The Lunar Queen Chapter 96

Lyric POV

The moment he walks out the door I collapse onto the floor and break down. The bond between us feels stretched painfully thin now that he’s blocking me out, and the silence where Cole usually is makes panic crawl up my throat. He’s right and I know he is. That’s the worst part. Not the yelling. Not him walking away. Knowing I hurt him exactly the way he said I did. Nova whimpers in my head. The sound is weak, distressed, completely opposite of how my wolf usually is around our mate. I try to link him even though i know he has a block up. Nothing but cold silence meets me and it makes fresh tears spill down my face.

A knock sounds at the door and Joshua and Jonathan walk in. Their expressions immediately shift when they see me on the floor. Jonathan walks over and scoops me up and sets me on the couch. I don’t even fight him. I’m too emotionally drained to pretend I’m okay.

“I shouldn’t have gone right?” I ask. My voice cracks halfway through the sentence.

They look at each other. “I don’t think the problem was you going Lyric, I think it’s about you grieving him as strongly as you are when he literally killed Cole” Jonathan says.

The words hit like a slap because deep down I already know he’s right.

A few minutes later Winter barges through the door. The force of it makes everyone in the room jump slightly. “You went even after Iris and I told you that you should not go” She snaps.

“I just wanted to talk to him” I say. Weak excuse. We all know it the second it leaves my mouth.

Her eyes go wide “You spoke to him?” she asks.

“Yes I summoned his spirit. I needed to apologize to him” I say.

The room goes dead silent.

“Lyric does Cole know you did that?” She asks, she pauses before continuing “Are you trying to ruin your relationship?” She asks.

My head falls into my hands as the tears fall. Guilt crashes into me so hard my chest physically aches. “No he doesn’t know and no I’m not. I know I messed up tell me how to fix it” I say.

“I think he just needs time sis” Jonathan says.

“How much time, do I tell him that I spoke to him?” I ask

“Yes” they all say in unison.

My stomach twists immediately at the thought of telling Cole the full truth. The image of his face during our argument flashes in my mind and panic spikes hard through me.

“Be honest with him and then never go back unless he is okay with it and he is healed from what happened. You wanted Mason to let you go Ly but you haven’t let him go yet not completely” Winter says.

Her words settle heavily over me because she’s right. I wanted closure while keeping the grief and Mason alive at the same time.

“Wait he spoke to you?” I ask Winter.

“I think he came to the nursery to see the pups but Iris and I was there but I recognized the face and I asked him what happened, he’s hurting and you need to fix it” she says as a knock sounds on the door.

Dominic sticks his head in, “Hey Luna is now a good time to talk?” he asks.

I wipe my face and put on my game face and stand from the couch “Sure come in” I say. Years of being trained to hide weakness kick in automatically even though emotionally I’m falling apart.

He walks in and Cole walks in behind him and my breath catches in my throat. The second I see him my Nova surges forward desperately. "Mine. Mate. Fix this" she whines. He looks at me before he goes to sit on the couch opposite of where I stand. Not beside me. Not even close enough to touch. The distance between us suddenly feels massive.

I gather my emotions as Nova whimpers loud in my mind as our mate ignores us. His face is unreadable but I notice the tightness in his jaw immediately. He looks exhausted too.

“We heard back from the scouts and we may have a problem with Dark Valley” Dominic says.

I look at Cole and he doesn’t even look my way. The rejection stings harder than I expect.

“Okay what does that mean?” I ask because if there’s another potential threat to us I need all the details.

“Kasen said the pack lands were abandoned” Dominic replies.

A chill immediately runs down my spine. Entire packs don’t just disappear.

I turn to Cole “So what are you trying to do?” I ask him.

His jaw ticks before he looks at me “I think we should take a trip and see if you can get a vision and see if you can find out what happened” he says.

His voice is calm again but colder now. Professional. Alpha to Luna instead of mate to mate. That hurts worse than the yelling did.

I stare at him for a moment “Okay” I say.

Winter looks between us “Okay we are going to go and let you two talk” She says tapping Dominic to help her up.

The second the door shuts the room feels painfully quiet.

After everyone leaves the room, we sit in silence for a whole 5 minutes neither of us saying an a thing. I can hear every tiny sound now—the ticking clock, Cole’s breathing, my own heartbeat pounding too fast. He shakes his head and walks out of the room.

Panic immediately explodes in my chest.

I jump up and run behind him “Wait Cole please” I say and he stops but doesn’t turn around. That somehow hurts more than if he kept walking.

“Lyric you’re not ready to talk to me” he says.

I step closer to him and grab his arm his body visibly relaxes before he pulls his arm from my grasp.

That tiny reaction gives me hope for half a second before he rips it away again.

“I’m sorry” I say softly.

He turns slightly “Why were you crying when you got back and be honest?” he asks and I freeze.

Because he still notices. Even angry. Even hurt. He still notices everything about me.

“Tell him” Nova says.

He sucks his teeth and chuckles dryly. “like I said not ready to talk” he says as he turns and walks down the hall leaving me standing there crying.

The bond aches violently watching him walk away from me again.

“Luna dinner is being served” Joshua says.

I wave my hand “Go, switch with Henry, tell Aria I said hey” I say walking towards my bedroom. Food is the last thing on my mind right now.

“Luna let me walk you to your room” He says softly.

I stop and turn to look at him “I’m fine Joshua, I will see you in the morning” I say before turning and walking down the hall.

The halls feel colder tonight somehow. Too quiet. Too empty without Cole beside me.

I stop at the nursery and I see Zach is up. I scoop him up and he smiles up at me and my heart melts, I just decide to take him in the room with me.

The second he curls against my chest some of the panic eases. Barely.

I take my clothes off and climb into bed with him. He eventually falls asleep on my chest and I lay him on the bed. I check the baby monitor and Eloise and Adonis are still sleeping.

I know i need to fix things with Cole before it gets worse. We need to be on the same page especially if we are facing another threat.

Because if something happens while we’re like this, I’ll never forgive myself.

I snuggle up next to Zachariah and close my eyes hoping he comes back to the room tonight.

But the longer the silence stretches through the bond, the more I start to fear he won’t.