Chapter 242: She Is Gone

Lena and Grant arrived at the pack hospital just before sunrise. The building looked normal from the outside—glass doors, bright lights, quiet hallways—but the moment they stepped in, the air felt different. Heavy. Like the place was holding its breath.Riley lay still on the bed, her face calm, as if she was only sleeping.

Lena took one look at her and broke. Tears filled her eyes immediately, and her hand flew to her mouth like she was trying to stop a sound from escaping.

"Riley... what’s happening to you?" she whispered, her voice shaking.

Lena already knew the truth in her bones. Mothers don’t need explanations when the bond snaps. But Grant didn’t know. He only saw Riley’s peaceful face, her chest rising and falling, and he relaxed a little.

He leaned toward Lena and spoke softly, trying to sound steady. "Don’t worry. Theo said she’s in a coma. She’ll be okay."

Lena spun on him so fast her fury hit the room like a slap. Her scent turned sharp with fear and anger, and even the quiet machines seemed louder for a second.

"Be quiet," she snapped. "Who are you to speak like that?"

Grant blinked, thrown off. He assumed it was pregnancy hormones, so he kept his voice calm. "Okay, okay. I’m sorry. It’s my fault. Don’t upset yourself."

That only made Lena angrier. "It’s because of you that Riley is like this!" she shouted. "Leave. I don’t want to see you!"

Grant didn’t understand the depth of her terror. She had already lost Riley once, in the way that matters most. But Riley’s body was still here, still warm, still holding a chance. If that chance disappeared too... it would be the real end.

The door opened.

Lewis stepped in, pushed forward by urgency and sleepless determination. His presence filled the room without him trying. The way the guards straightened said enough.

"Lena," he said quickly, "please calm down. I need Grant’s help."

Grant’s eyes narrowed. Suspicion finally crawled into his voice. "Are you all hiding something from me?"

The doctors had said Riley only fainted. But Lena was frantic, and Lewis had dragged them here before dawn like it was a matter of life and death. None of it fit.

Grant’s gaze moved between Lewis and Lena, searching their faces like he could force the truth out of them.

Lewis glanced at Theo. Theo nodded and stepped aside. The guards moved into place without a word, standing watch around the room.

Lena grabbed Lewis’s arm with trembling fingers. "Lewis, tell me the truth," she pleaded. "What’s wrong with Riley? I can handle it."

Lewis’s voice softened slightly, but his eyes stayed serious. "Lena, don’t worry. She’s fine. She just needs a small favor from you and Grant."

"What favor?" Lena demanded. "Tell me."

"Your blood," Lewis said bluntly.

Grant frowned. "My blood? Why does she need my blood?"

"Just do it," Lena snapped at him, her voice firm. "Stop asking questions."

Then she turned back to Lewis, desperation spilling out. "If we give her our blood... will she wake up? Is that what you’re saying?"

Grant’s suspicion deepened. "Enough," he snapped. "Why are you talking in riddles? If you won’t tell me the truth, I’m not giving anybody my blood."

The room tensed.

Lena opened her mouth to argue again, but Lewis moved first. He reached into his pocket, pulled out the droplet pendant, and placed it on the table. The stone caught the light and shimmered faintly, like moonlight trapped in glass.

Lewis’s voice was calm. "Elena," he said. "Come out."

Grant stared. "Elena?"

In the next breath, I stepped forward.

Lena froze like her legs forgot how to move. Her eyes widened, and I watched memory hit her all at once—my funeral, the portrait, the face she had been forced to mourn.

Riley and I looked similar in small ways, but no one could mistake us as the same person. Not when you looked closely. Not when you felt the difference.

Lena took a slow step toward me, disbelief written across her face. "You..." she whispered, voice trembling. "You’re Elena Sander?"

Grant’s throat worked like he couldn’t swallow. "What do you mean Elena Sander?" he muttered. "Elena is dead..."

His eyes stayed locked on me, wide and bright with shock.

I stood barefoot on the spotless floor in a simple white dress. The overhead lights didn’t cast my shadow the way they should have. The air around me felt cooler, like the room leaned away from my presence.

Grant’s voice came out oddly controlled. "Are you... a ghost?"

He had seen plenty of strange things in the pack world. He had witnessed dominance battles, blood oaths, and old rituals whispered under the moon. So even though this shook him, he tried to hold himself together.

He turned on Lewis, anger rising to cover the fear. "What is this nonsense? What does my daughter have to do with this dead girl?"

Lena couldn’t hold it in anymore. Tears poured down her face. She looked at Grant like he was a stranger.

"Grant," she cried, "can’t you feel it? Our daughter has been gone for a long time."

Grant flinched like she slapped him.

His expression shifted in pieces, like memories surfaced and tried to connect. Riley and I had never been the same—our voices, our habits, the way we carried ourselves. The difference had been there the whole time. He had just refused to see it.

And the thought dragged him back to that night... the cut on Riley’s wrist... the silence that came after.

Still, denial grabbed him tighter.

"My daughter is right here," he said loudly, voice rising. "She’s just asleep! Stop saying those terrible things. Don’t talk about death like it’s nothing!"

I met his reddened eyes and forced my voice to stay calm.

"Grant," I said, "Riley has been gone for a long time."

His face tightened.

"She died," I continued, "because you ignored her again and again. I’m only here because I borrowed her body to keep living."

It hit him like glass shattering.

I didn’t stop.

"Do you want to know why I pushed Mom to leave you?" I asked coldly. "Because you—her father—broke her. You drove your own daughter to the edge and then acted surprised when she fell. You don’t deserve to be her father. And you never deserved to be Lena’s mate."

Grant’s hands started to tremble.

From the time Riley was little, all she wanted was his attention. A few kind words. One warm glance. Something to make her feel chosen. Instead, she got plots and cruelty from Sadie and Monica. She got betrayal from Ashley. And she got Grant’s empty stares, over and over, until her heart couldn’t carry it anymore.

Grant’s voice cracked. "No... that’s not true. I cared about her. I loved her."

His eyes looked wild now, like a man cornered by the truth.

"I just... I didn’t know how to show it," he whispered. "Everything I did was to get Lena back. I never meant to hurt Riley. How did it become this?"

Then he rushed to the bed.

He scooped Riley’s body into his arms like if he held her tight enough, she would return. His face drained of color, and his voice turned desperate.

"Riley," he begged. "Open your eyes. Look at me. I was wrong. I was so wrong."

He clutched her hand, shaking. Then he slapped himself hard across the face.

"If you wake up, I’ll do anything," he sobbed. "Even if it takes my life. Riley, please. Open your eyes."

His words poured out, messy and broken.

"I promised I’d take you to the amusement park on your birthday... I promised. And your mom—your mom is expecting your little brother or sister. Riley, please... just wake up."

Years of absence turned into guilt so heavy it crushed him. He tried to lift her like he could carry her out of death.

Lena’s face twisted in pain.

And then she slapped him.

The sound snapped through the room.

"You never loved her when she was alive," she said, shaking with rage. "So what are you pretending for now that she’s gone?"

Grant stared at her, stunned, tears finally spilling. "You... you knew all along?"

Lena’s voice was sharp. "I’m not naive like you. Treating someone else’s child like a jewel while your own daughter was dying inside. Riley is my child. How could a mother not recognize her?"

Grant’s mind spiraled. His eyes darted to me again. "So you just... let another soul live in our daughter’s body?"

Lena wiped her tears with a trembling hand, her voice turning fierce with desperate logic.

"Grant, if it weren’t for Elena, Riley’s body would have decayed long ago," she said. "Elena kept her here. That means Riley stayed here. Elena is like a daughter to me now."

Her voice broke again, but she kept going.

"Now that Elena has left Riley’s body, if we don’t do something, we’ll lose both of them. Keeping Elena is the same as keeping Riley."

Grant looked like he’d been punched in the chest. The strength drained out of him. His shoulders sagged, his eyes empty as he stared at me, lost.

Then he asked the question that held everything inside it—grief, fear, regret, and hope all tangled together.

"If Elena is here," he whispered, "then where is my daughter Riley?"