Page 66 of Fated (The Bonded Legacy #1)

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

LENA

T he wind at the Bloodstone ritual grounds carried the faint scent of ash, mingling with the earthiness of red cedar trees.

Twelve torches lined the perimeter like solemn sentinels, marking the passage of time, of life, of loss.

Their light flickered against the shadows of the forest, catching on the jagged edges of broken branches and patches of blackened grass.

The sacred circle, once a sanctuary, now bore the scars of the rogue attack like fresh wounds.

Twenty-seven lives reduced to ash. Twenty-seven wolves who’d fought for their pack and paid the ultimate price.

Lena stood at the edge of the clearing, arms crossed over her chest. Her shoulders curved inward, lungs struggling against an invisible pressure as the night ahead weighed heavy on her chest. Her gaze lingered on the ceremonial altar at the center, its bloodstone surface gleaming under the full moon.

How beautiful this place must have been before the attack , she thought, wishing she could have seen it in its prime, known these wolves, before loss and grief took hold.

A faint hum vibrated in the back of her mind, Elara’s presence like a shadow at dusk—visible but fading.

Her wolf’s usual warmth had cooled, retreating into the recesses of Lena’s consciousness, leaving a hollow space where their connection should be strongest. When Lena reached along their bond, she felt only echoes returning.

It was as though Elara questioned her strength to weather the storms ahead.

It mirrored how Lena felt about everything in Bloodstone—Kai, the grieving wolves, the irreparable losses.

She glanced around the circle, eyes on the urns that lined the altar.

For the past week, she’d poured herself into preparation—organizing meals for the injured, planning the rites with Darius, spending hours with Elias’s family.

Anything to keep herself busy, to keep her mind from straying to Kai’s silence.

Well, that wasn’t entirely true.

Lena knew she shared responsibility for the growing rift.

Kai tried to speak with her, multiple times, but the image of him cradling Ava burned in her mind each time she saw him.

She’d invented reasons to disappear, avoiding the heartbreak she was certain awaited.

The frozen expanse between them gaped like a chasm, a wound that refused to heal. It stung more than she could admit.

Lena sighed, shoulders slumping as the stress of the week bore down on her. She sought Elara’s strength, that familiar surge of resilience that had always steadied her, but her wolf remained distant, offering only the faintest flicker of acknowledgement.

Tomorrow, she would return to Moonshadow.

The thought brought a mix of relief and sadness, a bittersweet ache she couldn’t quite name.

Bloodstone wasn’t her home, but she had grown to care for the wolves here—for their resilience, their quiet strength.

She was fated to be their luna, to lead them alongside Kai and be a guiding presence in their darkest moments.

Yet, she didn’t know if she could come back.

Not when every glance at Kai reminded her of the ground they’d lost, of what they might never have again.

The faint sound of footsteps in the grass pulled Lena from her thoughts. A familiar scent weaved through the night air—cedar, sun-warmed leather, and home. Lena’s heart lifted as she turned to see her father striding toward her, with Cian, Ryker, and Jace trailing close behind.

Raelen reached her first, arms wrapping around her with the kind of strength that had anchored her through every storm as a pup. Lena hadn’t known how badly she needed this—the comfort of family to remind her of who she was beneath the ache and uncertainty.

“You’ve been strong, Lena.” Raelen’s voice rumbled against her hair as his hand cradled the back of her head. “We’re here now.”

She blinked rapidly, swallowing hard against the lump rising in her throat. She hadn’t expected her father’s words to hit so deeply, to soothe a loneliness she hadn’t let herself name.

Cian pulled her into a tight hug next. Concern creased his features as he leaned back just enough to search her face. “How are you holding up?”

“I’m okay,” Lena answered, though the words felt thin. The way Cian’s hand lingered on her shoulder told her he didn’t believe her entirely—and he didn’t need to. Her twin’s steady presence was enough.

Ryker wasted no time sweeping her up in a bear hug that lifted her off the ground, making her breath catch in a startled laugh.

“Don’t scare us like that again, Thing 1.

” Gruff affection roughened his voice. “You had us thinking we’d need to storm Bloodstone and drag you out ourselves.

You’re not married. You’re not theirs, or his, yet. ”

Lena managed a small, grateful smile, ignoring Ryker’s insinuation about her bond with Kai. “I’ll try not to.”

There was something achingly tender in Jace’s expression as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “We’ve missed you,” he said simply pressing a kiss to her temple.

“I’ve missed you all too,” Lena replied as she looked between them.

Cian stepped back in, expression bright, pride unmistakable. “Darius said you’ve been helping plan the rite. That’s no small thing, Lena. You should be proud.”

Lena looked toward the altar. “It’s not about me. It’s about them—this pack, this place.”

Jace rested an assured hand on her back. “They’re lucky to have you. So are we.”

For the first time in a week, Lena allowed herself to lean into the moment, to feel the solid presence of her family.

The tightness around her ribcage loosened just enough to allow deeper breaths, her pulse steadying to a manageable rhythm despite the ache of every beat. For now, that would have to be enough.

The ritual grounds filled as the Bloodstone wolves and guests arrived, their movements solemn and subdued under the glow of the torches.

Families clung together, their grief evident in every bowed head, in every whispered word of comfort.

The air pulsed with shared suffering, a collective mourning that wrapped around the clearing like a shroud.

Tears threatened as Lena watched the gathered wolves, noting how they moved to support one another—hands resting on shoulders, arms interlocked in gestures of solidarity. Despite everything they’d endured, the pack’s strength remained unbroken in its unity.

A figure stood slightly apart among the crowd, his tall frame casting a long shadow in the flickering torchlight.

Alpha Caleb. He held himself with quiet dignity, hazel eyes scanning the ritual grounds as though committing every detail to memory.

He didn’t draw attention to himself, nor did he seem to expect recognition for being there.

Yet his respect was apparent in the way he nodded solemnly to those who caught his eye, a silent acknowledgment of their loss.

Lena found herself observing him longer than she intended.

Caleb’s head dipped to an elderly she-wolf who passed him, her shoulders shaking with sobs.

He murmured something low, his voice lost in the swell of the crowd, but whatever he said eased her pain.

She reached for his hand, squeezing it before moving on.

Gratitude swelled in Lena’s throat at the sight. Alpha Caleb stood as one of them tonight—a living embodiment of the invisible bonds between packs, of the implicit responsibility that all leaders shared to honor and protect all wolves.

A murmur of voices beside her drew Lena’s attention back to her family. Her father stood in quiet conversation with Cian as they watched the pack gather. The air in the clearing seemed to grow denser, charged with the significance of what was to come.

Lena straightened her shoulders, hands brushing over the edges of her jacket. As the gravity of the evening descended upon her, she readied herself for the ceremony that would honor the fallen and bring a flicker of peace to a grieving pack.

A hush settled over the gathered wolves as Alpha Darius stepped into the circle, leading the procession of the grieving families. The flickering torchlight painted his broad shoulders in shadow and flame, a solemn figure carrying the burden of the fallen and the pack’s hopes for healing.

The air thickened with collective grief making each breath labored.

The soft crunch of feet on the sacred ground was the only sound breaking the stillness.

Her gaze followed the procession, pausing on each family, cataloging their grief—their bowed heads and trembling hands as they walked toward the altar where the urns, lined carefully on the bloodstone surface, gleamed in the torchlight.

Heal their hearts , Lena prayed silently, fingers tightening into fists at her sides. Grant them strength .

Guilt crept into Lena’s chest as she watched the mourners. She had poured herself into their pain this past week, but couldn’t deny the sharp edge of her own.

I’m not sure what hurts most—Kai’s distance, or the sheer weight of standing here among lives forever altered?

The two seemed inseparable now—her fracturing mating bond and the pack’s grief twining together until she couldn’t distinguish where one ended and the other began.

She focused on Elias’s family approaching the altar. Lyric walked between her parents, hands clasped as though holding herself together. Talon’s broad frame shadowed her on one side, while Maris, her auburn hair showing the first kisses of silver, rested a gentle hand on Lyric’s arm.

Over the past week, Lena had grown close to the Gamma family, their quiet strength offering solace she hadn’t anticipated. A memory of Lyric’s trembling voice surfaced.

“It’s like he’s still here.” The young she-wolf’s whisper quivered with wonder.

“Guiding me toward something...like he knows there’s still something I need to find.

” Lena had squeezed her hand, her own voice steady despite the emotions building in her chest .

“He’ll always be with you, Lyric. In your heart, in your memories. In everything you do.”

She blinked back the memory, exhaling through the pressure building in her throat as she watched Lyric and her parents step into place near the altar.

Elias’s spirit endured here, in this sacred place, in the hearts of his family, and in the whispers of the pack.

Lena closed her eyes as she sent another silent prayer to Selene: may they find peace in his memory .

As Lena opened her eyes, her gaze stilled on the last two figures entering the circle.

Kai.

And Ava.

The sight of them together sent her heart plummeting to the bottom of her stomach.

Kai’s hand was braced low on Ava’s back as she leaned heavily into his arms, her tentative steps faltering.

The sight burned into Lena’s mind, vivid and inescapable, as though the torches lining the circle cast an unrelenting spotlight on them.

Kai’s expression was a mask of calm as he supported Ava—intimately, protectively. Their contact felt personal, as though their connection had deepened in Lena’s absence.

Elara shifted in the back of her mind—the first strong movement from her wolf in days. A gentle pressure nudged against Lena’s thoughts, urging her to look closer.

“See his burden, not just his touch.”

Lena pushed her wolf’s insight away. The image of Kai in that hospital bed flashed before her—Ava’s bare form, save for her bandaged chest, draped over him, his arms wrapped protectively around her. She’d seen enough.

Did Kai use the tenderness we shared in Moonshadow to heal Ava with his touch?

The ruminations clawed at her heart. What she’d once believed sacred between them now twisted into something unrecognizable—their intimacy borrowed and given to another.

Lena’s gaze dropped to the ground, nails biting into her palms as she willed herself to focus elsewhere, but she couldn’t help watching Kai’s every step, even as it tore her apart.

She followed them as they crossed the circle, unable to look away despite the pain tearing through her chest. Kai ushered Ava toward a seat near Beta Maxim and Magnus, movements slow and careful, ensuring she was comfortable.

Then, as though to seal whatever connection persisted between them, he bent and pressed a soft kiss to the crown of her head.

Heat rushed up Lena’s neck, jaw locking as her canines sharpened.

The rage formed and crumbled in the same breath, throat closing until her lungs burned, pressure building behind her eyes even as she forced the tears back.

She fought to keep her expression neutral, to breathe through the storm raging inside her.

Kai straightened and moved toward his father.

He looked unburdened—the proverbial Prince of the Pacific Northwest once more—as if the events of the week hadn’t touched him at all.

The torchlight caught on his hair and shoulders, casting him in a warm glow that felt at odds with the cold filter of his alpha-heir facade.

She took a deep breath, steadying herself, even as her heart screamed at the injustice of it.

Don’t let your emotions consume you , Lena reminded herself.

She might have come here for Kai, but she’d stayed for the wolves of Bloodstone—to honor the lives lost and help guide the pack toward healing.

Lena returned her focus to the altar, where the urns glinted softly beneath the moon’s gaze, their presence reminding her of the task at hand.

Whatever turmoil swirled within her would have to wait.

Tonight was not about her pain, nor was it about Kai’s choices.

It was about the twenty-seven wolves who had given everything for this pack, whose sacrifice had paved the way for Bloodstone’s survival.

And it was about the wolf she needed to become—the luna she was destined to be.

She owed it to them—and to herself—to stand strong.