From a distance, she signaled to Theo, "You go in first; I'll follow."
Theo understood, but as he turned to leave, his aura darkened noticeably, his tail-bone stiffening with unspoken frustration.
The call was from Victoria.
Victoria was howling in bitter agony over the line. "Isabella... the old Alpha’s life-force is fading. Please, come and witness his final sunset."
Hearing those words, Thea felt a chaotic surge of emotions, yet she remained strangely numb. There was no phantom pain of a severed bond, nor any satisfaction of revenge. Just a hollow, scentless void.
"I won't go." After a long silence, she found her voice. "He never marked me as his kin. I have no need for a sire’s shadow in my life. Our blood-tether was severed long ago."
The next moment, a heart-wrenching wail erup
