Chapter 144. She Loves You

Leander

Luca raised his head. Tortured green eyes searched mine. "What did you mean when you said her Wolf was g-gone?"

I blinked, unsure how to answer. He didn't know? The horrifying loss of Hycinth's Wolf had been immediately obvious to me but clearly he hadn't detected her animal's absence, and Hycinth must not have told him.

Mouth opening and closing, I tried to speak, but my heart constricted. Every fiber in my being rejected the words that were just too painful to say.

"No..." Luca whispered, dreaded coloring his tone as he interpreted the raw agony he saw transfixed on my face.

Pain-filled silence lingered between us. As much as he was able to correctly read my expression, I understood his. Shock. Anguish. Fear. He waited for me to speak, desperate for me to correct his wrong assumption. But I couldn't. I just shook my head.

"She can't be gone. She can't," he insisted.

When I remained silent, his shoulders slumped in defeat. "I knew h