Chapter 360

Chapter 360
Aurora

I didn’t know what I was supposed to do next.

I remained sitting on the edge of the bed, completely frozen as I stared at the woman lying motionless on the floor beside the overturned medical cart, while both of my hands stayed pressed protectively against my stomach as though keeping them there could somehow contain the strange energy still moving beneath my skin.

My heart was pounding so violently that every beat seemed to echo inside my ears, and I could feel the pulse of it in my throat as I tried to understand what had just happened.

I had killed her.

The thought kept repeating itself, refusing to become any less horrifying no matter how many times I tried to convince myself that it had been an accident.

I hadn’t attacked her.

I hadn’t consciously reached for my magic.

I hadn’t even known what I was doing.

The moment she had approached me, something inside my body had reacted on its own, and before I could understand what was happening, an invisible force had seized her and broken her neck.

And somehow, that frightened me more than anything else.

If I had chosen to hurt her, at least I would have understood the action.

This was different.

My own magic had moved without my permission.

Or perhaps it hadn’t even been my magic at all.

I slowly lowered my hands from my stomach and stared down at them, watching the faint trembling in my fingers as I tried to steady my breathing.

“What the fuck…”

My voice came out so quietly that it barely sounded like me.

Nothing answered.

The machines beside the bed continued humming with the same quiet, mechanical rhythm they had maintained before any of this happened, their screens glowing softly against the sterile white walls as though there wasn’t a dead woman lying only a few feet away from them.

The medical cart had been knocked onto its side during the attack, leaving several pieces of equipment scattered across the polished floor, and a small metal tray had rolled underneath the bed.

I stared at the mess.

Then I looked at the woman again.

I couldn’t stop myself.

She was completely still.

There was no movement in her chest, no sound coming from her, nothing that suggested she might suddenly open her eyes and stand back up.

I swallowed hard and forced myself to look away.

I needed to leave.

That much was certain.

Whatever this place was, whoever these people were, staying in that room after what had happened was only going to make things worse.

But where would I go?

I didn’t know where I was.

I didn’t know which direction led outside.

I didn’t know how many guards were stationed throughout the building, and I had no idea whether the strange magic I had discovered was strong enough to protect me if they came after me.

My legs were still weak from being restrained for so long, my body was exhausted, and I was carrying two babies who were already depending on me to keep them safe.

I couldn’t afford to make a careless decision.

I looked toward the door again.

For a few seconds, I simply watched it.

Nothing moved on the other side.

No voices.

No footsteps.

No indication that anyone had noticed what had happened.

Then a sound suddenly echoed through the hallway.

I froze.

At first, it was so distant that I couldn’t tell what I was hearing, but another noise followed almost immediately, much louder than the first.

A heavy impact.

Something had slammed into a wall.

I slowly stood, gripping the edge of the bed when my legs nearly buckled beneath me.

“What is happening?”

Another crash shook the corridor.

This time, I heard voices.

They were muffled by the thick door, making the words impossible to understand, but the urgency in them was unmistakable.

Someone shouted.

Another voice answered.

Then came the unmistakable sound of something breaking.

My stomach tightened.

There was fighting outside.

I remained beside the bed, listening as the sounds grew louder and more chaotic, with hurried footsteps racing past the room and weapons striking against something hard enough to echo through the walls.

Then I heard it.

A roar.

It was deep and powerful, carrying through the hallway with such force that every instinct inside me immediately reacted.

My entire body went tense.

I had heard that sound before.

A lycan.

Or something close enough that my body recognized it as a threat.

I glanced toward the door.

Whatever was happening outside had nothing to do with me, and I had no idea whether that was good or bad.

Maybe someone was attacking this place.

Maybe someone was trying to escape.

Maybe more guards were coming.

I couldn’t know.

All I knew was that the chaos gave me an opportunity I might never get again.

I took one careful step toward the door.

My legs trembled beneath me, but I forced myself to continue.

Another step.

Then another.

I was almost there when the lock suddenly turned.

I stopped immediately.

My heart lurched.

The door opened.

A guard stepped into the room, already speaking before he had even crossed the threshold.

“What is taking so lo—”

His voice stopped.

His eyes landed on the body lying beside the medical cart.

He stared at her for a moment, clearly unable to understand what he was seeing, before his gaze slowly shifted toward me.

I watched the realization spread across his face.

His hand immediately moved toward the weapon at his side.

Panic shot through me.

I didn’t think.

I didn’t even have time to decide what I wanted to do.

The strange energy beneath my skin surged on its own.

I lifted my hands instinctively.

The force exploded outward.

The guard’s body jerked violently, his weapon slipping from his fingers and hitting the floor with a sharp metallic clang.

His feet left the ground.

His eyes widened as an invisible force lifted him completely off the floor and slammed him backward.

I stood frozen, staring at him as the magic continued moving through me.

It felt different this time.

Stronger.

There were two distinct currents running through my body, intertwined with my own energy in a way I still couldn’t understand, and together they felt far more powerful than anything I had ever been able to produce alone.

The guard struggled against the invisible pressure surrounding him, but I didn’t know how to stop it.

I didn’t know how to control it.

All I knew was that I couldn’t let him reach me.

The magic tightened.

His body flew backward and struck the wall with a force that made the room shake.

Then he collapsed onto the floor.

He didn’t move.

I stared at him, my breathing becoming increasingly uneven as I slowly lowered my hands.

“I’m sorry.”

The words slipped out before I could stop them.

I didn’t know why I apologized.

Perhaps some part of me was still trying to understand how easily I had just taken another person’s life, or perhaps I simply needed to remind myself that I hadn’t wanted this.

That I wasn’t doing this because I enjoyed it.

That I was only trying to survive.

I looked toward the doorway.

I couldn’t stay.

Whatever had happened outside had clearly changed the situation, and if there were more guards coming, I needed to be gone before they found me.

I stepped over the fallen guard and walked into the hallway.

Then I stopped.

My breath caught.

The corridor was covered in bodies.

Guards were scattered across the stone floor, some lying motionless against the walls while others had fallen beside their weapons, and blood streaked the polished stone in several places beneath the dim lights.

Broken pieces of armor were scattered throughout the passage, along with shattered weapons and pieces of stone that had been knocked loose from the walls during the fighting.

The air smelled of blood, smoke, metal, and something else that I couldn’t quite identify.

I stared at the destruction in disbelief.

What had happened here?

Who had done this?

Had someone come here looking for me?

The thought seemed impossible, yet there was no other explanation I could think of for the chaos surrounding me.

I slowly stepped into the corridor, my eyes moving from one body to another as I tried to determine whether any of them were still alive.

The silence was almost worse than the fighting had been.

I took another step.

Then I saw her.

Everything inside me stopped.