Lucien

•15•

Bambi shifted, now a soft sandy wolf, racing through the forest.

She had never been the fastest like Maia- she was a runt. Little and weak, barely not an omega.
The size of a deer. So much irony.
So much laughter.
The laughter was haunting. Bambi was haunted.
Why couldn't she let go like Maia, escape to a wonderland of rainbows? Pretend it never happened?

How could she voice her grievances if she couldn't even speak?

Bambi shook her head. Pushing her four legs faster as her heart raced and pain filled every fiber of her being.

That was wrong. Maia never forgot. Never could. Instead, she accepted it. Embraced it. Acknowledged the only spot in the afterlife for them was hell. Burning for eternity for their sins committed so young and feeble.

Might as well burn early.

Bambi searched, searched for a cliff, water, anything. Even a filthy rogue. That would be an equally ironic and fitting end.
Let it all end and burn.

She could sense him. Sense him nearing her. So she pushed even harder, trying not to stumble through the unfamiliar terrain. She couldn't get caught. Not again.

Not again. Never again.

They would get her again. Then, like a smack to her face, her mate could just kill her.
That's why he was after her, he was going to kill her.
There was no other reason. Why else would he give chase after she smashed a vase against his head? He  must be furious.

She slowed before stopping. Her ears pricking as she waited.

Then she shifted, completely bare and naked in the darkening forest. It was getting dark.

That's when demons came out.

Her heart burned like everything else, and her wolf fought. Fought hard for control and she realized Bambi genuinely wanted to give up. Let their mate hurt them. No.

No!

Bambi sat on the forest floor- no- collapsed on a heap. Her legs gave out. It had been so long since she had run with such fever. Such velocity to escape.

She was tired of running. Tired of escaping her fate.
If this was her fate- then she deserved it. Deserved to die.

That was the truth. The truth that stopped her from speaking a word again since that night. The truth only she and Maia knew.
She should've burned with everyone else that night.

Bambi deserves to die. Should die. Should be dead, and has only been escaping to prolong her false sense of security, because if the demons wouldn't kill her after they found her again, then she should just end it all now.
Shakily, as she heard her mate nearing, felt the bond strengthening once more, she let a single nail sharpen into a talon on her small finger.

Then she dug it into her wrist, deep enough to touch the bone, and with utter agony, dragged it up.

Red.

Red once more littered her skin. As she watched numbly, as the crimson liquid began to poor out of her, and her body start to become light headed and weak.
This was right. Out of all the wrong in the world, this was right.
Maia has her mate now. Maia has escape and solace unlike Bambi.

She would understand too. She wouldn't cry. Wouldn't suffer.

Because she would understand.

Dramatics. So many didn't realize how harshly a wolf felt emotions. How much torment she'd already lived through- and how she simply needed to entirely throw away the hope of finding a mate to love her- there was no love.
Not with a beautiful woman on his bed awaiting them.

He had to have smelled her. He was a Lycan, a beta, it was impossible not to know!

A roar broke out of the forest behind her, as Bambi didn't even flinch. Didn't even acknowledge the howl of pain and anguish. She simply watched the blood continue to poor onto the forest floor, over her bare body. Down her wrist, over onto her thighs, onto the floor.

Maybe something good would come of this. Something she had been so scared to do even knowing it was the correct thing.
Her father said it, and her brother agreed.
Maia didn't say a word, because she couldn't mentally handle such a situation. Couldn't comprehend.

The wound attempted to heal- but Bambi fought her wolf harshly. Forced down the animal to disallow the chance of healing. It was a war within her mind.

Bambi's vision became somewhat fuzzy, as she felt the empty and hollowness of how utterly alone she had always been.

Then she felt everything. Her mate had grabbed her, and she saw a Lycan. A beast, something that should terrify her, with the power and raw aggression behind what it was.

But the beast held her gently, as a whine of pain escaped it's snout.
The black eyes stared down with sorrow she had recognized in her own eyes so many times.

And Bambi smiled happily. The warmth flooding her, the sweetness enough to give her a tooth ache. So much endearment.

She was a fool for thinking she could run forever. If she was to die in her mate's arms, then at least it would be peaceful- even if she wasn't deserving.

Then her world finally went black.

And she was at peace with it.