The Betrayal

Chapter Forty-Seven

I groaned, my eyes slowly opening to darkness. My body... everything was so weak... I could barely move.

Someone cursed above me and I wiggled my body, to try to escape the heaviness that held me down. Fingers poked through the dirt and hit my stomach. Slowly, the darkness disappeared and my eyes fluttered opened, looking up at Valerio who was clawing at dirt and kicking it up behind himself.

When his eyes met mine, he breathed in relief and wrapped his arms around my body, lifting me out of the hole in the ground. "Mae..." he whispered nervously. He gently placed me on the ground. "Get a healer!" he yelled. "Now!"

I glanced around, studying the crowd that had begun to form. Some Protectors were shifted into their wolves.

"Find him! Find him now!" Valerio ordered.

The wolves pushed their snouts to the sky, howling, and then raced through the forest splitting up in different directions. "Valerio... he... he was the one..."

Valerio shook his head, he had an arm wrapped around my head and was stroking my face with his other. "The one?"

"It... it all makes sense... he..." My eyes widened, thinking back to the realization that he was working against me. "... Damon! Damon!" I jumped out of his hold, but he grabbed my waist pulling me back down. "Let me go! He killed Damon!" Tears blurred my eyes as I struggled against Valerio, but my arms and legs were too weak.

After saving the pups and after what just happened, all of my energy was nearly drained.

"Calm down, Mae... calm dow-"

I gathered up enough strength and yanked myself out of his grasp, standing to my feet. I winced as I limped to the entrance of the Protector's home. I pulled the steel door opened, pushing it with all my strength so I could slip past it.

Valerio grabbed the edge of it, holding it opened for me, and I jogged to the stairs. My hand grasped onto the handle and I pulled myself up the stairs with my uninjured arm.

Once I made it to my office, I pushed the door opened, my hands shaking.

When I saw his body in a river of his own blood, my knees gave out beneath me and I fell to the ground. A scream escaped my lips.

I posted my hands on the ground, doubling over. "No!" I screamed. I shook my head, not believing the man I loved was dead.

I crawled over to him, splashing through his blood. My hands shakily cupped his face.

His eyes that held so much life in them at some point were now completely dull and lifeless. My chin trembled, and I lifted his head to mine, leaning my forehead against his.

"No... no... no..." My breath became heavy and ragged as tears blurred my vision. "No."

I pulled away from him, wiping my tears off of his face. I shook my head. I needed to heal him. He can't be gone. He can't.

I looked down at his chest, my eyes widening as I watched Aeron's black mist rot away the flesh around his heart. I squeezed my eyes shut, placing my hand over the hole. Pain seared my palms as it made contact with the mist.

I needed to revive him. I needed to. My mark would help me just like yesterday, just like it helped the pups.

My muscles clenched in my body and I tried focusing on Damon's body... healing Damon... Damon's smile... his laugh... his beautiful green eyes... his soul.

I could do this. I had to. His soul hadn't left his body yet.

Moments raced by.

"Mae..." someone whispered behind me.

I shook my head, trying to focus. Focus and heal. Focus and heal.

"Mae..." Valerio whispered once more.

Tears streamed down my face with each passing moment, my hands shaking more and more. The pain lingered in my palms. I glanced down through tears. The wound, it was closing...

My heart raced... it... it was working! It was working!

Heal him, Mae. Heal him.

My eyes shut, becoming heavy. My arms, my heart aching.

This needed to work. It needed to. I couldn't let him just die.

Suddenly, stars blurred my vision, making my head spin slowly. I tried focusing on the darkness that clouded my vision, but my body still swayed. Hands grasped my waist and pulled me away from Damon. I tried to fight them, but my body was too weak. I could barely move.

My fingers dug into Damon's arm, refusing to let him go.

"Mae... Mae... stop. You can't help him. You're burnt out. You saved those pups yesterday. Your body is too drained to save him too," Valerio said, he tightened his hold on me. Again, trying to pull me away.

I thrashed in his arms. "No! Let me go! Let me save him, please!" I begged, yet Valerio held me tighter.

I used the energy I had left to pull myself away from Valerio. I wrapped my arms around Damon, pulling his heavy body up into my arms and to my chest. I shook my head, refusing to believe this.

He couldn't die. My chest heaved up and down.

No... no... How could this be happening? First, Luca and now him? No, it couldn't.

I replaced my hands on his chest, on the semi-healed wound. A white mist began to lift from his body, pulling away from him.

I shook my head. "No!" I screeched. "NO!" With the palm of my hand, I wiped the tears from my eyes, my lips trembling. I covered the hole in his chest, to try to stop the mist from escaping but it continued until there was none left.

My gaze lifted from his chest to the mist that hovered above his body. I reached my trembling fingers out to it. It wrapped around them and, suddenly, my body absorbed it.

His thoughts, his memories, his pain raced through my mind.

His unwavering 'I love you's and the way his lips curled into a smile.

His unbearable pain and the way his muscles ached from constantly trying to be strong for his pack.

His deep chuckle and the way his heart tightened in his chest.

His childhood friends running around the front yard.

His wolf's howl and the way his blood pumped through his veins as he ran.

And, then, I saw his final memory. Me and the shocked and confused expression on my face.

How could I be so stupid? Why hadn't I seen this before? Damon never trusted Aeron, yet I completely overlooked that.

He was dead because of me. Everyone was dead because of me.

Dad.

Mom.

Luca.

Richard.

Damon.

It was my fault. All my fault.

I shouldn't be a Moon Goddess. I didn't deserve it. All my friends and family were dying because of me.

"Mae... let's go," Valerio said from behind me.

I shook my head, Damon's memories fading away. A small pain pulled at Damon's mark and I lifted my fingers to it, my fingers grazing against it and the memories replayed.

Tears streamed down my face. Why? Why was he dead?

Valerio wrapped his hands around mine, but I ripped his hands away and fell onto Damon's body. I hid my face in his neck and curled up next to his body, grasping for life, trying to hold on to him for a little bit longer. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry."

A/N

Sad chapter.

Damon's gone, but Mae absorbed his soul. She still has a piece of him left.

2 more chapters ❤️

Warmly, Destiny