The Lunar Queen (Lyric and Mason) novel Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Mason POV

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The whole way to where the King found her, my chest feels tight, and my stomach knots up, the kind of pressure that doesn’t ease no matter how deep I breathe, like something is already wrong and my body knows it before I even see it. What if we’re too late?

What if she’s already gone? How could I lose my mate before I’ve even had her?

“Summer will suffer for this,” Kane growls.

“Yes, she will,” I reply, but even that promise doesn’t settle the storm building inside me.

The smell of blood and silver gets stronger the closer we get. Her apple pie scent is gone beneath it, buried under something violent

and wrong.

She looks so tiny when I finally see her. If you weren’t searching for her, you’d miss her-that’s how small she looks, like she doesn’t belong out here like this, like she was left here on purpose. Her beautiful red hair is matted with blood and dirt in clumps

on her head. What did they do to you, my sunflower?

Then I see it as the King goes to lift her-FREAK. In big, angry lines, carved with the knife.

The word doesn’t just register-it hits, hard, settling into my chest like something I can’t rip out no matter how badly I want to.

Time seems to freeze, not in a dramatic way, but in that suffocating way where everything keeps moving and I’m the only one stuck,

staring at what’s right in front of me. At some point, I move closer to where she’s lying and drop to my knees.

“My sunflower, I’m so sorry I didn’t see it,” I say, sobs wrecking my body, my voice breaking in a way that doesn’t sound like me

anymore, like I’m hearing it from somewhere outside myself.

I hear my dad say something before I feel his hand on my shoulder.

“Son, do you know who did this to her?” he asks.

The roar that leaves my mouth says everything, raw and uncontrolled, tearing out of me before I can stop it, before I can even

think.

“Then whoever did this, and whoever helped, will pay with their lives,” he says through clenched teeth.

My parents loved her like she was their own pup. Winter and she were like sisters. I couldn’t speak to her since she told me Lyric

was missing. What do you say to your sister when her best friend is missing because of you and hurt because of you?

There are no words for that. There’s just this weight sitting on my chest that won’t move.

My dad kneels beside me.

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Chapter 18

“Son, Lyric is on her way to the hospital. Sitting here blaming yourself isn’t going to help her,” he says.

My eyes snap to him.

“How do you know I’m blaming myself?” I ask, even though I already know the answer.

He just laughs-a dry, short laugh.

“You are, my pup, Mason. I see it. Growing up, Lyric meant a lot to you. Your mother and I knew you loved her-since the moment, Elizabeth had her and Summer, you wouldn’t leave her side. You told everyone she was yours. I know how much it broke you when she stopped speaking to you. But letting Summer become the space between you and Lyric was your first mistake, son. You let a girl you knew was jealous decide how close you were allowed to be to someone who mattered to you, and now we all have to live with

your choices,” he says, standing up.

Every word lands heavy, not loud, not dramatic-just true in a way I can’t argue with.

“Now stand up and be the alpha she needs you to be, not the mate beating himself up for being too late. We all were; none of us saw it. She didn’t want us to,” he adds, walking away from me back toward the pack hospital.

But that doesn’t make it sit any easier. It doesn’t take the guilt off me. It just gives me something else to carry.

Winter POV

I’ve been sitting in the pack house with my mom and Lyric’s mom because nobody will tell me anything, and the waiting is the worst part because every second that passes feels like something is getting worse somewhere I can’t see. I need to know how she is.

I need to see her.

I know Summer has been tormenting Lyric our whole life, but I can’t even imagine what she did to her. She’s been missing for hours. The sun has gone down, which is going to make it harder for them to find her, and the longer it takes, the harder it is to

convince myself she’s okay.

“I hope our sister is okay,” my wolf Vega says.

“Me too, I hope they find her,” I reply, even though my voice doesn’t sound as sure as I want it to.

Jace and Logan come into the common room to sit with me.

“How are you holding up, Win?” Logan asks.

“I’m so scared for her. What if it’s too late? Nobody has said anything yet. What if that’s because it’s bad news?” I cry, my hands

shaking, the fear sitting heavy in my chest, making it hard to even breathe right.

“We don’t know why we haven’t heard anything yet,” Jace says.

Then we all hear it – the most gut-wrenching, sorrowful howl we could ever hear, along with those that follow, and it doesn’t sound

like communication-it sounds like something breaking across the entire pack at once.

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Chapter 18

Lyric’s mom breaks down after that.

“My pup, they found her,” she cries.

“We need to go to the hospital. It isn’t good. She isn’t responsive. The King found her,” she cries.

The king? When did he get here? He found her… he found her.

That should feel like relief-but it doesn’t. Not with the way she’s saying it.

I jump up so we can get to the hospital.

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We get there before them because we were already closer to the hospital, but that does nothing to calm the dread twisting through

Nothing in this world, even as wolves, could have prepared me for what came through those doors.

The screams of agony from my mother and aunt hurt my soul, raw and sharp, cutting through everything like something you can’t

block out even if you try.

When I stepped closer, I broke.

“Lyric, what did they do?” I cry as they take her into the room, my voice cracking, my chest tightening as I try to make sense of

what I’m seeing and can’t.

And as those doors close behind her, shutting us out while they fight to keep her alive, something in my chest just… sinks.

Because this doesn’t feel like a warning anymore.

It feels like they were trying to end her.

Comments

Bri Winans

I cried through this entire chapter

7 days ago

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