The Lunar Queen Chapter 95

Cole POV

I knew the moment I felt our bond stretch that she left the pack. It hadn’t snapped hard or violently. Just a slow, sick pull in my chest like something important was slipping farther away with every second. I sit in her office and wait for her because I know this is where she feels safest to practice magic. The room still smelled faintly like her—honeysuckle, ink, burnt candle wax. Her magic lingered in the air too, buzzing low against my skin and making Zeus restless. I need to change that this is her home she should feel safe to practice anywhere. Safe with me. Safe around me. Not hiding in rooms with locked doors like I’m the danger. I know she feels guilty for him but she isn’t responsible for his actions. Yet she doesn’t understand how this feels for me. Every time Mason’s name comes up, it feels like I’m dying all over again while she stands there mourning the man who put me in the ground. He killed me. She put a block so I can’t feel her emotions and she can’t feel mine. The silence in the bond should’ve helped. Instead it only made everything colder. Empty. Wrong. When she steps out of the closet she stops when she sees me. Not just surprise—fear flashes across her face for half a second before she hides it, and that cuts deeper than it should. Josh leaves the room without a word. The door clicks shut softly behind him, but the sound echoes through the room like a warning shot. I look at her face and I can see she’s been crying and Zeus pushes me to go to her but I can’t. Her eyes are swollen. Her nose pink. She looks exhausted, fragile, and it makes my anger twist into something uglier because part of me still wants to pull her into my chest and tell her everything is okay when it’s not. I can tell the moment she lets the block down and my emotions slam into her. The air between us practically crackles. Pain. Rage. Betrayal. Love. Too much all at once. She visibly stumbles back and guilt floods the bond strong and fast. Her hand catches the edge of the desk to steady herself and the guilt coming through the bond is so sharp it almost makes me look away. Almost. “You went even though you know how I felt” I say calmly. Too calmly. My jaw aches from how hard I’m clenching it. Zeus is pacing violently in my head, scratching at my control. “I told you I needed this Cole” she says voice low eyes shifting unable to meet my gaze. Her fingers twist together in front of her, nails digging into her skin hard enough to leave marks. “What about what I need Lyric?” I ask. I take a stand slowly and she immediately stiffens. That reaction hits me harder than I expect. Her eyes shoot to mine “I care about what you need” She says. I snort sharp and bitter. “Except for when it has to do with Mason” I say sarcasm dripping from my voice. The second his name leaves my mouth, the temperature in the room feels like it drops. “That’s not true. I killed him. I KILLED HIM” she yells voice hoarse from crying. The words rip out of her so hard her whole body shakes after. Magic flickers under her skin, unstable and raw. “You don’t think I know that Lyric , but he killed ME, and it’s like you forget that. You killed him because he killed me. I died in your arms and you cry for the person responsible every fucking day. Do you think about how I feel watching my mate grieve the person who killed me, the person who tried to take what was mine” I shout at her chest rising and falling Zeus whimpering in my mind. By the end my voice cracks slightly and I hate it. Hate that she can hear how much this actually hurts me. My wolf isn’t angry anymore. He’s devastated. “ You keep saying you chose me but since he died it really feels like you chose him” I say. Quieter this time. Somehow worse than the yelling. The words hang between us heavy and suffocating. Her eyes go wide tears streaming down her face “Cole” she whispers like I just physically hurt her. Her knees almost buckle and guilt immediately punches through the bond, mixing with panic. and moves to step towards me but I hold my hand up and she freezes. The second she stops moving, something inside me breaks because my mate actually listens like she’s scared I’ll reject her if she takes another step. “I can’t right now. You are my mate and I love you but I need a minute” I say stepping back even though every instinct in my body is screaming at me not to walk away from her, and walk out of this office. I force my feet to move anyway. I can still hear her crying after the door shuts behind me, and it follows me down the hallway like a ghost.

I walk to the one place I know will calm me and Zeus. The nursery. The second I step closer to the door the scent of powder, milk, and the pups hits me, easing some of the pressure crushing my chest. Zeus finally stops pacing long enough to breathe. I put my block up to give myself time to process what just happened. Because if I feel Lyric right now her guilt, her crying I might cave and go back before I’m ready.

When I get there Winter and Iris are in there. “Oh I’m sorry, I will come back” I say. My voice comes out rougher than I intended.

“oh no the hell you won’t. What did she do?” Winter asks.

I furrow my brows “What do you mean?” I question. I try to sound normal but even I can hear the exhaustion in my voice.

“You have the I’m upset with my mate but I’m worried about her at the same time face” she says.

My face must show my shock because she bursts out laughing. Even Iris snorts quietly from where she’s rocking one of the babies. The sound feels strangely normal after the heaviness in Lyric’s office.

“I’ve known Lyric my whole life and I’ve seen that face on my brother more than once and even on myself a few times. So what did she do?” she repeats.

I sigh before sitting down. The chair creaks under me and I drag a hand down my face, suddenly feeling exhausted down to my bones. “She went to Mason’s grave even though I told her I wasn’t okay with that” I say.

“Oh goddess” she says rolling her eyes. “I told her that it wasn’t a good idea when she brought it up to us the other day” She says.

“Yeah well she basically told me fuck how I feel and left, then she put a block up. We got into a big argument when she got back” I say frustration rising. The more I talk about it the tighter my chest feels. Anger mixes with hurt until I can barely tell them apart anymore.

“I just want her to understand how I feel, I know she feels guilt but I’m the one he stabbed. I died that night too. She cries for him everyday Winter” I say. My voice lowers near the end, quieter and more broken than angry now. Zeus whimpers softly in my head at the memory of Lyric screaming over my body.

Her and Iris gasp “Oh she did not tell us that” Winter says. Her expression immediately shifts from annoyed to horrified. Iris tightens her hold on the pup in her arms like she physically felt the pain in my words.

“I just left before I said something I regret but I can’t talk to her when she doesn’t see my side” I say. Because if I stayed any longer I might’ve said something unforgivable. Something that would haunt both of us.

“She says she chose me but it doesn’t feel like it” I say. The confession leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. Saying it out loud somehow makes it feel more real.

“Alpha my scouts are back from Dark Valley” Dominic links.

I run my hands across my face hard enough to sting. No time to fall apart. Not when the kingdom keeps moving whether I’m hurting or not. “I have to go, but thanks for listening girls” I says before kissing each of the pups and walking out to meet Dom. The babies immediately relax against me when I kiss their heads and for one dangerous second I almost go back to Lyric. Almost.

I feel Lyric pushing on the bond but she needs to give me space. Even through the block I can feel the faint pressure of her reaching for me over and over again. Hesitant. Panicked. It makes my chest ache.

When I reach my office Dominic is standing outside with Kasen one of the scouts. Both of them look tense enough that my irritation immediately shifts into alpha mode. We step inside and the moment I take a seat. “What did you find out?” I ask.

“The entire pack is empty Alpha, like they just all left. Food untouched on tables, clothes still in houses. Like the entire pack just vanished” He says.

A chill crawls down my spine. Even Zeus stills at the words. Wolves don’t just disappear. Entire packs don’t vanish without bloodshed.

“They were attacked?” I ask. My fingers drum once against the desk before stilling completely.

He shakes his head “No, everything is in tact it’s just nobody there, and it looks like it’s been a few weeks” He says. “It looked very eerie and not natural” he says.

I nod “thank you Kasen” I say dismissing him. The second the door closes the room feels heavier somehow. Too quiet.

When the door shuts behind him Dominic gives me a look “Abandoned?, where did they all go and how does an entire pack just vanish with no trace” he questions.

“Magic” I mutter before I can stop myself. Because my instincts are screaming that this doesn’t feel like rogues or war. It feels wrong in a way I can’t explain.

Just when I thought we were about to have peace for a while. An entire pack goes missing. First Lyric and I have our first argument. Now this. And for the first time in a long time, I have the sinking feeling that something bigger is coming. Something bad enough to make the war with David feel small in comparison.