Later.
23: Chapter 23 – Five Days Later.
JUNE’S POV.
“If you hear any sound in there, don’t wait to find out what it is.
Run!” Tristine said, his voice deep and firm, his eyes shining with a concern that only irritated me.
My jaw tightened and I felt my blood simmering beneath my skin.
I was tired of pretending.
Tired of acting as though I could get along with the son of my enemy.
‘Just two more days…
Two days, and it’d all be over for good!’ Those words had become my only source of comfort, the reason I kept pushing forward as the day drew closer.
A few feet away from us stood Elder Gerald and the rest of the elders who had come to witness the test.
They all lowered into a bow as I turned to them.
“Go well, Princess, and return with glory,” Elder Gerald said, his raspy voice carrying a sincerity that made my chest tighten.
A concern that only reminded me of the depth of his betrayal.
Once one of my father’s closest friends, now the Chief Elder of the Red Moon Pack.
My fists clenched as the stench of his betrayal filled my heart with hatred.
Before turning toward the West Wood, I caught the excited glint in Princess Cassy’s eyes, but the look in Luna Amelia’s gaze remained unreadable.
Without sparing Tristine another glance, I gathered my hair into a bun and strode toward the entrance of the West Wood, barely concealing my urgency to get inside as quickly as possible.
The grass beneath my feet swayed gently in the breeze, but my eyes remained fixed on the vast stretch of towering trees ahead.
Their dark green crowns stretching into an endless mass as I drew closer.
At the entrance of the West Wood, not a single bird sang, nor was there the chirping of crickets.
A thick silence hung over the forest, yet it wasn’t nearly as terrifying as Tristine had made it sound over the past five days while urging me to abandon the Purity Test of a Luna.
The clearing was bright and open, making it no different from the East Wood.
But my gaze remained fixed on the path ahead.
More than the Moon-veil Blossom, I was searching for something else.
I had once overheard Lord Boston speaking to one of his subjects about the man restrained in the West Wood—a former servant of the Crystal Moon Pack.
What I couldn’t understand was why he had been imprisoned there when Tristine’s father had taken in some of the elders, like Elder Gerald, along with several members of our Pack after the fall of the Crystal Moon Pack.
Lord Boston didn’t tell me much apart from the fact that the beast had once been a servant of a witch.
But I knew there was more to the story – something far beyond what met the eye.
So when I heard about the opportunity to enter the West Wood, I seized it without hesitation.
Maybe…
just maybe, I’d find something.
As the forest darkened around me, a delicate floral fragrance drifted through the air.
It was pure, soothing, and strangely comforting.
It filled my whole being and as if hypnotized, drew me toward the source.
The sunlight grew thin as I delved deeper into the woods almost completely shut out by the twisted branches that formed a canopy above me, and the atmosphere became increasingly chilly.
The closer I got, the stronger the fragrance.
Then I saw it, surrounded by low shrubs and lush ferns that carpeted the forest floor, the Moonveil Blossom stood proudly at the center.
It’s stem layered with soft white petals which shone through the cold darkness surrounding it.
The light wasn’t harsh, it flowed over the clearing, bathing leaves and bark with the likeness of moonlit shimmer.
My lips curled upward as the elegant moon shaped flower left me almost transfixed and for a moment I almost forgot the purpose that brought me there until the stench of old blood, slipped through the fragrance snapping me out of its entrails, and a chill ran through me.
Before I could react, I heard a low sound drifting through the trees.
It wasn’t a growl or a laughter, something caught in between.
Something like a broken chuckle that scraped out into the silence.
Then a voice came, hoarse and cracked, “Blood!” I heard it inhale, it was both long and ragged, followed by a raspy giggle that sent an uneasy feeling crawling down my spine.
“Fresh…
blood.” It hissed, its voice echoing all around me, void of any clear direction, like a ghost lurking in the dark.
For the first time ever, fear wrapped around my skin.
Within two seconds, I felt it heavy like a mass standing right behind me.
It was so strong that my whole body reacted to it, spinning almost immediately.
My chest rose and fell faster with every breath, and the thudding of my heartbeat grew louder in my ears as my gaze landed on a pair of protruding orange-colored eyes with narrow slit pupils, like those of a serpent.
They were staring right back at me in the moonlit like shimmer.
No, It wasn’t a beast, it was a man.
A huge, bearded man whose hair and beard had turned gray, grown long and tangled from years of neglect.
His clothes hung loosely from his body, worn out and tattered, a reflection of the years he had spent trapped there.
Scratches covered his skin, many of them oozing with a strange chemical scent that made my stomach churn.
“Fresh young blood of a human…” He growled the words with the desperate craving of something that had been starved for years.
Then he bared his blackened lower teeth, almost as if trying to show me the fang that remained hidden beneath his monstrous appearance.
Then he tilted his head, his gleaming orbs sinking into me, I felt it heavy on me like he was staring at my soul, and while it lasted, I almost forgot to breathe.
My pulse spiked so hard, and every instinct screamed at me to run, but my feet wouldn’t move.
His orange orbs held my feet stuck to the moist floor.
“I’m not here to hurt you,” I finally found my voice, but it trembled badly, revealing the little confidence I had left despite all the training I had received about controlling fear.
I gathered every ounce of courage I could find and slowly released a breath, trying to calm my racing heart.
“I know you can still hear me,” I continued.
“I want to help you.” He slowly rose to his feet, towering over me.
His orange orbs glinted fiercely as his lips stretched into a cruel smile, revealing a blackened set of decayed teeth.
“You’re not from the Red Moon Pack,” he rasped.
His gaze lowered toward me, sharp and knowing.
“And you’re carrying the future heir of the Red Moon Pack.” A twisted smile spread across his face as the words left his lips.
“If I could feast on your blood right now…” His voice dropped into a chilling whisper.
“It would be my greatest revenge.”