Chapter 5
Chapter 5
I continued to walk deeper into the woods. The weight of betrayal clinging to my bones. The snow gnawed at my burns, red beneath the bandages. My breath fogged the air in front of me, shallow and ragged but I didn’t stop.
I couldn’t.
They had thrown me away. Branded me insane. Banished me like some rabid dog. And still, the thought that clung to my chest like a second heartbeat wasn’t hate.
It was grief.
Not for the title. Not even for Damien. But for the years I gave, for the child I raised and for the home that had never truly been mine.
A crunch of twigs behind me snapped my attention back to the present.
I spun, my heart leaping. There was nothing but shadows between the trees. But something or someone was following me. I could sense it. I quickened my pace.
By dusk, I reached the ravine. I knew this place. My mother and I had camped here once when we were being chased. There was a shallow cave tucked beneath the ridge. I collapsed inside it, shaking, finally letting myself exhale.
The last of the herbs Beta Zane gave me were gone. The pain flared with renewed fury. My vision blurred. I pressed a hand to my side and it was wet with blood.
Damn it.
The fire had seared deeper than I realized.
I should’ve rested and stitched the wound. But sleep pulled me under too fast. I had fallen before
I even realized it and with it came the dreams. Not the soft kind, though.
These were full of smoke and screams and Damien saying, “You made him terrified. You should apologize.”
Of Nathan lighting the fire with a smile on his lips.
I woke with a scream caught in my throat and a blade at my neck.
‘Move, and I slit your skin from throat to navel.”
The voice was low, cold, and unfamiliar. My eyes flew open to find a man crouched beside me his dagger poised.
He was a rogue.
“Who are you?” I whispered.
He leaned closer. “The question is, who are you, pretty little burn victim, sleeping in a rogue territory with no fear?”
“I’m no threat,” I said quickly, my chest heaving.
His gaze narrowed. “You smell like Silverclaw.”
“I was banished.”
4:04 pm
He smirked. “Of course you were. They always say that.”
“I was their Luna.”
That made him pause.
He pulled the blade away slightly but didn’t sheath it. “That’s a hell of a claim for someone bleeding out in my cave.”
“I didn’t come to claim anything,” I muttered. “I just needed shelter. You can have your cave.”
I tried to push myself up. The pain made my vision dim. I collapsed again, my teeth clenched. The rogue sighed, swore under his breath, and sheathed the blade.
“You’re lucky I hate them too,” he muttered. “Stay. But if you bleed on my food, I’ll toss you to the wolves.”
I gave a dry laugh. “You think they haven’t already had their bite?”
By morning, my fever had spiked. The rogue, whose name, I learned, was Kael reluctantly helped clean my wounds. He wasn’t gentle, but he wasn’t cruel either.
“You shouldn’t be alive,” he said, wrapping a fresh bandage. “What did you do to get kicked out like that?”
‘Nothing,” I whispered. “Except survive.”
Kael tilted his head, studying me. “That’s enough reason for some Alphas. Especially Damien.”
I looked up sharply. “You know him?”
Kael gave a bitter laugh. “Everyone knows the Silverclaw Alpha. Most of us have scars because
of him.”
He turned away, his face unreadable. I decided not to press further, perhaps it was a memory I shouldn’t have reminded him of.
That night, the storm hit. Winds howled through the trees like mourning wolves. We huddled in the cave. Kael tossed me a thicker cloak from his pack and muttered, “Don’t die. I hate cleaning up corpses.”
smiled faintly. “You’re very charming.”
‘Don’t get used to it,” he growled.
Three days passed.
My strength returned slowly. Kael taught me how to trap small game. I learned he once belonged to the Crimson Vale Pack-until Damien ordered them to surrender their borders, and Kael’s
sister was killed in the raid.
I remembered the incident. It had caused a fight between Damien and my sister. But he promised to provide the affected with every means of living he once took from them.
I guess they were just empty promises.
I also shared what they did to me. Every bitter truth. Every betrayal.
He didn’t interrupt once.
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But when I finished, his voice was low and fierce. “You shouldn’t be crawling away from that kind
of injustice. You should be crawling back. With a blade.”
“I wish I could” I murmured.
Kael looked at me for a long time. “Do you want to?”
We both shared an eye contact for a while with no one saying anything.
On the fourth morning, Kael burst into the cave, his face pale.
“They’re coming.”
I sat upright, my heart pounding. “Who?”
He held up a scroll, sealed with the Red Fang crest.
“A scout just passed. Word’s spreading like wildfire: the Red Fang Alpha claims you’re of his bloodline. Says the Silverclaw Pack banished royalty.”
I froze. “That can’t be true.”
Kael dropped the scroll in front of me.
“You better hope it isn’t. Because the Red Fang is the largest pack.”
stared at the scroll, my heart pounding.
My sister never told me much about our past. I had no father.
Just my mother-who died because of the same Red Fang Pack.
