Chapter 42

Olivia Martins

Two Weeks Later

The silence between Caspian and me had stretched so long, I started to wonder if we’d ever spoken at all.

Caspian and I hadn’t said more than a few strained words in the two weeks since our fight. I didn’t know what was worse, the nights when he didn’t come home or the ones when he did, silent and stiff, taking the couch without a word. Sometimes I woke to find the door still open, like he hadn’t been able to bear being inside at all.

At first, I trained with the warriors, pushing myself harder just to keep from thinking. But that didn’t last long. One by one, they stopped showing up. When I finally confronted one of them, he wouldn’t meet my eyes.

“I’m sorry, Luna,” he’d said. “Alpha’s orders.”

The title felt hollow on his tongue. I wasn’t Luna. Not officially. We hadn’t completed the bond. There had been no mating ceremony. Just… distance.

So I trained alone. Ate alone. Slept alone. I tried to s