Chapter3
1227 Words
ARIA
I groaned, my head pounding like a drum. Pain pulsed behind my eyes, and every breath felt like fire scraping through my lungs. I clutched my temple, fingers trembling, trying to hold myself together.
“You’re awake, Luna,” Pack healer Caleb said with a wide smile and a visible relief, as if the weight of my unconsciousness had been too heavy for him to bear any longer.
I blinked slowly, my vision still a blur of shadows and light. My body ached as if I’d been trampled by a dozen wolves.
“Take this water, drink it,” Elias said gently, offering a steaming mug filled with bitter herbs. The scent hit me like a wall—sharp, earthy, and thick with something that smelled like death. I recoiled, pushing the cup away with a weak hand.
But then pain shot through me, sharper this time, radiating from my ribs. I cried out, clutching my side as hot tears stung my eyes.
“Please drink it, Luna. For your health,” Caleb urged, desperation softening his usually calm tone. I hesitated, then took the cup with shaking hands and drank. Each sip was like swallowing ash and bile, but Caleb didn’t let me stop. Not until the cup was empty.
So bitter.
I forced myself to sit upright, taking in the familiar surroundings. The sterile scent of herbs, the low hum of healing wards, the cool linens beneath me—I was in the healer’s wing.
“Why am I here? What happened?” I rasped, my throat dry as dust.
“You don’t remember anything?” Caleb asked, his brows knitting together. I shook my head slowly, every movement sending a new wave of pain through my body.
“How long have I been here? And what do you mean don’t I remember anything? What was I supposed to remember?” I asked again, voice growing more desperate.
“It’s been a few hours, Luna. It’s already evening,” he said gently.
Evening?
I sat up straighter, heart suddenly thudding against my ribs. Panic clawed at me.
Instinctively, my hands flew to my stomach.
Something felt… strange.
Cold dread crept up my spine.
“What happened to my baby?” My voice came out as a whisper, brittle and sharp. My heart slammed against my ribs as fragmented memories came rushing back—the celebration, the tension with Kael, the rogue attack.
“No…” I gasped, the memories crashing into me like a tidal wave. “Tell me, Caleb. Tell me my baby is okay.”
His silence shattered me.
He couldn’t even look me in the eye. His gaze dropped to the floor, and in that silence, I knew.
‘Lyra?’ I called to my wolf, my soul reaching for hers.
But she didn’t answer. Only a soft, broken whimper echoed in the corners of my mind.
Tears welled up in my eyes and spilled over before I could stop them. “No,” I whispered. “No, no, no.”
“I’m so sorry, Luna,” Caleb murmured, guilt thick in his voice. “You lost too much blood. We couldn’t—there was nothing we could do.”
The world tilted.
The sob ripped from my chest, raw and savage. It hurt more than any physical wound I’d ever endured. My hands trembled as I pulled back the sheet to see the truth, to feel the emptiness where life had once stirred.
A gaping hole had opened inside me, swallowing everything.
I slid off the bed, nearly falling, but I didn’t care.
“Luna, please! You need to rest,” Caleb pleaded. “You’re still healing! If you leave now Beta Ryker might get mad at me?”
So Ryker was the one who brought me here?
But then again, what was left to heal?
I didn’t listen. I couldn’t.
“Where’s Kael?” I asked, my voice flat, dangerously calm.
Caleb hesitated. “He’s… tending to Seraphina. She was injured during the attack.”
Wow.
“Ryker brought me here?” I asked, my gaze locked on his.
He nodded slightly.
“Did Kael ever look for me?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper but the healer said nothing and I knew.
I didn’t wait for another word. Rage surged through me, giving me strength I didn’t know I had left.
I stormed through the hallways, my bare feet silent against the stone floors, my blood roaring in my ears.
I found the guest quarters and pushed open the door.
And there he was.
Kael.
On her bed.
Holding Seraphina like she was his entire world.
Whispering to her. Stroking her hair.
He looked up, startled, his eyes going wide with guilt. He jumped up, moving toward me, but it was already too late.
Too late to apologize.
Too late to explain.
He grabbed my wrist, dragging me into his office. “Aria—”
I slapped him.
Hard.
His head jerked to the side. My palm stung, but it wasn’t enough. I slapped him again. And again.
“You should be resting—”
“Don’t you dare tell me what to do!” I snarled. “You left me. You abandoned me in the middle of an attack, knowing I couldn’t shift or fight back. Knowing I was carrying your pup!”
“I was protecting the pack!”
“Shut up!” I screamed. “You were protecting her.”
He flinched but didn’t deny it.
“She’s important to the pack too,” he muttered.
“What the hell—.” I yelled at him. “Will you stop hiding behind that silly excuse. You chose her over us—me and your child!”
He looked away.
My heart shattered again.
“I lost our pup, Kael. Our pup. And you didn’t even come. You didn’t even ask if I was alive.”
“I care—”
“No, you don’t!” I cried. “You let her take my place. And you didn’t care.”
He clenched his jaw. “Seraphina is—”
“Say it!” I challenged. “Say she means more to you than I ever did.”
“She is… someone I can’t lose too.”
And there it was.
The final nail.
“You’ve made your choice,” I whispered. “And it wasn’t me.”
“Aria—”
“I, Aria of the Silvermist Pack, reject you, Alpha Kael, as my mate and my alpha.”
His eyes widened. “No—Aria, don’t—”
“Reject me,” I said coldly. “You already killed me the moment you chose her. Now finish it.”
He stared at me, torn. “You’re too weak. You could die.”
“I don’t care,” I whispered.
He took a breath that trembled. “I, Alpha Kael, accept your rejection.”
The bond snapped.
The pain hit instantly—blinding, burning, breaking.
I stumbled, knees buckling, but when he tried to steady me, I pushed him away.
“Don’t you touch me, I will make you both pay for this.”
“You can stay the night—”
I didn’t let him finish.
I walked out.
Each step shattered something inside me.
But I didn’t look back.
Goodbye, Kael.
- Writer
