<b>Chapter </b><b>125 </b>
<b>Go </b><b>to </b>Francesco Point of View
<b>“</b>NOVELLAINE!!!”
His scream shattered the air, raw and primal. Francesco surged forward, but the light–gods, the light was too much. Blinding, deatening, and full of ar magic that did not belong to this world.
Then everything… stopped.
A choking silence spread like thick fog. The birds had gone still. The trees no longer swayed. Even the wind held its breath.
And when the re faded, when the shadows returned–there was nothing.
No Eine.
No Luca.
Only a smoking crater carved deep into the earth, its edges scorched and cracked. The once–lush forest had been ttened by the sheer force of the explosion.
Treesy in splinters, ash drifted in the air like ck snow, and the scent of burned earth and magic choked every breath.
Francesco stumbled, his vision swimming with the afterimages of the st. His skin burned, deep gashes bleeding down his arms and legs, but he didn’t feel them. He didn’t care. His only focus was the spot where she had stood.
His Eine…
Gone.
But, he just found her.
He dropped to his knees, not with grace but as if the ground had pulled him down by force. His hands dug into the dirt, trembling.
No, please tell me this isn’t real.
Moon Goddess, please tell me this is just a nightmare.
Please…
Not my Eine… Not again….
Don’t take her away from me again….
Please…..
“Eine…” he whispered, his voice hoarse, broken–like a prayer never meant to be answered.
Behind him, Audrey and Lira stood in stunned silence. They had survived. Somehow, they had survived—but it hadn’t been a victory.
Not when she was gone.
Marlow arrived secondster with his knights, his sword dripping with rogue blood. His sharp eyes scanned the battlefield–<b>but </b><b>his </b><b>hardened </b>warrior expression faltered the moment itnded on his Alpha, kneeling in ash like a grieving god.
“She… she did it,” Audrey whispered. “She saved us all.”
<b>1/4 </b>
But <b>at </b><b>what </b><b>cost</b><b>? </b>
Francesco could feel nothing.
<b>No </b>bond pulling him toward her..
No heartbeat echoing in his soul.
No soft, stubborn presence whispering across the tether that bound fated mates.
There was only void.
Until-
A distant sound. A beat of paws. Dozens.
The reinforcements had arrived.
From the north, over twenty–five knights and elite warriors burst through the trees, armor glinting, weapons drawn–ready for war. They moved like a
wave of steel and fury, until they saw him.
Their king.
The Alpha Lycan.
On his knees, shoulders shaking.
They stopped instantly, formation copsing into hushed chaos. Some gasped. Others froze. All eyes widened in disbelief.
Francesco didn’t turn. He didn’t move.
He just stared at the earth in front of him–at the still body lying in a ring of scorched magic.
Eine.
Her clothes were torn. Her skin pale. Her golden–brown hair spread around her like a halo, speckled with soot and dried blood. Her hand–his hand, her beautiful hand–rested open, as if she had been reaching for something. For him.
Beta Alfonso dismounted and strode forward, urgency in every step. His breath caught the moment he saw her.
“My King Alpha-” he started, but the words died in his throat.
He turned to Marlow, demanding answers through their link.
Marlow closed his eyes and shared everything–the explosion, the whispers from Eine before she unleashed the spell, the heartbreaking final moment.
Alfonso staggered back, barely able to breathe.
He looked to the left–and saw what remained of Luga. A charred husk. A twisted shadow of the man who had tried to y God.
Now, nothing more than ash and bone.
“I don’t understand,” one knight whispered. “Did she kill herself… to kill him?”
“Looks like Luna carried hisst soul fragment,” Lira murmured. “She chose… One had to die for the other to vanish forever.”
A heavy silence followed.
Francesco lifted his head slowly. His lips trembled. His eyes, once zing with divine fury, were now wet with grief.
<b>He </b><b>crawled </b><b>forward </b><b>and </b>gathered ine into his arms, <b>cradling </b><b>her </b>like a broken treasure,
<b>“</b><b>Don’t </b>leave me<b>, </b>he <b>breathed</b>. “Please, don’t… I didn’t get to say… I didn’t…”
He pressed his forehead against hers.
never got to tell you 1-
<b>His </b>voice broke.
The warriors bowed their heads.
Even the fiercest of them–men and women who had faced death without blinking had tears in their eyes.
Their king.
Their Luna.
They had won the war, yes. But in doing so, they had watched their Alpha break.
Then-
“Wait-“Lira’s voice cut through the quiet. “She’s… look-
Francesco’s eyes snapped open.
“What?”
”
Lira rushed to her side, her fingers trembling as she pressed them to Eine’s throat. Then her wrist. Then her heart.
“She’s breathing!” Lira gasped. “It’s faint, but–she’s stil
A flicker of something–hope–cracked through the storm of Francesco’s grief.
He held her tighter. “You’re still here…”
Beta Alfonso was already signaling the warriors. “Get the medic runes ready! We don’t have much time.”
Three knights rushed forward with a reinforced stretcherced with protective magic.
“We must stabilize her,” Marlow barked. “The magic inside her body–it’s unstable. She might notst the journey.”
Francesco growled low<i>, </i>eyes shing gold. “No one touches her. I’ll carry her myself.”
No one dared argue.
He rose to his feet, holding her against his chest. Her head fell into the crook of his neck, her body limp–but there. Still warm.
The warriors moved around him, forming a protective ring. Not just out of duty, but out of reverence. For her. For them.
And as they began their return journey–through the quiet forest and broken battlefield–the only sound was the soft whisper of Francesco’s voice, repeated again and again against Eine’s ear.
“Come back to me, cara mia. Please,e back to me.”