?Levi''s POV


    ?I couldn''t breathe. The air in that room was thick with the scent of antiseptic, despair, and the slow, agonizing rot of a life I was powerless to save. I watched my brother''s eyes—the only part of him left alive—and I felt my own soul shattering.


    ?I turned and bolted.


    ?I didn''t care that I was an Alpha. I didn''t care that the pack needed to see me strong. I dashed out of the suite, my lungs burning as I sprinted to my own room and mmed the door shut. I copsed against the wood, sliding down until my knees hit the floor, and I started crying. Not the quiet, dignified weeping of a mourning brother, but raw, jagged sobs that tore at my throat.


    ?"Why?" I screamed at the ceiling, my voice echoing off the empty walls. "Why must it be Lennox?! Why always him?!"


    ?I balled my fists and struck the floor, the vibration rattling my bones. "Moon Goddess, answer me! We are three brothers! We share the same blood, the same legacy! Why must Lennox always be the one to suffer? Why don''t you let us suffer too?!"


    ?My mind raced through the cruelty of his life. It was a cycle of torture that never seemed to end.


    ?He spent four years in aa while the world moved on. He woke up crippled, his wolf—his very identity—ripped away from him. Then he died. We buried him. And when the Goddess saw fit to bring him back, was it for peace? No. It was for this. A slow, eating cancer. And now... now he is ''locked in.'' A vegetable. A king trapped in a tomb made of his own skin.


    ?"What did he ever do to you?!" I roared, my eyes shing with a mix of grief and heresy. "Is he your toy? Is his pain your entertainment? To be conscious but unable to touch the woman he loves? To see his sons but unable to hold them? That isn''t a miracle! That''s a curse!"


    ?I crawled toward the small altar in the corner of my room, my hands trembling. I put my forehead against the cold stone, whispering through the snot and tears.


    ?"Please," I begged, my voice breaking. "Transfer this to me. I''m not the leader he is. I''m not the father he is. If anyone deserves to die, it''s me. Not Lennox. He is the perfect mate. He is the perfect brother. He has given everything to this pack, to Olivia, to us."


    ?"Take my health," I whispered into the dark. "Take my legs. Take my life. Just let him move again. Let him be the man he was supposed to be. Please... don''t do this to him."


    ?But the Moon Goddess was silent. The only sound in the room was the ragged gasp of my own breath.


    ?For hours, I stayed on that cold floor. I stayed until my throat was raw and my eyes felt like they had been rubbed with ss. I waited for a sign, a whisper from the Goddess, a warmth in my chest—anything to tell me that my plea had been heard. But there was only the silence of my room and the fading sunlight stretching across the carpet.


    ?Eventually, the numbness took over. I stood up, my legs stiff and my head throbbing. I washed my face, staring at the stranger in the mirror with bloodshot eyes, and realized I couldn''t stay in my room forever. I was his brother. If he was trapped in that bed, the least I could do was stand guard.


    ?I walked back to Lennox''s wing, my footsteps heavy. The hallway was quiet now; the frantic bustle of doctors had settled into a somber, steady watch. As I reached the door to his suite, I paused. It was cracked open just a little.


    ?I didn''t mean to eavesdrop, but the sound of Olivia''s voice stopped me. It wasn''t the voice of the angry, betrayed woman from yesterday. It was the voice of a lover—soft, unbreakable, and fiercely protective.


    ?I peered through the gap. Olivia was leaning over him, her face inches from his, their noses almost touching. She was holding his limp hand against her cheek, her eyes locked onto his with an intensity that made my heart ache.


    ?"I know you can hear me," I heard her whisper, her voice vibrating with a strange kind of strength. "And I know what you''re thinking. You''re thinking this is the end. You''re thinking you''re a burden."


    ?I saw Lennox''s eyes shift, a sh of undeniable pain crossing them as he stared up at her. He couldn''t shake his head to deny it, but the way his pupils dted told us everything. He felt like a weight around our necks.


    ?"You are not a vegetable, Lennox," Olivia continued, her voice growing firmer. "You are my heart. You are the father of my children. And if I have to spend the rest of my life reading your eyes, then that''s what I''ll do. We aren''t giving up. I don''t care if the doctors call it a miracle or a curse—you are here, and as long as you are here, I am satisfied."


    ?She leaned down and pressed a long, lingering kiss to his forehead.


    ?She pulled away and stared right into his eyes. "I love you, Lennox," she confessed and ced a peck on his lips; then she looked him straight in the eyes. "Do you love me?"


    ?Lennox didn''t hesitate to bat his eyshes.


    ?A big, bright smile spread across her face. "Then let''s fight this together, okay?"


    ?Lennox bat hisshes.


    ?Olivia smiled and hugged him, her head on his chest as she wrapped her arms around him. Lennox couldn''t move, but I could see how eager he was to hug her back.


    ?"I''m not letting death take you this time, Lennox," Olivia whispered on his chest. "Death will have to go through me first." She dered those words as a vow.


    ?