With a flick of her fingers, the sash at her waist came undone. The robe pooled on the floor, leaving her standing naked before him. She looped her arms around his neck, bringing her lips to his ear.

"Kael, don't you want me?" she murmured. "Don't you want to feel alive? If you don't, I'll leave."

For one heart-stopping second, nothing happened.

Then, Kael let out a dark growl, his hands shooting out to yank her back against him.

"You little vixen..." he growled, his voice thick with a raw lust I had never heard before.

That sound hit me like a physical blow. I wanted to scream, to run.

But I was trapped, like a living statue, forced to watch it all unfold.

The clothes I had made for him, the tunics I had carefully stitched while imagining his warmth wearing them, were cast to the floor one by one until they were nothing but a meaningless pile of fabric.

The night was dead silent, save for the sounds of their passionate entanglement.

Every rustle of the sheets, every heavy breath from Kael, every soft, euphoric moan from Lyra twisted like a knife in my gut.

I felt like I was being skinned alive, piece by piece.

And then, there was a sound. A faint chime. It was the bell on Lyra's ankle.

Her voice snaked into my mind, dripping with venomous whispers. "The show is just beginning, sister. Did you think that was just a sleeping draught? It was a key. It unlocked the door to your soul, letting my little toy inside."

"This bell... it's called the Bell of Shattering. It will tear you apart, piece by piece. Watching you die will be my greatest joy. Just you wait."

She turned her head, flashing me a triumphant smirk.

Then she turned back, wrapping her legs around Kael like a snake.

His movements grew faster, more frantic, as if driven by some primal urge.

Lyra's moans grew louder. And with every moan, the chiming of the bell became sharper, more urgent.

An invisible force, like a thousand searing hot needles, pierced the very depths of my soul. Pure, excruciating agony tore through my body.

"Alpha," Lyra gasped, nipping at his shoulder. "This bell... it only rings when I'm... pleased. Do you like the sound?"

Kael, lost in a haze of frenzy, groaned in response, his hands gripping her ankles tightly, making the bell chime even faster.

"Louder," he rasped. "Make it ring faster."

An explosive wave of agony hit me.

The red glow emanating from the chimes became almost tangible, manifesting as ghostly vipers that burrowed into my ears, my eyes, my chest.

In that moment, I could almost see it in my mind's eye.

My soul. My fractured, incomplete soul.

I saw the fissures widening, spreading like cracks across a frozen lake.

The pain was so intense I felt it would snuff out my life right then and there.

But then, a soft blue light pulsed from the center of my chest. It wasn't warm or comforting; it was as cold and clinical as a binding contract.

The Arbiter's voice echoed through the void of my consciousness.

"The Soul Contract is binding. In the face of lethal spiritual damage, the contract's power will intervene to protect its property."

The spectral vipers hissed, recoiling under the blue light before dissolving into wisps of smoke.

The pain gradually receded, and with it, my consciousness faded. The world plunged into absolute darkness.

When I woke up, the room was empty and completely silent.

The fire had died down, leaving only a few glowing embers.

The air was freezing and still. The memories of last night felt like a raw, bleeding wound, but my mind was remarkably clear.

I remembered hearing a scream right before I blacked out. It was Lyra's voice. The backlash from the Underworld's magic must have hurt her badly.

I didn't have to wait long. The door banged open, and Kael stormed in.

His face bore no trace of concern for me; he was frantic with worry, but it was entirely for someone else.

"Elara," he began, not with a greeting, but a demand. "The border was attacked last night. Lyra is gravely injured, her spirit broken. She needs a Soulstone to heal. Where is the one I gave you?"

The Soulstone. He had fought through a hundred battles to acquire it, nearly dying in the process.

It was meant to stabilize my fragile soul, to grant me peace in my final days.

The Arbiter himself had instructed me to take it to ease the agony of my soul's dissipation.

I held the small velvet pouch in my hand, feeling the weight of the stone inside. Kael reached for it eagerly.

I turned, pulling the pouch away from his grasping fingers.

He paused, a flash of—was that annoyance?—crossing his face.

He leaned in, his voice softening into that familiar, coaxing tone he always used with me.

"Elara, don't be afraid. You have my blood in your veins. You'll be fine. You've always been fine."

I looked up at him, my voice as light as the wind. "But Kael... I am in pain. I have always been in pain."

He stared at me, failing to process my words for a second. Then he sighed, the kind of sigh a man gives when dealing with a difficult child. "She doesn't have time for this, Elara. She's dying."

My fingers gripped the pouch so tightly my knuckles turned white. "Tell me, Kael. Was she really injured by some rogue? Or is there another reason?"

He hesitated, just for a fraction of a second.

"She is dying, Elara. If she doesn't get the Soulstone, she won't survive. You are the kindest person I know. You took her in, you loved her like a real sister. Don't you want to save her?"

"She is not my sister!" The words burst from my lips like blades. "She is not my family."

A real sister wouldn't try to destroy me.

A spark of anger flared in Kael's eyes. "Elara, when did you become so cold and heartless? When you were human, you would heal wounded rabbits. You would give your last crumb of bread to a starving child."

Before I could reply, Lyra's handmaiden, an old woman, burst into the room without knocking, her face pale with terror. "Alpha! Please! Lady Lyra... she's fading! You must come now!"

Kael blanched, waving the woman away impatiently.

"Go, I'll be right there." He turned back to me, his tone hardening into an Alpha's absolute command. "Elara. The Soulstone. Give it to me."

The dark mirror reflected a woman I didn't recognize at all. Pale, hollow, broken. A bitter, mirthless smile tugged at the corners of my mouth.

"And if I refuse? Will you take it from me by force, Alpha?"

"Elara, do not push me."

I swallowed back the tidal wave of words, accusations, pleas, and shattered heartbreak.

I asked him one last time, my voice calm and steady. "Are you sure? You absolutely must have it?"

His patience finally snapped. "For the love of the Moon, Elara! Stop being so dramatic! What good will a Soulstone do for you that my blood hasn't already done? A life is on the line! This is not the time for your petty jealousy!"

I looked at him, and for the first time in three hundred years, I felt completely numb.

The pain vanished. In its place was a vast, sprawling emptiness.

"Alright," I whispered. "Take it."

He didn't even hear me. He snatched the pouch from my unresisting hand, a look of profound relief washing over his face.

He paused at the door, remembering his obligations.

He glanced back at me.

"I will be back, Elara. Once this is all over... I will throw you the grandest ceremony this land has ever seen. I promise."

And with that, he was gone.

I slowly shook my head.

There would be no ceremony. There would be no future. And we would not be together.

I had waited long enough.

The seven-day countdown ended here.

The day I was supposed to be married was bright and cloudless. What a cruel, beautiful irony.

In the eyes of the pack, I was supposed to become Kael's bride, yet on this very same day, my soul would lose its home.

The castle's great hall was draped in white silk and winter roses. The air was buzzing with excited chatter and laughter.

Every wolf in the territory had gathered, waiting for their Alpha and his Luna.

I was not there.

I stood at the edge of the Underworld, in the realm of eternal twilight where the veil between worlds was at its thinnest.

The fierce wind howled, a bleak, desolate sound that whipped my pristine white gown and unbound hair into a frenzy.

I stood barefoot on the freezing, lifeless earth.

Before me lay the Abyss—a tear between worlds, leading to the Void from which no soul could ever return.

It was strangely peaceful here.

A hoarse, desperate roar ripped through the air. "Elara!"

Kael. He burst from the treeline, his face contorted with sheer panic. His eyes swept the cliff's edge before finally locking onto me.

He lunged forward, only to slam into an invisible wall.

The Underworld's ward—the boundary between worlds—held him back.

He was only a step away from me, yet we were separated by an entire universe.

He was deathly pale, his eyes wide with a terror I had never seen before. "Elara, what are you doing? Stop! Step away from the edge! Now!"

My gaze drifted down to his neck. The bite mark was still there, stamped into his skin. The undeniable proof of his betrayal.

It was absurd. Now, right at the moment he was about to lose me forever, his eyes finally held the fear of losing me.

I gave him one last, faint smile.

Goodbye, Kael.

I stepped into the Void.

The fall was instantaneous, yet endless.

But the moment I crossed the threshold, the Abyss erupted.

Countless vengeful spirits, the angry souls of the unavenged, surged from the depths.

But they didn't tear at my flesh; they tore at Kael's essence within me. Every drop of blood he had fed me over three hundred years turned into a searing brand.

Three centuries of devotion morphed into three centuries of venom, ripping me apart from the inside.

The sweetness of his sacrifice turned to scalding fire, burning my soul to ash.

I curled in on myself, a silent scream ripping from my throat as my very existence felt as though it was being ripped to shreds.

Above, I could faintly see Kael, a tiny figure standing at the edge, pounding his fists helplessly against the barrier, his roars of rage and despair swallowed by the winds of the Abyss.

Three hundred years ago, those were the same hands that had wiped the blood from my lips. "Does it hurt?" he had whispered, his eyes overflowing with love. "I will never let you get hurt again."

Then, his voice shifted, turning sharp and dismissive: "She is dying, Elara. Stop being jealous."

It was over.

The first shudder wrecked through me. It felt like a fissure cracking open deep within my core. It was excruciatingly painful, yet it brought a strange sense of release.

Love, joy, hope, and the blistering agony of betrayal... all of it began to fade, ultimately returning to nothingness.

As the fires of the Abyss raged, I felt my soul shatter. The sound was like a crystal glass breaking in a perfectly silent room.

And then... there was nothing.

I was no more.