The Pain of Betrayal

Chapter Three

Elsa’s POV

Pain. That was all I felt.

A sharp, searing heat pulsed through every nerve in my body, as though the air around me had turned to molten fire. My vision blurred and darkened with each ragged breath, the pounding in my head threatening to split it open. The last thing I remembered was the stranger’s voice—his warmth, his eyes like lightning, and then… darkness.

Now, I was awake. Or maybe not. Maybe this was death—slow and cruel, dragging me through its claws inch by inch.

My limbs wouldn’t move. My body refused to obey. I lay on a cold, rough surface—stone? Earth? I couldn’t tell. My skin was sticky, my clothes tattered, and the throbbing ache between my legs reminded me that I was still pregnant. Still alive.

But for how long?

“Mama…” I croaked, unsure if the words left my lips or remained trapped inside the prison of my mind. Where was she? Was she even alive after helping me escape?

The shadows crept around me, silent watchers. I could hear whispers, voices in a language I didn’t understand, like the trees were mourning me already. My wolf—if I even had one—was gone, silent, unreachable. My bond with the world, with myself, felt severed.

And then it came.

The sound.

Heavy footsteps—measured, deliberate. Whoever they were, they weren’t rushing. They didn’t need to. I was already broken.

I tried to move, crawl, beg, scream. Nothing. Only tears slipped down my cheeks, warm and salty, dripping into the earth like silent confessions.

“You should have died the moment you stepped foot into this world,” a voice hissed from the shadows. Male. Cold. Familiar.

Oscar.

The air thickened. My heart stopped. No. No, he couldn’t have found me here. I had run so far—so far.

And yet…

His scent choked me. That same bitter spice that once made my knees go weak. It was now poison in my lungs. “How…?” I whispered.

He stepped into view, his handsome face twisted with something worse than hatred—disgust.

“I had a feeling you’d end up here. Like the pathetic mutt you are. Bleeding out in the woods like an animal,” he spat.

I clenched my jaw, trying to sit up, but he kicked me hard in the ribs. The pain was sharp, burning like wildfire. I screamed, or thought I did. My voice cracked, drowned by the pounding of blood in my ears.

“Please…” I whispered, not for him—but for the child I carried. “Don’t…”

His eyes flicked to my stomach. A flicker of realization passed over his face, then fury.

“You’re pregnant?” His voice dropped, low and lethal.

I didn’t answer. Couldn’t.

He knelt beside me, grabbing my jaw roughly, forcing my face up. “Is it mine?” he growled.

I didn’t speak. He would kill me anyway. Might as well keep one secret safe.

His grip tightened. “You filthy whore.”

Then the blow landed.

My vision exploded in white as his fist cracked against my cheek. Blood filled my mouth. I tasted iron and bile.

“Say it! Say it’s not mine!” he yelled.

I smiled weakly through the pain, blood leaking from my lips. “It’s not yours.”

He went still. Then something inside him snapped.

A roar echoed through the trees. The next thing I felt was cold steel slicing through my side.

A dagger.

My scream was guttural, ripping from my core as he stabbed again, again, again. The world spun, fading to crimson as the warmth of my own blood pooled beneath me.

Somewhere in the distance, I heard the howl of the moon.

Not a wolf’s. Something older. Wilder.

Then silence.

My eyes fluttered open one last time.

Above me, the moon hung full and round. A silver eye watching me die.

I felt my child stir weakly within me.

I was sorry.

Then everything went black.

⸻

I was dead.

I knew because I was floating, weightless, suspended in warmth and light. No pain. No fear.

Just… stillness.

But then—

A voice.

Not spoken, but felt, deep in my bones.

“Daughter of the blood moon. Your time is not yet done.”

The void around me pulsed, alive. I gasped—if breathing even made sense here. My body was whole. Clean. My wounds were gone.

Then I saw her.

A woman cloaked in silver mist, eyes glowing like twin moons.

“You were never meant to die like this. You were hidden. Caged. But your power… your blood… it runs deeper than you know.”

She touched my chest, and fire bloomed within me—not pain this time, but power.

An ancient, wild force.

I arched in the air, screaming as the fire filled me, burning away the fear, the shame, the weakness. My veins lit up, glowing gold beneath my skin.

My wolf howled.

Awake.

Alive.

“I’m not wolfless…” I whispered in awe.

“No,” she said. “You are Ace. The daughter of two lines. A storm in waiting.”

Tears welled in my eyes. “But… my child—”

“Alive.”

And then, with a wave of her hand, the void cracked open, and I fell—

Spinning through stars, through shadow and wind—

Back into the world.

⸻

Air tore into my lungs as I gasped awake.

Pain returned—but it was different now. Bearable. Controlled. My senses sharpened in an instant. I could hear the heartbeat of a bird ten trees away. I could smell blood, dirt, metal—and him.

Oscar.

He was still here.

I lay still, waiting. My eyes opened, and I saw the shock on his face.

He had been standing over my corpse, dagger in hand, ready to walk away.

But I wasn’t dead anymore.

“What—?” he stammered, stumbling back.

I sat up slowly, my body glowing faintly under the moonlight. My skin had healed. My eyes burned gold.

“You should have finished the job,” I said, my voice low, deadly calm.

He backed away, tripping over roots. “You… you were dead. I killed you!”

“You tried.” I stood, power humming under my skin.

He threw the dagger at me in blind panic. I caught it midair without flinching.

I didn’t even know how I moved so fast. My wolf was awake inside me, purring with fury.

I stepped closer.

Oscar scrambled away, but I didn’t chase him.

“I don’t need to kill you,” I said. “Your fate is sealed.”

“What are you?” he screamed.

I tilted my head, a bitter smile on my lips. “Something you’ll never touch again.”

With that, I turned and walked into the woods.

Each step echoed like thunder.

I didn’t look back.

The night welcomed me like an old friend. The wind whispered truths. My senses were alive—I was alive.

Stronger. Faster. Different.

And then I felt it—like a magnetic pull in my chest. A beacon.

The man in black.

I didn’t know why, but I knew I had to find him.

The one who saved me once.

Maybe fate wasn’t cruel after all.

Maybe the Moon Goddess was only waiting for me to die to be reborn.

The world was silent. Not the peaceful kind of silence that fills a calm night but the kind that presses on your chest like a heavy stone. I lay sprawled on the forest floor, the cold biting through my skin, my breath shallow, as if the air itself was reluctant to fill my lungs. My body felt foreign—new and raw—like I’d been pulled out of the darkness only to stand on the edge of a void.

For a long moment, I was nothing but a ghost in the shadows of the trees.

Then the storm inside me began to stir.

Pain flashed—a searing, roaring fire that ignited through my veins, tearing at the edges of my soul. I gasped, clutching my chest as if to hold the pieces together. The moon hung low and heavy, watching over me like a silent judge. And beneath that pale light, I could feel it—something ancient awakening deep inside.

My wolf. My true self, clawing its way free from the cage of flesh and fear.

I hadn’t just survived death. I had been reborn.

My eyelids fluttered open to the darkness above, the canopy a fractured mosaic of silver light and shadow. The air smelled of damp earth and something else—a scent I couldn’t place. Old, powerful, and strangely comforting.

Trembling, I pushed myself upright, muscles weak but unbroken. My mind reeled with fractured memories—the cold chains, the burning pain, the final roar of betrayal—but they were fading, like smoke dissolving into the wind. What remained was raw instinct, a fierce heartbeat that echoed with the wildness of the forest itself.

I was alive. More than alive.

I could feel it—a pulse beneath my skin, a rhythm like thunder. A power coursing through my veins, wild and untamed, yet somehow familiar.

I took a cautious breath and opened my eyes fully. The world seemed sharper, more vivid, every sound and scent amplified. The howl of a distant wolf sent a shiver down my spine—not fear, but something deeper, like a call to arms.

But the forest wasn’t safe.

I knew that now.

A shadow moved just beyond the trees, sleek and silent. My body tensed, every nerve screaming. I had no idea who—or what—was watching me. But instinct whispered the truth: I was not alone.

I stood, legs shaky but determined. Whatever had found me would learn quickly that Elsa Shettima was not the broken girl left for dead. I was something else now.

Something dangerous.

The pain, the betrayal, the loss—they were fuel, igniting a fire within me I hadn’t known was there.

And I would burn down anyone who tried to put me out.