000 - Ashina

A sound tore through the night. An aggravating mixture of a howl and a scream sent a ripple of unease everyone that was gathered. The iron-heavy scent of blood was thick in the air, and very suffocating. And the clinic, which was usually a place of relative calm, was now a battlefield of its own.

My hands were slick with blood as I pressed down on a gaping wound of an injured wolf as he wailed and trembled against the pain. The heat from the injured wolf beneath my hands was a stark contrast to the cold terror that coiled in my chest.

Around me, chaos reigned. Wolves in their human forms and some in their beast forms filled every available space of the clinic, groans and snarls mixing with the sharp barks of healers shouting orders. The scent of antiseptics battled with the raw, primal stench of war.

And we were at war. The Crescent Moon pack had finally made their move and they had caught us really off-guard.

My heart pounded against my ribs, but it was not just from the overwhelming task at hand. No. It was from pure ear mixed with undiluted anxiousness.

Every time the doors burst open, I snapped my head up, my stomach knotting as another injured warrior was dragged in. Every time, with dread I hoped it wouldn’t be him.

Kael.

“Keep pressure here.” The firm voice of another healer brought me back to the present. She clapped a hand on my shoulder—a brief, fleeting attempt at comforting me. “He’ll be fine, Ashina. He’s strong.”

Every warrior of the Silver Claw Pack was strong. Sure, Kael was stronger but that didn’t mean anything in the face of an ambushed fight. The words were nothing but fleeting in the light of the way I was feeling.

They had barely settled before another commotion outside sent the entire room into a fevered panic. A guttural command rang out: “Clear the way!”

My body reacted before my mind could catch up. I had caught wind of his scent before my brain did and my heart plummeted.

No. Please. No.

I shoved past bodies, nearly tripping over bloodied bandages as I reached the entrance just as they brought him in.

He was a crumpled mess of torn flesh and tattered clothing, his normally imposing figure limped in the arms of the warriors carrying him. His face—gods, his face—was pale beneath the smears of dirt and blood and he was barely breathing.

“No, no, no—” I surged forward, grasping his hand. It was too cold. Too lifeless. Come on, Kael. You can’t do this. “What happened?” I asked frantically as my voice cracked. “Tell me what happened!”

But of course, I was the least of anyone’s concern at that moment as both healers and warriors moved swiftly, shouting orders and pushing through the crowded space toward the special operating chamber.

“You can’t go in there,” a healer said as someone tried to pull me back, but I fought back, not releasing my grip on Kael.

“He needs me!” I pleaded with desperation bleeding into my words.

“What he needs is to be attended to. You need to stay back!”

And somehow, two stronger wolves managed to yank my back as they laid him onto a roll bed. I screamed against the iron-clad grip on my hands holding me back as Kael was pushed him beyond the threshold and the doors slammed shut.

The world blurred as the wolves left me and I crashed to the ground, my hands shaking and my breath ragged.

Please, Moon Goddess, please don’t take him from me. Haven’t you already done enough? Don’t do this to me now.

The minutes crawled by like years. Every second stretched into eternity, a cruel limbo between hope and despair before the doors finally opened.

I scrambled to my feet ignoring the way my muscles groaned and protested from staying in one position for a long time.

The head healer who emerged wore a solemn expression, the kind that stole the air from my lungs before words were even spoken.

“Where is he?” I demanded, voice hoarse.

He hesitated. That was all it took for ice to spread through my veins.

Please, don’t do this. I still felt the bond between us. Although it was very weak and thin and that scared me more than anything.

“He’s asking for you,” he finally said.

That was all I needed to hear. I barely felt her own legs as I stumbled forward, pushing past the threshold. The scent of sterilized herbs and blood filled her senses, but none of it mattered.

Kael lay on the bed, wrapped in bandages, tubes snaking from his arms, connected to machines humming with life. The room was dim, but not empty. Council officials stood near an opposite door with a darker grim look than the healer had and their expressions were colder than ever as it landed on me the instance I stumbled in.

Not like they ever looked at me with anything but ice before. They never liked me and it was no secret that they only tolerated me because of Kael.

And the feeling was mutual. They were the least of my worries then as I turned to Kael and rushed to his side as they left.

“Kael.”

His eyes fluttered open, hazy with pain, but the instant they found hers, something unreadable flickered across his face. Regret. Sorrow. A resignation that sent a deeper kind of fear slicing through my chest.

“Hey, I’m here,” I whispered, brushing damp strands of hair from his forehead. “I’m here. You’re going to be okay.”

His trembling hand lifted to her face, weakly. The touch was a shadow of what it had been before. “Ash.”

“Don’t talk, just rest—”

“I have to.” His grip tightened with what little strength he had left, pouring it into this one moment as if he needed to. “I need to set you free.”

Something about the way he said it made my breath hitch. “What… what are you talking about?”

He coughed—wet, painful. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. I tried to wipe it away, but he caught my wrist, holding me still.

“I’m sorry.” His voice broke, and so did my heart as the warmth in his eyes slowly turned colder.

“Kael? What… what’s going on?” My mind raced, struggling to grasp what was happening.

“I, Kael Veyrith, heir of the Silverclaw Pack, reject you, Ashina Kai, as my mate.”

The words tore through me, sharper than claws and even more cruel than death ever could. A physical agony that sent me stumbling back as I felt our bond snap, leaving a gnawing hollow in its place. I clutched my chest squeezing as if I could together the bond that just been severed.

“No,” I wailed out, louder than I intended. My vision blurred and I crumbled into the crowd with every inch of my body burning from pain. “Kael, how could you?!” I moved to claw my way to him. This had to be a dream. This couldn’t be happening. It didn’t make any sense.

Guards rushed in and grabbed me before I could claw my way back to him. I fought them, but the world was tilting, spinning, crashing down around me and I had no strength.

Kael coughed again, his body wracked with tremors. And then, as I watched in horror, the light left his eyes. His body convulsed one final time and then flames engulfed him.

“Kael!” A raw, broken sound ripped from my throat. What?! What was going on?

My head was spinning but I couldn’t even grasp anything before one of the officials who stepped out earlier walked back in and turned to one of the guards holding me.

“Take her out.”

“Wait! Wait! Kael! Kael is burning! Why…?” my head was spinning, my body weak as I was dragged out through the back door, past the faces of those who had once respected her. No one met my eyes or stopped what was happening.

I only understood the gravity of the situation when my body hit the cold earth with a sharp grunt of pain. When I looked up and around me, my belongings were scattered beside me.

“Please,” I groaned as pain raced through me and crawled back, trying to get past the border I’d been tossed out of.

A guard who had once sworn to protect me loomed above me with a sneer, stopping my movement. “Step across this border, and I will kill you myself.”

I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. I’d been rejected. I’d just watched the love of my life burn to death and I had been cast out with absolutely nothing left but pain and the smell of death.