Selene’s POV~
They would be smiling right now.
Sowhere far behind , deep within the grand stone heart of the pack, the hall would be full of noble people. Maybe soone was offering a toast. Maybe the priestess was still reciting sacred lines as those four brothers knelt like loyal sons. Maybe they were already placing those heavy, hollow crowns on their heads.
Maybe he was smiling.
Just like he smiled when he left on the cold stone floor last night...
And still, I ran.
The forest greeted like a beast.
Branches clawed at my arms, thorns tore at my legs, and the earth beneath my bare feet was jagged and cruel. Every root felt like a hand reaching up to drag back. The gown I wore—thin and damp with sweat—offered no protection. Every step I took through the underbrush left blood in my wake.
But the worst pain wasn’t on my skin.
It was inside , behind my ribs, in the center of my chest, where sothing living had curled up and started to die long ago. Every breath was shallow.
But I couldn’t stop. I wouldn’t.
If I stop, I die. Not in body, but in spirit. And I had already died once.
It was the first ti they dragged into the warrior quarter. I rember how my body shook for days. How I scread for help until my throat tore open. How my voice gave out long before their hands did.
That was death without any rcy. Just the slow, rotting kind. The kind you carry with you, inside your bones.
But not today.
Today, I ran.
Today, I bled and didn’t stop.
Today, the fla inside roared to life...
I didn’t care what I had to crawl through. Who I had to kill. Where I had to go.
I was going to survive and be far away from this cursed place.
Even if it ant crawling out of hell on torn knees.
It hadn’t even been that hard.
The Alpha Wing was quiet this morning. They had all been so arrogant—so high on their own ceremony that they forgot about , the slave in their eyes. They forgot that their rooms were unguarded, and they left alone, too busy with their crowning ceremony.
Because who would run?
Who would dare escape when they’d made sure to break in every way they knew?
I let out a breath that might’ve been a laugh if it hadn’t hurt so damn much. Bitter and raw, it caught in my throat like a piece of glass.
They thought I had nothing left.
They thought I was so empty that the idea of escape wouldn’t even exist in my head.
But that’s the thing about pain. It gives you a strength they’ll never understand.
My body ached in places I couldn’t na. My hands were raw from climbing over stone walls. My feet bled from the broken roots and sharp rocks underfoot. The silver dagger I carried dug into my palm with every step, but I held it like a lifeline.
It was the only thing that had ever protected . The only thing I trusted. I’d used it only an hour ago.
The first guard had been laughing—reaching for like I was so harmless thing. I slit his throat before he could say another word. The second one scread when I drove my dagger into his thigh and twisted the blade.
I didn’t flinch as I buried it deeper into his body. No one could stop from escaping this place. Not the guards. Not the Alphas. Not even the Moon Goddess.
I don’t even rember their faces now.
Only the sound of their body hitting the ground. Only the silence that followed.
A branch cracked under my foot, and I stumbled—hard. My knees hit frozen dirt. My palms scraped open. The dagger slipped and landed beside .
And I broke.
Just for a mont, I curled in on myself, pressing my forehead to the cold earth. My breath ca in choked sobs, silent and ragged. I didn’t want to make noise. Noise could bring them closer. But it ca anyway.
"I can’t..." I choked. "I can’t do this..."
My voice was so small. So defeated.
And still, I heard them inside my head.
Luca’s sneer.
Kael’s cold, clinical voice.
Lucian’s mocking laugh.
And worst of all... Aeron’s silence.
Their voices twisted together into one poisoned chorus.
You’re weak.
You’re pathetic.
You’ll never make it.
My fingers clenched into the dirt. My jaw locked.
I’d heard those words before—from them, from others, and from myself.
But then—slowly—I lifted my head.
My cheeks were streaked with dirt and tears. My breath still shook. But I wasn’t done. "I’ve done worse," I whispered. "I’ve survived worse."
I picked up the dagger—and still, I ran. I couldn’t afford to cry. If I got caught, these tears would be useless.
mories stuck to like thorns.
Luca’s hand in my hair, yanking back when I tried to crawl away.
Kael’s voice explaining how they’d "train" .
Lucian, always watching, always smiling at my pain.
And Aeron...
Gods, Aeron.
He hadn’t touched like the others. He hadn’t mocked . Hadn’t even looked at with cruelty.
No. He just... looked at , like I was so kind of pest.
And then he walked away. He saw what they were doing. He heard Kael. He saw the collar. And he left. He chose to leave there.
And I don’t know why that’s the one that still stings.
Maybe because—once—I thought he might be different. That maybe he’d stop them. But he didn’t. And I hate him for that.
Not just for what he did. Not just for walking away. But for letting believe, even for a second, that he might care.
As my head was buzzing with countless mories, a howl split the night air behind , filled with murderous intent.
I froze. They found out.
Of course they did. I’d killed two of their guards.
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