THALIA’S POV
The moment I pressed my trembling hands together, I knew I had never been this terrified. All I could do was say a prayer.
“Please, Moon Goddess,” I whispered through tears that kept spilling down my cheeks no matter how often I wiped them away, “please let whatever I do work, I don’t care what it takes, just please save him.” My breathing was shaky and fast, and I felt like the entire world was collapsing inside my chest.
Suddenly, Bram’s hand landed softly on my shoulder, grounding me for a moment. He leaned in closer and whispered, “Thalia, you need to calm down, sweetheart. If your nerves become too chaotic, they might disrupt the process, and we cannot afford that when every second counts.”
I nodded quickly, swallowing the panic stuck in my throat, trying to pull myself back together even though I felt like I was breaking in slow motion.
Bram moved to Kane’s side and placed his fingers against Kane’s pulse, his expression changed as he counted silently. “Thalia,” he said with a voice that trembled just slightly, “we have to do this now.”
My heart dropped, and my hands automatically went cold. “What… what do I do?” I whispered helplessly, wiping another trail of tears from my cheek.
Bram turned to me fully, his face was pale and serious. “Place your hand on his chest,” he instructed firmly. “Then let your magic flow. Let it search for the poison and force it out of him. This is the only way.”
My hand hovered above Kane’s chest, shaking uncontrollably as if the coldness of his body had already reached me. “I don’t… I don’t even know how to activate it,” I admitted in a broken whisper, hating myself for not knowing how to do something that mattered so much right now.
“Try,” Bram said simply, and even though it was just one word, the heaviness in his voice made it feel like a thunderclap. “Please try, Thalia. The Alpha doesn’t have the luxury of time. Please.”
I drew in a shaky breath, placed my palm gently over Kane’s chest, and closed my eyes tightly. His skin felt colder than anything I had ever touched in my life, it felt wrong, unnatural and terrifying.
I squeezed my eyes even tighter and tried.
Nothing…
I tried again, clenching my jaw, holding my breath, digging my nails into my own palm as if pain would pull out something magical from deep inside me.
Still nothing happened.
“It’s not working,” I choked out, my voice breaking as panic rushed back in full force. “Bram, it’s not working, I don’t feel anything, I can’t…”
“Thalia,” Bram interrupted urgently, “try again. You can do this. I know you can. He needs you.”
I inhaled sharply, trying to summon strength that I didn’t even know if I had, and forced myself to try one more time.
And that was when it happened.
A violent, unbearable pain that felt so raw and soul-splitting, exploded through my entire body, ripping a scream out of me so loud and broken that I barely recognized it as my own voice.
My eyes flew open, but I wasn’t seeing the clinic anymore; I was seeing blinding white light bursting out of them like I had become a lantern made of flames.
My entire body shook uncontrollably, my muscles spasmed and my breath disappeared. I tried to pull my hand off his chest, desperate to stop the agony tearing through me, but Bram grabbed my wrist before I could move.
“Thalia!” he shouted over my screams. “Do not take your hand off him! No matter what you feel, keep it there!”
“Bram—!” I sobbed through the burning that felt like it was slicing me apart from the inside. “It hurts! Something—something is wrong!”
“It’s not wrong!” Bram cried, gripping my wrist tightly. “This is what happens when your wolf is being separated from you!”
His words slammed into me harder than the pain itself.
He continued breathlessly, “Your magic is stripping your wolf out of your body. Your parents warned you about this for a reason. When a witch-wolf uses raw, unrefined magic, it eliminates the wolf spirit entirely. That’s what’s happening now. Your wolf is being dissolved. Thalia, this is the cost.”
I screamed again as the pain tore through me, but this time it wasn’t just my body screaming, it was my soul. I could feel Iris weakening, fading, slipping away like water leaking from cupped hands I couldn’t close.
“Thalia…” Iris’s voice whispered so faintly inside my mind that it barely felt real. “I’m… sorry…”
And then she vanished.
The moment she disappeared, an emptiness sliced straight through my chest so sharp and devastating that for a moment, I forgot how to breathe.
I didn’t get time to deal with the heartbreak of losing her, because suddenly, Kane’s eyes snapped open with a violent gasp.
Before I could even register the relief in my chest, a powerful force blasted outward from his body, like the magic I poured inside of him had been repelled. The recoil slammed into me so violently that my body flew backward and crashed into the wall with a harsh sound.
My skull collided with the wall, and I felt warm blood immediately trickle down my face. But I didn’t care. I didn’t feel it. I barely noticed the room spinning.
Because Kane was alive.
He was breathing, I had saved him.
“Kane…” I whispered through weak, trembling lips, my vision blurring from pain and relief. “Kane… you’re okay… you’re—”
Before I could even finish, he sat up like none of this had happened, like he hadn’t been dying minutes ago, like my magic hadn’t ripped me apart for him.
And the first thing he did was reach for Morgana.
“Morgana,” he breathed anxiously, cupping her face, checking her arms, examining her like she was made of fragile glass. “Did they hurt you? Did the Woodluck warriors touch you? Are you injured? Tell me.”
I blinked slowly, feeling something cold and hollow spread through my stomach as I watched him hold her.
He didn’t ask about me. He didn’t look at me. He didn’t even acknowledge the blood running down my face.
“Morgana,” he repeated softly, pulling her into a tight embrace that felt like a knife twisting in my chest. “I was so worried.”
I stared at them numbly, my breath catching in my throat.
“Kane…” I whispered, but he didn’t turn. He didn’t even notice.
Finally, after what felt like forever, he looked at me with the coldest, emptiest eyes I had ever seen.
Bram stepped in quickly, his voice sounding exhausted. “Alpha Kane, Thalia saved your life. She used her magic. She sacrificed her wolf to heal you.”
Kane blinked lazily, almost bored. “So? I am her alpha, alright? It is her duty to do so.”
Bram’s jaw dropped. “Duty? Alpha, she lost her wolf. She’s weak and vulnerable now, she nearly died for you!”
I forced a small smile even though my chest was collapsing. “It’s fine, Bram,” I said quietly. “Really. It’s okay, maybe it is my duty.”
It was not okay.
But I didn’t want Kane to get mad.
I pushed myself off the wall and took slow, careful steps toward him. “Kane,” I whispered gently, “the bonding ceremony is ready. I prepared everything—the archway, the flowers, the guests. We can still go. Everyone must be waiting.”
I reached out to embrace him softly.
And Kane shoved me away.
He pushed me like I was something dirty on his clothes.
I stumbled back, my breath catching painfully. “Kane…” I whispered in disbelief, “why are you acting like this? What is going on?”
He stared at me with disgust in his eyes.
“Thalia,” he said coldly, “you used your magic even though you knew what it would cost you. You chose that.” He gave a small shrug. “So you can’t possibly expect me to marry you now.”
My heart dropped so violently that I felt dizzy. “What… do you mean?”
He didn’t hesitate.
“I refuse to marry a wolfless omega,” he said cruelly. “Without a wolf, you’re weak, pathetic. A human girl with traces of wolf blood but no wolf. That is not Luna material.”
The words hit me like a blade.
He didn’t even look sorry.
He looked relieved.
Then he delivered the final blow that shattered my soul.
“I, Alpha Kane of the Moon Stone Pack, reject you, Thalia.”
My heart broke so painfully that my legs almost gave out beneath me. I felt the world tilt, twist, collapse around me.
I stared at him with tears filling my eyes, but no sound came out. No scream. No cry. Just a sharp stab of pain deep in my chest.
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