Skip to playerSkip to main content
RuralReels
  • 2 days ago
My Alpha My Enemy
Transcript
00:00My fated mate is the one who destroyed my entire pack.
00:03Ten years ago, I saved his life.
00:05Now, I am his prisoner.
00:06I am the daughter of the Silvermoon Alpha, yet I have never awakened my wolf form.
00:09My brother has set boundaries for me to protect, forbidding me from stepping outside his territory.
00:14But if this love is destined to be a cage, I'd rather not have it.
00:18After I'd run for near half an hour, I'd ducked into the dense thicket to catch my breath before pressing
00:23onward.
00:23It was then that a whimper reached my ears from not far off,
00:26a primal sound our kind only ever uttered in the throes of unendurable.
00:30Utter agony that I followed the sound through the underbrush and came upon a young wolf shifter,
00:34broken by grievous, mortal wounds.
00:36Who are you? Don't come any closer.
00:38I'm from a small wolf pack nearby, out looking for food.
00:41How did you get hurt?
00:42No sooner had the words left his mouth than a silver arrow suddenly shot out from the pine forest ahead.
00:46It was heading straight for me.
00:48I was so scared that I froze on the spot.
00:51That's when he suddenly lunged forward, chilling completely beneath his body.
00:55The panic surged through me.
00:57I reached for the silver arrow in his shoulder,
00:59only to be shoved away with the last of his strength.
01:02Run.
01:03They're after me, not you.
01:05Don't get caught up in this.
01:06Just then, the shadowy figure caught up.
01:08I grabbed his hand and pulled him along the narrow animal trail.
01:12Following the route I'd memorized from listening to the patrolling wolves chatter,
01:15I ran towards the most remote edge of the territory.
01:18I didn't know how long I ran,
01:19but finally, we saw an abandoned hunter's hut.
01:22Hide here for now.
01:24Eat something.
01:25But he would not take the food I offered.
01:28That was when I remembered the map in my pack.
01:30Before I'd fled, I'd secretly copied a topographic map of the land surrounding the silver moon wolf pack territory.
01:35I'd drawn it up for my own escape.
01:37But in that moment, none of that mattered.
01:39I pressed the map straight into his hands.
01:42Follow the route marked on here.
01:43It'll lead you past the nearby wolf packs.
01:45Once you reach no man's land, you can make it back to your own people.
01:48Why are you helping me?
01:50Why does there have to be a reason?
01:52I saved you because the moon goddess is watching over you.
01:55She doesn't intend for you to die here.
01:58The hunters aren't here yet.
02:00Go.
02:02This was my mother's.
02:03Moonstone purifies silver poisoning.
02:05Keep it with you,
02:06and it'll slow the spread of the toxin.
02:09If you get into trouble,
02:10you can trade it for supplies too.
02:12You got dragged into this because of me.
02:14I'm not leaving you here alone.
02:16Come with me.
02:18They're here for you, not me.
02:20Forget about me.
02:21I'll find a way to survive.
02:23If you don't go now, you'll never get the chance.
02:25Go.
02:27Don't look back.
02:39Jenica!
02:42How did you know where to find me?
02:44Do you have any idea how dangerous it is out here?
02:46How dare you sneak out?
02:47If I hadn't gotten here in time,
02:48you would have been taken by rogue wolves.
02:50I'll never do it again.
02:53Come on.
02:54We'll settle this when we get home.
02:55I followed him out of the crumbling cabin.
02:57Before we left,
02:58I glanced back at the direction the boy had vanished,
03:01praying silently in my heart
03:02that the moon goddess would keep him safe.
03:03I squeezed the half-moonstone in my hand.
03:05I had no idea if I would ever see him again,
03:08if I would ever get the other half of the moonstone back.
03:10That longing lasted for ten whole years.
03:12The moonstone pendant around his neck.
03:14It was the exact same one I'd ripped in two with my own hands
03:17and pressed into that wolf boy's palm all those years ago.
03:21Was it him?
03:21The boy from all those years ago?
03:23Was he Ethan?
03:25Alpha of the Dark Flame Pack?
03:27The woman at his side wore a gown embroidered
03:28with the intricate Dark Flame clan crest,
03:30a mark only those closest to the Alpha were permitted to bear.
03:33She clung to Ethan's arm,
03:34looking up at him every few seconds.
03:36She was declaring her status to everyone in the room.
03:38The Dark Flame beta spotted me in the cage.
03:40He ripped the long blade from his waist
03:42and charged straight for the cage.
03:43The blade was inches from slamming into the cage
03:45when Ethan suddenly lifted his hand
03:47and closed it around the sharpened steel.
03:48Kyle.
03:51Ethan walked straight toward the cage.
03:53He reached through the bars,
03:54his hand closing around my jaw,
03:56forcing me to lift my head and look at him.
04:00Fated mate.
04:01The blood debt the Silver Moon plaque owes us,
04:04I will repay it a thousand times over.
04:07Their heir is still at large.
04:10Keeping this princess alive serves a purpose.
04:13I wanted to ask him if he was the wounded boy
04:15from all those years ago,
04:16but the words died on my lips.
04:17He was the Alpha of the Dark Flame Pack,
04:19the man who destroyed my people.
04:21My enemy.
04:22If you want revenge, take it out on me.
04:25I'm the Silver Moon Princess.
04:26Please, spare the others.
04:29They never had anything to do with the war.
04:32Spare them?
04:33When Silver Moon allied with three other packs
04:36to slaughter the Dark Flame,
04:37they cut my father's head off
04:39and hung it from your territory marker
04:40for three whole days.
04:42They didn't even leave him a body to bury.
04:44Did Silver Moon spare anyone back then?
04:45Later, word came from the clan.
04:48To pacify the remaining Silver Moon loyalists,
04:50the Dark Flame elders had made a decision
04:51Ethan would bind himself to me
04:53in the sacred fated mating bond.
04:54Ethan refused.
04:56That was also when I learned the truth.
04:58He'd already had a love,
04:59a woman he'd been searching for all these years.
05:02She'd gone missing.
05:03So all these years,
05:04I'd been the only one clinging to that memory,
05:07that fleeting night in the woods.
05:08On the day of the bonding ceremony,
05:10I was locked in a sparse stone chamber
05:12deep in the heart of the manor.
05:13No sacred chants from the clan elders,
05:15no full moon hanging high in the sky.
05:17Everything a true mating ceremony was supposed to have,
05:19this room had none.
05:20A maid walked in carrying a vial of dark liquid,
05:23heading straight for me.
05:24Without warning,
05:25she grabbed the back of my neck,
05:27holding me completely still.
05:28In the dark flame pack,
05:30a red birthmark is a mark of ill omen.
05:33It must be covered.
05:34I bowed my head,
05:36letting her pour the liquid over the birthmark on my skin.
05:38It was the only thing I had left.
05:40The only thing tying me to the past.
05:43The maid then brought in a crown.
05:45She said the alpha had ordered it prepared for me.
05:47I stared at the crown,
05:48my chest filling with endless,
05:50hollow bitterness and bitter mockery.
05:51If he hated me so much,
05:53why would he have something so precious made for me?
05:55But I had no right to ask.
05:57No right to refuse.
05:59I could only let the maid place the crown on my head.
06:01The maid supported me as I walked forward,
06:04step by step.
06:04Molly.
06:07Molly.
06:11Is that you?
06:13Molly.
06:16That crown was made for Molly.
06:19Who dared put it on her?
06:21Of course.
06:21He'd mistaken me for someone else.
06:23He'd thought I was her.
06:25The woman he'd loved.
06:26The one he'd been searching for.
06:29She made me do it.
06:32She heard it was for Lady Molly.
06:34And she threatened me to steal it for her.
06:37He believed her.
06:39Without a single moment of hesitation,
06:41he stormed forward,
06:42his hand closing around my throat,
06:44lifting me clean off the ground.
06:45I couldn't breathe.
06:47My face burned bright red,
06:48my feet kicking desperately in the air,
06:50my hands clawing at his arm.
06:51But his grip was like iron, unbreakable.
06:54Silver moon filth.
06:56You think becoming my Luna
06:57will make me spare your wretched clansman?
07:00Becoming your mate
07:01is the greatest shame of my life.
07:04Even if I die,
07:05I will never be the dark flame Luna.
07:08Just like my heart,
07:09it had long frozen and shattered.
07:11As the crown fell,
07:12searing pain engulfed me.
07:13I didn't know if he felt it,
07:15but I saw his hand around my throat tremble slightly,
07:18as if struggling against something inside him.
07:20Suddenly,
07:21he fisted his hand in my hair.
07:22His grip was so tight
07:24it felt like he would rip my scalp clean from my skull.
07:26The pain was so intense tears threatened to fall,
07:29but I bit down hard on my jaw,
07:30refusing to beg.
07:31He dragged me like that across the stone floor
07:33and threw me into the silver chamber.
07:35The deepest,
07:36most brittle torture chamber
07:38in the dark flame dungeons.
07:39Every inch of the room
07:40was forged from solid silver.
07:42Torture devices lined the walls,
07:44cold metal to humans,
07:45utter brutality to werewolves.
07:47Silver sears a wolf's skin and flesh,
07:50suppresses our natural healing,
07:51and leaves wounds that never fully heal.
07:53The guards bound me to a silver torture rack,
07:55silver chains locking around my wrists and ankles.
07:58The second they touched my skin,
08:00it burned like pressing my bare flesh
08:01to a red-hot iron plate.
08:03The chains quickly tore through my skin,
08:05blood seeping out,
08:06dripping down my arms and legs
08:08onto the silver floor below.
08:09The bright,
08:10cold metal reflected the dark pool of blood
08:12gathering beneath me.
08:13Outside the silver chamber,
08:15in the master bedroom at the top of the manor,
08:17Ethan sat in a chair by the window.
08:19One hand clenched so tight around the armrest
08:21his nails dug deep into the wood,
08:22leaving five deep claw marks in their wake.
08:24His other hand pressed hard against his chest.
08:27His knuckles whitened,
08:28veins bulged on his wrists,
08:30brows furrowed tight.
08:31Through our fated bond,
08:32every ounce of pain I endured
08:33in the silver chamber transferred perfectly to him.
08:35When a silver needle pierced my fingertip,
08:37his finger twitched.
08:38When silver chains burned my wrist,
08:40an eerie red mark appeared on his.
08:42But he didn't call it off.
08:43He just sat there,
08:44silently enduring the backlash of the mating bond,
08:47holding on through sheer force of will,
08:49fueled by nothing but hatred.
08:50He didn't make a single sound.
08:52No one knew we were fated mates.
08:54That's when Vivian arrived.
08:55She wore an opulent deep red gown,
08:57completely out of place in a damp,
08:59dark silver chamber.
09:00She walked slowly toward me,
09:01lifted her foot,
09:02and pressed it down hard on my already mangled hand,
09:04the one the silver needles had pierced through.
09:06She ground her heel into the wound,
09:07hard,
09:08my hand curled beneath her foot.
09:09My fingers feeling like they were about to be
09:11crushed clean off.
09:12Cold sweat broke out across my entire body,
09:14the pain so intense my vision went black,
09:16and I nearly passed out again.
09:17A fallen pack's worthless filth,
09:19a waste who can't even shift into her wolf form.
09:21You dare to covet Ethan?
09:23You dare to compete with me?
09:24Today, I'm gonna show you what true agony is.
09:27You think Ethan's gonna come save you?
09:28He's wishing you'd die in here.
09:30To him, you're nothing,
09:31not even a cheap replacement.
09:32She let out a cold laugh and turned to leave.
09:34The hem of her deep red gown brushed across my face,
09:37carrying a gust of wind on its wake.
09:38She insulted me to my face,
09:41and she stole the pack's territory maps,
09:44planning to leak our secrets to the enemy packs.
09:48Treat her well.
09:52The guard's eyes lit up with cruel,
09:54bloodthirsty excitement,
09:55and they stepped toward me,
09:56one by one.
09:57Their smiles were grotesque,
09:59ugly.
09:59One of them had already half-shifted into his wolf form,
10:02his claws extending,
10:03scraping against the silver floor with a high-pitched,
10:05ear-splitting screech.
10:06They grabbed my dress and ripped it clean off my body.
10:09Wolf claws raked across my skin,
10:11slicing for flesh like butter,
10:13blood spilling across the floor.
10:14A scream for its way out of my throat.
10:18A lull,
10:19rumbling wolf howl echoed from outside the door.
10:21Every single guard froze in place,
10:23stopping mid-movement.
10:24It was Ethan.
10:25Before the door could even be pushed open,
10:27Vivian grabbed a silver needle from the table beside her
10:29and drove it deep into her own arm.
10:31Ethan!
10:33Save me!
10:34She stabbed me with the needle!
10:35She even said Molly's been dead for years,
10:37that only she's worthy of being your Luna!
10:39And once again,
10:40he believed her.
10:41He turned to me,
10:42his eyes blazing with a murderous,
10:44all-consuming rage.
10:45This is the great alpha of the Dark Flame Pack.
10:48Are you really this stupid?
10:57He spun around,
10:58grabbing a thin silver needle pen from the table.
11:00It was the sacred tool the Dark Flame Pack used
11:02to ink permanent marks into a wolf's skin,
11:04its tip forged from pure silver,
11:05capable of leaving a mark that would never fade.
11:07No matter how hard we tried to heal it,
11:09he walked toward me,
11:10one hand slamming down on the back of my neck,
11:12his grip so tight I couldn't breathe,
11:14pressing my face hard into the cold stone floor.
11:16His other hand held a silver needle pen.
11:18The next second,
11:19the needle drove down into my skin.
11:21You're so desperate to mimic Molly,
11:24to be my Luna,
11:26then I'll give you what you want.
11:28In that moment,
11:29I knew I was the biggest joke in the entire world.
11:31The man I'd saved all those years ago
11:33had become my tormentor,
11:34my enemy.
11:35The pain was so great I nearly blacked out.
11:37I used the last of my strength to force out a few words.
11:40I regret saving you.
11:42What did you say?
11:44Say it again.
11:46I opened my mouth,
11:47but no sound came out.
11:48The darkness swallowed me whole.
11:50I passed out.
11:51Not long after,
11:52Vivian claimed she'd lost the Dark Flame Pack's territory map.
11:55It was one of the clan's most closely guarded secrets.
11:57A map detailing the layout of the territory's wards.
12:00If it fell into the wrong hands,
12:01the entire pack's safety would be at risk,
12:03even leaving us open to attack from rival wolf packs.
12:06That day,
12:06I was in my stone chamber,
12:08using warm water to clean the wounds covering my body.
12:10I wanted to wash away the humiliation,
12:12the exhaustion.
12:13I just picked up a clean set of clothes
12:15when a piece of parchment slipped out from inside,
12:17falling to the floor.
12:18I bent down to pick it up.
12:19It was a map.
12:24This is it!
12:25I knew she stole it!
12:27In that instant,
12:28I understood everything.
12:30One of the maids assigned to wait on me
12:31had planted the map here,
12:32to frame me.
12:33They wanted to destroy me.
12:34But I had no proof.
12:36And in this place,
12:37no one would ever believe me.
12:38In this manner,
12:39I was the daughter of the fallen Silvermoon Alpha,
12:41the hated child of the enemy.
12:43And Vivian was the woman closest to his heart.
12:45I stared at the parchment in her hand,
12:47and my mind flashed back to that night,
12:48ten years ago.
12:49To the map I'd pressed into his hand,
12:51with my own two hands,
12:52in that tiny hunter's cabin.
12:53I lunged forward,
12:55desperate to make him remember.
12:56My voice came out crass,
12:57trembling,
12:58almost too quiet to hear.
12:59That night in the cabin,
13:01the map I gave you,
13:03do you remember it?
13:05Shock flashed across his face,
13:07gone in an instant.
13:08His lips moved,
13:09but no sound came out.
13:11I could feel his breath coming fast,
13:12ragged,
13:13unsteady.
13:14What did you say?
13:15But before he could say another word,
13:17Vivian ran to his side.
13:17Ethan,
13:18don't believe her lies!
13:20She's just using Molly's name to trick you!
13:24She's the Silvermoon Princess!
13:26She's just trying to use your feelings for Molly to make you spare her!
13:30And he believed her.
13:31Again,
13:32the faint warmth in his eyes vanished in an instant.
13:34Replaced by a bone deep,
13:36freezing cold back caught right through me,
13:37he ripped his hand out of mine.
13:39The force was so great,
13:40I slammed back into the stone floor again,
13:42the back of my head hitting the hard rock,
13:43my vision going black once more.
13:45Bring me,
13:45the Silvermoon Alpha and Luna.
13:47Kill them.
13:48Hang their bodies from the territory marker on the border,
13:51for all to see.
13:52Panic surged through me.
13:54Pure,
13:55unadulterated terror.
13:56My father and mother were still locked in the dark flame dungeons.
13:59I dropped to my knees,
14:00hard,
14:00the stone slamming into my kneecaps.
14:02I crawled to his feet,
14:04my hands clutching tight to the legs of his pants,
14:06tears streaming down my face as I slapped myself,
14:08again and again,
14:09hard.
14:09I was wrong,
14:10I know I was wrong.
14:12Please spare them.
14:14I'll take every punishment,
14:16all of it alone.
14:17I'll never speak out of turn again.
14:19Please,
14:20just spare them.
14:22Through the mating bond,
14:23he could feel every ounce of my fear,
14:24my utter despair,
14:25as clear as day.
14:26I felt his breath catch,
14:27unsteady.
14:28He stormed forward,
14:29his head closing around my throat again,
14:31lifting me off the ground.
14:33I couldn't breathe,
14:34my face burning bright red,
14:35my consciousness slipping away.
14:36I closed my eyes,
14:38waiting for the final blow.
14:39My heart was completely calm.
14:41Maybe this would be better.
14:42No more pain.
14:44No more humiliation.
14:45If I died,
14:46I'd finally be free.
14:48But just then,
14:49the moonstone I'd hidden against my chest slipped out of my dress,
14:52falling to the floor,
14:52glowing with a faint,
14:53soft light.
14:54Ethan froze.
14:56His hand fell away from my throat.
14:58I could feel his fingers starting to tremble,
15:00uncontrollably.
15:02Vivian panicked.
15:03She scrambled to her feet and grabbed Ethan's arm,
15:05hard.
15:05Ethan,
15:06kill her!
15:07Kill her now!
15:08Avenge our clansmen!
15:09But he didn't answer.
15:10He just stared at me,
15:11unblinking.
15:12Take her away.
15:13Lock her up,
15:14under heavy guard.
15:16No one is to go near her without my explicit order.
15:19And no one is to harm her,
15:22ever again.
15:24Then he bent down,
15:25picked up the half-moonstone from the floor,
15:27and turned to leave.
15:28He left Vivian behind him,
15:30screaming and wailing hysterically.
15:31The guards took me away,
15:33locking me in a clean,
15:34quiet stone chamber.
15:35Someone brought me clean clothes,
15:37and a healing salve for the silver burns covering my body.
15:40I had no idea if he'd recognized me,
15:42if he'd finally remembered that I was the girl who'd saved his life all those years ago.
15:45Later,
15:46I learned what had happened,
15:47he'd ordered a full investigation into my past,
15:49into every single thing that had happened ten years prior.
15:51They'd combed through every old archive in the Silvermoon Manor,
15:54even tracked down the old craftsman who'd forged the moonstone pendant for the Silvermoon Alpha's daughter,
15:58all those years ago.
15:59This moonstone was one of a kind.
16:01There was no other like it in the world.
16:03He'd also learned that,
16:04ten years prior,
16:05I had indeed snuck out of the Silvermoon Territory,
16:07into the no-man's land beyond the ward.
16:09And the girl he'd been searching for all these years,
16:11Molly,
16:11was the girl who'd saved him.
16:13But the cruelest,
16:14most devastating truth of all was this.
16:16I was Molly.
16:17And he nearly killed me,
16:18with his own two hands.
16:19He ran for my chamber like a man possessed.
16:22The door slammed open with a deafening crash,
16:24and he had a stone wall behind it.
16:25He stormed inside,
16:26and then dropped to his knees,
16:28right in front of me.
16:29His eyes were red,
16:30bloodshot,
16:31swollen shut from crying.
16:32It was the first time I'd ever seen him cry.
16:34He took out two half-moonstones from his pocket,
16:37then put them together and showed them to me,
16:38but I didn't even glance at them.
16:40He reached out,
16:41like he wanted to grab the hem of my dress.
16:43His hand was shaking so hard he could barely hold on.
16:45Even his voice was broken.
16:47I'm sorry.
16:48It was all my fault.
16:49I'm so sorry.
16:51I stared at him,
16:52and not a single ripple stirred in my chest.
16:54All those days,
16:55all that torture,
16:55all that humiliation,
16:56all that pain,
16:57had carved deep,
16:58unhealing scars into my heart,
16:59into my bones.
17:00How could I ever forgive him,
17:02with just a single I'm sorry?
17:03I pulling the hem of my dress out of his grasp.
17:05Don't touch me.
17:07I'm Janik your enemy,
17:09not Molly.
17:10His hand froze in midair.
17:11His lips trembled,
17:12like he wanted to say something,
17:13but not a single word came out.
17:23Every single day,
17:24he sat outside the door of my stone chamber,
17:26like a child who'd done something terribly wrong.
17:28He didn't dare come inside,
17:30but he refused to leave.
17:31Sometimes,
17:32when I woke up in the middle of the night,
17:34I could see him through the iron bars of the window,
17:36sitting against the stone wall.
17:37Moonlight fell across the side of his face,
17:39the half piece of moonstone in his hand,
17:41glowed with a faint,
17:42soft blue-white light.
17:43The other half was clenched tight in the palm of my hand.
17:45Two halves of the same stone,
17:47separated by a single door,
17:48singing to each other across the distance,
17:50like two stars in the night sky,
17:51staring at each other,
17:52forever out of reach.
17:53He even cooked for me,
17:55himself.
17:55The great alpha of the dark flame pack,
17:57standing awkwardly in the kitchen,
17:58cutting meat.
17:59His knife skills were terrible.
18:01A perfect cut of venison was hacked into uneven,
18:03lumpy chunks,
18:04full of nicks and gashes.
18:05Hot oil splattered onto his hand,
18:07leaving a red burn in its wake.
18:08A wolf's healing ability would have fixed the wound in an instant,
18:11but he still flinched,
18:12wiping his hand carelessly on his sleeve before going back to cutting.
18:14When he set the dishes down in front of me,
18:16some were so salty they were bitter,
18:17some were completely bland,
18:18and some were just straight up burned,
18:20blackened charred beyond recognition.
18:21But he still set them down in front of me carefully,
18:23his eyes filled with quiet,
18:25hopeful anticipation,
18:26like a wolf bringing prey back to his mate,
18:28waiting for me to take even just one bite.
18:29He even tended to my wounds himself.
18:31He held the dark flame's special silver burn salve in his hand,
18:34spreading it gently over the wounds on my wrists and ankles.
18:37The blackened burns left by the silver chains were slow to heal.
18:40His movements were so gentle,
18:41like he was touching thin ice that would shatter at the slightest pressure.
18:44His rough fingertips spread the salve evenly across my skin,
18:47and every time he touched a wound,
18:48his brow would furrow tight,
18:50and he'd whisper apologies over and over again.
18:52It's all my fault.
18:53I've made you suffer too much.
18:54He told me everything that had happened in those 10 years.
18:58How he'd searched for me,
18:59how badly he'd wanted to find me.
19:01He said he'd worn that half of the moonstone against his skin
19:04every single day for 10 years,
19:06never once taking it off.
19:07He'd held it in his hand every night,
19:09rubbing it again and again,
19:10until the rough surface of the stone
19:12had been worn smooth and warm under his fingers.
19:14He said that every full moon,
19:16he'd shift into his wolf form and run alone across the moors,
19:20howling up at the moon,
19:21begging the moon goddess to help him find Molly.
19:23He called me Molly, he said,
19:25because that night,
19:27he'd seen the jasmine birthmark on my neck.
19:29He said he'd dreamed of me countless times,
19:32dreamed of the girl who'd saved him in the grass,
19:34the girl who'd ripped her mother's moonstone in two,
19:36pressed half of it into his hand,
19:38and smiled at him, saying live.
19:40He said every time he woke up from those dreams,
19:42he'd be clutching the moonstone tight in his hand,
19:45the stone warm from his body heat,
19:47but the spot beside him was empty.
19:49And his heart was empty, too.
19:51Watching him do all this,
19:53I'd be lying if I said my heart didn't stir,
19:55even just a little.
19:56But I couldn't forget.
19:58I couldn't forget the cold in his eyes
20:00when he threw me into the silver chamber.
20:02I couldn't forget the murderous rage in his eyes
20:04when he nearly ordered my parents killed.
20:06I couldn't forget that between us.
20:09There was a blood debt that could never be repaid.
20:11Just when the tension between us had softened,
20:14just the tiniest bit, new word arrived.
20:16Vivian had learned the truth.
20:18She'd learned what we really were to each other,
20:21that I was the girl he'd been searching for for 10 years,
20:24that I was his fated mate.
20:25She couldn't accept it.
20:27For 10 years,
20:28she'd climbed her way up the ranks of the dark flame pack,
20:31holding herself up as Ethan's future Luna.
20:33And now, a fated mate had appeared out of nowhere.
20:36The very same fallen Alpha's daughter
20:39she'd framed and tortured, over and over again.
20:41What she couldn't have, no one else would ever get.
20:44She allied with the pack's elders,
20:46and they decided to have me executed.
20:48When Ethan found out,
20:50he called the back with me that very night.
20:52The dark flame territory descended into chaos instantly.
20:56The elite warriors sent by the council of elders
20:58had blocked every single exit from the territory.
21:00He kept me shielded behind his back,
21:03one hand gripping his long blade,
21:04the other holding my hand so tight
21:06our fingers were laced together,
21:08like he'd never let go.
21:09A warrior's blade swung toward me,
21:12straight for my throat.
21:13Ethan didn't hesitate for a single second.
21:16He spun around,
21:17putting himself between me and the blade.
21:19The steel sliced deep into his arm,
21:22but he didn't even pause.
21:23He just looked back at me,
21:25his dark gray eyes filled with nothing but fear and worry for me.
21:30Then he turned back and kept fighting.
21:33Through the mating bond,
21:34I felt every bit of his pain,
21:36clear as day.
21:37But he didn't make a single sound.
21:39He just bit down on his jaw,
21:41swinging his blade again and again,
21:43cutting a bloody path through the warriors,
21:45carving out a way to freedom for us.
21:47Moonlight fell across his back as he fought,
21:50silver light tangled with dark, dripping blood.
21:52The half-moonstone hanging around his neck
21:54was stained bright red with blood,
21:56flickering in the dark of the night.
21:57Singing to the other half,
21:59pressed tight against my chest.
22:01In that moment,
22:02the ice around my heart cracked,
22:04just a little more.
22:05We fled to a hidden valley,
22:07deep in the mountains.
22:08He said he wanted to live here with me,
22:10to make up for every mistake he'd ever made,
22:13to ease every bit of pain he put me through,
22:15to help me forget the past,
22:16and start over.
22:17I didn't answer,
22:19but I wasn't as cold to him as I'd been before.
22:22But fate had another cruel,
22:23sick joke to play on us.
22:25My brother Dorian wasn't dead.
22:27The night the silver moon pack fell,
22:30he'd escaped.
22:31All these years,
22:32he'd gathered the remaining silver moon clansmen,
22:34and allied with three other wolf packs
22:36who hated the dark flame just as much as he did.
22:39And they were coming.
22:40Ethan knew this was a fight he couldn't outrun.
22:43He looked at me,
22:44his eyes filled with guilt and sorrow,
22:46his hand brushing gently through my hair.
22:49Janita,
22:50I'm sorry for dragging you into this again.
22:53I promise you,
22:54I'll keep you safe.
22:55When this fight is over,
22:57we'll come back here.
22:58We'll live here,
22:59quiet and peaceful,
23:00together.
23:01Wait for me to come home.
23:02I stared at him,
23:03and said nothing.
23:05I knew he was truly sorry.
23:06I knew he truly wanted to make it up to me.
23:09But some wounds would never heal.
23:12Not in this lifetime.
23:13He left me in the valley,
23:15and went back to the dark flame territory alone.
23:18Ethan led the dark flame warriors
23:19into battle against Dorian's army.
23:21I had no way of knowing how the war was going,
23:24who was winning.
23:25But through the mating bond,
23:27I felt the sharp,
23:28searing pain of Ethan's wounds,
23:30again and again.
23:31The pain slammed into my chest so hard
23:33I dropped to my knees,
23:34wrapping my arms around myself,
23:35my whole body trembling uncontrollably.
23:38In the end,
23:39Ethan won.
23:40He pushed back Dorian's army,
23:41and defended the dark flame pack.
23:43But he'd sustained a fatal wound.
23:45The dark flame pack's strength was decimated,
23:48too.
23:48Dorian retreated with the remaining
23:50silver moon clansmen,
23:51to go home and rebuild their pack.
23:53I ran from the valley like a woman possessed.
23:56When I found Ethan,
23:57I dropped to my knees beside him,
23:59and lifted him gently into my arms.
24:01His blood soaked through my dress,
24:03quickly,
24:04thick and warm.
24:05He slowly opened his eyes,
24:07looking up at me,
24:08a soft,
24:08relieved smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
24:11Janika,
24:13you finally forgive me,
24:15don't you?
24:16I shook my head,
24:17tears streaming down my face.
24:20I haven't forgiven you,
24:22I just don't want you to die.
24:24I have so many questions to ask you,
24:27so many scores to settle with you.
24:29You can't die like this.
24:31You still owe me.
24:33You haven't paid it back.
24:35He smiled softly,
24:36his eyes filled with love,
24:38and endless,
24:39crushing guilt.
24:40He lifted his hand,
24:41trying to brush my cheek,
24:43his fingers trembling.
24:44But before he could touch my face,
24:46his hand fell limply back down.
24:48I'm so sorry.
24:50Jania,
24:50I owe you too much.
24:52If there's a next life,
24:54I'll never mistake you for anyone else again.
24:56We could still be faded mates.
24:59Please.
25:00All the strength left my body.
25:02I collapsed over him,
25:03my mouth open,
25:04but not a single sound came out.
25:06Only silent tears,
25:08falling,
25:08again and again.
25:10Later,
25:10Dorian found me.
25:11He wanted to take me back to the silver moon pack.
25:14He'd brought our mother and father home,
25:17safe and sound,
25:18but I refused.
25:19I stayed in that valley,
25:21alone.
25:22Every full moon,
25:23I look up at the night sky,
25:24and whisper to the moon,
25:26soft and quiet,
25:27Ethan,
25:28if there's a next life,
25:30let us never meet again.
Comments