Chapter 22
Kaeleen’s POV
Rage, deep bone crushing rage clawed at my insides. Leon. The na was a brand on my tongue, a poison in my blood. Astrid’s hand on my arm was the only thing holding back, preventing from shifting and tearing Leon apart piece by piece.
"Kaeleen, stop," she pleaded. "Pull yourself together. I’m okay. Please, don’t do anything rash."
Rash? Rash was letting him breathe. Rash was letting the sun rise on a world that contained that... that monster.
"You are not okay. You are hurt," I pointed out, my voice a low growl, barely under control.
"This is nothing. I’ve been in worse situations."
Each word was a fresh wave of fury. Worse situations? What the hell had she endured in this God forsaken pack? Most influential pack my ass. I’ve only been here for about 3 days and I was already hating it.
"What did that bastard do, Astrid?" I asked her, barely containing my anger. The question was a demand, a need to know the full extent of what he had done to her.
She flinched, her eyes flashing in pain. I so desperately wanted to erase that look from her eyes. I hated that I could see that emotion in her eyes. I hated it.
She looked away, focusing on a point sowhere over my shoulder. The silence stretched, thick and suffocating. I wanted to shake her, to force the truth from her, but I knew that would only make matters worse. She needed to open up at her own ti and her own pace.
Finally, she spoke, her voice barely above a whisper. "He... he said I belonged to him. That even if he had Clara, I was still his Luna. That I always would be."
My jaw clenched so tight my teeth ached. Belonged to him? She belonged to no one but herself. And, if I had anything to say about it, she would belong to . But the possessiveness was a selfish thought, one I shoved down. This wasn’t about . It was about her, about the violation she had suffered.
"And?" I pressed, needing to know, needing to understand.
She hesitated, her fingers twisting in the fabric of my oversized shirt. "He... he tried to..." She couldn’t finish the sentence.
Her wide eyes looked like they were reliving whatever had happened to her.
"Astrid." I said calmly which was a shock to given the amount of rage I was feeling at the mont. "What did he do?" I asked her.
She shook her head. "He..he tried to force himself on ."
The room spun. The air thinned. My wolf was clawing at the surface, demanding release, demanding blood. I fought it back, focusing on Astrid, on the tremor in her hands, on the tears that welled in her eyes.
"He tried to force himself on you?" I asked in anger.
She nodded, a single tear escaping and tracing a path down her cheek.
Ha! This fucking bastard. The fucking audacity he had to lay his hands on her. Treating her like she was a pest wasn’t enough for him? Treating her like she didn’t exist wasn’t enough for him? And he wanted her even though he already had soone else?
That was it. The last thread of my control snapped. I turned, ready to leave, to unleash the beast within.
"Kaeleen! No!" Her voice, though weak, stopped in my tracks.
I turned back to her, my chest heaving, my hands balled into fists. "I’m going to kill him," I said, the words flat and devoid of emotion. "He deserves to die."
"And what will that accomplish?" she asked, her voice surprisingly calm. "It could start a war between the two packs and do you really think you can defeat him in a place surrounded by only his people?"
"He hurt you!" I roared, the sound echoing in the small room. "He violated you! Don’t you understand?"
"Almost." She said to , "He failed. I’m not so damsel in distress. I was, but not anymore. You can’t just go about hurting people just because they hurt , Kaeleen."
I scoffed. "I can and I will. I don’t know how many tis you need to hear this but you don’t deserve to be treated this way." I told her.
"And don’t you dare say he almost violated you, Astrid. You may have escaped but what if you hadn’t?" I asked her.
"But it’s the truth. He almost and frankly speaking, I would have found a way to make sure he didn’t succeed. I don’t need you to fight my battles for , Kaeleen." She said to ,
"But that’s what I want to do. That’s why I’m here. Depend on . Use . Do anything you want to do for you. I want to be soone you can depend on." I argued.
"I’m not going to be overly dependent on anyone Kaeleen, not anymore." She said to ,
"Then what use am I? What am I if I can’t even protect you?"
Astrid smiled. "I appreciate you trying to protect . Really, I do. All my life I’ve been the one doing the protecting but Kaeleen, don’t destroy everything you’ve built in one day because of ." She said to ,
I hated the way she was speaking about herself like she wasn’t important. Like she was not worth starting a war over. Astrid has always acted timid around most people but now, I could see her forever and determined nature slip through. If I wasn’t trying to control my anger, I’d tell her how much I loved seeing her this way.
"Think about the consequences." She added.
Consequences. Always consequences. It was the burden of leadership, the constant weighing of options, the sacrifice of personal desires for the greater good. I hated it.
"Consequences be damned." I muttered.
"Kaeleen." She muttered.
It was funny how she was the victim in this and she was still being reasonable about everything, thinking about consequences that could affect not even her but .
I ran a hand through my hair, frustration evident in my actions. "You’re asking to just let it go?"
"I’m asking you to be smart," she corrected. "I’m asking you to think before you act. I’m asking you to trust ."
Trust her. It was the hardest thing I’d ever had to do. Trust that she could handle herself, trust that she knew what she was doing, trust that she wouldn’t go running back to that... that monster.
But I did trust her. I trusted her strength, her intelligence, her heart. And I knew that if I truly wanted to be with her, I had to respect her wishes.
I took a deep breath, forcing the anger back down, burying it deep inside. "Fine," I said, the word begrudgingly. "I won’t do anything... for now."
She sighed, relief flooding her face. "Thank you, Kaeleen."
"Don’t thank yet," I said, a hint of a smile playing on my lips. "I’m still incredibly pissed off. And I’m still going to make sure he pays for what he did. Just not in a way that’s going to start a war. And when I do, promise you aren’t going to stop ."
"What did you have in mind?" she asked, her eyes narrowing with suspicion.
"Promise first." I said to her,
"Fine. I promise." She said, "Now tell what you have in mind."
I shrugged. "Who knows?"
"You know, since I stepped foot Into this pack I’ve been annoyed by nurous things. The way things are run here is so fucking traditional that it’ll out my grandfather to sha. How are won treated like commodities. Even the Luna doesn’t have that much authority. And why are there no female guards? All the guard s I’ve seen are male guards. The won work in the field and cook oh and do basic house work. And that’s all the Luna does, supervise them. And she is doing a bad job. I hate that no one sees how talented you are. How gifted you are...."
"And that’s why I’ve made up my mind to go with you."
"...I’ve seen the looks they give you when you walk past...wait what?" I asked her.
"What?" She asked innocently like she didn’t know why I asked her.
"What did you just say?" I asked her.
"I..." she began, her voice trembling.
I waited, my heart pounding in my chest.
She whispered, her voice barely audible. "I’ll go with you."
The words hit like a physical blow. I stared at her, my mind struggling to comprehend what she had just said.
"What?" I asked, my voice hoarse.
"I said, I’ll go with you," she repeated, her voice stronger now. "I’m done, Kaeleen. I’m done with Leon. I’m done with the Moonshade pack. I’m done with being treated like I don’t deserve more."
A wave of elation washed over , so intense that it almost knocked off my feet. I couldn’t believe it. She had chosen . She had chosen a new life, a new future.
A grin stretched across my face, and I reached out, pulling her into my arms. I held her tight, burying my face in her hair, breathing in her scent.
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