LOGINChapter 5
Astrid's pov The laughter instantly died out the moment I rolled in, well except for Taylor. She was still grinning from ear to ear. "Astrid! I've been waiting for you to show up... What took you so long?" She asked like she wasn't aware who gave her the kidney. There was also a change in Taylor, the person I had grown up knowing to be pale and hardly energetic seem it to have warmed up in complexion her movements now fluid and free. Damien looked at like I was a ghost from his past, I sunk my teeth into my bottom lip and squeezed the wheelchair before relaxing and then I told Damien through mind link. "Would you prefer if we had this conversation in front of Taylor or in my ward?" He didn't respond, just kept staring at me like he could will me out of existence. "Make your decision fast, if you don't say anything in the next 2 minutes then–" "Taylor do you mind if I step out for a moment with Astrid?" "Of course not," She said massaging his arm while I was right looking straight at them, "she's your mate afterall, isn't she?" I turned around in a spin, unable to look at them anymore. Damien came from behind to help me push the wheelchair but I hissed at him. "I'm just trying to help," he said wanting to insist. "How thoughtful of you," I sneered sarcastically before taking control again and wheeling over to my ward. Once Damien joined me the excuses began to flow like water. "You know I was just about to come to see you–" "After 3 days?" I asked him my back turned he couldn't see how I was fighting back the tears. "Yes, I was just about to come over and–" "Damien you promised me..." I said trembling all over, "you promised me that if I went ahead with the surgery that you would forget all about her and focus on us, I endured all of that thinking that you would keep your word!" "Who said I wouldn't?!" His voice shot up. "Please..." He walked over until he was in front of me, gripping the wheel chair so I couldn't escape. "Taylor is going through a delicate time now that's she's recovering from surgery, she might suddenly relapse if I cut all contact out of the blue...the doc said that the last thing she needs is stress right now," My head fell. "Then what about me Damien? What consideration does your mate get? You still didn't come to see me in the past three days ..." "My goddess, are you still holding on to that?! I've apologized haven't I?!" He screamed in my face. "You haven't!" I screamed right back at him. "Fine!" He spat out and pushed the wheelchair with me on it three inches backwards and fell on his knees with a thud. "Please my majestic mate... Forgive this foolish Alpha for not abandoning a poor patient for your sake! It's all my fault..." The tears I'd been holding back began to bubble in the corner of my eyes, why must I put up with this? Why must I be shamed just for asking for love?! "Fine!" I yelled at the top of my voice with a violent sweep of my hand pointing at the door. "Go to your precious little patient, I don't care anymore! You can even build a shrine and worship her for all I care! Just get out of my sight you make me sick...ah!" The tears were now streaming down my cheeks, running like a fountain. I covered my face with my palm to hide my shame. He stood up, dusted his feet and sighed. "Astrid..." He called out my name like it physically hurt. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled at you," he walked over, hugging me as I continued to cry buckets. "I'm sorry...I mean it .. please listen to me .."he pulled my palms away from my teary face. "I made a promise didn't I? But I should have been more specific...as soon as both you and Taylor are discharged from the hospital I'll forget that she even exists...I mean it," It was only that evening as he stroked my hair and promised to forget my sister did I realize just how pathetic I was. After years of groveling like an idiot for crumbs of his affection, I had to give up a part of myself for him to reluctantly think of choosing me. As for Taylor, all she needed was a smile (and maybe a few fake coughs ) and he'd be ready to give her the world on a golden platter. All she had to do was breath and he'd be showering her with compliments. I'm sure he kisses the ground she walked on when nobody was looking. But me, I guess he could begrudgingly pretend to like me for the rest of our lives. I can't believe I once looked forward to this, how pathetic. "Can you stay with me for a while?" I asked, knowing I couldn't embarrass myself anymore. He agreed helping me to bed, then he gave me a sheepish expression as he kept stroking my hair and soon his hands were exploring other parts of my body. "Damien..." I called out his name, horrified by what he was clearly hinting,"I just had surgery." "It will be a quick, I'll be in and out before you notice..." I sighed, giving up and letting him have his way. He was halfway through his climax when my stitches tore and I screamed out on my stomach, he confused it as me reaching my climax too and pushed my hands down going faster. "That's it baby, yeeesss!" I was bleeding and my screams were muffled as he enjoyed his peak for the longest twenty seconds of my life. By the time he was done, I'd lost too much blood, the world faded into darkness.The servant’s voice still echoed in the room, polite, rehearsed, unaware that she had just announced the name of the man who once broke me quietly, day by day.“Alpha Damien is waiting.”I nodded once, because that was what Luna Astrid used to do—agree, obey, smile softly even when her chest felt hollow.But inside, something else stirred.I stood, my bare feet touching the cold floor. The silk dress clung to my body, white and heavy with expectation. I walked toward the mirror again, slower this time, studying the girl staring back at me.She looked untouched.Hopeful.Ignorant.I reached up and pressed my fingers to the glass, half-expecting it to ripple, to crack, to reject me.It didn’t.I was really here.Seven years earlier.I exhaled shakily and whispered, “You don’t know what’s coming… but I do.”The memories came uninvited.Damien is turning his back on public life.The long nights alone while he laughed with my stepsister.The way he never once called me mate—only Luna, lik
Astrid’s POVAlpha Lucian shouted something, but it sounded far away. None of those mattered right now. The only person that mattered to me now was the man holding me. I felt my legs go cold, and my feet were becoming numb. My heart was stuttering.“Sebastian,” I whispered “Yes.” He gasped. “I’m right here, I’m here with you.” He said. I lifted my hand with so much effort and cupped his cheek. He leaned into it desperately.“Don’t let this make you be like him,” I said softly, and he shook his head violently. “Astrid, please—stop—don’t—don’t talk like this.” He said, sounding desperate.“I am scared,” I admitted, tears rolling down my cheeks freely. “I don’t want to—leave— you, Sebastian. I just—met you.” My words destroyed him as a broken sound came from him as he came very much closer, as if he wanted to merge physically with me.“I love you.” He sobbed like a little child. “I love you so much—Astrid and—it hurts so much, please—please, Astrid—stay with me.” He said, and my hear
Astrid’s POVAlpha Lucian shouted something, but it sounded far away. None of those mattered right now. The only person that mattered to me now was the man holding me. I felt my legs go cold, and my feet were becoming numb. My heart was stuttering.“Sebastian,” I whispered “Yes.” He gasped. “I’m right here, I’m here with you.” He said. I lifted my hand with so much effort and cupped his cheek. He leaned into it desperately.“Don’t let this make you be like him,” I said softly, and he shook his head violently. “Astrid, please—stop—don’t—don’t talk like this.” He said, sounding desperate.“I am scared,” I admitted, tears rolling down my cheeks freely. “I don’t want to—leave— you, Sebastian. I just—met you.” My words destroyed him as a broken sound came from him as he came very much closer, as if he wanted to merge physically with me.“I love you.” He sobbed like a little child. “I love you so much—Astrid and—it hurts so much, please—please, Astrid—stay with me.” He said, and my heart
Astrid’s POVThe pack continued to burn, but not in fire. The packs burned in the lingering shadows, the packs burned in the hunger of ancient entities that stayed beneath the foundations of the Council. The rift that Selene tried so hard to exploit, the rift that Alpha Lucian had manipulated into motion, and the hunger of older forces, each merging into a single living entity. I didn’t have any choice left, that what was already in my mind. I stepped forward, and Sebastian held me like he could read my mind, as if he already knew what was going on in my head.I freed myself from his grip, and I stood at the center where the pack's lines intersect. The line where the souls of Powerful Alphas bleed. The spot where the blood and its compact are merged into one. The trees in the pack hummed like a drumbeat, and that was when it got to me that if I do not do something now, the storm that would come thereafter would consume every living thing under the moon, and not any soul would be sav
Astrid's POVAlpha king Lucian didn’t even look at him. His gaze was locked only on Lady Selene, fury and something like betrayal twisting his features.“You,” Alpha Lucian snarled. “You were supposed to advise, you were not supposed to interfere.”Selene inclined her head. “I advised you exactly as promised. I didn’t tell you who the advice was meant to serve.”The disruption moved in response to Lucian’s rage, as if it were delighted by it.“How dare you think you can tell me?” Alpha Lucian growled.“I did not use you, I guided you,” Selene corrected. “It was your hunger for power and control that did the rest.”Lucian stepped closer, power rolling off him in suffocating waves. “I will tear you apart.” He roared with anger.“The devilish smile on Selene’s face faded—not into fear, but sadness.“You can't do that, not anymore,” Selene said, and the blood compact burned lightly, and Alpha king Lucian staggered.Sebastian’s eyes widened. “What’s happening to him?” he asked no one in pa
Astrid’s POVThe first thing that broke was not the floor.It was the council members' trust that broke instantly. No one knew who or what to trust anymore.A wave of cold air rushed upward from beneath; it was sharp and ancient, carrying a smell of wet stone and old bones. Not decay. Memory. Panic erupted in the chamber.All the Alphas present tried to give orders, but none of the guards followed. Councilors present stumbled backward, their dignity disposed in the face of shadows that did not care for titles or positions. The Guards tried to move again, their muscles trembling as Selene’s hold on them faltered—not because she released them, but because something deeper was trying to interrupt her control over them.Sebastian tightened his hands around mine, not wanting to let go.“Astrid,” he said, breath uneven. “That thing that we feared is under the park; it’s not a god.”“No,” I replied hoarsely. “It’s way older.”The wound pulsed not with violence.It pulsed Hungrily.Alpha Sele







