With the way Rowan held onto , I could vaguely look past the cliff’s edge and down at the watery graveyard below. There was nothing there but endless fog and the occasional glimpse of the dark rapids and the spiky rock pillars.
I wasn’t sure if this was fortunate or not, but I did not manage to spot either Magnus or his cronies’ bodies impaled by one of the rock spikes. They had most likely fallen into the waters and were pulled away by the currents. However, whether they had survived the fall or not was an entirely different story, one that I did not wish for Lucien to reenact.
"Lucien, no!" I yelled, hoping that my voice would carry over to him on the other side. "Don’t! It’s too dangerous! You’ll die!"
I didn’t want to gamble on it.
No. I couldn’t gamble on it.
This was way too much of a risk, one that I wasn’t willing to take. If we were both still alive, we would find our way back to each other eventually. However, if he died here trying to cross this impossible ravine, then all hope would be lost.
I couldn’t return to the life I lived before I found out about Lucien’s existence. He had not marked yet, but I could already feel my entire world tilting on its axis ever since I t him. Every nerve in my body was screaming at ; I knew that this was the sort of feeling I was supposed to feel with a fated mate, and not the disgusting pull I felt with these three monsters.
Unfortunately, the said monsters were now staring at , their beady golden eyes filled with unbridled rage as they glared at . They need not sneer nor snarl, but I could already imagine the frigid expressions they no doubt wore, as if telling I was too bold to dare run away.
Not that it mattered that I didn’t willingly escape this ti, but was stolen from the pack. They wouldn’t care.
I tore my eyes away from the triplets and strained my neck to look at Lucien. He had heard and skidded to a stop, standing right at the cliff’s edge. He growled, snarling at the triplets while the latter three rely looked proudly on.
Behind Lucien, the small group of rogues had finally caught up. Even with Magnus’s mission complete, and I was now in the claws of the triplets of Shadowclaw, they still seed determined to take on Lucien in a fight.
After all, if they won and Lucien died, one of them could beco the new king of rogues.
"Behind you!"
Lucien whirled around and ducked as a wolf jumped at him. Because of this, the wolf went soaring off the cliff, whining pathetically as it fell down into the abyss. The others lunged their own attacks, snapping their powerful jaws and swiping their claws in Lucien’s direction.
For the most part, Lucien managed to dodge away, jabbing attacks of his own to push them back. However, the sheer number of enemies simply beca too much for him to hold as one person.
One swipe caught his back, and I noticed a red gash appearing through the black of his fur. Right as he staggered, another attacked, biting down hard on his hind leg. His whine of pain sent a tremor of pain and worry shooting through my heart.
"No!"
I struggled against Rowan’s jaws, determined to break free. However, he bit down harder, his teeth clamping on the tender flesh of my stomach.
"Let go of !" I cried out, ignoring the growing pain in my sides.
Behind us, either Soren or Cassian made a huffing noise. Then, Rowan turned. All three of them slowly trotted away, and I twisted and turned, trying to catch a glimpse of Lucien.
I turned back just in ti to see Lucien successfully retaliate, pushing two other enemies down into the ravine. However, they were like the hydra― whenever he took down one, two more erupted to take its place.
It was never-ending.
Slowly, they piled on top of him, and Rowan carried away, up until Lucien was no longer in my line of sight.
"Stop! Let go! I don’t want to go with you!" I scread, struggling even harder. I could feel Rowan’s teeth piercing my flesh in so parts, but I ignored the burning pain.
I needed to go back. Maybe I could help Lucien. If he died... If he died―
In my panic, I hadn’t even noticed that Cassian had co closer towards . With one stroke of his paw, he knocked the back of my head. I gasped in pain, and then, all I saw was black.
***
Pain split through the back of my skull. I groaned, feeling the uncomfortable sensation rippling through my entire body from my head to my shoulders and beyond.
I cracked open an eyelid, my breath shaky as the light pierced into my eyes. Squinting, I blinked rapidly, trying to acclimate to the blinding light. It didn’t take long before I was able to take in the sights around .
From what I could tell, it was a small, compact room that I wasn’t familiar with. There wasn’t much, just the bed I was lying in, along with a small dresser in a corner. On my right was a window and a bedside table. On my left...
When I finally turned and saw the man sitting there, I jerked back in shock.
With his arms folded across his chest and one leg resting over the other, Cassian sneered at , his expression thunderous.
"Look who finally decided to show up," he said with a hurrumph.
I frantically glanced around, only to clutch my head in pain when the world around blurred and tilted.
"Where..." I said, my voice weak and hoarse. "Where did you take ? This isn’t Shadowclaw, is it?"
I had cleaned the entire pack house countless tis, and I had never seen a room like this one. I highly doubted they commissioned one to be built right after an intense battle just to house . They would’ve been better off throwing into one of the dungeon cells.
"And have your precious Lucien co for you again?" Cassian retorted. "As if. He’ll never find you here. That’s if he’s even alive."
"Lucien!"
I sat up imdiately at that na, but a piercing pain jabbed through my sides, causing to cringe in pain. I collapsed back onto the bed, and Cassian rely sneered at my pathetic self. However, I was already long past the point of caring about appearances.
"Where is he?" I asked. "What did you do to him?"
"Nothing," Cassian said with a shrug. "His own wolves did plenty, though. Last I saw, he was getting ripped apart by those he called his pack."
Cassian bent down, closing the distance between us. Our noses were nearly touching, but this close proximity only brought a wave of repulsion rather than the heart-fluttering sensation that it used to bring .
The mate bond between us was weak, if it even still existed at this point.
"That is why rogues can never be part of a pack," Cassian lowly said. "The sooner you learn it, the happier you’ll be. You can never have a future with a rogue like him."
"And I’ll have a future with you?" I asked. My gaze turned to the door. Rowan and Soren weren’t around, but I could picture their faces in my head. "With any of you?" I added. "Do you really think I’ll have a happy future?"
"That’s the point," Cassian said, the words slipping past his lips like venom. "You’re not supposed to be happy. You don’t have the right to be."
"That’s not sothing for you to decide!" I yelled. "I have done nothing to the three of you! Willow’s supposed death isn’t my fault― in fact, if you three had sent out a search party imdiately after she disappeared, maybe you would’ve been able to find her!"
I continued, "Her body was never found. She might not even be dead! But after such a long ti missing, she might as well be, and it would’ve been all your fault!"
"Shut the fuck up―"
"The only reason why you have to lie in bed with a Luna who isn’t your first choice, nor the choice of the Moon Goddess, is purely due to you three’s poor decisions," I said slowly, my eyes brimming with hatred. "You could’ve had a suitable chosen mate, and by extension, a suitable Luna to lead the pack. Or, we could’ve lived a good life as fated mates, but you threw that out the door as well."
Cassian stood up, the legs of the chair scraping loudly against the wooden floor, sounding like nails on a chalkboard.
"Shut your mouth, Briar, before I make you―" His eyes were glowing gold, a sign of his wolf surfacing due to his anger.
However, that made two of us.
"You’ve ruined your own lives because of your own stupidity, your pettiness, and because you three refuse to let go of a grudge that birthed from Goddess-knows-where!" I yelled. "And I refuse to be the one paying for the consequences of your actions any longer!"
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