141- The Pulse of an Approaching Storm
POV Lunara Grimwald:
I woke with my hair stuck to the sweat at the nape of my neck. I shifted on the hard, icy floor, feeling my muscles tense.
I sat up and gathered my hair, tying it into a bun at the top of my head. I tried to look through the slit in the door, and it still seemed early morning, with the first rays of sunlight rising on the horizon.
My stomach growled, starving. I placed both hands over it and let out a soft whimper.
Now I finally understood why my wolf had been storing so much energy—it was to keep the pup safe while I was kept without food.
“I’m sorry… I’m so, so sorry,” I whispered, squeezing my eyes shut and letting tears spill down my temples.
I was a terrible mother. If not for my wolf, I might have already lost my pup. I shook my head, unable to even think about that possibility.
I had always wished for my own pups, had always dreamed of becoming a mother. At Edric’s side, I had discarded that possibility, assuming it would never happen and accepting it as my reality.
But things had not happened the way I imagined, and now, the pup I had always wanted was growing inside my womb. It was my duty—my obligation—to protect it.
I rubbed my eyes, wiping away the accumulated tears.
I rested my head against the wall and looked around, feeling bored and weary. The chains on my wrists kept my skin from healing, burning and reopening the wounds that the silver caused.
My body ached from lying on the hard floor, and I reeked after so many days without a bath. The most I could do was splash some water on my face from the sink faucet.
I felt so tired. If not for the pup, I would have given up long ago.
Before, I only had to worry about myself and my sister. Elowen was free, safe, and well—there was nothing else for me to fear, until I discovered I was pregnant.
My chest warmed.
I blinked, confused, a crease forming in the middle of my forehead.
I looked down, as if I could physically see what was happening to me. There was nothing. The room remained cold and foul-smelling, and the village outside was silent.
Was missing Edric making me feel things I shouldn’t?
The heat stirred—like embers igniting inside me. I stood abruptly, parting my lips.
“What’s happening?” I murmured, looking around.
It was the same sensation I always felt when Edric drew near.
It happened again, ripping a gasp from me.
He couldn’t be close. Alessio had said Edric believed Thalira, that they had crafted an entire complex story. So… how?
The village’s silence broke when a loud signal echoed. It was the silver bell hanging at the village entrance, and until now, it had never been used—because it meant… invaders.
Screams spread through the area, making me flinch and curl against the wall. I placed a hand over my belly, protecting myself from the attack they were suffering.
It was my chance to escape.
Edric’s rage reverberated through me, pulling at the bond that tied us together.
My legs buckled, and I fell to my knees on the hard floor. This wasn’t just any attack. It was him.
A sob tore out of me, followed by another and another. I spread my palms on the cold ground and let the tears pour down like a waterfall.
He hadn’t believed them. He hadn’t believed Thalira. He came for me—came to save me, came to take me back home.
I couldn’t hold back the strangled scream that split me open.
I thought he might do as Alessio had—betray me, forget me, treat me as a burden, a weight to be carried. He knew Alessio planned to remove the mark and break our bond, and even so, he came for me.
The warmth inside me spread.
I heard footsteps outside as people ran in all directions. Screams of death, despair, and anger.
Edric was unleashing chaos through the village.
The door burst open without warning, slamming against the wall at the side. Alessio appeared in my line of sight, hair disheveled, chest rising and falling in sharp bursts, and his brown eyes blazing with pulsing hatred.
“Your damn Alpha came for you,” he announced, striding toward me. He yanked me off the floor with force, the chains scraping my skin and hurting me. “That bitch Thalira tricked me,” he snarled, dragging me out of the room. “We’re removing this fucking mark once and for all, before he gives me even more headaches.”
The winter breeze hit me. I stumbled over a mound of snow and blinked, my eyes struggling with the brightness after so many hours in the dark. The sun was rising, beginning to paint the sky. I breathed, and a cloud formed in front of my face from the cutting cold.
“Let me go,” I growled.
He ignored me, dragging me farther from the shed that had held me prisoner. From the street, the screams grew louder, and flames rose over the village, which burned under Edric’s attack.