Chapter 30: ³⁰: half dead

Athena’s POV

I leaned back against the car seat as it started moving toward my destination, now feeling a little guilty about how I had behaved with Damian just now.

He was leaving tomorrow... and this was how we had parted ways. I buried my face in my hands, guilt washing over me in waves. I couldn’t even call him to apologise because I couldn’t leave any trace of me being involved with him or with anyone from that place.

Every step I was taking now had to be careful.

"Ma’am, we’re here." The driver’s voice broke my train of thought as the car came to a stop.

"Thank you, sir," I replied softly before getting out of the cab. Without wasting another second, I headed straight inside the packhouse.

I couldn’t wait to crawl into my bed. After everything that had happened today, I didn’t even feel like eating dinner anymore.

The moment I entered my room, I quietly locked the door behind me. After changing out of my dress and carefully dressing the wounds, I finally let myself collapse onto the comfort of my bed.

The moment my body touched the soft mattress, the tears I had been holding back till now spilt out. No matter how hard I tried to stop them, they just wouldn’t listen.

Thinking about what my life had become now, another sob escaped my lips.

I buried my face deep into my pillow, hoping it would somehow swallow all the pain inside me. But it didn’t. It only made the silence around me feel even louder.

To think that every close relationship I had ever treasured had either been taken away from me... or had never been real in the first place.. It hurt.

It hurt far more than I ever allowed myself to admit.

I slowly turned onto my back and stared blankly at the ceiling, no longer bothering to wipe away the tears rolling down my cheeks.

My breathing gradually steadied as my thoughts drifted back to the day I had opened my eyes...

The day I thought I had already died.

Six Months Ago~~

"She’s waking up! Go, someone call Luna!"

I could vaguely hear voices around me as I struggled to open my eyes.

The moment I forced my eyelids apart, an unbearable brightness pierced through them, making me squeeze them shut again. It felt as though the light itself wanted to blind me.

After several attempts, however, my pupils slowly adjusted, allowing my blurry vision to clear little by little. The first thing that greeted me was a wooden ceiling.

Where... am I? Before I could even look around properly, a bone-crushing pain shot through my back and abdomen.

"Ahh... Mom..." A cry escaped my lips before I could stop it.

The more conscious I became, the more every stab wound screamed in agony.

It felt as though someone was twisting knives inside my body all over again.

My vision, which had only just become clear, started blurring once more. The pain kept increasing with every passing second.

Is it the pain from those stabs?! I thought as the memories of whatever had happened came rushing back to me making me even more aware of the pain I was feeling.

But why am I feeling so much pain just from those mere stabs? I should be able to heal them by myself!

"Ana...? Ana..." I called out to my wolf again and again inside my mind as I tried to talk to her but....

Nothing. Silence.

My heartbeat quickened. "Ana... answer me..." Still nothing. Why can’t I feel her? Why am I not able to contact my wolf? What is happening?! Where am I?

The more pain I was feeling, the more time that was going by while I was not able to contact my wolf - the more anxious I was feeling.

Panic slowly began replacing the pain. I could feel sweat forming on my forehead as I tried to get some air but couldn’t.

My throat suddenly felt as though someone had shoved a knife inside it, I felt like it was closing while less and less air was reaching my lungs. Every breath became harder than the last.

I desperately tried to inhale, but it felt like less and less air was reaching my lungs.

Dark spots danced across my vision while I tried my utmost to pull myself together to figure out what was happening and what had already happened.

The room started spinning again.

I was losing consciousness.

"Mom! She’s losing consciousness again! Please do something!"

I heard a male voice somewhere nearby, though I couldn’t tell where it was coming from anymore.

Just as I felt myself slipping into darkness once again... A cool comforting hand gently rested against my forehead while I could hear someone saying something in a language I could not understand.

Whatever was happening was out of my capacity of understanding right now, yet somehow... The moment those words reached my ears, warmth spread throughout my body. A comforting energy slowly flowed through me.

I took a deep, shaky breath as for the first time since waking up, my throat no longer felt like it was closing. Air finally filled my lungs. The suffocating feeling gradually disappeared while the vision that had started to get blurry started to come back again.

The unbearable pain radiating from my wounds also began fading away little by little. It wasn’t gone completely but it was finally bearable.

"How are you feeling now, darling?"

A gentle voice reached my ears after a while.

"Fine..." The word came out as nothing more than a croak. My throat still burned, but at least I could speak.

This time, I slowly looked around the room.

Just as I had guessed earlier, I was inside a wooden house. Simple, old, yet strangely warm.

Three unfamiliar people stood around my bed. An elderly woman sat gracefully on a chair before me. Despite her age, there was something incredibly elegant about her. The way she carried herself... The dignified clothes she wore... The authority in her sharp gaze... Everything about her screamed that she wasn’t an ordinary person.

Standing beside her was a woman who looked to be in her mid-forties. She was the same woman who had placed her hand on my forehead moments ago.

On her other side stood a young man who couldn’t have been much older than me.

All three of them were looking at me with curiosity... As though they had been waiting for me to wake up.

"Where am I?" I finally asked, my voice still hoarse.

The elderly woman leaned forward ever so slightly, her sharp eyes never leaving mine. "You are in a rather secluded pack, little girl," she answered calmly.

"It was we who saved you after my grandson found you half-dead in the river."