Hades' Cursed Luna novel Chapter 177

Hades

Amelia’s face was etched with distress, her usual calm long forgotten as I replayed the footage of Ellen’s episode. When we finished, quiet blanketed us like a heavy shroud.

I heard her swallow, her composed countenance replaced by obvious distress. "She is fractured," her voice was quiet, laced with dread. "If she continues to spiral..." Her eyes met mine, intense and boring into me. "She might never recover."

My pulse skipped, the Flux whirling inside me like a storm barely contained beneath my skin. Amelia’s prognosis settled like iron in my chest, heavier than the shadows that clung to me.

I clenched my jaw, my fingers tightening into fists as I stared at the screen—at Ellen, curled into herself, trembling in my arms, haunted by demons only she could see.

Fractured.

My mind rejected the word. She wasn’t broken. She wasn’t some fragile thing waiting to be lost to the abyss.

But the way she looked at me—like she was already slipping through my fingers—

My pulse pounded, the Flux surging in response to my turmoil, writhing like a caged beast.

"She’s strong," I forced out, but even I could hear the unsteadiness in my voice. "She’s not going to lose herself." Ellen had always been defiant. She would not allow this.

Amelia exhaled sharply, rubbing a hand over her temple. "Strength has nothing to do with it, Hades. Trauma doesn’t care how strong you are." She motioned to the screen. "This isn’t just nightmares. This is the mind unraveling, the self dissolving. The hallucinations—this is her slipping further into the fracture. If something doesn’t change, she won’t come back from it."

I forced my breath to steady, but the Flux pulsed, restless. Desperate.

"She’s fighting," I said, and I hated the way my voice almost sounded like I was trying to convince myself.

Amelia’s gaze softened, but the weight of her words didn’t lessen. "And how much longer do you think she can keep fighting before there’s nothing left of her?"

Silence stretched, thick and suffocating.

I didn’t have an answer.

I looked down at my hands, flexing my fingers as if trying to find something solid to hold onto. The Flux churned, an echo of my own helplessness.

Amelia sighed, her voice gentler this time. "She needs more than just you holding her together, Hades."

My jaw locked. "I won’t let her break."

"She’s already breaking."

The words sliced through me.

Amelia shook her head, tired. "You can’t fight this for her. You can be her anchor, but if she doesn’t find a way to pull herself out…" She trailed off, her meaning clear.

I pushed off the desk, turning away before she could see the storm in my expression. "Then I’ll find a way," I muttered, more to myself than to her. "I don’t care what it takes."

Amelia sighed again, watching me like I was another puzzle she couldn’t solve.

"Hades," she murmured, a warning, maybe even a plea. "It’s the hollowing. Our wolves do not only heal our physical body by taking the brunt of harm inflicted, but they also share in the wounds of the mind. I am sure you know this very well. The fact that she has been hollowed further makes this more dire. There is absolutely nothing for her to fall back on, nothing where there should be something. She is lacking, and it will be her undoing," there was a quiver in her voice, her lips trembled. "Without her wolf... all the things she has survived in the past will come back to haunt her mind."

I slammed my fist on the table, making Amelia yelp. "There must be something we can do. I have resources, Amelia. I can save her, just tell me what to do," then I remembered. "You said she can take drugs for this."

"Yes, she can," Amelia said carefully, in a way that made my stomach tighten. "But it will come at a cost. I told you before. It could completely sever the little connection to her wolf." _{freewёbn૦νeɭ.com}

My heart lurched, but the Flux twisted. "It does not matter. They will have to be administered. She needs it..."

"We need her wolf, Hades. This pack needs her wolf," she countered. "I might not know all about your plan, but I know if we are to unlock what is needed from the blessed twin, we need her wolf. This pack needs her wolf."

"What about her!" I screamed, my tone acidic. "My wife is dying in front of me, and you’re talking about what the pack needs?" My voice was raw, my throat burning with the force of my fury. The Flux churned inside me, clawing at my ribs like a caged beast, wild and erratic.

Amelia flinched but held her ground. "And if you sever the last thread connecting her to what she is, you won’t just lose her wolf, Hades. You will lose her. You might have her back temporarily, but what if something like this happens again? What if she faces yet another harrowing challenge that she cannot surmount? She is surrounded by predators, enemies, for goodness’ sake! Will you continue to pump an already unstable werewolf with drugs until she is nothing but a shell? You will lose her whether you like it or not!"

I knew that.

I fucking knew that.

But watching Ellen unravel before my eyes—watching the grief swallow her piece by piece, watching the ghosts of her past consume her—was a fate worse than death.

She was slipping.

I could feel it in every shuddering breath she took, in the way she clung to me like I was the last thing tethering her to reality.

I was.

I was the last thing holding her together.

And I was losing her.

My mind was in knots at the thought alone.

What would I be without you, Red?

I had forgotten the last time her voice didn’t haunt me, the last time her face didn’t flash in my mind. The last time her phantom touches didn’t linger on my skin.

I had been tethered to her long before I read those results.

I raked a hand through my hair, pacing like a caged animal, my chest heaving. "You expect me to just stand by and do nothing?"

Amelia shook her head, exhaustion clear in her eyes. "No. I expect you to make a choice."

I bared my teeth at her, my wolf snarling beneath my skin. "Choice? What fucking choice? Either I pump her full of drugs and watch the last remnants of both her wolf and her wither away, or I stand by while the hollowing and grief tear her apart from the inside out?"