Chapter 5 - The Reason to Survive
1612 Words
Raven couldn't tell how long Silas had been carrying her.
Time had become meaningless somewhere between the trees, broken only by the steady rhythm of his footsteps and the waves of pain that dragged her in and out of consciousness. One moment she was aware of the cold night air against her skin, and the next she was sinking into darkness, only to surface again when the movement of his body jarred her injured ribs.
She opened her eyes.
The forest moved above her in blurred patches of moonlight and shadow as the branches passed overhead. Silas continued deeper into the wilderness, his pace steady despite the uneven ground beneath his feet.
He was much larger than she had first realized. His arms were locked securely around her, one beneath her knees and the other supporting her back, and his hold never faltered as he carried her. Dark hair had fallen across his forehead, slightly disheveled from moving through the forest, while his stormy blue eyes occasionally lowered to check on her.
Raven tried to speak, but her throat burned too badly.
Silas noticed anyway.
“You're awake.”
Raven swallowed carefully.
“Unfortunately.”
His eyes remained on her for another moment.
“You're losing consciousness again.”
“I noticed.”
There was a faint trace of irritation in his voice when he answered.
“Then stop talking.”
Raven would have laughed if breathing hadn't hurt so much. Instead, she let her head rest against his chest and listened to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat.
The sound was strangely calming after the chaos of the past hour. She had spent that time surrounded by three men she once trusted enough to fight beside, and now a complete stranger was carrying her through the forest as though keeping her alive mattered.
The thought brought Roman back into her mind.
Raven closed her eyes.
She could see him standing in front of her as clearly as though he were still there, his expression cold while she struggled to remain standing. She remembered the moment she realized he had never intended to let her walk away from their rejection, the hand around her throat, the poison weakening her body, and finally the sharp pain of his claws tearing across her face.
The pain was terrible.
The betrayal was worse.
Raven could have survived rejection. It would have hurt, but eventually she would have walked away from him and built another life.
What she couldn't understand was how easily Roman had decided that killing her was preferable to allowing her to leave.
She had trusted him.
She had loved him.
She had believed that whatever happened between them, he would never deliberately hurt her.
She had been wrong.
Her fingers curled weakly into Silas's shirt.
The movement caught his attention, and his gaze dropped toward her.
“What?”
Raven realized she had been staring at him.
“Nothing.”
He studied her for another moment before looking ahead again.
A sharp pulse of pain moved through her face, and she sucked in a breath.
Silas glanced down.
“Does it hurt?”
Raven gave him a tired look.
“You think?”
His mouth tightened slightly, but he said nothing.
Raven looked away, watching the trees pass around them.
The pain was becoming harder to ignore. Every step sent another ache through her ribs, her throat felt bruised and raw, and the wound across her face burned with every heartbeat. Her body felt as though it had been beaten against stone while the poison continued dragging whatever strength remained from her muscles.
Still, the pain couldn't drown out the anger building inside her.
Roman had been afraid of her.
He had looked at her strength and decided it needed to be destroyed instead of respected. He had wanted a mate who would obey him, someone who would stand behind him and accept his decisions without question.
Raven's jaw tightened.
“You're angry.”
Silas's voice pulled her attention back.
She looked up at him.
“How can you tell?”
“Your face.”
A weak laugh escaped her before pain cut it short.
“That's unfortunate.”
Silas glanced toward the wound.
“Who did this?”
Raven's fingers moved instinctively toward her face before she stopped herself.
“My mate.”
Something shifted in Silas's expression.
“Why?”
“He said I was too strong.”
Silas continued walking.
Raven stared ahead, finding it easier to speak while looking at the forest.
“He wanted a Luna who would obey him, someone who would stand behind him and accept whatever decisions he made. I wasn't willing to become that woman.”
There was a pause before Silas asked, “So he rejected you?”
“He could have.”
Her voice softened.
“I would have survived that.”
She swallowed against the pain in her throat.
“He didn't trust me enough to let me leave.”
Silas said nothing.
Raven's eyes burned.
“I thought he loved me.”
The admission hurt more than she expected. She blinked quickly and turned her face away, but a tear escaped before she could stop it.
She wiped it away with the back of her hand.
Silas remained silent.
She appreciated that.
She had spent enough time being treated as though her strength made her something dangerous, and the last thing she needed was pity from a stranger who had found her bleeding in the dirt.
Raven became aware again of the warmth coming from Silas's body and the steady strength of his arms around her. He carried her without complaint, adjusting his hold whenever the ground became difficult, and there was something reassuring about the way he moved through the forest as though every path was familiar to him.
Her eyelids began to grow heavy.
She fought against the darkness because some stubborn part of her still feared that if she surrendered to it, she might never wake again.
“Stay awake,” Silas said.
Raven forced her eyes open.
“You keep saying that.”
“Because you keep ignoring me.”
“You're bossy.”
His gaze dropped to her.
“You're dying.”
“That doesn't make you less bossy.”
For the briefest moment, something softened around his eyes.
Raven noticed it before he looked away.
She closed her eyes again.
The sounds of the forest slowly blurred together, leaving her with the rhythm of his footsteps, the movement of his chest beneath her cheek, and the steady beat of his heart.
Then another wave of pain tore through her.
Raven jerked in his arms.
Silas immediately tightened his hold.
“Raven.”
She gasped, her fingers gripping his shirt.
“I'm here.”
The words slipped from her before she could stop them.
Silas looked down at her.
“I know.”
“No.”
Her voice shook.
“I mean... I'm still here.”
Something shifted in his expression.
He understood.
Raven stared up at him.
“I shouldn't be.”
Silas remained silent.
“Roman wanted me dead,” she whispered. “He stood there and watched me bleed.”
Her anger returned with enough force to cut through the exhaustion.
“He knew exactly what he was doing. He poisoned me because he was afraid I could beat him, then brought his Beta and Delta because he was too much of a coward to face me alone.”
Her fingers tightened against Silas's shirt.
“He cut my face because he wanted me to remember him.”
Silas's jaw tightened.
Raven noticed the change immediately.
For the first time, she caught a glimpse of something dangerous beneath his calm exterior, something that made his expression suddenly harder.
She didn't know what it meant, and she was too exhausted to ask.
“He thinks I'm dead,” she continued.
Silas kept walking.
“He probably thinks that's the end of it.”
Her eyes hardened.
“It isn't.”
Silas looked down at her.
Raven forced herself to stay awake despite the darkness gathering at the edges of her vision.
“I'll go back.”
“You're not going anywhere until you're healed.”
“When I'm healed.”
Silas didn't answer.
Raven swallowed painfully.
“I'll go back.”
There was certainty in her voice now.
She didn't know how long it would take or what she would have to do when she returned, but she knew she would go back.
Roman had taken her choice from her.
He had decided that her strength made her dangerous and that the safest way to deal with her was to poison her, scar her and leave her in the forest.
He would learn that his plan had failed.
Raven wanted him to see her alive.
She wanted him to look at the scar he had carved into her face and understand that he hadn't broken her.
She wanted him to realize that the woman he had left bleeding in the forest had survived without him and had returned stronger than the woman he had tried to destroy.
Then she would leave.
Raven's eyes began to close.
Silas looked down at her.
“Raven.”
She tried to answer, but her lips barely moved.
Her body finally surrendered to the darkness.
This time, she didn't fall alone.
Silas carried her deeper into the forest, away from the place where Roman had left her to die, while Raven slipped into unconsciousness with one thought burning stubbornly beneath the haze.
She would survive.
And one day, Roman would see exactly what his fear had created.
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD