chapter 15
1461 Words
Chapter 15
~ARDEN~
Birds scattered into the night sky.
The wolves within the surrounding territory answered instinctively, their distant howls carrying through the darkness before falling silent again.
I skidded to a stop at the edge of a rocky cliff.
The valley stretched endlessly before me, washed in silver beneath the full moon.
My breathing gradually steadied but the anger hadn't disappeared.
It had simply become something else.
Acceptance.
No matter how much I tried to deny it, the curse hadn't changed me.
She had.
She had changed me without demanding anything or asking me to become someone else.
She had quietly and effortlessly found a place in a heart I had believed was incapable of holding anyone.
She had walked into my life carrying wounds she never spoke about, and somehow she had become the one person I could not imagine losing.
I lowered my head, closing my eyes against the cool night air.
For the first time in a very long time, I didn't know what came next.
As the wind shifted, her scent found me even here.
It was faint…and lingering.. and just enough to remind me that she was alive.
My eyes opened slowly. The knot in my chest eased, if only by a fraction.
She was breathing and that was all that mattered.
The moon hung high above, indifferent to everything it had witnessed tonight.
How many times had I stood beneath its light without feeling anything? Too many.
I had always believed emotions clouded judgment. They made warriors hesitate. They made leaders vulnerable. They made wolves predictable.
That belief had carried me through centuries.
Until her.
I exhaled slowly. This was never supposed to happen. Ever.
I had accepted the Moon God's punishment because it was a means to an end. Love had been the condition and regaining my powers had been the reward.
Somewhere along the way... the reward had stopped mattering.
I shifted back into my human form, the cool night air brushing against my skin.
For a moment or even longer than, I simply stood there, staring at my hands.
They were the same hands that had taken countless souls and still the same hands that had brought her back.
I bent to retrieve my clothes from the forest floor, shaking the dirt from them before dressing in silence.
When I pulled my shorts into place, a familiar voice brushed against my mind through the link.
It was Father Greyman. "Arden..."
I paused, thinking it was just my own thoughts and then his voice came again, calm but edged with concern. "She's awake."
I froze, sigh escaping my lips. "She's already asking questions, Arden. What should I tell her?"
The forest suddenly felt much quieter and I shut my eyes tighter.
For the first time since my mission, I stood at a crossroads.
I could leave before the truth caught up with us.
Or I could go back...and finally tell Elana who I really was.
Neither of these choice felt like victory.
I bent down and picked up my trousers. The moment my fingers touched the fabric, something flashed through my mind.
A memory and it was not mine. Hers.
It was memory of earlier tonight as she walked into the estate and I approached her at the door before she walked in.
Then I saw it— the food.
The tray of loaded fries. The one from Melissa Salvatore.
The way she had taken a bite before heading upstairs.
My entire body went still, painful realization jolting through me.
The poison. The Deadclaw. The way she had almost died.
Melissa.
Melissa Salvatore who had approached me and she'd made her dislike for Elana obvious.
The woman who had looked at my mate with jealousy burning behind her eyes.
My wolf stirred beneath my skin.
A low growl escaped my throat. She had tried to take Elana from me.
No. It was even worse because she had tried to take her life.
I forced myself to breathe.
Anger would not help Elana, revenge either wouldn't heal her.
But every instinct to protect her surged through my veins violently.
That was something I could not silence.
I pulled on my trousers and reached for my shirt.
"Looking for someone?"
The voice behind me was unexpected dmy heart almost shook in fear.
Slowly, I turned and it was Melissa.
She stood between the trees with a confident expression. Too confident.
Her eyes moved over me slowly, and the smile on her lips told me she enjoyed the effect she was having.
"What are you doing here?" I asked.
She stepped closer. "Maybe I wanted to see you."
"At midnight?"
"Maybe I prefer the night." She smiled, but in my head, I wanted to control my feral urge to snap her neck.
My wolf snarled within me and it was hard to ignore, but I did.
For now.
I picked up my shirt. "Leave."The order was real, not even a negotiation.
Her brows lifted like she had all right to question me. "That cold?"
"Leave, Melissa." I knew I was very close to losing it already.
She tilted her head as she muttered,"You're different."
"What did you see?"
For only a second or even less than, I watched her confidence slipped but I noticed it.
"What are you talking about?"
I stepped forward, allowing more pressure from shifting to fill the forest. I narrowed my eyes and dropped them to hers. "You followed me."
"You came here after I shifted."
Her face paled slightly so she had seen something.
My wolf pushed against my control.
The thought of her witnessing my weakness, my secret…God. It made something dark awaken inside me. "Tell me what you saw."
Melissa swallowed, pushing her chin forward. "I saw enough."
My fingers tightened around my shirt.
"The only reason I'm letting you breathe now…." I paused. “I don't even know but for what you did to her…."
She looked at me differently now with fear.
Good.
"You wouldn't hurt me."
I stared at her, loving her confidence before my wolf almost snapped again. "You poisoned my mate."
Her expression changed, and the smile disappeared. "I didn't mean to kill her."
"But was that supposed to make me feel better?"
She stepped back, yet my wolf pushed harder with the urge to shift and make her understand exactly what she had done. "Leave before I stop being in control."
She froze, her shock appearing so visible beneath the moonlight.
My voice reduced to an even lower pitch. "Because my wolf does not care about your excuses."
The darkness around me trembled and she finally ran. As fast as she could.
I watched until her scent disappeared completely and only then did my wolf calm.
Only then… did I realize what almost happened.
I had spent centuries loving the monster inside me.
But tonight, I discovered something worse.
I feared what I would become when someone threatened her.
A strange sensation crawled across my skin.
I looked down.
There was a mark on my wrist. The matebond.
The symbol that had appeared the night I claimed her.
The symbol that connected us was fading.
My breath caught.
No.
Slowly, the glowing lines began disappearing.
A memory resurfaced in my head. It was Remur's voice.
Aiyana's warning and Potter's cold expression.
"When the mission is complete, the bond will disappear."
My stomach twisted. The mission.
That was all this had been supposed to be…. A way to regain what I lost.
But my powers had returned. Soon or already, the powers would be broken and the reason I came here would no longer exist.
Yet my heart remained exactly where I had left it.
With her.
The mark faded a little and my chest tightened like someone was traditionally extracting every single water remnants in it.
Was this what they wanted?
For me to walk away now?
For me to return to the realm and pretend she had been nothing more than a task?
But this time, I understood.
Instead of my usual staff summoning, I felt it in my chest and ears like I used to, before I lost my powers.
This was a summons because something was starting to change.
The mark on my wrist gave one final flicker.
Then died…not vanished.
My mate needed me and I just knew how done for I was for this one woman because turning off my feelings was never a thing.
It would never be a thing… only in fantasies did such abilities exist.
Two options still clasped around my chest, clawing into it painfully.
I could either leave now for good, or go back to that house and tell her every truth that was standing to break the fragile trust between us.
- Writer
