Chapter 14: Final Wishes (Elara's POV)
The moon was waxing, nearly full. Two more nights until the ritual my mother so desperately wanted to attend. I stood by her bedside, watching the shallow rise and fall of her chest as she lay in the coma that had claimed her yesterday morning.
"There's been no change," the pack healer told me, his voice gentle with practiced sympathy. "The disease has progressed faster than we anticipated."
I nodded stiffly, too numb to cry anymore. "Will she wake again?"
He hesitated, which told me everything I needed to know.
"It's unlikely," he finally admitted. "Her body is shutting down. I'm sorry, Elara."
I touched my mother's hand, cold and unresponsive beneath mine. Eleanor, once the formidable Beta of our pack, reduced to this frail shell. The ra
