“You need rest, Priyank.” Maya ran a hand through his hair, her face as hollow as the corpse he sat beside.
A week had passed, yet none of them had moved on from what happened. Priya was still in a coma.
Maya herself couldn’t calm her nerves. She had killed her own husband with her own hands. Even if it had been necessary, the nightmares wouldn’t let her forget.
Not just because he was her mate-but because she had loved a man like him. A liar. The cause of her suffering. Of everyone’s suffering.
Mostly Priya, who had lost everything. And they still didn’t know when she would wake up.
Jackson had already explained everything to the pack, but explanations didn’t erase guilt.
Priyank said nothing, his gaze locked on Priya’s lifeless form on the bed.
The images of that day wouldn’t leave him. They played on repeat, like a broken radio, and the more he thought about them, the more he blamed himself.
But he knew-blame wouldn’t change a thing.
All he wanted was for her to wake up. If she wanted him to leave, he would.
It would take everything from him, but it would be better than hurting her again. He couldn’t.
“Are you even listening?” Maya had lost count of how many times she’d tried to make him understand, but all he ever did was ignore her. “She’ll wake up soon, but if you keep this up, you’ll be the next one in a coma. You need sleep, and the way you’re eating-it’s not enough to keep you standing.”
Priyank finally looked at her. “I don’t care if I die. I just need her to wake up. After that, nothing else matters.”
Maya sighed. “She would never want you to die, Priyank.” She hesitated, then softened. “And it was never your fault. Stop blaming yourself.”
‘It doesn’t matter,’ he thought. But he didn’t say it out loud.
Nothing mattered.
Only Priya.
He had no room for other thoughts-except for the ones that already consumed him. The ones about what he would say when she woke up. How he would apologize. If she would ever forgive him.
Because he couldn’t forgive himself.
If he were in her place, he knew one thing-he wouldn’t be able to forgive the child of the person who destroyed everything he loved.
So how could he expect her to?
She had lost her parents, her entire world, because of the man whose blood ran through his veins. And he had hidden it from her.
Even if he hadn’t known until it was too late, it didn’t make it any less cruel.
Karma had never caught up with him before. He hadn’t cared.
Now it had. And it was merciless.
There was no one to blame but himself.
If only that bastard were still alive, Priyank would have killed him with his own hands. But the man was already rotting in hell, and that wasn’t enough.
‘Wait for me there’, Priyank cursed in his mind.
Maya, still standing in the room, knew she was wasting her breath. She may as well have been speaking to a wall.
With a tired exhale, she left.
Outside, Levi stood waiting. As soon as she saw her mother’s face-paler, more exhausted by the day-she knew the answer before she asked.
“Did he agree to rest?”
Maya shook her head. No words needed.
Levi swallowed. “Mom, you can rely on me and Rish, you know,” she said carefully. “You haven’t even cried since Dad…”
She hesitated. Her tongue burned as she forced the word out. *Dad.*
After everything Elk had done, even calling him that felt like poison.
And yet…he was still her father.
She and Rish had loved him once. Now all they felt was disgust.
She couldn’t even cry for him-not when she saw her mother like this.
Neither could Rish, who was doing his best to hold things together alongside Jackson.
But Levi couldn’t imagine what their mother was going through.
Losing her mate.
The man she had loved.
Killing him with her own hands.
The betrayal. The guilt. The weight of it all.
It wasn’t something you just got over.
Levi watched her mother, searching her face for any crack in the mask she wore. Maya looked exhausted, but not a single tear had fallen-not once.
Maya’s gaze flickered, but her face remained unreadable. “Crying won’t change what happened.”
“But it might help.”
Maya exhaled, slow and controlled. “You think I *want* to feel this way?” Her voice didn’t rise, but there was something raw beneath it. “That I want to wake up every morning knowing I killed my own mate? That I want to close my eyes at night and see his face-see the moment I killed him.”
Levi flinched, but she didn’t look away.
Maya shook her head. “Tears won’t fix this. They won’t bring back what we lost. And they won’t erase the fact that I loved a man who never truly existed.”
Levi’s hands curled into fists. “I hate him.” The words burned on the way out. “I hate that I ever loved him. That he was my father.”
Maya’s expression softened, but it was laced with exhaustion. “I know.”
Levi’s throat tightened. “How do you live with it?”
Maya hesitated. Then, finally, she said, “You don’t. You just survive it.”
Silence stretched between them.
Then Levi, voice barely above a whisper, asked, “Do you think he ever really loved us?”
For a moment, Maya almost looked like she would break. But she just inhaled, steady and composed, and said, “I don’t know.”
And somehow, that answer hurt more than anything else.
“I wanted to believe he loved me and Rish in some way-because we’re his blood. But if he couldn’t even honor the mate granted to him by the Moon Goddess’s blessing, how could I ever think he was capable of love?”
Maya pulled her daughter into a hug, holding her close. She knew exactly how much her children were suffering. They were trying to stay strong-just like her, just like everyone else. But it wasn’t easy.
“This was never your fault,” she murmured. “It was never ours. He made his choice years ago, and he never strayed from it. Men like him… they don’t know how to love. He claimed to love my sister, yet he didn’t even hesitate to help the ones who killed her.”