Chapter Seven

Abandoned

Aurelia’s POV

I woke to the taste of blood. For a moment, I didn’t know where I was. There was only darkness, the sharp ache in my ribs, and the sound of my own breathing.

Exhaustion gripped my being. I felt like I had been in an endless cycle of life and death. Then I remembered.

I had a wolf.

I tried to feel her within me but it was just my failing heartbeat. No…Had it been all a dream?

Waves of disappointment and pain assaulted me and I hurled. It was as though all the sufferings I’d endured came crashing back ten fold. But no, this couldn’t be the end of me. I had to survive. I had to fight. I had to find Cassian.

My eyes flew open.

“Cassian.” My voice came out as a broken whisper. When I tried to move, pain tore through my body. I bit down on my lip to keep myself from screaming.

The rubble had shifted. There was a narrow opening above me now, barely wide enough for me to crawl through. Moonlight spilled through it and I stared at it for several seconds. Then…I began crawling.

Every movement hurts. My palms scraped against broken stone. My knees dragged through dust and blood, but I didn’t care. I had to get out.

Cassian was outside. He would find me. He had promised.

I’ll come back.

I held onto those words with everything I had. When I finally pulled myself through the opening, cold night air struck my face.

I gasped.

Silvercrest was burning. The village I had known my entire life had become unrecognizable. Buildings were collapsing. Smoke covered the sky. The ceremonial banners hung in shreds from broken poles.

I stood there, trembling.

“Cassian!” My voice disappeared into the chaos. No answer. I stumbled forward. “Damien!” Nothing. “Father!” Nothing.

I kept walking despite my limbs begging me to stop.

Maybe they were at the eastern gate. Maybe the warriors had driven the rogues back. Maybe everyone was gathering somewhere. Maybe—

A hand suddenly grabbed my arm.

I screamed and turned. Three strangers stood behind me. They wore dark clothing, their faces partially covered in dirt and blood. I didn’t recognize any of them.

“Easy,” one of them said.

“Who are you?” I ignored the fear creeping up inside me.

“Survivors.” He looked me over, his gaze lingered on the blood covering my clothes. “You shouldn’t be standing.”

“I need to find my Alpha.”

The man exchanged glances with the others. “Your Alpha?”

“Cassian.” The name seemed to make something flicker across his face. Then he looked away.

“He’s gone.” My heart stopped.

“What?” I could barely hear my voice.

“He left.”

“No.” The answer came too quickly. “He wouldn’t.”

The man sighed. “I watched them retreat toward the eastern border.”

“Then take me there.” I tried to pull away but his grip only tightened.

“You can’t.”

“Why!?”

“Because they’re gone.”

I stared at him. “No.” My voice shook. “They wouldn’t leave.” Not without me.

The second stranger finally spoke. “They had orders.”

“Orders from who?” I was beginning to lose my patience. Why couldn’t they just tell me everything right away?!

“The Alpha.”

I felt something inside me crack. “mI felt like I had been slapped. “That’s not true.” The lie tasted bitter in my mouth.

“He evacuated the warriors first.” Stop talking.

“And the civilians?”

He hesitated. “Those who could be saved were taken.”

My breathing became uneven. “What does that mean?”

The first man looked at me. “It means they thought you were dead.”

I shook my head. “No.” I’m here. I’m alive.

“You were trapped under the packhouse.”

“They knew.” They knew I was alive. They could have searched. They could have called out for me.

“How?” They looked confused.

“I called for them.” My voice broke. “I screamed.” I remembered it. Cassian’s name tearing through my throat. The sound of my own voice disappearing beneath the rubble. I screamed even though I felt like dying. Even if it’s the last thing I could have done. “They would’ve heard me.”

The stranger’s expression remained strangely calm. “Maybe they did.”

I stared at him. “What?”

He stepped closer. “Maybe they knew.”

The world seemed to tilt beneath my feet. “No.”

“They couldn’t risk coming back.”

“Why?” I couldn’t understand. How could Cassian leave me here to die? How…how could he ever leave me behind?

“Because they were still being attacked.”

“You’re lying.” My voice grew louder. “You’re lying!”

The third stranger grabbed my shoulder. “Enough.”

I shoved him away. “I need to see Cassian.”

“You won’t.”

“Why?!” I asked for the hundred times even though deep inside me, I already know the answer. I just wouldn’t accept it. Can’t…

“Because he’s gone.”

I shook my head repeatedly. “No.”

The first man looked almost sorry for me. Almost.

“He left you, girl.”

My chest tightened. “Don’t.”

“He chose the pack.”

“Stop.”

“He chose his people.”

“I said stop!”

“And you weren’t one of them.”

Something inside me went silent. I stared at him. Those words hurt more than the wounds covering my body. I thought about every time I’d wondered whether I was worthy of becoming Luna.

Every whisper. Every doubt. Every moment I’d wondered whether my lack of a wolf made me less deserving than everyone else.

Cassian had always told me otherwise. He had told me he didn’t love me because of a title. Because of a wolf. Because of what I could become. He loved me because I was me.

Didn’t he?

My eyes burned. “You’re lying.” The stranger didn’t answer. I searched his face desperately. “Did he come back? Please, tell me the truth!” Silence. “Did Cassian come back for me?” Still nothing. I swallowed. “Please.” The word barely escaped but my tears did. “Just tell me.”

The man looked away. And somehow, that was worse than an answer.

My knees gave out. I fell against the broken stone. Five years from now, I would remember this moment. Not the fire. Not the screams. Not even the blood.

This.

The moment I realized that I had been waiting for someone who wasn’t coming.

The stranger crouched in front of me. “You need to accept it.” He said, like salt on the wound. Like my pain wasn’t enough that he needed to rub it more.

I stared at the ground. “Accept what?”

“That you’re alone.”

A bitter laugh escaped me. “No.”

“You have no pack.” I closed my eyes. “You have no Alpha.”

My hands curled into fists. “No.”

“And no one is coming back for you.”

My heart shattered.

I wanted to fight him. I wanted to scream. I wanted to believe Cassian was somewhere beyond the smoke, searching every piece of rubble for me.

But I couldn’t stop the doubt anymore.

What if he had come? What if he had seen the destruction? What if he had looked at the rubble where I was trapped…and decided I wasn’t worth saving?

The thought was unbearable.

I pressed a trembling hand against my chest. Something warm stirred beneath my ribs. For a moment, I thought it was hope. But then, it disappeared.

“Come with us,” the stranger said.

I looked up. “Where?”

“Somewhere you’ll survive.” I almost laughed.

Survive.

What was left for me to survive for? My home was burning. My family was missing. The man I love had abandoned me.

My future was gone.

I looked toward Silvercrest one last time. The crimson moon hung above the burning village. Beautiful. Unmoving. Indifferent.

I wondered if the Moon Goddess was watching. If she was…why had she allowed this? Why had she allowed me to live?

I lowered my head. “Okay...” The word felt like surrender. I didn’t care what would happen to me anymore. Nothing seemed to matter to me now.

The strangers began walking. I followed with my limping feet. After a few steps, my vision blurred and my body finally gave up. I collapsed into the dirt.

Someone caught me before I hit the ground. As darkness crept over my vision, I heard the first stranger speak.

“She’ll never survive the journey.”

Another voice answered.

“Then, you better make sure she does.”

It was unfamiliar. None of the previous ones I’ve heard earlier. Or maybe I was just hallucinating. I don’t know.

I couldn’t understand why. I couldn’t understand anything anymore. But just before unconsciousness took me, I heard something else.

A whisper. Not from the strangers. Not from the burning village. Not from anywhere outside me. It came from somewhere deep within my chest.

Faint. Angry. Alive.

‘You need to fight.’

My eyes opened.

For the briefest moment, silver light flashed across my vision. Then everything disappeared for the last time.