122- The Roar in the Forest
POV Lunara Grimwald:
“You have his taste on you, you whore!” he growled. “After I tear this damn mark off you, I’ll brand you so deeply you’ll never again forget who you belong to!”
“I hate you. You can break me as many times as you want, that will never change,” I whispered.
“Ah, my sweet bride, soon you’ll have even more reasons to hate me. And I don’t just want to break you, my love—I want to leave you in ruins.”
A roar burst through the forest like thunder, shaking the air around us and echoing through the trees. My heart raced at the powerful sound, as if the very ground trembled beneath my feet. The birds flying overhead scattered in every direction, their songs cut short by the looming chaos closing in.
A chill ran down my spine, and a spark of hope struck me.
Edric’s roar was a clear warning of danger, a primal echo that resonated down to the bone.
“He’s coming! Get out now!” I felt the despair in Thalira’s voice. “Fuck, he’s going to catch you, he’ll kill everyone and take that bitch back.”
“Your confidence in me is truly surprising.”
“I’ve known Edric for centuries. He’s explosive and chaotic. He kills without any remorse and shifts into the most brutal form I’ve witnessed in all my life. That’s why, Alessio, believe me when I say not a single living soul will remain if he arrives here before you manage to escape. I’ll stay behind to mislead him.”
Alessio scoffed.
“Edric,” I pleaded, dragging the name through my heavy tongue. More tears spilled from the corners of my eyes.
I couldn’t hear anything else—only felt Alessio’s arms closing around me.
Darkness wrapped itself around me as I slowly lost consciousness. Edric wouldn’t find me; he wouldn’t locate me. And Anton was dead—his best friend. Dead.
Fear consumed me as I sank into absolute darkness.
(...)
POV Edric Eldoria:
Her despair was tangible. Of all the pains, fears, and longings I had felt over the months living with Lunara, nothing compared to that.
I ran through the forest, using my inhuman speed to reach her. Something was wrong with her. Very wrong.
She was suffering the deepest and most absolute desolation.
My fingernails turned into claws and my fangs extended. My eyes flickered between blue and gold, shifting color as I began to lose control over my body.
A growl rumbled through my chest—loud and clear, spreading through the forest. It was a warning, an explicit threat from my wildest side, the promise of slow and painful deaths if anything was done to Lunara.
It came from me, from my wolf, from both of us.
I would unleash chaos upon the Earth if they hurt Lunara.
I frowned and quickened my steps as I felt her fading, as if she had been drugged. I could smell her, track her, but the contact—our connection—was weakening, dissipating.
Gritting my teeth hard, I let out another threatening snarl into the air. I rushed past the trees at a dizzying speed, not looking back, not looking at anything except the path ahead that would lead me to her.
I struck a trunk with my claws, splitting it in half. Birds scattered in all directions, flying above me. The forest animals felt the intensity of a wolf’s rage. They knew something was wrong and wanted to be as far from it as possible.
I sensed the exact moment our connection ceased.
Throwing my head back, I released another growl—a violent roar marked by a wolf’s fury and a man’s despair.
I smelled the blood of several people. I recognized Lunara’s, mixed with my own. I smelled one of my wolves, and another that did not belong to Eldoria. Each scent was distinct.
I advanced through the area, circling, searching for Lunara.
I couldn’t feel her at all. I sniffed the air for her scent, but the smell of blood was so strong it overpowered every other trace.
There were footprints in the snow—more than one person. I began following them, searching for the trail, for any trace they might have left behind.
“Edric?” a female voice called.
I turned to Thalira, fixing my gaze on her. My chest rose and fell in quick successions with my heavy breaths.
“Where is Lunara?” I snarled.
Thalira fell silent, pressing her lips together. She took a step to the side, revealing what was behind her.
A body.
Anton’s body.
In the blink of an eye, moving frantically, I stopped in front of him. With tense muscles, I crouched before the wolf who had been my best friend for many decades.
There was a hole in his back, his bones were broken, silver arrows lodged in several points, and his blood clotted. His heart had been torn from his body and thrown beside him. And the snow, which should have been white, was stained red.
I parted my lips, panting, unable to tear my eyes away from him. The pain I felt was excruciating.
My knees buckled and I collapsed to the ground, touching the cold body with my fingertips, unable to believe what I was seeing.
Anton had been by my side for decades, my right-hand man and the one I trusted most. He wasn’t just a friend—he was my family.
“I’m sorry,” Thalira whispered.
“Who?” I asked in a hiss, still unable to blink, unable to look away from the body.
I grabbed one of the arrows and pulled it out. The silver burned my palm, but I didn’t care. The smell of burning flesh spread through the air. I removed a second and a third, throwing them all onto the ground. I didn’t stop until my hands were raw, with blood dripping through the fissures the silver had caused—until he no longer had a single one embedded in his skin.
I turned his body over, placing him on his back. His eyes were bulging, his bloodstained lips slightly parted. It was not a beautiful death—it was brutal and violent.
I had a list of people who deserved to die that way, but Anton certainly wasn’t one of them.
I couldn’t fully grasp his death. I could barely breathe without feeling like my body was splitting apart.
“Alessio,” she answered, stepping closer. “I’m sorry about this. He showed interest in Lunara, talked to her, said he would perform the ritual to remove the mating mark and make her his wife, as their parents had predestined. And she went with him, believed everything he said, still very much in love with her ex. I couldn’t do anything, Edric. Anton tried to fight back and was killed by them. If I interfered, I would be on that list too.”
For a second, I remained still, not uttering a single word, not moving a single muscle, catching the subtle notes of lies that she—ever the deceiver—was trying to slip past me.
Did she really think she could convince me of that? That she could deceive me when I felt absolutely everything the little wolf felt, when I knew that whatever had happened in that forest in my absence, Lunara had not gone willingly—she had been dragged away from me.