IX

His eyes burned with an unspoken fury, locking onto Davina like a predator about to strike. Austin merely shrugged in response to her glance, a dark grin twisting his lips as though he relished the tension.

"Etha—"Before she could finish, Davina moved faster than the wind, positioning herself in front of the small boy. Her arms wrapped protectively around him, drawing him into a fierce embrace. But Ethan fought back, thrashing, punching, and pushing her with all the strength his small body could muster. Still, she held on, unmoved by his struggles, her voice a mere whisper in the storm of his rage."I'm sorry."

His fists pounded her chest, each blow a testament to the pain she had caused him, the betrayal etched into his young heart. His voice broke, trembling with both anger and sorrow.

"Twice... You left me twice. You abandoned me! Why are you back? Just leave! I don't need you!"

The venom in his words cut her deeper than any blade could. Warm tears streamed down his cheeks, and Davina's heart shattered. He wasn't wrong. Every word was the truth. She had left him. Again and again.

"I don't need you!" Ethan's voice cracked as he screamed, his small hands tightening around her neck in a desperate grasp.

For a long moment, they stayed locked like that, the sobs wracking his little body slowly fading into quiet whimpers. The rage, so fierce at first, began to dissolve into exhaustion.

"Let's go back... let's go back to our house," Ethan whispered, his words barely audible, but Davina heard them as clearly as a death knell. His voice, raw and broken, echoed in her soul.

The life they had before—it was drenched in blood, but there had been peace too. A cruel sort of peace.

She wiped the tears from his face, her fingers trembling. "I have something to do first. But once it's done, you and I... we'll go back. Back to our house." A smile, hollow and dangerous, twisted her lips. For a moment, the flicker of something dark passed through her eyes, a shadow that even Ethan could sense, though he was too consumed by his emotions to fully understand it.

"What more?" Ethan muttered between hiccups, his voice weak. "You'll leave again?"

"Not this time," she vowed, her grip on his hand tightening.

They approached Austin, who stood watching them from afar, a wide grin still plastered across his face, though a flicker of worry clouded his expression. The land they were on—Alex's land—haunted him. He knew it was only a matter of time before their paths crossed again, and the fear gnawed at him, a fear of what Davina might do when it happened.

A sudden gust of icy wind howled through the trees, and a massive silhouette emerged from the darkness behind them."Is she the girl?" the man's voice, deep and commanding, sent a chill down Davina's spine. Her heart pounded violently as the sound of it crashed into her like a wave. The air seemed to freeze, her blood running cold, and sweat began to bead on her palms.

In any other time, any other life, she would have run into his arms. But not now. Now, Alex didn't even remember her. He was getting engaged. To someone else. To a girl he was supposedly head over heels in love with.What was she supposed to do?

Davina's mind raced, torn between the urge to tear that girl apart and the painful reality she couldn't ignore—the truth in Alex's eyes. Those grey eyes, shining with a brilliance she'd never seen before, holding a happiness that wasn't meant for her.

"No. Drop that Mother Teresa act," Daeliah's voice growled in her mind. "I love galaxies too, but we're not letting that girl drapped in blue have him."

A strange comfort washed over her at her wolf's words. If Daeliah agreed, maybe she wasn't as lost as she felt. She straightened, masking her face with a smile so fake it hurt, and once again, those mesmerizing grey eyes caught hers.

On the other side, Alex stood frozen, his eyes locked onto hers with a mixture of longing and confusion. There was something there, something buried deep inside, tugging at his heartstrings.

"Night," his wolf whispered for the first time in what felt like eons.He was in the middle of slipping a ring onto Victoria's finger, but his gaze had latched onto a girl in the distance—Davina. Her appearance was jarring. She looked like she'd just crawled out of a war, her body littered with fresh wounds, her clothes ripped and barely covering her battered form. Despite it all, she was still breathtaking, an ethereal beauty that shouldn't have existed in a place like this.

Her eyes, though... her forest-green eyes, they told a story. A story of scars. Of battles fought and lost. Scars he wanted to understand.

"Is she the girl for whom you turned my pack upside down?" Alex finally spoke, finishing the sentence from earlier. His eyes remained glued to Davina.

"No," Austin snapped back, too quickly, his voice defensive. It was a mistake. A mistake that made Alex doubt him. An awkward silence fell over them like a shroud, broken only when another voice pierced the stillness.

"There you are. I've been looking for you everywhere."

"Victoria," Alex whispered without turning around.Davina turned too, her gaze locking onto the same girl she had seen earlier—the one draped in blue. Her heart twisted in her chest as she watched Alex pull the girl closer, his hand sliding into hers. The bond between them may have been broken, but the sight still sent shards of pain through Davina's body, like a thousand needles piercing her skin.

Ethan tugged at her hand, pulling her attention back. She forced a wide smile, trying to reassure him, but the dimming light in her eyes betrayed the truth.

"You're hurt. Let me treat you," Victoria said, her voice too kind, too soft. It brought Davina's gaze back to her bruised and broken body, and for a moment, she saw the flicker of concern in Victoria's eyes.

"I don't need your pity," Davina thought bitterly, but before she could speak, Alex interrupted."Let her treat you. She's a doctor."

Davina sighed, exasperated. "Of course she is."

She bit back the retort, nodding stiffly as she turned to Ethan."I'll be back. Stay with Austin until I return," she whispered softly. Ethan nodded reluctantly, his eyes wide with worry. She glanced at Alex one last time before following Victoria towards the pack's infirmary.

The celebration around them seemed to fade into the background, the sounds of laughter and joy a distant echo. A deep, unsettling silence settled over the forest. The further they walked, the more Davina's unease grew. No guards. No presence. Just an overwhelming sense of dread.Suddenly, hands wrapped around her neck, and a brutal force slammed her back against a nearby tree. The air rushed from her lungs as her vision blurred. She gasped for breath, her blood turning to ice as her gaze met those of her attacker.

Victoria's once kind eyes had turned blood red, her smile a twisted, cruel mockery of what it had been before.

"I let you live," she whispered, her voice dripping with malice. "And yet you returned."