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Peri’s heart ached as she watched him drop to his knees, his hands digging into the dirt as though the simple act of grounding himself might somehow dull the sharp edges of his loss.

His breaths came in jagged gasps between the howls, his body shaking with the weight of his grief.

For a moment, it seemed as though the entire clearing held its breath, the mournful cry consuming everything, leaving no room for words or attempts at comfort.

This wasn’t just the cry of an alpha mourning the loss of his second-in-command.

It was the sound of a bond breaking, of a heart shattering.

It was the sound of a man who had not only lost someone he trusted with his life but someone who had been a part of his soul, and the loss would ripple through the entire Colorado pack.

Dillon’s howl, raw and unrelenting, continued to tear through the night, and as if drawn by an invisible force, the other wolves began to join him.

One by one, their voices rose, weaving together in a haunting symphony of grief and loss.

The sound was both beautiful and devastating—primal in a way that Peri could feel deep in her bones.

It wasn’t just noise. It was emotion made tangible—a collective mourning that seemed to stretch beyond the clearing and into the very fabric of the world.

Peri’s breath hitched as Lucian, her mate, tilted his head back and added his voice to the chorus.

His howl was deeper, steadier, but no less anguished.

She felt the vibration of it in the air, but more than that, it flowed through their bond.

The grief hit her like a tidal wave, crashing into her chest and leaving her gasping.

Lucian wasn’t just mourning Dalton; he was mourning for Dillon, for the pack, for the loss of something irreplaceable.

His emotions poured into her through the mate bond, raw and unfiltered—the sorrow of a wolf who had seen too much death and carried too many scars.

Her knees buckled, and she stumbled backward, catching herself against the rough bark of a tree.

The air seemed too thick to breathe, heavy with the weight of so many emotions.

It was as if the howls carried not just the pain of the present but the echoes of every loss these wolves had ever endured.

Each note was a thread of anguish, woven together into a tapestry of heartbreak that stretched endlessly.

Peri closed her eyes, trying to steady herself, but the mate bond was relentless.

Lucian’s pain was her pain, his wolf’s sorrow clawing at her heart with every rise and fall of his voice.

She pressed a hand to her chest, as though trying to hold herself together, but it was useless.

The grief was too big, too overwhelming.

She opened her eyes and scanned the clearing, her gaze lingering on each wolf as they threw their heads back and howled.

Fane’s voice was the loudest, his alpha power resonating through the pack bond and amplifying the others.

Jacque pressed herself against him. Her face was streaked with tears as she tried to absorb his pain through their own bond.

Wadim and Zara stood close together, and their howls mingled in perfect harmony, while Decebel and Jen’s voices carried a sharp edge of fury beneath their mourning.

It wasn’t just torment—it was a promise.

A promise to remember, to fight, to make this loss mean something.

The gypsy healers had all stood up, frozen, their faces pale as they watched the wolves.

Even though all the healers, except Rachel weren’t wolves, they could feel the power in the air, the raw emotion that seemed to seep into the ground beneath their feet.

Heather clung to Kale, her fingers digging into his arm as if anchoring herself against the storm of sorrow.

Stella, stoic beside her mate, Ciro, silent tears streaming down her cheeks, her shoulders shaking as the howls surrounded her.

Peri’s gaze locked on Dillon again. He was still on his knees, his hands clenched into fists against the earth, his body wracked with shudders.

Tanya had knelt with him, holding him close as he released his pain into the night, letting it carry away some small piece of the unbearable weight on his soul.

A soft whimper escaped Peri’s lips, unbidden, as Lucian’s howl hit a new pitch.

The depth of his sadness cut through her like a knife.

She reached for the bond between them, trying to soothe him, but her own grief only fed the storm raging between them.

Her fingers curled into the bark of the tree, her nails digging into the rough surface as she fought to stay standing.

“This is too much. I can’t ? —”

But then Lucian’s voice softened, just slightly, and she felt his wolf reaching back through the bond, steadying her even as his own pain threatened to drown him. “ I’m here.” he whispered in her mind. “ We’ll survive this. Together.”

The words were a lifeline, and Peri clung to them, breathing deeply as she let her mate’s presence anchor her. Slowly, she opened her eyes again and let the sight of the pack remind her of why they were here.

This grief wasn’t just an end—it was a beginning. It was a call to arms, a reminder of what they were fighting for. Jewel and Dalton had given their lives for this battle, and the wolves would not let that sacrifice be in vain.

As the howls finally began to fade, the clearing fell into a heavy silence once more.

Dillon remained on his knees, his head bowed, his shoulders slumped with exhaustion.

Lucian lowered his head slowly. His chest heaved as he caught his breath.

Peri stepped toward him, her legs unsteady but determined.

She reached for his hand, and he took it, his grip firm and grounding.

They were broken, yes, but they were not defeated. Not yet.

After several minutes of silence, Jen’s voice broke, her usual humor tinged with bitterness. “As cathartic as that was, we need to make a plan.” She looked at Peri and then at Fane. “Without trying to sound heartless–”

“You’re failing miserably,” Crina muttered.

“Noted,” Jen said and then continued. “There will be a time to mourn. But right now, we need to pull it together.”

Peri glanced around to gauge how the rest of the group would take Jen’s words.

The she-wolf wasn’t without feeling. If anything she felt things more deeply than many of them.

But she was a woman of action. That was how Jen grieved, by taking that pain and fueling it into something useful.

No one argued with her. All heads turned to Fane.

Decebel growled low in his throat, his amber eyes glowing as he held Thia in his arms. Even at three, or however the hell old she was, she looked small next to her father. “I agree with my mate. What now? Where do we go from here?”

Before Fane could answer, a pulse of power rippled the ground, and Peri turned her gaze on Gerick, whose dark eyes were fixed on the Nushtonia .

Her grip on him had loosened under the song of the wolves, and the magic that had grown in him was pushing at her own bindings.

The book pulsed faintly, the magic within it alive and dangerous.

He didn’t move, didn’t speak, but the tension in his body was palpable.

For a moment, everyone had forgotten that they’d lost another in their group.

Though not to death, she was still gone, and her mate was barely holding it together.

Lilly approached him cautiously, her steps slow and deliberate. She glanced at the book, then at Gerick, her grey eyes soft with understanding. “Here.” She picked up the Nushtonia from where it lay on the ground and held it out to him.

Fane’s head snapped toward her, his voice sharp. “Lilly, no.”

She turned to him, her expression calm but firm. “If Jacque was trapped inside that book, wouldn’t you want to hold it? Wouldn’t you want to be the one keeping her close?”

Fane’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t argue. The answer for every male with a mate would be a resounding “yes.”

Lilly handed the book to Gerick. “Promise me you won’t try to open it on your own. Promise me.”

Gerick’s hands trembled as he took the book, his dark eyes meeting hers. “I promise.”

Peri watched him closely, her magic brushing against his. She could feel the power running through him, stronger than before. It radiated off him in waves, pulsing like a heartbeat. “Something is different,” she said, mostly to herself. “Warlocks haven’t had power like that in a very long time.”

“It must be from the Nushtonia being opened,” Synica, the djinn elder, said, her tone thoughtful. “The book siphons magic. It always has. It will continue to. But it also seems to be leaking it as well.”

Before Peri could respond, a flash of light illuminated the clearing.

Gwen appeared, her silver hair gleaming under the moonlight.

Finn, Lizzy, Maxim, Alice, Chris, and Cindy stepped out behind her.

Their expressions were grim as they took in the scene.

Cindy’s gaze frantically roamed over the group.

Her eyes found what she was looking for—Sally—and she relaxed just a bit.

Alice’s gaze landed on the healers gathered around Jewel, and her face paled. “What happened?” Her voice trembled.

The answers came in fragments, spoken by different voices, each one laced with pain.

“We got bitch-slapped by a genie in a book,” Jen growled, her pain turning to anger.

“It’s sort of a long story.” Andora let out a shaky breath.

“Raja, the ruler of the Realm of the Dead, was freed from where he’d been trapped in the Nushtonia.

The only way he could be freed was if Jewel escaped the book as well.

Myanin didn’t know this when she took matters into her own hands and switched places with Jewel.

The result was their deaths.” Peri motioned to the couple.

“And Raja’s freedom.” It was a very simple recap of what had happened, but then Peri figured the details could be sorted out later.

What she’d said would do the job for now.

Peri watched as Lizzy made her way over to Kara, Finn right behind her. She took her friend's hand, and Peri could see how much it hurt the hybrid to see her friend in such anguish. Another person brought into the supernatural world and touched by its darkness.

Fane turned his attention to the djinn elders—Synica, Clarion, Myron, and Rouse.

Fane’s blue eyes burned with barely restrained fury, his voice a low growl.

“You trapped Raja before. Do it again.” He was not playing around.

Peri hadn’t seen this much anger in Fane since his parents' deaths. She’d managed to keep him under control when he’d started to lose it, but she had to admit that it had shocked her at how much power she’d had to use.

The elders exchanged uneasy glances, but it was Synica who spoke. “We can’t. The magic required to do so nearly destroyed us the first time. We won’t survive it again.”

Fane took a step forward, his body radiating power, but Jacque’s hand on his arm kept him from losing control.

Peri closed in. She needed to nip this in the bud before things went south.

“We don’t have time to fight amongst ourselves.

And it won’t do us any good,” she pointed out.

“We are all raw from this, and our emotions are running high.” She looked at Fane, meeting his glowing, blue gaze.

“If they say no, then we accept that and figure out a new plan. We find others. Supernaturals willing to give everything.” Her gaze shifted back to Synica. “If you won’t do it, we will.”

“What about Myanin?” Tenia asked, stepping forward. Skender, her mate, matched her movement, his own gaze hard as he stared at the djinn. “You won’t even try for her? Does she mean so little to you?”

The djinn elders didn’t seem moved by the fae’s words.

“One life is not worth what it would cost an entire race,” Myron answered, his voice hard like steel.

“She had noble intentions, and we will honor her memory. We will even help you as much as we can without sacrificing the power of our race. But if we cannot get her back through these means, then we have to let her go. All of us.”

“Not good enough.” Tenia’s eyes blazed with fury. Myanin was her friend. The loyalty that was evident in the fae’s face made it clear that she would do whatever it took to get her back.

“We don’t leave people behind.” Jacque growled, standing tall next to her mate.

At some point in all this Slate had been handed off to her, and she held her son on her hip.

She looked no less fierce with a baby in her arms. Her chin was lifted in defiance, and her own alpha power radiated off her.

“We won’t decline any help you will give, but if you stand in the way of us saving Myanin, then you are no longer considered an ally. ”

“Bloody hell,” Peri reached out to Lucian. “So much for deescalating things.”

“We will get her back,” Lucian spoke up. “I think you’ve seen that we have a pretty good track record of retrieving those who we have claimed as pack.”

“Damn straight.” Jen nodded sharply in agreement.

“Hell yeah.” Thia clapped, her little voice breaking up some of the tension that had filled the space.

“What would you have us do, Alpha?” Decebel formally addressed Fane. He was setting an example for the rest of the group. Fane might be young, but he’d been given this position of power for a reason, and they needed to respect it.

“What we do best,” Fane said with a wolfish grin. “We remind those who enjoy their lives without being touched by the darkness that without the light, without those willing to stand against it, eventually the darkness will claim everything. Including them.”