第6章

After that pointless gift-giving trip, it was already dusk.

Damien glanced at the sky and coolly asked if I wanted to eat anything.

I had no appetite for any of his "offerings," so he decided on his own to find a clearing by a stream, light a bonfire, and prepare a simple "mate's" dinner.

He then added, seemingly casually, "Lyra just told me through a wind-whisper stone that she happens to be nearby collecting night-glow grass, so I asked her to join us."

The northern forests were so vast, yet we just happened to run into her here.

Whether it was a coincidence or if he just couldn't wait to be with Lyra, I didn't know, and I didn't want to bother finding out anymore.

I just said, "Mm," and went to sit on a large rock by the stream, closing my eyes to rest, not wanting to look at his hypocritical face any longer.

About fifteen minutes later, Damien arrived with Lyra.

Lyra, still acting all innocent and worldly, chirped happily as soon as she saw me, linking her arm through mine affectionately, as if there had never been any bad blood between us. "Selena," she blinked her pure, innocent eyes, "I let Damien take you out to cheer you up. Was he good to you today? Did he get you any prey or crystals you liked?"

Only then did I realize that Damien's strange behavior today had all been approved by Lyra.

The few, precious warm moments I'd had in the past three years were actually Lyra's handouts to me.

How ridiculous!

I lowered my head, unwilling to respond.

This so-called mate's dinner, I ate it like I was chewing wax, mechanically putting the half-cooked roasted meat into my mouth.

Although Lyra was constantly chatting with Damien about interesting pack gossip, sometimes giggling at Damien's "wit," sometimes playfully complaining that Damien had been neglecting her lately due to "busy pack affairs," she kept glancing at me, sharply noticing my extremely low spirits.

So, when the bonfire started to die down, she insisted on pulling me along to a nearby hot spring to "relax."

"Selena, wasn't Damien's hunting and patrol trip with you today fun? Or were the gifts he picked out not to your liking, so you've been so down?"

She said this in a "wise older sister" tone while helping me undress.

"Don't mind Damien, he's usually so serious, but when he's with us she-wolves, sometimes he's really... really clumsy."

"Let me tell you," she leaned closer, lowering her voice as if sharing a huge secret, "a long, long time ago, I just casually mentioned I wanted to taste the legendary starlight fruit, which only grows in the Moon Goddess's garden. And he actually snuck into the forbidden area, only accessible to past Alphas, risked being torn aby guardian beasts, and brought back a whole basket for me! And guess what? After the elders found out, he was punished by having to soak in the ice lake for three days and nights. At that time, a few she-wolves from other affiliated packs who had crushes on him came to visit, wanting to taste the precious starlight fruit too. He wouldn't give them a single piece, even saying defiantly, 'I risked my life to get these, so naturally, they only belong to Lyra!' That story, our Blood Moon Pack members have been telling it as a joke for years! Don't you think he's been that bossy since he was little?"

She giggled as she spoke, her full chest bouncing, looking alluring in the moonlight.

I quietly watched the undisguised pride and happiness in her eyes.

I wanted to laugh, but I couldn't.

Yeah, only someone who knows they're favored, cherished, would be so bold, right?

An indescribable sourness and sadness welled up in my heart.

I didn't want Lyra to see how I was feeling, so I made an excuse to go into the nearby woods.

But I'd barely left the hot spring area, before I could even calm myself, when I heard horrifying roars from the sky not far away.

Then, thick black smoke, reeking of strong corrosion, spread rapidly from the direction of the stream we’d just left, towards the entire pack territory!

The surrounding trees, upon contact with the black smoke, withered and rotted at a visible speed, turning into disgusting pools of black pus.

The air filled with the pungent smell of sulfur and death.

"It's... it's the 'Shadow Plague'! Run!"

"Oh gods! How did those shadow creatures sealed in the 'Abyss of Despair' suddenly get out!"

Screams and cries for help, filled with terror and despair, came from all directions.

My first thought was Lyra, still at the hot spring, unaware of the danger!

So even though I knew that if I touched that terrifying "Shadow Plague," I'd be corroded like those withered trees, not even bones would be left, I still, without hesitation, ran against the tide of panicking, fleeing pack members, towards the hot spring!

Just as I reached the edge of the hot spring area, I saw Damien tightly shielding a disheveled Lyra in his arms, struggling to fend off the encroaching black smoke, preparing to break through to safety with her.

Lyra, like a frightened little bird, clung tightly to Damien's arm, her anxious voice, broken and intermittent, carried through the thick, suffocating black smoke. "Damien! Selena... Selena is still out in the woods! She... she doesn't know about the 'Shadow Plague' here! You... you go save her first! I... I can find a way to get out myself!"

"Forget about her for now! You leave this contaminated area with me first!"

Damien's voice was still steady, firm, and unyielding.

But Lyra stubbornly tried to push him away, wanting him to save me first.

"I'll be fine! Damien, go save Selena! She... she's your Luna in name, after all! If anything happens to her today because of us... what... what will you do? The council... the council won't let us off either!"

"Lyra! Listen to me!" Damien suddenly roared, cutting her off, holding Lyra even tighter in his arms. "I don't care what happens to her! I just want you to be safe! If she can escape on her own, that's her luck; if she can't... that has nothing to do with us either! In my world, there's only you. Nothing else matters!"

Every word, like a sharp blade, stabbed viciously into my heart.

I bit my lip so hard, the rich taste of blood instantly filled my mouth, the pain almost suffocating me.

Damien, tightly protecting Lyra in his arms, turned and quickly broke away in the opposite direction from me.

At the same time, the other pack members, completely crazed with fear, surged like a tide towards any seemingly safe exit.

I was pushed down in the chaos, falling heavily to the ground. My body was trampled black and blue by the stampeding pack members, my bones feeling like they were about to break.

I trembled violently from the pain, cold sweat drenching my clothes in an instant.

The black smoke from the "Shadow Plague" grew thicker, reaching my feet, starting to corrode my exposed skin.

I couldn't help but let out a pained groan.

Driven by the instinct to survive, I gritted my teeth against the intense pain, got up from the ground, and, leaning on a tree trunk already half-corroded, stumbled step by step towards what I remembered as a relatively safe area.