The packs outcast Luna (Kaia and Theo) novel Chapter 7

Chapter 007

I balked.

Shivering with cold.

My injured shoulder pulsed,oozing with blood.

Cold crawled over the injury sending shivers down my lungs.

“No,I can’t die here. I really can’t die now” I muttered,dragging my tired legs along.

My clothes are torn; my hands are raw from running.

I keep walking. Hoping I’d find a safe cottage. The only safe place in the forest that I know.

When the moon rises, I stumble on an old cottage -roof caved in, herbs long dead. I know this place. It’s where my grandmother brewed healing teas for half the pack.

I push open the warped door. The air smells of ash.

I felt my body quivering with fever. My mouth ghostly paled with dark blood.

I stepped into the cottage.

It reeked of abandonment. Just like me.

Both pathetic and disgusting.

Easily discarded when not needed anymore. I’m no different from this abandoned cottage. Sitting on the ground, I undid my clothes and cleaned my wound with some herb water.

But the fever burned hotter.

My whole body burned with uncontrollable heat. Head spinning with pain.

I tried to get up but my legs tripped and I fell face down.

Mustering my energy, I tried again but then my face snapped to the wooden bed.

Something caught my eye.

Under the bed, something glints beneath the soot – a silver locket with a little wolf and crescent carved on the back.

I instantly recognised it.

It belonged to my grandmother.

Eveline Nightshade. My grandmother.

My throat burns. She’s been gone three moons, yet the ache still splits me open.

She was the only one who ever held me after my nightmares, the only one who believed I had a purpose beyond serving the Alpha’s will.

“You’re a healer because healing is what your soul remembers, child,” she used to whisper.“Even when they hurt you, don’t let their darkness stain your hands”

At the time, I thought she was rambling. I promised anyway.

Now, under the cold stars, I understand. The moon hangs higher than I’ve ever seen it;perfectly aligned north.

I buried the locket under my skirt and tried to get up again.

This time, I managed to get back on my feet.

Dragging my aching body to the wooden bed. A bed where grandmother and I shared a cold. Lonely nights away from Silvermoon.

Each step hurts, but the silence hurts more.

Without my grandmother, I was lost.

1/4

Chapter 007

The pain of losing her was unbearable. She was everything to me.

My father. My Mother. The only family I ever knew.

Three moons. Yet, the pain feels so raw.

Painfully bleeding.

Thanks to Draven and Liora, I would never get over it.

Barely a month after grandmother died, Draven shook my whole world to the ground with his affair with Liora.

Even in mourning, Draven and Liora didn’t spare me.

Grandmother died, and my heart shattered to pieces thanks to my Alpha’s betrayal.

If Grandmother were here, she’d know what really happened. She’d stand for me.

I sink to the bed in the half–collapsed cottage.

My hand tracing the edge where she slept, her favourite spot.

But she wasn’t there. She was long gone.

Dead,

For a moment, it almost feels like she’s here.

“The world isn’t exactly kind to the softhearted, Kaia,” she used to say, brushing a strand of hair from my face..” But that shouldn’t stop you from showing love to everyone”

I agreed with her back then.

But no, she was wrong. Completely wrong.

I can’t afford to show love to everyone.

That amount of love is a luxury I can’t afford to spend on trashy people.

I can’t afford it anymore.

Not after what he did. Not after what they did.

A low growl crawled in my throat, but it died there. Wolves without packs don’t get to snarl.

We survive. Quietly. Carefully.

I press the locket to my chest and whisper, “You told me to keep my heart open. But how can I do that, when everyone I love leaves me bleeding?”

The wind sighs through the broken roof like an answer I can’t hear.

For the first time since my exile, I let myself cry.

Not the silent kind I’ve grown used to, but the raw, shaking kind that tears something loose inside me.

I didn’t hold back. I let out all the pain I’ve built up the past three months.

When Grandmother died, I didn’t get to mourn before Draven shattered me even more.

And when I was accused, imprisoned and casted out, I wasn’t allowed a chance to cry.

Alone. Severely injured. Burning up.

Everything came crashing down, I can’t help myself anymore.

When the sobs fade, all that’s left is the sound of my breathing.

My chest heaving with pain I couldn’t get out.

I clutch the locket until my palm bleeds.

“I’m sorry, Grandma,” I whisper. “You left before I learned how to fight.”

“I wish you were here with me, grandma. I don’t want to live anymore. I want this pain to stop. Please make it stop”

2/4

Chapter 007

Every breath bruises against the fever clawing to my soul like a stubborn fly.

Every word coming out of my mouth was burning hot.

My body trembles with pain.

If Grandmother were here, she’d press a cool cloth to my forehead, mutter about stubborn girls who never rest.

She’d scold me for letting it get this bad but at least she would be here with me.

She’d hum that old lullaby under her breath -The one I could never make sense of.

But it was soothing. Very soothing.

But she’s gone. Three moons gone.

I bite down on a whimper as the pain flares again. My body trembles, sweat soaking my clothes, but I cling to her memories like treasures.

“You have to survive, Kaia,” she muttered to me the last time.“Promise me, you will survive”

“I already am trying,” I mutter, biting back tears.“But I can’t do it”

I don’t know how to survive anymore, Grandmother.

Clenching my fists, Draven’s bastard face crept into my mind.

I can’t forget how he cast me out of the pack.

Throwing away everything we built together for another woman.

Because he couldn’t keep it in his pants.

And Liora? She wanted everything I had.

Now, she has it. I can’t let her eat it and still have it.

I will make them suffer for everything they did to me.

For this, I have to survive.

Survive. Just survive.

Still shivering with cold. My eyes drooped.

I found myself falling asleep in no time.

–

Dreams drag me in to the last night of her life.

Grandmother lies beneath her quilts, skin pale, breath shallow.

I sit by her si, feeding her spoonfuls of honey broth. She squeezes my hand, eyes clouded but fierce.

“Kaia, child, ten to me,” she mustered.“Never show them your mark, don’t do it. Some secrets draws blood faster than a sword”

Tears drooped from her eyes, her breath caught.

“I know grandmother, I won’t show anyone my mark.” I agreed. You’ve told me a thousand times in the past. What is the mark on my back about?”

Coughed.“I wish I could tell you, little wolf but I don’t have the answers. Only the moon goddess has the answers but remember the moon goddess can only do so much. You have to find your own path”

I shook my head, confused. “I don’t understand what you’re saying,Grandmother”

Grandmother replied. “You are not meant for this Pack, little wolf. The moon has other plans”

I saw light dimming from her face. Grandmother was dying.

Still, I have no idea the secrets she talks about.

But you were right, Grandmother. The moon did have other plans for me.

And it’s the worst plan known to the wolf kind.

I’ve been stripped of everyone and everything I hold close to my heart.

3/4

Chapter 007

There is nothing left.

Nothing. Just void.

“You died before I needed you the most, Grandmother. And now, I have no one left”

I felt my body trembling with tears from my dream. I couldn’t stop myself.

“Grandmother, please take me with you. I can’t live without you” I clung to Grandmother’s dying feet, pleading.

“Dont say that, little wolf” Grandmother patted my shoulders.“Its my time to go to the moon goddess but you still have a long life ahead of you”

“You will face storms, Kaia but don’t let them subdue you. One day, when the moon shows you a path, don’t

hesitate”

I saw life going out of Grandmother. She didn’t speak anymore.

She was gone. Completely gone.

A growl crawled my throat. “Grandmother!”

I blinked and the dream faded away.

When I came out of my dream, reality crashed back, harsh and cold.

My skin is drenched, clothes clinging to me, but I’m shivering. My shoulder feels like it’s been set on fire from the inside.

A low gasp escapes me half–groan, half–breath.

I try to move, but my limbs won’t listen.

Everything aches, heavy and wrong, like my body’s sinking into the earth.

The wound’s reopened. I can smell the blood before I see it – metallic and rot mingling in the air.

My heartbeat stumbles in my chest, slow and uneven.

A tear slips down my temple.I try to speak but the words choke to my throat.

The ache in my shoulder pulses, my body trembling with the fever’s grip.

I close my eyes again, wishing I could fall back into that dream – Back into grandmother’s arms, her warmth, her sweet voice telling me I’ll be alright.

But the darkness that takes me this time isn’t gentle. It’s heavy. And it hurts.

A shadow moved ahead; tall, broad, steady. I blinked through the haze.

For a heartbeat, I thought it was death itself coming for me.

Then came the voice–hoarse, disbelieving, achingly familiar.

“Kaia?”

The last thing I saw before everything went black was a pair of eyes, wide with shock and something like relief.