I stayed in the healing wing. Not because I had anywhere else to go—the dead don't exactly have options—but because Graham stayed, and something about his cedar-and-honey scent kept me tethered. Kept me from drifting too far into whatever came next.
He hadn't moved from the chair beside my cot. His hand still rested near my shoulder, not touching the white cloth he'd laid over me, just near. Like he was keeping watch. Like I was worth watching over.
I stood in the corner, invisible, and tried to make sense of what I was. Not alive. Not gone. Somewhere in between, aware in a way I'd never been when the cursed bond had its hand around my throat.
The door banged open.
Conrad Vale walked in like he owned the space. Brantley's Beta. I'd seen him a thousand times—always beside the Alpha, always nodding along, always signing off on things without asking questions. He had that look now. Efficient. Annoyed at the inconvenience.
"Wells," he said. No greeting. Just my last name, like I was a task on a list. "The body needs to be moved. We're clearing this wing for the after-party setup. Omega burial prep is in the east building."
Graham didn't stand. Didn't turn. He just looked up at Conrad with the kind of calm that made the air feel heavier.
"No."
Conrad blinked. "Excuse me?"
"The cause-of-death documentation isn't complete," Graham said. His voice was flat. Even. The way you'd read a weather report. "Medical protocol requires the body remain under healer supervision until all records are filed and reviewed. It's a formal hold."
Conrad's jaw tightened. "It's an omega, Wells. She died from a routine extraction. There's nothing to document that can't wait until after the ceremony."
"Routine extractions don't result in death," Graham said. Still calm. Still even. "The volume removed, the frequency of prior extractions, and the patient's baseline health all require formal review. I'm not moving her until that's done."
I watched Conrad's face shift. Irritation to calculation. He wasn't stupid. He knew what Graham was really saying. He knew what those records would show if anyone bothered to look.
"The Alpha wants this space cleared," Conrad said. Slower now. Harder. "You're invoking a medical hold two hours before the biggest ceremony this pack has seen in a decade. You understand how that looks?"
Graham finally stood. He wasn't tall—not like Conrad, not like Brantley—but something about the way he moved made Conrad take a half-step back.
"I understand," Graham said, "that if you want to override a formal medical hold, you'll need to submit a written request through the healer council and accept full liability for any findings that result from an incomplete review. I can get you the forms if you'd like."
Silence.
Conrad's hand flexed at his side. For a second, I thought he might actually try to move my body himself. But he didn't. He just stared at Graham with the kind of cold fury that comes from knowing you've lost an argument you can't afford to lose publicly.
"This isn't over," Conrad said.
"I'll be here," Graham replied.
Conrad left. The door didn't slam, but it closed hard enough that the sound echoed.
Graham sat back down. He didn't look at me—at my body—but his hand returned to that same spot near my shoulder. Steady. Present.
I wanted to thank him. I couldn't. I didn't have a voice anymore. Just this strange, weightless awareness that let me see and hear and feel, but not touch. Not speak.
So I stayed. And I watched him guard me.
Upstairs, the ceremony was starting.
I couldn't see it, but I could feel it. The way you feel a storm building on the other side of a mountain. The pack house blazed with energy—hundreds of wolves gathering, the air thick with anticipation and power. Allied Alphas. Lunas in silk. The kind of night Shadowridge had been preparing for all month.
And Brantley.
I felt him the way I'd always felt him, even through death. The bond was gone—burned away the moment my heart stopped—but some part of me still registered his presence like an old scar that ached in bad weather. He was standing at the altar. Projecting authority. Dominant. Controlled.
But his wolf was wrong.
I couldn't explain how I knew. Maybe it was the new clarity that came with being dead. Maybe it was just that I'd spent five years watching him and finally had the freedom to see what I'd been forced to ignore. His wolf was pacing. Agitated. Pressing against the edges of his composure like something caged that wanted out.
The wild jasmine scent—my scent, the one he'd spent years suppressing—was surging. I felt it even from here. Waves of it, crashing against him, retreating, crashing again. He couldn't trace it. He didn't understand it. He just kept forcing his focus back to Savannah's face.
Savannah.
She descended in her Luna gown. I couldn't see her, but I knew. I'd watched her plan every detail for weeks. The dress. The flowers. The crown—my mother's crown, remade, polished, ready to sit on a head it was never meant for.
The ritual moved forward. Words I'd heard a dozen times at other ceremonies. The Alpha's vow. The Luna's acceptance. The marking.
Brantley moved to mark her neck.
And then—
Everything stopped.
I felt it like a crack splitting the air. His hand on her shoulder. His fingers brushing skin. Smooth skin. Unmarked skin.
No scar.
His wolf exploded forward. I felt the violence of it even from three floors away, the way his control nearly shattered in front of three hundred witnesses. He forced the marking anyway—bit down, completed the ritual—but there was no bond energy. No connection. Just teeth and blood and a room full of wolves who knew something had gone terribly, impossibly wrong.
The moment it ended, Brantley gripped Savannah's arm and pulled her out of the hall.
I stayed in the healing wing, standing in the corner of my own death room, and I felt the first thread of something new.
Not revenge. Not satisfaction.
Just the quiet, gathering awareness that the truth was finally waking up.
And it was hungry.
