Chapter 423 The prayer for Kaelen

Chapter 423: Chapter 423 The prayer for Kaelen

Talia’s POV

Alpha Stone arrived first.

He was limping, and he was wounded, but he was alive. Alpha Thornwood arrived next, holding his side. Alpha Frost and Alpha Ridge arrived together, both wounded but standing.

They formed a circle around me and Kaelen, and they bowed their heads.

Alpha Stone looked at Kaelen, and he looked at the blisters. He looked at the silver embedded in his skin.

He shook his head.

The gesture was small, but it carried the weight of everything he was not saying. It was the shake of a man who had seen too much death to believe in miracles.

I saw the pity in his eyes, and I saw the grief.

"I think it is too late," Alpha Stone said, and his voice was rough, like gravel scraping against stone.

"I have seen this before," Alpha Stone said, his voice barely above a whisper. "During the old wars. When the silver gets into the blood, there is no coming back from it. The body cannot heal itself. It cannot fight."

"The silver. It is in his blood. It has been too long."

I did not look at him. I kept my eyes on Kaelen.

"The silver," Alpha Thornwood said, and his voice was quiet. "It kills slowly, but it kills. I have seen it before. I have watched good wolves die from it."

His words hung in the air like a sentence, final and absolute. But I would not accept it. I could not.

"No," I whispered. "He is not going to die."

Silas spoke, and his voice was calm, but it cracked on the last word. It broke, just a little.

Silas was always the calm one, the steady one, the one who never let his emotions show. But now, standing over me, watching Kaelen die, he could not keep the pain out of his voice.

"Luna," he said. "The silver has been in his system for too long. His body cannot fight it. I am sorry."

"No," I said again. "You are wrong."

Jax did not speak. He just put his hand on my shoulder.

Cain did not speak either. He just stood there, silent, his jaw tight, his eyes fixed on Kaelen.

Alpha Frost spoke, and his voice was soft. "He fought bravely. He fought like a true Alpha."

"Aye," Alpha Ridge agreed, and his voice was heavy. "He faced Malachai alone. That takes courage I have not seen in a hundred years."

"Aye," Alpha Thornwood agreed, his voice heavy. "He stood against the darkness alone. That is not something many wolves can do."

"He saved my life," Alpha Stone said, and his voice cracked.

I heard the tears in his voice, and I knew that he meant every word. Kaelen had saved them. He had saved all of them. And now, he was paying the price for it.

"He saved all of our lives."

I heard their words, and I felt them, but I could not accept them. I could not accept that Kaelen was dying. I could not accept that he was leaving me.

He had promised me. He had looked into my eyes and promised he would come back. And Kaelen had never broken a promise. Not once.

The silence was heavy, and it pressed against me from all sides.

I turned back to Kaelen, and I pressed my forehead to his.

"I promised you," I whispered. "I promised I would come back. You promised too. Wake up."

He did not move.

I whispered again. "Please. Please wake up."

I felt the bond flicker, and I felt him trying to reach me. But he was too weak.

I could feel him slipping away, and I could feel him fading.

I held him tighter, and I would not let go.

I closed my eyes, and I prayed.

I had never been religious. I had never believed in anything except my own strength. But now, with Kaelen dying beneath my hands, I had nothing left but faith. Faith in the Moon Goddess. Faith in something greater than myself. Faith that love was enough.

"Moon Goddess," I whispered. "I have never asked you for anything. I have never begged. But I am begging now. Please. Please do not take him from me."

My tears fell onto his face, and I did not wipe them away.

"He is my heart," I said. "He is my home. He is the only person who ever saw me for who I truly am. Please. Please do not take him away."

My voice broke, and the tears came faster. I could not stop them, and I did not want to. I wanted the Moon Goddess to hear me. I wanted her to see my pain, and I wanted her to understand.

The wind blew through the Ashen Lands, and the dead earth was silent.

"Please," I whispered again. "I will give anything. I will do anything. Just please, please let him live."

He did not move.

I could feel him slipping away. It was like holding water in my hands, feeling it drain through my fingers no matter how tightly I held on.

I pressed my forehead harder against his, and I held his hand tighter.

"Wake up," I whispered. "Wake up. Please wake up."

The Alphas and my friends stood around me, and they did not speak. They did not leave.

The battlefield was silent, and the war was over.

The war was over. The corrupted wolves were free. The sun was setting on a world that had been changed forever. But none of it mattered. None of it meant anything.

But I did not notice any of it.

I only saw Kaelen, and I only felt him through the bond.

I whispered one more time. "Wake up. Please wake up."

The sun began to set over the Ashen Lands, and the light changed. It softened, and it warmed.

It was the kind of light that came after a storm, when the clouds finally break and the sun finds its way through. It was the kind of light that made you believe that something better was waiting on the other side of all the pain.

The sky turned from gray to gold to pink, and the light fell on Kaelen’s face, soft and golden. For a moment, the blisters faded, and the silver disappeared, and he looked like he was sleeping.

He looked peaceful, and for just a moment, I let myself believe that he was just resting. That he would open his eyes, and smile at me, and tell me that everything was going to be okay.

But he was not waking up, and I did not know if he ever would.