CHAPTER 175: CHAPTER 175: THE GRAVE THAT SHOULDN’T EXIST

The moment the car stopped, no one moved.

The graveyard stretched ahead, surrounded by old, crooked trees. It wasn’t like any normal graveyard. The air itself felt strange here, thick with old magic. The witches’ resting ground.

Lucian’s chest tightened the second he looked at it. His hand was still on the door handle, but he couldn’t move. None of them could.

This was it.

The place where Cyrus said she was buried.

Selene.

Just thinking her name burned.

For a moment, Lucian wanted to stay inside the car forever. He wanted to lock the doors, shut his eyes, and pretend this wasn’t real. Pretend that when he opened his eyes, he’d be back home and she’d still be there somewhere in the world.

He could live with her being far away.

He could live with her hating him.

He could live with never seeing her again.

But not like this.

Not when she was buried and he was breathing.

His throat tightened painfully. His hands trembled. He didn’t even notice that tears had already started rolling down his face.

He couldn’t do this. He didn’t want to do this.

But then Luca opened the door.

Without saying a word, he stepped out. His steps were heavy, like every move hurt. Aeron followed next, his face blank but eyes red. Kael came after, silent as a ghost.

Lucian stayed there for a few seconds longer, his whole body shaking. His wolf howled in the back of his mind...a long, broken, lifeless sound that echoed through him.

Then, finally, he opened the door.

His feet touched the ground, and for a moment, he felt like the earth was pulling him down as if it wanted him to break too.

He took one step. Then another.

The smell of damp soil, the faint sound of wind moving through the trees... everything around him felt unreal.

They walked together through the rows of graves until, in the distance, they saw Cyrus. He was standing near a freshly made grave, holding a crying girl in his arms.

Sara.

Lucian froze. His breath caught in his throat. She was Selene’s friend. The same girl who had once stood beside her.

If Sara was here... then it had to be true.

Cyrus looked at them when they came closer, his eyes heavy with sorrow. He didn’t say anything, just moved aside to give them space.

Lucian’s legs almost gave out as he looked down.

There it was...her grave.

The name carved neatly into the dark stone:

Selene.

And above it... her picture.

Her smile. That same soft, shy smile that used to melt his heart.

Lucian stared at it, waiting for it to move, to blink, to do anything, but it was just a picture. A lifeless object.

"No..." His voice cracked. "No, no, no..."

His knees hit the ground before he even realized it. His fingers brushed over her name, and it felt cold.

The grave was wrapped in white flowers, her scent still faintly there, teasing his senses, breaking him more. He could smell her...his mate.

But she wasn’t here.

"Selene..." he whispered, his lips trembling.

Something inside him snapped.

He let out a sound that wasn’t human... a deep, raw growl that ripped through the graveyard and echoed through the air. His hands dug into the dirt, his shoulders shaking as his body was wracked with sobs.

He didn’t care who saw. He didn’t care about anything anymore.

He howled for her, for them, for everything they had lost.

Aeron turned away, his jaw trembling, his hands clenched so tightly that his claws broke through his skin. Luca fell to his knees beside Lucian, his eyes wild with pain. Kael stood frozen, tears silently running down his face.

None of them spoke. There was nothing left to say.

Because the truth was right there, written in stone.

Their mate, the one they were supposed to protect, to love, to cherish, was gone.

Lucian pressed his forehead to the ground, whispering her name again and again, like if he said it enough, she’d answer. But only silence came back.

And that silence broke them all.

The bond that had once tied them together now felt like a wound that would never close.

Lucian’s voice cracked as he whispered,

"She should’ve lived... even if it wasn’t with us... she should’ve lived..."

The words were barely audible, carried away by the wind.

Sara looked out from Cyrus’s arms and looked at the four men who had been broken down in front of her friend’s grave.

An ironic smile appeared on her face.

"Why are you crying?" she said with a hiccup. "She is not here to see that."

She continued with the same hiccup, but she got no reaction from them. None of them even looked up.

But Sara didn’t care. She looked at them again and said, "I really don’t know why you are crying. Aren’t you all happy? After giving her so much pain for her entire life, it’s better she’s dead. It’s better she’s dead!"

Her voice broke, tears streaming down her cheeks, her eyes filled with hatred as she looked at the four of them.

"Now she’s gone...gone from this world that did nothing but ruin her entire life, not even giving her happiness for a second!" She cried, choking on her sobs.

If she had known that these four alphas were actually her mates, instead of protecting her for their entire life, they would have given her nothing but pain.

She never would have let Selena go to them. Never.

"When we first found her, she was broken beyond repair," Sara said, her voice shaking. "And now, when she went there the second time, she lost her life in that cursed place."

She looked at them with pure hatred.

Even when Cyrus tried to console her, Sara jerked his hand away and hissed at him and pointed at the four men with trembling fingers.

"Why are you even pretending like that? Do you know how we found Selene the first time?"