Julian’s POV
Years Later
Her scent haunted still, a phantom that clung to every corner of my existence. They say ti heals all wounds, but whoever said that never loved soone with the intensity that could burn down worlds. The ache in my chest had beco a permanent resident, a constant reminder of what I’d lost.
The one silver lining to her abandonnt was discovering Alpha Dorian’s true colors. That bastard had the audacity to show his face at my pack borders, claiming he ca out of concern for . What he didn’t know was that she’d left a letter explaining everything. Banishing him from my territory should have felt satisfying, should have dulled the rage that lived beneath my skin. Instead, the hollow cavern in my chest only seed to echo louder.
His parting words still cut deep. He’d claid she threw herself at him, desperate and willing. Truth or twisted lie designed to destroy further? The distinction had stopped mattering long ago. The damage was already carved into my soul.
I won’t pretend I was the ideal mate. My temper ran hot, my moods shifted like storm clouds, and I kept walls around my heart that even she couldn’t fully breach. I know I drove her away with my distance, my inability to show her what she ant to . But infidelity? That betrayal had shattered sothing fundantal inside , left falling through endless darkness with no ground in sight.
The sound of tiny feet racing across marble floors pulled from my brooding. A blur of bright pink burst through my office doors, and before I could brace myself, a small body crashed into my legs with enough force to make smile for the first ti in days.
"Daddy!" Elena’s voice rang like church bells through the suffocating silence.
Looking down into her brilliant blue eyes, I felt sothing crack open in my chest. Sothing warm and alive that I’d thought was buried forever. I lifted her into my arms, breathing in the sweet scent of her strawberry shampoo. Deep in my consciousness, my wolf stirred with the faintest rumble of contentnt, a sound that had beco increasingly rare.
She’d beco my lifeline. When Seraphina walked out, she’d left behind a man who was barely functioning, a leader going through empty motions while dying inside. Then Elena entered my world, and suddenly I had a reason to keep breathing. Soone worth fighting the consuming darkness that threatened to swallow whole.
"Mommy says dinner’s ready!" she announced, bouncing in my arms with infectious energy.
My smile cracked at the edges. Mommy. Roxanne. With each passing month, she inserted herself deeper into the role of pack Luna, acting as though we were bound mates rather than simply co-parents. Every al she prepared, every dostic gesture she made, felt like another thread in a web designed to trap . I endured it solely for my daughter’s sake.
"Tell your mom I’m not hungry, sweetheart," I said, forcing lightness into my tone. "I already ate."
Her bottom lip jutted out in a pout that could lt steel. "Please, Daddy? Mommy made that beef stew you like! And I stirred it all by myself!" Those enormous eyes turned pleading, wielding the only weapon I had no defense against.
Defeat settled over like a familiar coat. "Fine," I chuckled despite myself, setting her on her feet. "Lead the way, little commander."
She grabbed my hand and practically dragged toward the dining room, chattering about her day. Roxanne stood at the head table, arranging place settings with the practiced efficiency of soone claiming territory. Her dress flowed perfectly, her hair styled to magazine perfection. The picture of dostic bliss. My jaw clenched at the transparent performance.
We took our seats. The stew was admittedly excellent—Roxanne knew her way around a kitchen. Elena filled the air with innocent chatter about her activities, blissfully unaware of the tension crackling between the adults. Everything seed manageable until Roxanne decided to drop her bomb.
"Julian," she began, her voice deceptively gentle, "do you think you’ll ever be able to move past Seraphina entirely?"
My spoon hit the bowl with a sharp clang. Rage erupted through my veins like liquid fire. My wolf, dormant for so long, suddenly snarled to life with murderous intent. Discussing her was forbidden territory, a wound I refused to let anyone poke at.
"Roxanne," I said, my voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "Stay out of it."
She lifted her chin defiantly, clearly prepared for this fight. "Maybe it’s ti to release yourself from soone who betrayed you, Julian. For Elena’s sake, if not your own."
That crossed the line. I shot to my feet, the chair scraping violently against stone. The fury burning through was arctic cold, controlled but lethal. "Elena," I said, focusing solely on my daughter while pointedly ignoring Roxanne’s existence. "I’ll be up to read you a story later."
I walked out without another word, leaving Roxanne to clean up her ss. My feet carried to my private chambers where I began pacing like a predator in a cage too small. Every nerve ending felt electrified, every muscle coiled for violence I couldn’t unleash.
But beneath the anger lay sothing far more terrifying. My wolf was dying. Not taphorically, not just from heartbreak, but actually fading away. His voice had grown quieter since Seraphina’s departure, but lately, his presence felt like holding onto smoke. The connection that defined my very existence was dissolving.
The physical symptoms were becoming impossible to ignore. Crushing headaches that felt like my skull was cracking. Bone-deep exhaustion that sleep couldn’t touch. My supernatural senses, once sharp enough to track prey for miles, now felt muffled behind cotton. My strength, legendary even among alphas, was bleeding away drop by drop.
I’d consulted every healer, every pack doctor, every expert I could find. They all wore the sa expression of baffled helplessness. No one understood why my wolf was withering, why I was slowly becoming human.
Standing at my window, I stared out at pack lands bathed in moonlight. The full moon should have called to sothing wild and powerful inside . Instead, I felt like another shadow among many, fading into nothing while everyone around remained oblivious to my deterioration.
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