7

Aprils  POV

As if that was not enough, the guards took my parent's dead bodies and their heads, placed them on the ground, and started collecting firewood. After pouring paraffin all over them, they ignited and burned a match.

I am so consumed by anger and pain that I mark the faces of those who took part personally in the execution of my parents. I will hurt them so badly when the time comes. May the moon Goddess give me strength to overcome.

I will rain hell upon them, but I let the sadness consume me for now.

I am about to tell the guard to take me back to my cell, but I stop when I see a figure amidst the flames. It looks like a woman. She is dressed in white, and her eyes shine brighter than the moon. She looks at me with sorrow, and that's when she says:

"My daughter do not worry for this shall pass. Do not give up, the fight has just began. The most important thing right now is to know who you are and where you are from. Be careful in your search for the truth. For you shall awaken demons long forgotten..."

Before I can say anything or react, she disappears.

Wait a second. She looked really familiar. I tried hard to remember where I'd seen her, and it was from my classes as a child.

Damn!  No..no.. no, It can't be who I think it is.

But seriously, did the moon goddess just pay me a visit?

I am humbled, and I fall to my knees and stare out to where the moon Goddess just stood,

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I don't remember being dragged away from the execution grounds. The world had turned into a blur of pain and numbness, and my body felt hollow, weightless as if I was floating somewhere far away from myself. Somewhere that didn't exist. But eventually, the chaos around me dimmed, fading into a suffocating silence.

Was I the only one who saw the moon goddess?

If so, then how and why?

I was back in the dungeon. The same cell where I had spent the last night with my parents, clinging to the last remnants of hope, now cold and empty. The silence was suffocating, pressing in on me from all sides as though the walls were closing in to swallow me whole. I dropped to the ground, my knees hitting the stone floor so hard that pain shot up my legs, but I welcomed it. At least it made me feel something other than the hollow void that had consumed me.

My parents were gone. Dead. They were executed as traitors who disrespected the Alpha all because I wasn't strong enough because my mate had rejected me like I was some worthless scrap that wasn't even worth the dirt beneath his feet. The hatred I felt for him burned through my veins like wildfire, searing through every nerve in my body. I could still see his face, that cold, indifferent look in his eyes as he cast me aside. His rejection had shattered my life into a million pieces, but it was my parents who paid the price for it. It was because of him that they had to die like that—kneeling on the execution platform with their heads bowed, their last words of love drowned out by the sound of the blade falling.

A strangled sob escaped me, breaking the quiet of the dungeon. I pressed my hands to my face as if that could somehow keep the tears at bay, but it was no use. The sobs came hard and fast, ripping through my chest until it felt like I was going to fall apart entirely. My parents were the only family I had, the only people who had ever truly loved me, and now they were gone.

I had nothing left.

My fingers curled into fists, my nails digging into my palms until the skin broke, until I felt the warmth of my own blood trickling down my hands. I clung to that pain, desperate to drown out the grief, the crushing weight of loss that had settled over me like a storm cloud. I had failed them. I couldn't protect them, couldn't save them, and now they were gone because of me because I wasn't enough.

I hated him—my mate. I hated him with every broken, shattered piece of my heart. He could have saved them. If he had accepted me or just rejected me without being a jerk, if he had just shown an ounce of compassion, my parents would still be alive. I could still hear their voices echoing in my mind, telling me they loved me as the executioner's blade fell. Their last moments were filled with fear and pain, and all because of his callous disregard for my life and theirs.

He was the reason I was here, locked away like a criminal while my parents' blood stained the earth above. He had done this to me and them, and I could do nothing to make him pay for it. I was powerless, caged like an animal, my entire world crumbling around me.

My heart feels empty, and it feels colder than ice.

My wolf hasn't talked to me for a while and I'm starting to wonder if she's alright or even with me anymore.

I realize now that I'm not the only one grieving. I've been so selfish thinking about myself I didn't even stop to consider how my wolf would be feeling.

"Snow? Are you there?" I ask.

I am met with a disturbing silence.

"Snow?" I ask once more. This time, I feel a stirring from within me.

"A-p-r-i-l?" She stammers.

"Thank Goddess, You are alright." I say, relief flooding through me.

"I have missed you, Snow," I tell her honestly, and I am feeling so glad that atleast despite everything that had happened, I still had my wolf.

"Our parents are dead April. M-m-mate did this?" She asks, getting directly to the point, her voice sounding broken.

"Yes Snow," I say, wishing there was some way I could hug her or ease her pain.

"Can I take control, April?" she asks, and the way she asks makes me feel as though I cannot say no. I feel like she really needs this.

"Ofcourse,"

She takes control instantly, and I shift into my wolf.

She howls in pain and anger. I can feel all her feelings now. She's not blocking me out anymore.

I can feel everything she's feeling, from the rejection to my parent's death. Her feelings of hurt and betrayal are loud, and it shatters my heart.

I block my feelings from her because I don't want her pain to increase.

I soothe her and try to calm her even though I'm not in control.

After what feels like forever, she lets out one long howl, and then we collapse to the ground.

Before I'm overcome by darkness, I hear the words:

"Thank you April. I really needed that.. thank you for being with me."