CHAPTER SIX – THE SILENT VOID
1235 Words
The silence was deafening.
Lyra stirred awake to the dim light of dawn pouring through the grand windows of the Alpha’s castle. The velvet drapes shifted with the breeze, whispering secrets only the wind knew. But the room was empty—too empty. Her heart thudded with unease before her mind even fully registered it.
She sat up, her hand reaching toward the other side of the bed.
Cold.
“Kael?” she whispered, eyes scanning the room.
Nothing. No presence. No trace of his warmth.
Panic nibbled at her spine as she slipped from the bed, her bare feet brushing the icy floor. The corridors were just as hollow. His scent was faint now. As if it had been swallowed by the walls and faded by time. It was almost unnatural how completely he had vanished.
“Kael?” she called louder, voice echoing through the stone hallways.
Still nothing.
No footsteps.
No creaking of the massive front doors.
Not even the hum of the pack warriors downstairs.
The Alpha was gone.
Disappeared.
Vanished without warning.
She stormed toward his office, flinging open the thick door. The desk was empty. The papers Kael had meticulously organized the night before were gone. His scent lingered faintly—but it wasn’t fresh. He hadn’t been in this room today. Maybe not even yesterday. The thought chilled her bones.
“Where the hell did you go…” she murmured, hands trembling.
Lyra’s chest caved in with dread.
She stormed toward the East Wing, where the guards normally stood. No one was there. Kael hadn’t just left… he had dismissed them. Sent the entire estate into silence.
Even Renna, the head maid who brought Lyra breakfast each morning, was nowhere in sight.
And that was when the fear turned to certainty.
Kael was truly gone.
Without a note. Without a goodbye.
Without a word.
---
The days became one endless loop of loneliness.
Lyra wandered through the castle like a ghost. She didn’t cry—not at first. She was angry. Furious. How could he leave her here? Alone in this cold, looming fortress? Was this how it ended? After all the stolen looks, whispered promises, and aching tension?
She slammed the bedroom door closed, screaming into the silence, “You coward!”
And yet, her hands still reached for the pillow he once slept on.
She buried her face in it, inhaling deeply, desperate for a trace of him. The scent—wild pine, firewood, and the primal heat of Alpha energy—still clung to the fabric. It made her dizzy.
It made her ache.
Each night, she curled into the sheets like a child, holding his memory close.
The days turned colder. So did the castle. No one came. The guards returned only once to deliver groceries and left without saying a word. Kael had given them strict orders: Protect the house. Leave her be. Don’t speak to her.
She was imprisoned in gold and silence.
And her heart screamed with every second that passed.
---
Miles away…
Kael stood at the edge of a snow-covered cliff, the wind howling around him like wolves mourning the moon. His breath was heavy, fogging the air in front of him.
His chest burned.
His soul throbbed.
“Damn you, Lyra…” he whispered, closing his eyes.
He hadn't planned to leave her. Hell, it had torn him apart to walk out of that castle. Every step away from her had been a betrayal to his instincts. His wolf raged inside him, furious and starved.
But he had no choice.
If he’d stayed any longer, he would’ve broken.
He would’ve touched her.
And that single touch… would’ve destroyed them both.
The curse still clung to him like a second skin. The agony of wanting her, needing her—and knowing he could never truly have her—was tearing him apart piece by piece. Her scent haunted his mind. The memory of her soft eyes, her trembling lips, the warmth in her voice when she whispered his name…
It haunted him.
“If the Moon Goddess has a soul… why does she torture me with you?” he asked the sky.
His hands clenched into fists. His body was shaking. Not from the cold—but from restraint.
It was hell.
And he was choosing to live it.
Because staying away was the only way he wouldn’t damn her.
---
Back at the castle…
Lyra stopped eating.
The silence became unbearable.
Each night she stood at the balcony, eyes cast toward the forest, begging for a sign. She whispered his name into the wind, her voice cracking from desperation. Every corner of the house was a memory of him.
The hallway where he first touched her cheek.
The library where he read to her.
The kitchen where he awkwardly tried to make her tea.
And the bedroom where his eyes burned into her soul.
She missed him.
It hurt more than she thought it would.
Because even though he’d been cold and distant at times, there was something about him that made her feel seen. Protected. Desired. Loved… even when he didn’t say it.
And now he was gone.
And she had no idea if he would return.
Sometimes, she curled into the corner of the library and hugged herself, pretending it was his arms. Other times, she ran through the halls barefoot, hoping maybe she could catch a trace of his scent.
But it was fading.
She was forgetting the sound of his voice.
The way he called her name.
That was the worst part.
---
Kael was losing his mind.
He hadn’t slept in days.
He wandered from forest to forest, mountaintop to mountaintop, trying to escape her name.
But he couldn’t.
“Lyra…” he groaned, fingers sinking into the earth.
He could hear her heartbeat in his dreams.
He could feel her sadness in his bones.
They were connected—no matter the curse.
No matter the distance.
He cursed the heavens. He screamed into the night. He punched stone walls until his hands bled, his claws ripping through trees as though they were paper.
Yet none of it silenced her voice in his mind.
He could still feel her fingers brushing his cheek.
Still hear the way she laughed that night in the garden.
Still smell the lavender soap she used when she wore his robe.
He missed her.
He needed her.
But he couldn’t go back.
He couldn’t be the reason she suffered.
So, he endured.
For her.
For love.
Even if it killed him.
---
Weeks passed.
The full moon rose.
And Lyra, now with dark circles under her eyes, stood at the balcony again, hugging herself.
She stared at the silver light in the sky.
Her voice cracked as she whispered, “Please come back to me.”
That night, she dreamed of him.
In the dream, he came through the door—wild, rain-drenched, broken—and he fell to his knees at her feet.
“I’m nothing without you,” he whispered in her vision, “I can’t breathe without you, Lyra. I love you. Even if it kills me… I love you.”
She woke with tears soaking her cheeks.
He was still gone.
But her heart knew—somewhere out there—he was whispering the same thing to the moon.
---
End of Chapter 6
- Writer
