Chapter Eight: A Step Into Silence
1430 Words
(Marshal’s POV)
The sound of rushing water echoed in my skull, loud and endless, like the river was still dragging me under. My body felt heavy, soaked to the bone. The air clung to my skin—damp, musty, too cold to be comforting.
> "Wake up."
Sapphire’s voice stirred faintly in my mind, dragging me back to consciousness like claws against stone.
My eyelids fluttered open, lashes stuck together. The first thing I saw was a ceiling—if you could call it that. Rough stone slick with moisture, casting dripping echoes around the cave. It took a full minute for my vision to focus and for the ache in my skull to fade into something I could ignore.
"We survived?" I croaked, voice hoarse and cracked. My throat burned from the river water, my body sore like I’d been dropped from the stars. "How the f**k did..."
I pushed myself up, trembling. The ache in my ribs screamed in protest, but I needed to see—needed to know I wasn’t back in that cursed pack. My hands braced against cold stone. Wet. Real.
"Marshal."
I froze.
That voice—it didn’t sound like Sapphire. It didn’t sound like anything from this world.
I turned slowly, each breath catching in my chest until my eyes landed on... her.
A woman stood across the cave from me. Ethereal. Impossibly still.
Her skin was porcelain smooth, glowing faintly in the shadows. Long, ink-black hair cascaded down her back like a waterfall, untouched by the damp. Her gown flowed like wind through water, soft and white with silver threading that shimmered in the dark. The bottom of her form faded into mist, and ancient inscriptions wrapped around her shoulders and hands like glowing tattoos.
The stories didn’t do her justice.
The Moon Goddess. Celine.
I blinked, stunned. “What the... why...?”
Why is she here?
Why me?
She only ever appeared to Alpha heirs, warriors, or chosen wolves marked by fate. I was none of those. I was a servant. A nobody. A rogue now. Someone who jumped off a cliff rather than be owned.
"Don’t think so low of yourself," she said gently, as if reading my thoughts.
My heart jumped. Sapphire growled low in my mind. “Did she just read our mind?”
I swallowed the lump in my throat, pain and confusion tangling inside me. “Why are you here?” I managed, my voice sharper than intended.
The goddess stepped forward, her presence more glow than shadow. “I’ve been watching you, Marshal,” she said, voice like wind through leaves—soft, sad, timeless. “You are brave. Strong.”
I laughed, bitter and cracked. “Oh, so you watched? You watched them beat me, humiliate me, strip me of everything I had. And what? Took notes from the clouds?” I spat, my anger spilling faster than I could cage it. “What kind of Moon Goddess are you, Celine? Why didn’t you stop them? Why didn’t you do anything?”
The ache in my chest swelled into something uglier. My voice dropped. “Why did you even save me? You should’ve let me die in that fall.”
Silence.
For a moment, I thought she might vanish, like the cowards who always walked away when I broke. But Celine stood there, unmoved, her face calm—too calm.
“I know how you feel,” she said softly, “but running away was only the beginning of your fate.”
My stomach twisted. That word again.
Fate.
Like I was a page in someone else’s story. Like all the pain had purpose. Like I was supposed to feel grateful.
I stared at her, fists clenched. “Speaking of fate… Ryder? You fated me to him?” My voice cracked this time. The memory of his hands, his silence, his betrayal—it roared through me like the river had.
She smiled, maddeningly serene. “Your next mate has a lot of taming to do with you.”
My breath hitched.
Next mate?
What the hell was that supposed to mean?
I shook my head, tears stinging but refusing to fall. “I don’t want another mate,” I whispered. “I don’t want anyone else touching my soul like that again. I just want—”
I didn’t even know how to finish that sentence.
I just wanted to be free. Untouched. Unclaimed. Whole.
Without another word, Celine stepped closer and extended her hand. In it was a worn leather satchel, soaked from the rain but sealed tight. “Here,” she said. “To help you.”
I didn’t take it. I couldn’t move.
Then—just like that—she was gone.
The air grew heavier in her absence. The glow faded. The silence pressed in.
Only the water spoke now, still roaring somewhere beyond the cave.
Sapphire exhaled slowly. “Well… that was dramatic.”
I laughed quietly. Then cried. Then laughed again, because none of it made sense, and maybe it never would.
But I was alive.
I was still here.
And maybe… maybe that was enough for now.
I unbuckled the leather flap on the bag, my fingers trembling with exhaustion and cold. The first thing that caught my eye was a faint, silvery glow nestled into a fold of soft cloth.
A pendant.
No—a moonstone.
It shimmered like it was holding moonlight inside it, not reflecting it—glassy, pale, and opalescent, with a soft inner glow that pulsed gently like a heartbeat. It was set in tarnished silver, ancient and quiet, strung on a worn leather cord that smelled faintly of lavender and smoke.
> "Moonstone," Sapphire whispered in my mind, awe threading through her usually snarky tone. "Very rare. Used for hiding scent—completely."
I didn’t need more convincing.
“Even better,” I muttered, already reaching for it.
I dug deeper into the bag. A knife—simple, sharp, balanced. Not for ceremony. For survival. My stomach growled when I spotted food wrapped in wax paper—meat, bread, dried fruits. Real food. Not scraps. Not punishment leftovers scraped off some ranked wolf’s plate.
> “Fancy divine care package,” Sapphire said dryly, though I could feel her tail wagging somewhere deep inside me.
I didn’t waste time. I devoured the food in silent gulps, barely tasting it. My body was sore and shaking, but fuel helped. Every bite reminded me I was alive. That I’d survived.
I groaned and ran my fingers through my drenched curls, trying to pull my thoughts together. My entire body ached. There were scratches and bruises across my arms, a sharp throb in my ribs, and something jagged pressed against my foot inside my boot—probably a rock. Or a reminder of the cliff I had just jumped off.
Then I heard it.
His voice.
"Marshal. Marshal, please… come back."
I froze.
No. No, no, no.
Ryder.
His voice echoed faintly over the roar of the waterfall, soaked with desperation.
Was he seriously still expecting me to go back?
That’s actually dumb of him.
> "He’s going to catch our scent," Sapphire hissed. "Use the moonstone. Now."
I fumbled for the necklace, my hands shaking as I slipped the leather cord around my neck. The stone settled over my chest with a comforting weight. Cold at first… then warm. Almost like it recognized me.
I clutched it tightly—like my life depended on it. Which, honestly, it kinda did.
Seconds later, I felt it.
A strange stillness.
The air around me shifted, like the world exhaled. I couldn’t smell myself anymore. I couldn’t even feel Sapphire as clearly—her voice was still there, but distant, like she was speaking from another room.
Outside, Ryder’s footsteps slowed.
He sniffed once. Twice. A frustrated growl echoed. Then silence.
Gone.
I let out the breath I didn’t know I was holding, heart pounding.
He didn’t find me.
I packed the rest of the bag quickly, slipping the knife into my boot, the remaining food back into the satchel. Celine’s bag, now mine. My hands were still trembling, but I couldn’t stay here.
I turned toward the mouth of the cave.
The waterfall roared beyond it, silver and endless.
There was a cave behind the waterfall.
Of course there was. Hidden. Quiet. A place you wouldn’t notice unless you were desperate or divine. Or maybe both.
“Let’s go,” I whispered.
And for the first time in years, I stepped forward without permission.
- Writer
