<h4>Chapter 678: Awake</h4>


    ?Olivia’s POV


    ?Four Years Later


    ?"One week, girls!" I said, leaning over the breakfast table with a yful grin. "Your fourth birthday is seven days away. Have you decided what you want this year?"


    ?The twins, Lyra and Lana, erupted into a chaotic chorus of excitement. They had ck hair and those piercing sea-blue eyes that still took my breath away every single morning.


    ?"I want a pony! A white one with a pink tail!" Lyra shouted, jumping up on her chair.


    ?"No, a castle!" Lana countered, waving her spoon. "A giant castle with a moat so Leo can’te inside!"


    ?Lennox let out a deep, boomingugh from the head of the table. "A moat, princess? I think Leo might just jump over it."


    ?Liam, Leo, and Leon—the boys—all startedughing, teasing their little sisters until the dining room was filled with the beautiful, messy noise of a full house. Louis was smiling as he reached for more toast, the sunlight catching the rxed lines of his face. For a moment, everything felt perfect. It felt like the happiness we had fought so hard for.


    ?But then, my gaze drifted to the empty chair at my side. The chair that remained empty every single meal.


    ?After the tes were cleared and the boys ran off to the training grounds, I turned to the girls. "Alright, my little wolves. Time for our morning routine. Come on, let’s go see Daddy Levi."


    ?The excitement vanished from their faces instantly. Lyra’s lip curled into a pout, and Lana looked down at her shoes, crossing her arms stubbornly.


    ?"No," Lyra muttered. "I don’t want to."


    ?"Me neither," Lana whispered. "It’s boring in there. It’s too quiet."


    ?My heart sank, a familiar, cold ache settling in my chest. "Girls, please. It’s Daddy. He loves you so much."


    ?"He doesn’t talk," Lyra snapped, her sea-blue eyes—so much like his—shing with a strange kind of resentment. "He just sleeps. We want to y with Daddy Lennox and Daddy Louis. They’re real."


    ?The words felt like a physical blow to my stomach. I looked at Lennox, my eyes pleading for help. He stood up and walked over, rubbing my shoulder. He had spent years trying to bridge this gap, telling the girls stories about the man Levi used to be, but how do you make a child love a shadow?


    ?"Maybe it’s just because they’ve never had a real conversation with him, Liv," Lennox said softly, his voice full of that same weary sadness I felt. "To them, he’s just a statue in a bed."


    ?"I don’t care," I said, my voice hardening to hide the fact that I was about to cry. "He is their father. He gave his life for them—for all of us. We are not leaving him alone today. Get up, both of you."


    ?I wasn’t a strict mother, and the girls knew they were spoiled rotten by Lennox and Louis, but they saw the look in my eyes and knew I wasn’t backing down. With heavy sighs and dragged feet, they followed me out of the bright dining room and down the long, silent hallway to the medical wing.


    ?Four years.


    ?Four years since the bullet. Four years since the venom. I had tried everything. I had poured my healing into him until I fainted from exhaustion. We had flown in specialists from every pack in the world. We had tried magic, science, and prayer.


    ?And still, Levi slept.


    ?I pushed open the heavy oak door. The room was filled with the scent of fresh sea-salt candles—I kept them burning so he wouldn’t wake up to the smell of medicine. The sun was streaming in, illuminating his face. He hadn’t aged a day. He looked like a prince trapped in a spell, his chest rising and falling in that slow, mechanical rhythm that haunted my nightmares.


    ?I walked to the side of the bed, reaching for his hand. It was soft and still.


    ?"We’re here, Levi," I whispered, guiding the twins toward the bedside. "The girls are here to tell you about their birthday."


    ?Lyra and Lana stood a few feet back, looking at the bed with a mixture of fear and boredom. They didn’t see the hero who took a bullet. They just saw a stranger who wouldn’t wake up to y.


    ?"Tell him, Lana," I prompted, my heart breaking at the distance between them. "Tell him about the castle."


    ?Lana sighed, shuffling closer but not touching him. "I want a castle, Daddy," she said, her voice t and rehearsed.


    ?I looked at Levi’s face, searching for a twitch, a flicker, a sign—anything. But there was nothing. Just the steady beep... beep... beep... of the monitor.


    ?"He’s nevering back, is he, Mommy?" Lyra asked suddenly, her voice small and sharp. "He’s just going to stay like this forever."


    ?I turned to scold her, to tell her that wasn’t true, but the words died in my throat. Because after 1,460 days of waiting, I was starting to wonder if she was right.


    ?I sat on the edge of the bed, pulling his hand to my cheek, the tears finally starting to fall. "Please, Levi," I breathed against his palm. "The girls are growing up. They’re starting to forget you. Don’t let them forget you."


    ?Suddenly, the air in the room grew heavy. The hair on the back of my neck stood up.


    ?In my mind, my wolf let out a sharp, sudden yip.


    ?"Mommy?" Lana whispered, her eyes going wide as she stared at Levi’s hand. "His finger... it moved."


    ?I froze, my breath hitching. I didn’t dare look down, terrified that if I did, the hope would vanish.


    ?"Mommy, look!" Lyra shouted, her fear vanishing as she pointed.


    ?Slowly, agonizingly, Levi’s fingers curled. Not a twitch. A squeeze. He was holding my hand back.


    ?I gasped, my heart hammering against my ribs so hard it was painful. "Levi?" I choked out, staring at his hand as it mped around mine. His grip was weak, trembling, but it was him. It was real.


    ?But then... nothing else happened.


    ?His hand stayed closed around mine, but his body remained still. His chest continued that same mechanical rise and fall. His face was still a mask of marble. He was holding me, but he wasn’t back.


    ?Lyra, the more hot-tempered of the two, stomped her foot. The frustration she had been carrying for years finally boiled over. She didn’t see a miracle; she saw the man who made her mother cry every single day.


    ?"Can you just wake up already?!" she yelled, her voice echoing off the sterile walls.


    ?"Lyra, stop!" I tried to reach for her, but she lunged forward, grabbing Levi’s shoulder and shaking him with her small, surprisingly strong hands.


    ?"Wake up!" she screamed, her sea-blue eyes shing with anger. "Stop sleeping! Stop making Mommy cry every morning! We don’t even know who you are! If you’re an Alpha, then act like one and open your eyes!"


    ?"Lyra, let go of him!" I cried, pulling her back, but it was toote.


    ?The room suddenly felt like it was charged with electricity. The heart monitor began to skip, the beep... beep... turning into a frantic, high-pitched racing. Levi’s throat moved. A dry, rasping sound—half-cough, half-groan—broke the silence of four years.


    ?His eyshes, dark and long against his pale skin, began to flutter violently.


    ?I held my breath, my soul suspended on a thin wire. Slowly, as if the lids weighed a hundred pounds, Levi’s eyes opened.


    ?