The Moon Child Crown

Chapter 5: Left Behind

VALENCIA POV

A deafening crack of thunder shook the cave walls.

Valencia bolted upright, a sharp gasp tearing from her throat. Her palms slammed hard against the freezing stone. Her heart hammered violently against her ribs and her head throbbed with a blinding, vicious hangover ache.

"Mateo?" she called out.

Her voice was a raw, desperate whisper. The dark cavern instantly swallowed the sound.

She reached out blindly into space beside her, searching for the furnace-like heat that had consumed her hours ago. Her fingers met nothing but freezing air. The crushing weight of his body was gone.

"Mateo!" Valencia called louder, her voice cracking.

No one answered. Only the torrential roar of the storm crashing outside.

Her hands scrambled across the rough ground until her fingers caught the plastic frame of her glasses. She shoved them onto her nose, her vision clearing enough to catch the faint morning light filtering through the cave mouth.

The cavern was completely empty. He had abandoned her.

Valencia's breath hitched, her fingers trembling as she felt the torn collar of her hoodie. The reality of the night rushed back into her brain like a tidal wave, making her stomach churn with a sickening mix of emotions.

She had given herself to a total stranger with glowing gold eyes who could throw his voice directly into her mind. Driven by a blind rage to just feel something real after the humiliation at the bonfire.

And he left me. Like everyone always does, her mind realized. A hot tear spilled down her cheek. He took what he wanted from a sad, broken girl and ran before the sun came up.

A sob tore from her throat. She curled against the boulder, feeling completely shattered. For one moment beneath the moonlight, she had believed he was protecting her. That the possessive intensity in his eyes meant she wasn't alone.

You i***t, she thought bitterly, wiping her face with the back of her hand. He didn't care about you. He's just another monster in a world full of them.

The heartbreak quickly curdled into a deep resentment. She despised the way his rough voice made her feel safe, and she despised her own body for still carrying his scent. He had used her vulnerability, turned it into a weapon against her, and vanished into the trees like a thief.

Valencia pushed herself to her knees, ready to storm out into the rain, when her palm struck something heavy and metallic. She froze, her eyes dropping down.

Lying exactly where her glasses had been was a massive silver knife, its leather sheath engraved with strange markings. The blade gleamed in the morning light, sharp and pristine.

A consolation prize? she thought, a bitter laugh escaping her lips. He leaves a weapon after he ruins my life.

She gripped the handle tightly, defiance burning through her veins as she shoved the knife into the pocket of her torn jacket.

"I don't need your protection," she muttered to the empty cave. "I don't need anything from you."

A violent roll of thunder shook the ground, snapping her back to reality. The mandatory university retreat was leaving at five sharp. If she missed that transport bus, Professor Vance would revoke her grade, and her scholarship would be permanently gone.

Valencia scrambled to her feet, muscles aching as she forced herself toward the exit. She broke through the narrow cave mouth into the downpour, the icy water instantly soaking through her clothes. The Greywood was an absolute maze in the storm, the dense pines forming a black barrier around her, making her head spin. She had no idea where the human boundary line was, or which way she had run when she fled Raphaela's taunts.

"C'mon," she commanded her legs, her sneakers slipping violently in the rising mud.

She used the knife to s***h through wet brambles, running blindly through the deluge. The forest felt dangerous, heavy with a suffocating pressure that made the tiny hairs on her arms rise. Every shadow looked like one of the giant wolves she had seen tracking them.

They shouldn't exist. A shiver ran through her as the image of those gold-eyed beasts came rushing back.

The horror of what she had allowed to happen made her run faster. She had to make it back, hide the evidence of this night, crawl onto that bus, and never look back at these forbidden trees again.

After what felt like a lifetime of sprinting, the thick pine canopy finally began to thin. The smell of wet canvas and burnt firewood cut through the rain. Valencia burst through the wood line, skidding hard into the edge of the university campsite.

"Valencia!"

Camila rushed from beneath a large canvas awning, her face completely pale with worry. Thiago was right behind her, a yellow rain poncho thrown over his shoulders, his eyes wide with relief.

"Oh, my god, Val!" Camila cried, wrapping her arms tightly around Valencia's soaked, shivering body. "We've been looking for you since midnight! Where the hell were you? We were worried sick!"

"We were about to call the local rangers," Thiago muttered, his eyes scanning her ruined state. "Vance is already loading the first bus. What happened to your clothes?"

Valencia went rigid in Camila's embrace, her mind scrambling for a lie. She could feel Mateo's knife pressing against her. She carried the secret of a wild encounter on her skin. If she told them the truth, they would think she was insane. Or worse, she would drag them into the danger he had warned her about.

"I got lost," Valencia lied, forcing exhaustion into her eyes as she pulled away. "When Raphaela said those things about my parents... I just ran. I didn't see the boundary signs, I ended up tripping down a ravine and got stuck in the dark until the thunder woke me up."

Camila's expression hardened as she glared toward the buses. "That absolute b***h. I knew she was going to push you too far."

"Are you hurt?" Thiago asked, stepping closer. His nose twitched slightly, confusion crossing his face. "Val... what is that smell? You smell weird."

Valencia's heart stopped. The scent is too strong. He can smell him on me.

"I fell into something," Valencia said quickly, stepping away. "It's soaked into my clothes. I just need to get on the bus and get changed, Thiago. Please. Don't make a big deal out of this."

"She's right," Camila snapped, grabbing Valencia's arm and pulling her toward the loading line. "Vance is checking the roster right now. Let's just get her inside before he sees her like this."

Valencia allowed herself to be dragged toward the transport bus, her head down as the rain continued to pour. She could feel her classmates' stares, but she didn't look up. She didn't look back at the dark ridges of the Greywood.

I despise you, Mateo, she thought bitterly as she climbed the metal steps of the bus. I will never forgive you.

She slid into a window seat at the very back, staring out at the black mountain as the engine roared to life. She had no idea where to start from, no idea how to erase everything that happened last night, and absolutely no idea that the beast who had abandoned her was already tracking his way into her normal life.