The Wolf God's Unwanted Luna

Chapter 50: Blood

"The plane’s here," he had said.

I looked up at him, skeptical. I hadn’t heard anything yet. But before I could ask, he pointed south, and my breath caught.

Far in the distance, a small speck moved toward us, growing steadily bigger. A low, familiar rumble followed, and with it came the reality I’d been quietly dreading all morning.

He was really leaving.

"Wow, that’s actually kind of cool," I murmured, my gaze still fixed on the distant horizon.

The plane had just landed moments ago, and a group of men moved quickly to unload it. They carried bags and crates of all shapes and sizes, each one draped in red cloth like something out of a secret ceremony. I barely paid them any mind until Zaliver stepped in front of me and gently turned my face toward him with a hand under my chin.

"Hey," he said softly, voice edged with seriousness, "while I’m gone, I need you to take care of yourself. You hear me?"

I nodded automatically, but his eyes didn’t leave mine. They were locked in, deep, commanding, and almost worried in a way I wasn’t used to seeing on him.

"Eat every day. Shift at least twice this week. Lock the damn door when you shower. Don’t go anywhere alone. And for Moon’s sake, don’t forget to tell the guards if you need something. If you—"

"Basically, don’t die while you’re gone. Got it," I cut in with a small grin, trying to lighten the mood. "I think I’ll manage, considering I somehow survived eighteen years without you."

I expected a smirk, even a chuckle. He didn’t return the smile.

Instead, he raised his hand and brushed a loose strand of hair behind my ear. His touch lingered. His fingers moved from the corner of my eye down the curve of my cheek, tracing along my lips and then back again, a gentle, intimate path that felt more like a goodbye than anything he could have said.

"You don’t have to anymore," he whispered.

I stayed very still. Four words, quiet enough that the wind nearly took them, and yet they landed in the center of my chest like something heavy and certain. Like a door opening onto a room I hadn’t known was there. I didn’t know how to answer that. I wasn’t sure he expected me to. Maybe it was enough that he’d said it out loud, and I’d heard it, and neither of us had looked away.