No Cage In This Silent Night Chapter 08

No Cage In This Silent Night Chapter 08

I got there and saw him in the hospital bed. Eyes shut. Face gray. Barely recognizable as the man from Greythorn.

I glanced at him flatly. Just don’t die on my watch. That would be a stain on my record.

I turned to leave.

A rasping voice behind me.

“Lyra…”

I stopped. Looked back.

Kael’s eyes were open. Locked on mine. They were red-rimmed.

“Do you hate me that much?”

His voice wavered. Not from weakness. But because he remembered. Nights when his old injuries flared Lyra was always by his bedside. She cooked for him. Managed his recovery. Five years

straight.

He’d wake and find her asleep in the chair, still gripping his hand.

Every time, his heart softened. His wolf howled with joy.

But he thought an Alpha shouldn’t show emotion. So when she woke, he’d put the cold mask back

Never even said thank you.
Now he lay in a hospital, mate bond burning through him. And Lyra stood in the doorway, looking at him like he was a stranger.

Panic swirled through him.

Because he didn’t know what else he could use to make her stay.

I stared into those red-rimmed eyes. Felt nothing.

So many nights. I’d curled up on the sofa, too scared to disturb his precious “rest,” crying alone. Did it help?

He was in a mind-link with someone else. Soothing her to sleep. Not a single question for me.

Now, I saw clearly. I didn’t just refuse to forgive him. I hated him.

Hated him for hanging up on me when a rogue was on my tail. Leaving me to face a cold precinct

alone.

Hated him for erasing me.

Hated him for his betrayal.

My eyes grew colder.

Kael forced himself upright.

“I know it’s too late for apologies. But Lyra, I’m begging you. Give me one chance. Let me earn you

back.”

He looked at me, fragile and raw.

“Please?”

I was quiet for two seconds. Then laughed, full of scorn.

“What are you doing?”

I truly didn’t understand. It was just absurd.

“You only want me now that I’m gone? Don’t pretend, Kael. You just can’t stand that I broke the

bond first.”

“Even if we got back together-do you really think you could change?”

“You’d be exactly the same. You’d still ignore me.”

I smiled coldly.

“And your family. Margaret Draven. I can’t stand any of them. Always looking down on everyone.”

“All of you disgust me.”

The room went still.

Some words are too heavy. They land like a hammer, crushing Kael’s chest.

“No.”

His head dropped.

“I know where I went wrong. It won’t happen again. I filed a transfer for Elyse-it’s already approved. My mother-I moved out of the estate. I don’t answer her calls. I don’t read her texts.”

“Lyra, I swear. I can change.”

He was begging.

I stayed ice-cold.

“Your promises mean nothing to me.”

“Nothing.”

Kael’s gaze hardened.

“Kael Draven, stop haunting me.” I met his eyes, each word deliberate. “Meeting you was the worst

mistake of my life.”

I turned.

At the door, I paused. Glanced back.

“And spare me the martyr act. The bond backlash. Standing in the snow all night. If you want to die

-do it somewhere I can’t see.”

The door slammed shut.

Kael stared at it.

Silence. Two beats. Then his head dropped. Tears spilled over, soaking into the blanket. Soon, the

room filled with his muffled sobs.

“I’m sorry…”

“It was all my fault…”

Footsteps faded down the hallway.

I didn’t look back.

Snow kept falling over Paris.

A black SUV pulled up silently outside Saint-Louis Hospital. The window rolled down, revealing

Caelan Voss, the head Alpha of the IWA Paris Division.

His striking silver-gray eyes met mine with a silent, knowing acknowledgment.

I opened the passenger-side door.

“Let’s go.”

The SUV disappeared into the snow.

Inside the hospital room, Kael Draven finally understood.

His Luna was never coming back.