HELIO

I dreamed of her.

She was standing in the forest, bathed in moonlight, her silver hair glowing like frost beneath the trees. Her back was to me, and even though I couldn’t see her face, I knew it was her. I would always know.

“Delphina,” I called, but my voice sounded distant, muffled.

She didn’t turn.

I moved closer, but the ground beneath me gave way with every step. It was like running on ash, each movement slow, heavy. When I finally reached out to touch her, she began to fade like mist unraveling beneath the moon.

My fingers passed through smoke.

And then she was gone.

I jerked awake with a sharp breath.

The sun had already found its way through the window by the time I opened my eyes. Papers were scattered on the desk, half-stamped reports forgotten beneath my arms. My neck ached from falling asleep in the chair, and I could still feel the dream clinging to me like damp fog.

Why did I dream of her?

Was it guilt? Doubt? Some piece of me still trying to make her stay, even as I forced her to leave?

“Nonsense,” I muttered, shaking my head as if I could knock the remnants of her from my skull.

A dry chuckle escaped me. I’d wanted this. I’d wanted to reject her for a while now.

Then… knock knock knock.

I flinched, just a little. The sound pulled me out of my thoughts like a splash of cold water.

I rubbed my eyes. “Yeah? Come in.”

My Beta, Ervin, entered. Always punctual, always too sharp in the mornings. I couldn’t read his face, and it only made my head throb worse.

“I didn’t expect you here so early,” I muttered.

“I thought you’d want the patrol reports,” he said carefully, holding a thin folder in his hand.

He set the file down in front of me, but I wasn’t really listening.

Something was off.

I blinked, frowning. The room felt… quiet. The kind of silence that felt like something was missing. A silence inside me.

There was nothing left when I searched for her.

Where there had always been the faint hum of our bond, even at its weakest, now there was only a void.

Gone.

It was done. The bond was gone for good.

I sat back in my chair.

It should’ve felt like relief.

It didn’t.

Alpha, did you hear me?”

I blinked, snapping out of the fog. Ervin was still standing there, eyebrows slightly raised, concern flickering in his usually calm face.

“Sorry,” I muttered, shifting in my chair. “What did you say?”

Ervin tilted his head just a little. “I said the rogues spotted near the southern ridge have moved on, but we found fresh tracks near the riverbend. I wanted your go-ahead to double the patrols for the next few days.”

“Right.” I cleared my throat. “Yes. Double them.”

He gave a curt nod but didn’t move right away. I could tell he noticed it, how I wasn’t really here. How my mind was somewhere else entirely.

It wasn’t like me to drift like that. I was usually sharp, in control, focused. But not today.

I shook my head slightly. “Is there anything else?”

Ervin hesitated for a second. “Yes, Alpha.” He cleared his throat. “We found traces leading from the packhouse. She ran off into the forest. No one's seen her since.”

I didn’t have to ask who he meant.

“So?”

He blinked at my reaction. “So, she might be injured. She was still healing from the rejection, and there was a storm last night.”

“She’s not my responsibility anymore,” I said flatly. “She’s no longer part of this pack.”

Ervin didn’t speak for a moment. Then he quietly said, “Right.”

He turned to leave, but I could feel his disapproval radiating like heat. I ignored it.

Or tried to.

I opened the patrol file and scanned the top report, but the words blurred. I flipped the page. Still couldn’t read a damn thing. I dropped it on the desk and leaned back again, staring at the ceiling.

My thoughts kept circling back.

To her.

It was ridiculous and nfuriating. I had no reason to think about her now, not after everything. We were never meant to be anything more than what fate forced us into.

The bond had been forced. Political. Necessary. That’s what I told myself every day for the past two years.

So why couldn’t I breathe this morning?

The door opened again without a knock.

Renata slipped in like perfume in the air, sweet and too strong. Her dark curls were perfect, her dress tighter than it needed to be.

“There you are,” she said with a smile, gliding over to my side of the desk. “You didn’t come to bed last night.”

“I was working.”

She leaned in and brushed her fingers along my collar. “You still haven’t shown me the Alpha quarters. Isn’t it time I got the full tour? We’re official now, aren’t we?”

I pulled back slightly. “Not now, Renata.”

Her smile wavered. “Helio…”

“I said not now.”

She blinked, surprised by my tone. “Is this about her?”

“No,” I snapped. “She’s gone.”

I stood abruptly. The chair rolled back and hit the wall with a dull thud.

“I have something urgent to handle,” I muttered, brushing past her.

She reached for me, but I was already at the door.

I strode down the hall, each step echoing too loudly in the silence. My jaw clenched as I turned the corner, needing to put space between me and… everything. I welcomed her attention with the same love.

But not today.

Today, everything felt off

What the hell is wrong with me today?

Renata had always been there. Always affectionate, always willing. I’d never once pushed her away like that

Cool air bit at my skin, and the woods shimmered with leftover fog. I walked fast, too fast to be casual, not fast enough to look frantic.

I wasn’t going to look for her. I just needed to… clear my head.

That’s what I told myself.

But the moment I crossed the treeline and entered the forest, my wolf stirred restlessly beneath my skin.

She was out here somewhere.

I stripped down, dropped my clothes beside a pine tree, and shifted.

Bones cracked. Fur surged. My paws met the ground like they knew the rhythm by heart. My senses flared to life.

The moment my nose hit the wind, I caught it.

Her scent. Faint. Days old. Tinged with pain.

I followed.

The trail twisted through thick brush, deeper and deeper into the woods. I passed a stream, climbed a ridge, and there, at the top of a narrow cliff path, I smelled it.

Blood.

Not much. Just a smear on a jagged rock, like she had slipped.

I padded closer, nose to the ground. Her scent disappeared here. No footprints. No return trail.

Just… silence.

I stood at the edge of the cliff and looked down. The road was far below, hidden by trees and fog. If she fell, the odds weren’t good.

Or she’d gotten up and run farther.

Or someone had taken her.

I growled softly, unsettled.

She was really gone.

Gone from the pack. Gone from our territory. Gone from me.

My ears caught every sound, but nothing about the quiet felt natural.

The joke? I’d let her go, but I didn’t feel free at all.

I felt hollow.

Empty.

And for the first time in my life… I wondered if I’d made the worst mistake of it.