It was as if her soul had been torn from her body.

Her brother… her only family… the little wolf pup she had practically raised with her own hands… now lay suspended somewhere between life and death.

The healer had been painfully clear.

No one could say when Marcus might awaken from the coma.

It could take months.

It might take years.

Or perhaps…

He would never open his eyes again.

The thought shattered the fragile composure Aria had been clinging to.

Tears streamed down her face as she gently took Marcus’s pale hands in hers. She lifted them to her lips again and again, pressing soft kisses against his cold skin while quiet sobs shook her shoulders.

His wolf aura—once warm, steady, and vibrant—was now so faint that she could barely sense it through their blood bond.

It flickered weakly, like the last glow of a dying ember.

Why was fate always so cruel to those who had done nothing wrong?

Why were innocent wolves always the ones forced to bear the heaviest punishment for crimes they never committed?

Meanwhile Caleb, his sister, and their mother continued their lives as if nothing had happened.

They twisted the truth within the pack.

They whispered lies through their mindlinks and swayed the council with influence and power.

Aria, on the other hand, had faced everything with honesty. She had believed that truth alone would be enough to clear her brother’s name.

If she had been willing to fight with dignity… why couldn’t they?

She knew Marcus had been suffering for months.

She had seen the pain in his eyes, the way the accusations slowly crushed his spirit day after day.

She knew he had fallen into a deep darkness.

But she had never imagined it would push him this far.

She had never believed her strong little brother—the boy who once puffed out his chest and proudly promised he would protect her when he became a powerful wolf—would lose his will to live.

She never imagined the day would come when he would give up entirely.

---

ONE MONTH LATER

Life had become a constant battle for Aria.

Each day she worked tirelessly, taking whatever work she could find within the territory just to survive and pay the growing cost of Marcus’s care in the healers’ hall.

Every day felt the same.

Working.

Counting coins.

Praying silently to the Moon Goddess that everything would somehow hold together.