Chapter 89: A Shield of Emptiness

Words : 1145 Updated : Sep 12th, 2025

Chapter 89: A Shield of Emptiness Lily POV The thing that looked like Caleb grabbed my arm, and I waited for the burning pain that should have come from touching a Void Walker. Instead, I felt... nothing. Just normal skin touching skin. "Lily," it said in Caleb’s voice, but with that hollow echo underneath. "Why aren’t you screaming?" I stared at the thing wearing my mate’s face, confused. According to everything I’d learned about Void Walkers, they caused terrible pain when they touched someone with strong pack ties. But I felt perfectly fine. "I don’t understand," I whispered. The fake Caleb tilted its head, those empty black eyes studying me. "Neither do we. You should be writhing in pain right now." More possessed pack members crowded around us. I recognized each face - Aiden, Brock, Luna, even little Sarah from the nursery. All with those same terrible black eyes. All looking at me like I was some kind of puzzle they couldn’t solve. "Try harder," the thing wearing Aiden’s body ordered. "Feed on her pack bonds." The fake Caleb pressed both hands against my face. I closed my eyes, expecting the worst. But again, nothing happened. No pain, no feeling of something being pulled from my soul. "There’s nothing there," it said, sounding truly confused. "Her pack bonds are... gone." My heart stopped. "What do you mean, gone?" "We can’t feed on connections that don’t exist," the Aiden-thing stated. "You have no pack bonds left to steal." The truth hit me like a punch to the stomach. When the tear in reality had damaged my link with Caleb, it hadn’t just weakened our mate bond - it had somehow cut me off from the entire pack. I was totally alone, more alone than I’d ever been, even as an overlooked omega. "That’s impossible," I said, but even as I spoke, I realized it was true. I couldn’t feel Caleb’s presence anymore. Couldn’t feel Aiden’s leadership or Brock’s protection. The warm network of connections that had held me to my family was totally gone. "Very interesting," the fake Brock said, circling around me. "A wolf with no pack bonds. We’ve never encountered this before." I backed away from them, my mind racing. If I had no pack ties, that meant I was invisible to the Void Walkers in a way. They couldn’t hurt me because there was nothing for them to steal. But it also meant I was truly alone. No backup, no family link to give me strength. Just me against an army of possessed dogs. "What do we do with her?" the fake Luna asked. "We could kill her," suggested the Sarah-thing. "Even if we can’t feed on her, she might cause problems." "No," the fake Caleb said slowly. "She might be useful. A wolf they can’t sense could be useful." I realized they were talking about me like I wasn’t there. To them, I probably barely existed. Without pack ties, I was almost like a ghost. "I need to find Elder Iris," I said, backing toward the door. "The old woman?" The fake Aiden laughed. "She’s already been taken care of." My blood went cold. "What did you do to her?" "She’s safe," the fake Caleb said. "For now. But her knowledge of the old ways made her dangerous. She’s been... controlled." I felt a spark of the old Lily, the one who had cared for every pack member. "If you hurt her..." "You’ll what?" the fake Brock asked. "You have no pack to call for help. No mate tie to give you strength. You’re just one little omega against all of us." He was right, and that scared me. But as I looked around at the obsessed faces of my family, I realized something else. My lack of pack ties wasn’t just a weakness - it was also a weapon. "You’re right," I said, standing straighter. "I am alone. Which means I have nothing left to lose." Before they could respond, I shifted into my wolf form and bolted through the group. Because I had no pack smell for them to track, I slipped past like a shadow. They turned to follow me, but I was already out the door. I ran through the pack grounds, ducking between buildings. Behind me, I could hear them calling to each other, trying to organize their search. But they were having trouble. They kept losing track of me, like their senses couldn’t quite focus on someone with no pack ties. I made it to Elder Iris’s cabin and burst through the door. "Elder Iris! Are you here?" No answer. The house felt empty, but not in the same way the Alpha house had. This felt like someone had been taken away, not like they’d never been there at all. I searched every room, getting more desperate. Finally, I found signs of a fight in her secret study. Books spread on the floor, her chair overturned. But no Elder Iris. On her desk, I found a note written in her shaky handwriting: "Lily - if you’re reading this, then the Void Walkers have me. You are the key. Your broken ties make you invisible to them. Use this opportunity. Find the Chronicle of the First War. The silver book in the secret panel behind my mirror. The answer is in the death of the First Wolves. But beware - the cost may be everything you have left. Trust no one with black eyes. Even if they look like family. - E.I." I found the secret panel and pulled out the silver book. The cover was covered in symbols I didn’t recognize, but when I opened it, the words seemed to glow on the page. The book told the story of the first Void Walker attack, thousands of years ago. How the First Wolves had defeated them by doing something called the Great Severance - cutting all pack bonds concurrently to starve the Void Walkers. But there was a catch. The Great Severance had to be performed by someone who was already separated from their pack. Someone who could cast the spell without killing themselves in the process. Someone like me. I was so focused on reading that I didn’t hear the footsteps until it was too late. "There you are," said a familiar voice behind me. I spun around to see Caleb standing in the doorway. Not the fake Caleb with black eyes, but my real mate. His eyes were their normal beautiful blue, filled with worry and love. "Caleb!" I cried, running toward him. "Thank the moon, you’re still you!" But as I got closer, I noticed something that made my blood freeze. He wasn’t looking at me with recognition. He was looking at me like he’d never seen me before in his life. "I’m sorry," he said gently. "Do I know you?"

Chapter 89: A Shield of Emptiness

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