Chapter 156
By the third evening, the situation began to deteriorate.
The number of stragglers was increasing. Food and water were being consumed faster than I'd anticipated, and morale in the column was beginning to waver. I heard more whispering, louder this time and more brazen.
"Maybe those warriors were right..."
"Will we really reach Echo Valley?"
"Is the Alpha being too stubborn?"
I didn't respond. I knew that at this moment, any explanation would be hollow—only action could prove my decision right. But I also knew that if we didn't find a stable source of water and food soon, this group would fall apart.
Late at night, campfires dotted the desert. I sat alone outside my tent keeping watch, gazing into the endless darkness.
In my hand I turned over a bloodstained pebble—something I'd picked up from the ruined camp, its bloodstains now turned dark brown.
This stone reminded me of what I used to be.
Murder. Betrayal. Cruelty.
The faces of those I'd hurt, those who'd died because of me, surfaced in the darkness. Ella's face was among them—that face that had once trusted me, loved me, but in the end held only despair and hatred. I'd destroyed her with my own hands, destroyed our child, destroyed everything that should have been beautiful.
"What are you thinking about?"
Dorothy's voice interrupted my thoughts. She came over wrapped in a blanket and sat down beside me. The night wind lifted her hair, making it look like silver threads in the moonlight.
"Can't sleep?" I asked.
"Mm." She gazed at the distant campfires, firelight dancing in her eyes. "I keep thinking... will we really reach Echo Valley?"
"We will."
"How can you be so sure?"
I was silent for a long time. In the distance, a night bird cried out, desolate and lonely. Finally I said: "Because I have to be sure. These people trust me, follow me. I can't let them down."
Dorothy turned to look at me, her eyes bright as stars in the moonlight.
I took a deep breath, feeling something lodged in my throat that demanded release.
"Dorothy, I need to tell you..." My voice dropped low. "I've killed many innocent people, done many terrible things. Back then, I was... a monster. I don't know if I deserve redemption."
My hands trembled slightly. I couldn't look Dorothy in the eye.
She was silent for a long time. I could hear my own heartbeat, and the distant crackle of campfires.
Then she said: "The you of the past might have been a bastard, but the you of now is a hero."
I whipped my head around to look at her.
"Don't let who you were deny who you are now." Dorothy's voice was soft but steady. "The you right now... I really like him."
Those last three words were spoken softly, but in the silence of the night they rang especially clear.
My heartbeat suddenly accelerated, nearly jumping out of my chest. Dorothy's face flushed instantly, but she didn't look away or take back her words—she just nervously bit her lower lip, waiting for my response.
Blaze growled in the depths of my consciousness: "Accept her! This girl is worth it!"
But I thought of Ella. Thought of that relationship shattered by my own weakness and betrayal, and fear gripped my heart like an icy hand. I didn't deserve such pure affection. I would destroy it, just like I'd destroyed everything beautiful.
I was a monster—how could I let Dorothy get pulled in?
I looked away in panic, clumsily changing the subject: "You... why haven't you awakened your wolf yet? I remember I awakened Blaze when I was twelve."
A flash of disappointment crossed Dorothy's eyes, that light instantly dimming. But quickly, disappointment was replaced by understanding. She smiled bitterly. "I started waiting for my wolf when I was twelve. I waited until I was seventeen, and it never came. Maybe I just don't have the talent."
She paused, looking into the distance. "But Faye always comforted me: it might come the next second, or it might never come—so what? Does that stop you from choosing what kind of life to live?"
"After hearing what Faye said, I stopped worrying." Dorothy said softly, her voice carrying a sense of acceptance. "I just take things as they come."
I froze. Those words struck me like lightning, leaving me completely rigid.
"That really is... a powerful thing to say..." I murmured.
In the distance, Frank's coughing broke the night's silence. The sky began to pale with dawn—a new day was beginning. Dorothy stood up, brushing sand dust from her clothes.
"I'm going to help Leah prepare breakfast."
She walked a few steps, then turned back to look at me.
Moonlight and dawn light wove together on her face, making it hard to read her expression.
"Kane, no matter what you did in the past, at least right now... you're saving everyone. That's enough."
After Dorothy left, I gripped the pebble in my hand, feeling its rough surface and dried blood. Then I stood up and hurled it hard into the darkness.
The pebble traced an arc through the air before disappearing into the unseen distance.
Blaze whispered: "You're running away."
I didn't argue.
I just stood up, brushed the sand dust from my clothes, and walked toward the tent area to begin waking everyone for departure.
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On a distant ridge, pairs of eyes hidden in the yellow sand watched this column.
Blood River Pack pursuers were closing in.