Chapter 4
1611 Words
It was a cold winter morning. The entire Black Forest Pack was covered in thick fog. But for Aria Lewis, the fog felt like a never-ending veil of grief. Her fever had not gone down. Instead, the burn wound on her neck had turned bluish and swollen. But the laws of the pack were cruel—illness was nothing more than an excuse.
Today, preparations were underway for the Pack's Blood Moon Festival. Aria had been ordered to clean the enormous chandeliers in the main hall. She had to climb a tall ladder, where poisonous dust and fierce winds kept throwing her off balance.
"Move your hands faster, Omega!" Sophia's harsh voice echoed from below.
Sophia was wearing a stunning crimson silk gown today. She stood beside Xavier, laughing cheerfully. Xavier didn't even bother to look up. To him, Aria's very existence was a stain upon the pack.
Suddenly, a wicked idea crossed Sophia's mind. She whispered something into Xavier's ear, and he nodded. At Sophia's signal, Marta, the head maid, quietly removed one of the ladder's supports.
"No!"
Aria lost her balance and fell nearly twenty feet onto the hard marble floor. Her head split open, and the bone in her elbow almost pierced through the skin. She curled up in agony, but the first thing she did was protect her lower abdomen. She wanted to save her unborn babies.
"Look, Xavier! She's so clumsy. She almost broke your expensive chandelier," Sophia falsely accused. "I think she did it on purpose so she wouldn't have to work anymore."
Xavier's eyes turned crimson with rage. He walked toward Aria slowly. She lay on the floor, groaning as blood streamed down her forehead.
"You are testing my patience, Aria," Xavier said in a voice as cold as death. "Do you think pretending to be sick will excuse you from work? Do you know the punishment for disobedience in the Moreno Pack?"
"I... I didn't do it on purpose... Sophia moved the ladder..."
Before she could finish, Xavier grabbed a fistful of her hair and yanked her to her feet.
"Sophia never lies! You're not only a fraud, you're also a thief. Marta says my mother's golden locket disappeared from her wardrobe, and it was found inside your cottage."
Aria froze in disbelief. She instantly realized she had been framed.
"I didn't take it! I'm not a thief!"
"Silence!" Xavier roared. "Lucas! Take her to the pack square. Ten lashes will remind her what it costs to live in this palace."
Aria was tied to a pillar in the center of the pack with her hands raised above her head. Hundreds of wolves had gathered to witness the punishment. Marcus and Elena, Aria's parents from the Silver Moon Pack, were also present. But there was no sympathy in their eyes—only annoyance.
Xavier picked up the whip himself. He wanted to crush the pride that still kept Aria from bowing her head.
The first lash!
The skin on Aria's back split open. A heart-wrenching scream escaped her lips.
The second lash!
It felt as though her spine was being shattered.
The third lash!
Trembling in unbearable pain, Aria focused all her thoughts on her abdomen. She prayed silently,
"Babies... stay strong. Your mother must not die."
When Xavier delivered the seventh lash, he noticed a strange silver sweat forming on Aria's body. His wolf, Kane, was going mad inside him, desperately trying to stop him. But Xavier's human pride had blinded him.
After the tenth lash, Aria hung almost lifeless from the pillar. Her back was nothing but torn flesh.
Throwing the whip aside, Xavier said coldly,
"Take her back to her cottage. She won't receive any food for a week."
That night, Aria lay inside her filthy cottage. Blood dripped from the wounds on her back, soaking the straw beneath her. She realized that if she didn't escape tonight, Xavier and Sophia would eventually kill both her and her children.
Just then, Lucas appeared beside the window. He carried some medicine and a small map of the pack.
"Aria... take this medicine. You need to regain your strength," Lucas whispered. "Tonight is the Blood Moon Festival. Security around the pack's borders is weak. If you can cross the river behind the territory, you'll reach the Forbidden Forest."
"Why are you helping me, Lucas?" Aria asked weakly.
"Because today I saw something in your blood that no one else in this pack possesses. You're not ordinary, Aria. Xavier is blind—he doesn't recognize a diamond when he sees one," Lucas replied with guilt in his voice. "Go... this is your only chance."
Aria swallowed the medicine Lucas had given her. Almost immediately, she felt her dormant Silver Wolf, Luna, filling her with strength. Her wounds began healing slightly, as though by magic.
Silently, she slipped into the darkness.
Inside the palace, laughter and wine still flowed freely. Sophia was dancing in Xavier's arms.
Aria looked back at the palace one last time.
"Goodbye, Xavier Moreno. Today, you didn't just stain my back with blood... you stained the fate of your own children. The day I return, every stone in this palace will testify to your crimes."
Then she started running.
Every cell in her body felt as though it were being pierced by poisoned arrows. Fresh blood continued to stream from the whip wounds on her back. But there was no time to feel pain. If she were caught tonight, Xavier would bury her alive.
As Aria ran through the fog-covered forest, every breath burned like fire. The freezing winter wind stung every cut and wound on her body. When she crossed the icy river, she thought her heart might stop beating.
"Don't stop, Aria... just a little farther... the border of the Forbidden Forest is right ahead..."
The mysterious voice inside her continued to encourage her.
Suddenly, the pack's warning bell rang in the distance.
Aria froze.
Her heart skipped a beat.
Xavier knew.
Perhaps the remnants of their mate bond had already informed him that his "slave" had escaped from her cage.
Aria started running like a madwoman. Thorny bushes tore her face and hands apart, but she didn't stop. She had only one goal—to protect her children. She knew that once she entered the Forbidden Forest, no wolf from the pack would ever be able to find her. The forest only revealed its paths to souls that had been consumed by suffering.
Meanwhile, inside the Black Forest Palace, the festive atmosphere vanished in an instant.
Xavier slammed the wine glass in his hand onto the floor with tremendous force. His wolf, Kane, was roaring in agony inside him. When a mate moved too far away, an Alpha would feel an unbearable emptiness. Xavier was now burning in that very fire.
"Lucas!" Xavier's roar shook the walls of the palace. "Where is she? Where is my chained Omega?"
Lucas lowered his head and answered with a trembling voice,
"Alpha... the cottage is empty. Aria has escaped. We only found traces of blood on the ground leading toward the Forbidden Forest."
"Escaped?"
A cruel smile appeared on Xavier's lips.
"A wolfless Omega escaped my surveillance? She has quite the courage."
Xavier's pride had suffered a devastating blow. He didn't love Aria, but to him, she was his property. And his property had no right to leave without his permission.
Xavier shifted into his massive wolf form—a monstrous black wolf with glowing crimson eyes.
"Gather everyone! Search every bush and every hole! I want her alive, so I can break those legs that dared to run away with my own hands!"
Hundreds of warrior wolves rushed into the forest. Xavier personally began following Aria's blood scent.
But when he reached the river, he suddenly stopped.
The rainwater and the river's current had completely washed away her scent.
Xavier threw back his head and released a long, terrifying howl into the sky.
"Aria! No matter where you are in this world, I will find you. I will never set you free! Not even death will save you from my hands!"
When Aria crossed the border of the Forbidden Forest, she stopped before a deep ravine. Her body could no longer move.
Just before losing consciousness, she saw a shadow walking toward her.
When she woke up, she found herself lying inside a rocky cave. The cave was strangely warm, filled with the scent of ancient herbs. Someone had applied a medicinal paste to her wounds, and bluish smoke was rising from it.
"You're awake?"
An elderly woman's voice echoed through the cave.
Startled, Aria tried to sit up.
"Don't be afraid. I've been waiting for someone like you for many years. Silver Blood flows through the veins of very few people."
"Who are you? And where am I?" Aria asked weakly.
"I am Maya, the mother of the abandoned souls of this forest. And you are in Shadow Valley. The power of the Moreno Pack cannot reach this place."
Maya sat beside Aria.
"The two children growing inside your womb are not ordinary wolves, Aria. They were born to shatter Xavier's pride. But if you wish to give birth to them safely, you must first change yourself."
Aria looked down at her trembling hands.
"I'm just a wolfless Omega. How can I fight?"
Maya gently lifted Aria's chin. A supernatural glow shone in her eyes.
"They lied to you, Aria. Your wolf was never gone. It was only sealed away. After Xavier burned away your mating mark, an ancient reaction began within yo
ur blood. The very fire that tried to destroy you has awakened your Silver Luna."
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