The Salvation Trials ✔️

Chapter Twenty-Two - The Past

Winnie Melbourne

I crave darkness. It's the only thing on my mind as I limp out of the bright facility and stumble into the warm light of the Full Moon. I fall to my knees and then lean back, sitting on the heels of my feet. Gasping for air and coated in the blood of my enemies, I look up at the Moon. My wolf presses against my skin and begs to be let out. My skin ripples with her urge to shift but it does not come. It cannot come.

"I'm sorry.", I whisper to her. "The silver."

"Hurts.", she whimpers.

"I know."

I shudder as she tries one more time but gives up once she finally does realize how hopeless it is. Howls arise in the distance and I let out an exhausted laugh, wincing slightly as pain shoots up my back, across my ribs, and all throughout my chest. Red Mountain has come to save me but they are too late. I have already saved myself, done what is seemingly impossible, but the job is not done. There are more inside that I was unable to get to.

Just as the wolves of Red Mountain break through the treeline, the Full Moon disappears behind the clouds, shielding me in darkness. I sob in relief as the Shadows dart forward and cover me in their embrace, shielding me from any further harm as wolves run past me, storming the facility and ripping apart any remaining Hunters.

Leaning forward, my forehead meets the cold, dewy grass and I hug myself, crying. I feel the comfort of my brothers in the shadows, their hands on my back and in my hair. Two warm hands are added and I blindly reach out, pulling Alpha Kayson further into the shadows and clutching him like he was my lifeline. "You came!", I cried.

Alpha Kayson hugs me close, pressing my face into his chest. "I'm sorry I didn't come sooner. I didn't know where the Hunters were keeping you. I am so sorry, Winnie.", he says, his voice hoarse from the amount of emotion he feels.

I wanted to tell him it was okay but I couldn't. It wasn't okay, what happened to me wasn't okay, nothing was okay. Instead, I pulled myself closer to Alpha Kayson and dozed in and out of consciousness. I heard pieces of faint conversations that didn't really make sense to me, except for one statement.

"Prime Alpha Titus withheld her location from me."