Chapter3: Abandoned to Die
The Night Turns Red
The ambush came without warning.
One moment, Ivy was balancing a heavy bucket of water, her fingers stiff from the cold, her back aching from a day of endless chores.
The next
The night erupted into chaos.
A deafening chorus of snarls, screams, and the sickening crunch of bones snapping beneath powerful jaws filled the air.
Rogues poured in from the north, their eyes glowing with unholy hunger, their bodies moving like living shadows through the trees.
The scent of iron and death thickened around her, curling into her lungs, suffocating her.
Wolves clashed in a frenzy of claws and teeth, the sounds of impact—flesh tearing, ribs cracking, warriors howling in agony—blurring into one endless nightmare.
And Ivy
She stood frozen.
Her fingers slipped from the bucket, the water spilling across the ground, darkening the dirt like fresh blood.
She was trapped in the center of it all.
Too slow.
Too weak.
Too useless.
Then
A weight slammed into her side.
Her body crashed against the earth, hard.
Pain erupted in her ribs, sharp and immediate. Her vision blurred, spots bursting behind her eyes.
The sky spun above her, the glow of the full moon flickering through the trees.
For a moment, she forgot how to breathe.
All around her, the battle raged on.
Except no one was fighting for her.
She tried to push herself up, but before she could, a hand yanked her back down.
Left Behind
"Stay down!"
Lucas.
His face was streaked with dirt and blood, golden eyes wild with adrenaline.
He crouched beside her, his grip on her arm too tight, his body tense and ready to spring back into battle.
"You'd be no use in a fight," he hissed.
His words cut deeper than claws ever could.
Ivy's lips parted, but before she could respond, Lucas was gone.
Mid-stride, he shifted—bones snapping, fur exploding from his skin, his form twisting into something powerful and unstoppable.
A golden-brown wolf built for war.
And he never looked back.
She lay there, stunned, watching him disappear into the carnage.
Her breath shuddered.
She already knew the answer—
But she asked herself anyway.
Would he have left me if I had been stronger?
A Cruel Command
The world spun around her, the battle moving without her.
A warrior's scream. A rogue's dying snarl. The endless, chaotic dance of war.
She had to move.
She had to get inside, find shelter, escape before—
A voice cut through the noise.
Cold. Commanding. Unfeeling.
"Leave her."
The battle didn't pause.
But Ivy did.
Slowly, she lifted her head.
Alpha Kael stood above them all, on the ridge that overlooked the battlefield.
His silver eyes reflected the carnage beneath him, his face unreadable, his stance unshaken.
He might as well have been a god—one that had no mercy for the weak.
"She's already dead weight."
Something inside her cracked.
The warriors hesitated for only a second.
Then—
They obeyed.
No one grabbed her.
No one helped her.
No one even looked at her.
They moved without her, retreating to where Kael commanded, leaving her to die.
It was worse than pain.
Worse than fear.
This was nothingness.
She didn't exist to them.
Ivy let out a shuddering breath, her body trembling, her stomach twisting with something too raw to name.
Then
A growl rumbled behind her.
The Death She Expected
Ivy turned, and her stomach dropped.
A rogue.
Not just any rogue this one was different.
Larger than most, its fur thick and matted, its lips pulled back over razor-sharp teeth.
Its red eyes burned into her, gleaming with amusement.
Because it knew.
It knew she had been abandoned.
A lamb left for slaughter.
Its claws dug into the dirt, muscles bunching, preparing to strike.
Ivy scrambled backward.
Her breath came in short, uneven gasps.
No. No, no, no
Her body refused to move fast enough.
She had no weapons. No claws. No strength.
She had nothing.
The rogue lunged.
She barely had time to shut her eyes before the killing blow.
And for a fleeting, final moment, she thought
So this is how I die.
Weak.
Forgotten.
Alone.
Something Answers
Then
The air shifted.
A pulse, deep and ancient, like a forgotten heartbeat.
The ground shook beneath her.
The wind roared through the trees.
And in the depths of her soul
Something woke up.
It wasn't gentle.
It wasn't kind.
It was furious.
A shockwave of energy exploded from her body.
The rogue yelped, its body jerking mid-air, as if struck by an unseen force.
Ivy's eyes snapped open.
Her entire body hummed with power, something foreign yet familiar.
Something that had always been there.
Her hands trembled.
And for the briefest moment
She saw it.
Dark tendrils flickering at her fingertips, twisting like smoke, like dying embers.
Then—
Gone.
The rogue staggered, its ears flattened, a snarl of uncertainty ripping from its throat.
It didn't understand what had just happened.
Neither did Ivy.
All she knew was
She wasn't supposed to be able to do that.
She took a shaky breath.
And then
She ran.
She didn't know where she was going.
She only knew she had to get away.
Her pack had left her for dead.
The rogues had marked her as prey.
But something inside her had changed.
Something new.
Something dangerous.
And she had no idea what she was running toward
Only that she was no longer running from.