He Left Me To Bleed

CHAPTER 4

Avery’s POV

I woke up heavy. The kind of tired that sleep doesn’t fix, even though I never really slept.

My tongue was dry and bitter. My belly ached low and deep. I picked up the milkroot from yesterday, still damp with rain and dirt from Shepherd’s Hill.

I walked out while the sky was still dark. The cold from yesterday’s rain sifted through my thin gown and bit straight to my bones.

The kitchen was empty. Good.

Escaping the packhouse wouldn’t be that hard. After all, I was an omega. Invisible. No one cared whether I left or not.

I had expected Luna Vivian to put guards around me after the hill, but I was surprised I didn’t find any. Still, those pairs of eyes I’d seen watching from the treeline kept nagging at me. If she had people following me in secret, it would make everything harder. I had to be careful.

I needed to be strong if I was going to make it far.

I crushed the roots with the stone mortar. It smelled like wet earth and rot. Healer Callum had said milkroot settles the womb, but he didn’t say it tastes like the Goddess wrung out a swamp and told you to drink it.

I poured it into the pot on the stove. A few minutes later it was done. I let it cool and downed a full cup. It was bitter and gritty but I forced it down anyway.

For us.

I poured the rest into the small bottle I had taken from the pantry last week. It should be enough for our escape.

Then I started my day’s chores.

The water was grey by the third pot. My knees ached from the stone floor. My hands were red and pruned. I kept counting in my head. Four more hours. The patrol changed at noon. The northern tower guards always went for lunch around then, leaving a gap that lasted eleven minutes. I had memorized their routine years ago. Eleven minutes should be enough to run.

Yesterday’s events still sat heavy on my chest. The broken pendant. Ethan’s voice. How close I had been to leaving this place behind. I stared at the pot on the stove until smoke hit my nose.

The food was burning.

“You clumsy, pathetic girl!”

The head cook shoved me aside and yanked the pot off the fire.

“Where is your head, huh?” she snapped, eyes raking over me with disgust. “Busy dreaming of living in high castles wearing silks? Because that’s all you maids ever think about.”

I turned quickly, eyes wide. “I’m sorry, Mirabel. I didn’t mean to—”

“Clean it up and prepare another one.” She sneered and threw a rag at my face. “If your father hadn’t poisoned the wells, you wouldn’t be scrubbing pots in another pack’s kitchen. Thank goodness they executed him. It would have been a real disaster otherwise.”

She cast me one last annoyed look before walking out.

My hands shook as I knelt to clean. Keep calm, I told myself. It’s only a matter of a few hours before you leave this pack. Just a few hours. Endure it.

I wasn’t far into it when a shadow fell over me.

Liliana.

What does she want now? Hasn’t she done enough?

She stepped closer, eyes sweeping the kitchen to make sure we were alone. The other maids had already left when she walked in.

“Still here? I thought you’d have run away by now. Isn’t that what traitor blood does? Run?”

I kept scrubbing. Don’t answer. Don’t give her what she wants. Just a few more hours and I’ll be gone, far from this pack.

“Oh right, you have nowhere to run to.” She tilted her head. “No pack. No family. And now you think you can steal my man—whose heir I’m carrying?”

My hands tightened on the rag.

“Hey, I’m talking to you.” She stopped right in front of me. “Are you deaf now too? Are you dumb?”

I didn’t reply. I squeezed the rag into the bucket so hard my knuckles went white.

She laughed. “You’re standing in my kitchen, pretending you’re innocent while you throw yourself at my mate. Do you know what everyone calls you behind your back? The little rogue whore who couldn’t even keep her legs closed?”

I bit my lip so hard I tasted blood. Say nothing.

She wanted tears, but I gave her silence.

That made her furious.

Her eyes flicked to the kettle on the hearth. Still steaming.

For half a second my brain didn’t work. I watched her look at it. I watched her reach. Then I understood.

Oh.

Oh no.

Before I could move, she grabbed it.

In one quick motion, she tipped just enough scalding water down her own leg and let go.

She screamed. Loud and ear-piercing.

“Ethan! Help me! Anyone, help!”

It didn’t take long before footsteps burst through the kitchen door. The maids who had left now rushed back in.

“What happened?”

“Goddess—Avery, did she—?”

One of the younger maids hesitated, glancing between us, but no one spoke up.

“She poured it on me!” Liliana cried, clutching her leg, then her stomach. Her eyes were already full of tears. “She was jealous because I’m pregnant! Because I’m carrying the furure Alpha’s heir!”

“What is going on here?”

A deep baritone cut through the air as Ethan walked in.

I stumbled back, hands up. “I didn’t! I didn’t touch her.”

Ethan’s eyes found me first. For a second just a second something flickered there. Recognition. Doubt. Then it was gone.

“Ethan, please,” I said, my voice shaking so hard I could barely get the words out. “I didn’t do it. I was just cleaning. I didn’t touch her. Ask the maids—”

“She’s lying.” Liliana sobbed, cutting me off and clutching his sleeve. “She said I stole you. She said my baby should have been hers. Ethan, she said she hopes it dies.”

The blood left my face. “I never said that. I swear on the Goddess, I never—”

“Enough!” Ethan snapped. His voice wasn’t loud, but the whole kitchen went silent.

He looked at Liliana’s leg, red and blistering, then at me standing there with a wet rag still in my hands.

“Avery,” he said, and his voice was so cold. “I told you last night not to cause trouble.”

So that was it. I was the troublemaker now.

My throat tightened. The words came out broken, barely holding together.

“You’ll believe… anyone. As long as she makes you look like the perfect heir.”

His expression hardened. He stepped forward and shoved me aside.

My foot slipped on the spilled water. I lost my balance and went down hard, landing on my side and stomach.

Pain tore through my lower belly. The world tilted. I could hear my own heart beating in my ears. Then something warm.

Blood began to pool between my legs.

I watched, vision blurring, as Ethan made his choice.

He scooped Liliana up. “I’ll get help,” he whispered to her.

And left me bleeding on the kitchen floor.

Then everything went dark.