Luna. Chapter 58

(Kael's POV)

The message came at 3 AM. Short, urgent, encrypted: "Package missing. Cleanup required."

I stared at my phone for a full minute before the implications hit me.

Damien's body was gone.

I'd been monitoring the morgue where they'd taken Seraphina's brother after I'd killed him in self-defense. Standard procedure required the body to remain available for potential investigation, even though the case had been ruled justifiable homicide.

But now the body was missing. And the Ashwalkers were asking me to clean up the situation.

Which meant they'd taken it.

Why would they want his corpse? my wolf wondered.

Because they're not planning to leave him dead.

I drove to the morgue in Silver Creek, using Council credentials to access the facility. The overnight security guard looked nervous as he led me to the storage area.

"It's the weirdest thing," he explained. "The body was there during the evening check. But when the morning shift arrived, the drawer was empty. No signs of forced entry, no alarms triggered."

"Security footage?"

"That's the strange part. The cameras show nothing. Like the body just vanished."

I examined the empty drawer, noting the faint scent of dark magic that lingered in the air. Whatever the Ashwalkers had done, it involved necromancy. Which meant Damien might not stay dead.

And if they could resurrect one supernatural being, they could probably resurrect others.

This changes everything, my wolf observed.

I know.

My phone buzzed with another message: "Status report required. Meeting tonight. Location attached."

I looked at the address. An abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of town. The kind of place where people went to have conversations that couldn't be overheard.

The kind of place where people also went to die.

I needed to warn Lyra before I walked into what might be a trap. But first, I needed to see her with Asher. To confirm they were both safe, both protected.

I drove to the Moonlight Pack territory, parking at the edge of the forest where I could observe without being detected. Through the trees, I could see the garden behind the packhouse where Lyra was pushing Asher on the swing he'd somehow managed to repair.

Magnus was there too, sitting on the porch steps reading a book while keeping one eye on them. The picture of domestic tranquility.

The family I'd thrown away.

You could have that again, my wolf said quietly.

No, I couldn't. Even if she forgave me, even if we found a way past everything that happened, I'll never be the man she deserves.

Because of the poison?

Because of who I am. Who I've always been.

I watched Magnus say something that made Lyra laugh, watched Asher run to him with the easy affection of a child who felt completely safe. Magnus had given them what I never could: stability, peace, unconditional support.

He's a good father to our son, my wolf observed.

He's a better father than I would be.

That's not true.

Isn't it? I failed them once already. Catastrophically.

I started to drive away, but something made me look back one more time. Asher was standing very still in the garden, his small head tilted like he was listening to something no one else could hear.

Then he turned and looked directly at where I was parked, half a mile away through dense forest.

He waved.

My four-year-old son had somehow sensed my presence from an impossible distance and was waving goodbye like he knew I was leaving.

We need to protect him, my wolf said urgently.

I know.

Whatever it costs.

I know.

As I drove toward what might be my last meeting with the Ashwalkers, I made myself a promise. Whatever happened tonight, whatever they demanded or threatened or offered, I would not let them touch my family.

Even if destroying them meant destroying myself in the process.

Some things were worth dying for.