The Moon Goddess sipped her rosé with the smallest smirk on her face as her mate circled the viewing sphere speechlessly.

While he was baffled, she was utterly pleased with the scene they were witnessing.

The great Alpha Alrik Kuznetsov had finally fallen to his knees.

He had been in a downward spiral for the past few days, ever since his valiant Luna took the fall to show him his faults, and so she had been waiting for this moment for eons.

"What did you do?" Her mate whispered, tracing the wound on Jaslynn's neck through the sphere with his fingertips, "You–you really removed her mark?"

"I did," the Moon Goddess nodded, eyeing his reaction carefully, "It needed to be done."

"Why? You put her through even more pain. She doesn't deserve that," her mate chided, thoroughly upset with Jaslynn's state of being.

The Moon Goddess shook her head, "I removed her mark to save her, my love. Not to hurt her. Jaslynn may have a powerful mindset, but her physicality is not as strong. The heat would have annihilated her, and she would have been a corpse dangling in those chains, a rotting symbol of what ensues when greed demolishes the mind."

"And Alpha Alrik? Do you think this has changed him?"

The Moon Goddess stood up and approached the viewing sphere slowly, her eyes drawn to the tearful Alpha.

"He's been changing for the better every day. This was just the final measure I needed to make sure he never goes back to his old ways."

She chuckled softly and started circling the sphere, running her finger along its circumference, "It's a win-win situation honestly. Jaslynn is saved and Alrik is changed. It does not get better than this."

Her mate was silent, and she turned to peer at the torn expression on his face.

"Don't look so upset, my love. I know you liked them as a couple. If Jaslynn allows him to, he will be able to mark her again, and this time because she wants it not because she is dying," she said, consoling him briefly before muttering, "Although whether she will forgive him or not is up to her, I will not force her to stay if she doesn't want to."

Her mate sighed softly, and they gazed in silence as the broken Alpha clutched his Luna to his chest, unaware of his surroundings or actions.

The last time I had seen Alrik shed any tears was when his grandfather had passed away over a century ago. And even then, he had only allowed one tear to fall before he wiped it away and steeled his face.

Now, I was watching him cry into Jaslynn's hair with no reservations that the entire pack was watching him break down.

His only focus was Jaslynn.

And despite how heartbreaking the episode was, no one dared to make a move to leave.

After what felt like hours, Alrik finally raised his head and gently placed Jaslynn back on the wooden platform. I stepped forward with narrowed eyes, daring him to take off and abandon her here once again.

But instead of doing that, he leaned forward and gripped one of the shackles around her wrists, snapping it open with ease. There was a simultaneous sigh of relief through the pack as he did the same with her other shackle.

He threw the chains aside and slid his arms under her neck and legs before hauling her off the platform as he raised himself to one knee. As he stood up to his full height, everyone took a step back, giving him space to get off the platform.

He turned around and made his way off the platform and toward the gravel pathway that led back to the second sector, not bothering to look at the pack at all. Once he was out of sight, realization tumbled over me, and I jumped off the platform, clearing my throat to capture the attention of all the wolves gathered.

"Please resume your work. I'll be sure to update all of you on our Luna's status. And any doctors or nurses assembled here, please hurry back to the hospital. I'm sure Alpha Alrik will not be pleased if no one is there to tend to the Luna."

With my final statement, the crowd dispersed almost immediately, pack members shifting into their wolves so they could hurry back to their jobs. I glanced over my shoulder and nodded at Conrad, "Make sure everyone leaves. I don't want this place to turn into some sort of tourist attraction."

Conrad snorted but nodded, "Yes, Commander."

I exhaled deeply and rushed in the direction Alrik had disappeared, muttering a short prayer to the Moon Goddess for Jaslynn's health. If she didn't get better, there was no doubt in my mind that Alrik would fall deeper into the dark abyss he was in.

***

As soon as I entered the hospital, I found nurses rushing in and out of a room and followed one of them inside.

They were adjusting Jaslynn's vitals and hooking her up to machines as Alrik sat beside her, his hand squeezing hers as he stared into space blankly. I approached him cautiously, noting how he was still shaking furiously with dried tears on his cheeks.

"Alrik," I said softly, snapping him from his daze. He leaped up from his seat and glanced at me with a crazed look in his eyes, "I can't be here right now."

"What?" I asked in disbelief.

"I–I," he shook his head, " I can't, Reece. I need to leave."

Before I could respond, he pushed past me and sprinted out of the hospital, leaving a line of confused nurses and doctors in his wake. I groaned and rubbed my face before turning to Jaslynn's unconscious form, "You gotta wake up, Jas. He's completely lost it."

⚠️ ⚠️

I tore through the grass, rushing to the woods where I could lick my wounds in peace.

Fury was spreading through my veins like a wildfire, conquering every cell, and it wouldn't be long before it consumed my whole being.

Her pale face, her bloodied neck, her missing mark, her unconscious state– these were all things I had done to her, and there was no one to blame but myself.

I couldn't even blame the Moon Goddess for removing her mark. She was probably going to match Jaslynn up with another wolf, one who would bring her the sun if she asked for it even if it meant getting burned in the process.

An image of Jaslynn embracing a faceless wolf formed in my head, and my fingers elongated into claws, piercing the skin of my palms as I clenched my hands into fists.

I wanted to claim her, but she wasn't mine to claim anymore.

With my mark gone, she might not even consider me her mate.

My breathing turned harsh, and my feet slowed to a stop in front of a tree. I raised my fist and punched the trunk, ignoring the bite of the bark in my skin. The tree shook from the impact, and I furrowed my eyebrows as specks of dust started showering over my body.

I lifted my head and growled vehemently at the familiar sight.

The treehouse.

I hadn't come here in years, and the one time I let my emotion direct me, I end up here unwittingly.

Memories that I had tried to force away started to cascade over me like an avalanche of boulders burying me alive.

"Don't come to me when it falls apart."

"No one will ever want you, Alrik. As if anyone will ever fall in love with a wolf who tortures people for a living."

"The pack will probably turn the day of your death into a holiday. They'll never forgive you for this. Mark my words."

"You put the Kuznetsov bloodline to shame."

"Any sane female would reject you. She would be ashamed to have you as a mate. You're a worthless piece of fucking trash that let power get to your head. Even I would cut all ties with you if I could."

A ferocious roar escaped my mouth and stung my throat.

Before I knew it, I was climbing the tree and grabbing the wooden boards that made up the little treehouse and ripping it apart.

Every memory of him had to be destroyed. Even though he wasn't here, he still managed to turn my brain into a mangled mess.

Wooden planks and nails flew everywhere as I tore the treehouse apart. My rage was not satiated until all that was left was a few of the floorboards that were teetering on the branches that hadn't been damaged by my destructive actions.

I jumped back down to the ground and stared at the remains with satisfaction.

But my temper had not been extinguished.

I might have wiped his memory from my sight, but I could not wipe away the memory of Jaslynn's motionless body that was circling around my mind like an endless carousel.

My hands found their way into my jacket and yanked the crumpled piece of paper from my inside pocket that I had stored there to show Jaslynn. I unfolded it and plastered it against the tree trunk, glaring at my own red ink that had dried on the creases.

The words they had formed were supposed to be my salvation.

If Jaslynn wanted to leave me, the least I could do was show her that her actions weren't in vain.

That she wasn't leaving behind a hopeless case.

I grabbed the sleeve of my jacket and tore it in half, revealing the bandage wrapped around my elbow. My claws slashed through the cotton material and dug into the veins of my arm, reopening the wounds that had recently healed.

Rivulets of blood started to drip from the fresh gashes, and I peeled my claw away from the incisions when I was satisfied with the amount of crimson liquid soaking the sharp tips.

And with the blood dribbling down my palm, I drew my signature across the bottom of the wrinkled piece of parchment.

The first time, I had signed my name in stone.

Now I signed my name in blood.

My blood.