Chapter 8
Elena’s POV
The Royal Crypt of the North.
Snowflakes drifted gently onto the black marble tombstones.
I stood in a black mourning dress, silent before a small, newly-dug grave.
The headstone was engraved:
GALE ASTORIA-WHITEHAWK
2015-2023
BELOVED PRINCE OF THE NORTH
FOREVER LOVED
“Let’s begin,” I said to Marcus, who stood beside me.
A priest in white robes began to chant the ancient rites.
“Oh, Moon Goddess, please accept this pure soul into your embrace…”
I closed my eyes, feeling a strange peace in the wind and snow.
Gale was finally receiving the honor and respect he deserved.
“Elena.” A familiar voice called from a distance.
I opened my eyes.
Adrian was stumbling through the snow toward us, Tyler trailing behind him.
He looked terrible.
Unshaven, his eyes bloodshot, his black coat hopelessly wrinkled.
“Elena, please, let me see him one last time.” He fell to his knees outside the iron gates of the crypt.
The royal guards immediately aimed their weapons at him.
“Let him in,” I said calmly.
Adrian trembled as he walked to the grave.
When he saw the inscription on the headstone, his face went deathly white.
“Gale Astoria-Whitehawk?” His voice shook. “Why… why not Blackwood?”
“Because the Blackwood pack was never worthy of him,” my voice was ice. “You never acknowledged him.”
“No, Elena, I did! He was my son!”
“Your son?” I scoffed. “Then why did you stand by and watch him die?”
Adrian clutched his head in agony.
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“I was wrong. I was wrong about everything. But Elena, please, give me a chance-
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“A chance?” Marcus stepped to my side, placing a protective hand on my shoulder. “Alpha Astoria has a new mate,” his voice
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was calm but firm. “Please do not disturb our funeral.”
Adrian looked up at Marcus, then back at me.
“A new mate?”
“Yes,” I held up my left hand, showing him the glittering engagement ring on my finger. “Marcus is my intended mate. He is also the only father Gale has in this world.”
Adrian’s gaze fell to the headstone again.
Beneath Gale’s name, a second inscription cut deeper than any blade: Beloved son of Elena Astoria and Marcus Whitehawk.
The words didn’t just state a fact; they erased him.
The sight shattered him.
“No… it can’t be…” His voice was a shattered whisper. “Elena, please… we can fix this. We can start over…”
“Start over?” My voice grew colder. “Adrian, do you really think I could ever trust you again?”
“I love you! I have always loved you!” he cried out desperately. “Everything I did was to protect you!”
“Protect me?” I laughed. “You deceived me with a blood curse for eight years, and you call that protection?”
“I needed the power to secure our future!”
“What future?” I walked toward him. “The moment you chose to mate with Sophia, we had no future.”
“Elena, please forgive me…”
“Forgive you?” I crouched down, meeting his kneeling gaze. “Do you know what the Blackwood pack stock is trading at right now?”
“What?”
“It’s down 85%,” I said casually. “And this is just the beginning.”
“Elena, please don’t do this. There are innocent people in the pack…”
“Innocent?” My voice turned sharp. “Which one of you was innocent? Victoria, who humiliated my son? Sophia, who got my child killed? And you,” I paused, “you, who destroyed everything between us with your own two hands.”
“I didn’t!” Adrian sobbed. “I love you! I truly love you!”
“Love me?” I sneered. “Then why did you believe Sophia without even letting me explain? Why did you ignore me when I was on my knees, begging you for help? Why did you tell me I was acting when I told you our son was dead?”
Each question was a knife twisting in Adrian’s heart.
“I… I was blinded by anger…”
“Blinded by anger?” I repeated, my voice now glacial. “Your anger cost me my son. My anger will cost you your entire world.”
The priest finished his prayer.
“May the young prince rest peacefully in the arms of the Goddess.”
Marcus stroked my back gently.
“Let’s go.”
I took one last look at Adrian, kneeling by the grave.
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He looked so small, so pathetic.
“Elena!” he shouted after me. “Elena, please don’t leave me!”
I didn’t look back.
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