Chapter 12
I sat up straight, my heart stopped before it started racing madly.
"Is... Is that you?" I stuttered, my voice was filled with disbelief as I wiped away my tears.
Seconds slowly passed by, but I received no reply.
"Is that you? My wolf?" I called out once again, only to be met with deafening silence.
Undeterred, I attempted to call out again for several times, but all of my attempts have failed.
I retired to my bed, feeling defeated. I smiled wryly—the joy I initially felt had completely dissipated. The hope that was just ignited started to flicker until it disappeared like a candle in the wind. "Indeed. Everything was an illusion. My wolf has not appeared,”
When I closed my eyes in defeat, I heard a familiar voice.
"Chloe! It's me."
I froze before my heartbeat accelerated. Could it be?
I trembled from head to toe and wept excitedly. Trying hard to hold back the shock, I whispered, "My... wolf?"
"It's me!" This time, she finally replied, albeit in a weak voice.
"You finally showed up! I've been waiting for you, you know? I thought you abandoned me, just like
the others." I sobbed.
"That won't happen. I'm always here.” She had a gentle voice, sounding much like my mother when she visited me in my dreams.
My hands were shaking from the nervousness. I pursed my lips. "I want to know your name." "Aurora," she told me her name. And suddenly, I felt like I found a missing piece of my life. "Aurora, I am so happy to talk to you." I wiped away my tears before I added with a hesitant voice, "Could you... talk to me more in the future?"
My heart stopped for a moment as anxiousness filled my heart. I was worried, worried that my wolf would think I was being too clingy and become unhappy with my request. Thus, before Aurora could answer, I quickly explained, “I won't trouble you much! And I don't care if you're powerful or not. I just... wanted to talk to you more. I have no one else I could trust apart from you.”
I bit my tongue, tasting blood in my mouth as I felt a painful sensation that pierced my heart. That moment, I once again realized... without my wolf, I had nothing...
Thankfully, only after a short silence, I heard Aurora mumbled, "I'll try my best.”
She sounded reluctant, but her answer still made me feel overjoyed. It was like seeing the sunshine after an endless days of rain. Inside my heart, the pain and nervousness that I felt have completely disappeared.
If my wolf would be here for me I would no longer be alone. My eyes swelled with tears.
"In fact..." Aurora paused before saying, "You can trust Blake. He's our mate.”
I stopped and blinked once. My mind suddenly turned blank.
"But he lied to me," I explained to her, feeling a sharper pain in my heart.
Aurora likewise fell into silence. I could not hear her thoughts, but it seemed as if she was contemplating something. After a while, I heard her ask, "Do you plan to return to the Red Moon Pack?"
My eyes widened. I was speechless for a moment, not knowing what to say. Had I wanted to remain in that nightmarish place, I would not have put my life on the line to escape.
But that place was the only home I ever knew. Those people were the only family I ever had. I felt a lump in my throat. As my heart continuously sink to the bottomless ground.
Truthfully, there was nowhere else I could go to.
At first, I wanted to find Blake and lead a nomadic life with him. "But what now? Can I still be with him after he betrayed my trust?” I bit my lower lip, silently pondering as my mind was filled with confusion.
I could only come up with one conclusion. “I don't know.” I shook my head. "Vanessa is inheriting the Alpha position soon. My existence now means nothing to my father,” I told my wolf. Every words felt like knives piercing through my heart.
"But if I stay here, I—"
The knocks on the door interrupted me.
"Hello! Can I enter?" The unknown visitor asked. Her voice was loud and even sounded annoyed.
I frowned as I watched a maid wearing a black skirt with a white apron barged in before I could say a word. She wheeled a food cart to my bedside and placed the dishes on my headboard.
"Here's your lunch,” she announced. She didn't even pretend to be respectful. Her eyes were directly looking at me in a cold, unfriendly manner.
I blinked once before shaking my head once. "Thanks, but I have no appetite,” I whispered weakly. "That's none of my business. My job is to deliver your food. If you have no other orders, I shall leave now," The maid curtly answered, obviously irked with my answer.
I silently watched her before sighing. There was nothing wrong with the maid's behavior, and she had, indeed, delivered an exquisite lunch to me. Although I could tell from the tone of her voice that she really disliked me, that did not anger me. I was way more than accustomed to being on the receiving end of others’ vitriol. The maid was, at least, nicer compared to the people in my pack who openly mocked and splash hot soup on my face.
"I don't know why you dislike me that much, but...” I smiled at her. "Please don't worry. I'll leave soon, and I won't disrupt your life here." I decided to be honest with her.
After hearing me, the maid seemed taken aback. Her cheeks turned red, appearing to be a little embarrassed. "Well, it's not that I... dislike you," after a few seconds, she mumbled in an almost inaudible voice. "But your pack is too evil!" She frowned.
"What do you mean?" I was perplexed.
The maid rolled her eyes at me as if she could not believed I even asked that question. She blurted out, "Our king is poisoned—all because of your pack! Not only that, but many from our pack members are—"
She said before suddenly tensing up and covering her mouth as though she had let slip something that should not be said. Coughing softly to mask the awkwardness, she concluded with a quiet voice, "Anyway, I simply could not accept the Red Moon Pack for who they are.”
I could no longer process the words she was telling me after hearing about Blake's situation. "Is he not detoxified yet?" Grabbing her hands, I hurriedly asked her.
"Y-Yeah.” The maid gave me a confused and shocked look. "Didn't you know?"
"I did not. I always thought that he had already been detoxified,” I heard my own voice trembling. “How else could he arrive in time to save me if he wasn't cured of the horrifying effects of that poison? How else could he sit by my bed and talk to me?" My face turned very pale.
My hands started trembling. I wrongly assumed that the doctor had detoxified him.
I was a bundle of nerves when I once again grabbed the maid's arm and asked, "Where is he now?" "He's... at Dr. Arthur's,” she stammered, subconsciously taking a step back to create a distance between us.
"Bring me there. I need to see him immediately.” I demanded with a hurried voice.