Chapter Three: Mistakes I Made

CIARA

Damien prowled around my lifeless body like a predator assessing a challenge. His gaze was sharp, unrelenting. He wasn’t mourning. He wasn’t regretting. He was... calculating.

I knew him too well.

He didn’t believe I was dead.

And he was right.

Not in the way he thought, but in the way that mattered.

The Beta, still rubbing his bruised throat, shifted nervously. "Alpha, with all due respect, the healer confirmed her pulse—she's gone. There's nothing left."

Damien’s lips curled. "You're a fool if you think Ciara would die this easily."

A flicker of something passed through his eyes—something like fear.

Not fear of my corpse.

But fear of what wasn’t there.

He knelt beside my body, fingers ghosting over the dried blood on my gown. His head tilted slightly as he inhaled. His brows drew together.

He could still smell me. My scent was everywhere. But there was something missing.

"Where is the scent of decay?" he muttered.

The Beta flinched. "Alpha?"

Damien’s jaw tightened, his fingers digging into the fabric of my gown. "If she died before giving birth, the scent of death should be stronger. It should have already started to change." His grip tightened. "But it hasn’t."

He turned his head sharply. "Which means one of two things."

The Beta remained still, waiting.

"Either Ciara was never truly dead…" His claws extended slowly. "Or someone has stolen..." The dread that crawled over him didn't let him complete his sentence.

Silence.

Even the wind outside seemed to hold its breath.

The Beta swallowed. "Alpha, that’s impossible."

Damien’s lips twisted into a cruel smirk. "And yet, here we are."

The Beta hesitated before lowering his voice. "We'll find out."

Damien’s golden gaze flickered. "How could you be so reckless?"

His eyes returned to my still face. He reached out and yanked my chin up, forcing my lifeless gaze to meet his.

"You’re in there, aren’t you?" he murmured, low and dark.

If I had control of my body, I would have smiled.

Because the truth was—I was everywhere.

Not dead. Not alive. Trapped between.

A presence. A whisper. A haunting fog.

And Damien had no idea what was coming for him.

The Beta’s voice trembled slightly. "Alpha… if this is soul magic, what do we do?"

Damien exhaled slowly. "We find the one who did this."

A deep, chilling howl split through the night outside.

Damien’s head snapped up.

The Beta tensed. "That came from the south border."

Damien’s gaze darkened. "Where the burial grounds lie."

The realization settled over the room like a thick fog.

"Something isn’t right," the Beta whispered.

And Damien had no idea what was coming for him.

The Beta’s voice trembled slightly. "Alpha… if this is soul magic, what do we do?"

Damien exhaled slowly. "We find the one who did this."

A deep, chilling howl split through the night outside.

Damien’s head snapped up.

The Beta tensed. "That came from the south border."

Damien’s gaze darkened. "Where the burial grounds lie."

The realization settled over the room like a thick fog.

"Something isn’t right," the Beta whispered.

Damien stood abruptly, turning toward the door. "We’re going to the ruins. Now."

The Beta hesitated. "And… what about her?" He gestured toward my body.

Damien didn’t look back. "Leave it."

He strode out, boots echoing against the stone floor.

The Beta cast one last nervous glance at me before following him.

The door slammed shut behind them.

And then, in the silence…

A single breath escaped my lips.

A whisper.

A promise.

You should have burned me, Damien.

Now it’s too late.

The ruins were cloaked in thick fog, the moon casting long shadows over the cracked stones. Damien moved with purpose, his claws flexing at his sides.

He could feel it now.

Something was awake.

And for the first time in years, Damien felt something he didn’t dare acknowledge.

Dread.

The Beta sniffed the air. "Alpha… the scent is familiar."

Damien clenched his jaw. "Because it’s hers."

The wind shifted, and for a brief second, he heard it.

Laughter.

Soft. Hollow.

A voice that shouldn’t exist anymore.

Damien’s pulse quickened. His grip tightened.

And then—

A single footprint appeared in the dust before them.

Then another.

And another.

Leading toward the heart of the ruins.

Damien’s breath came slow and measured.

"Follow them."

The Beta hesitated. "Alpha, this could be—"

Damien’s voice was steel. "I don’t fear ghosts."

He moved forward.

And the whispers followed.

As Damien stepped deeper into the ruins, the laughter grew stronger.

He didn’t stop.

Not when the torches flickered.

Not when the air turned colder.

Not when a shadow moved where no one should be.

He refused to believe it.

Not until the final whisper slid against his ear like silk.

"Did you miss me, Damien?"

His breath hitched.

Because the voice belonged to me.

And I was standing right behind him. Damien didn’t know that something else took me since he threw me out.

I knew I had only moments before the poison reached his heart.

So I did the only thing I could think of.

I sank my fangs into his wrist and sucked the venom straight from his bloodstream.

The taste was vile—burning like acid, spreading agony down my throat—but I didn’t stop. Not until I felt the faintest twitch of his fingers beneath mine.

Not until I heard him breathe.

Damien never spoke of that night.

When he woke, his mother was gone—banished, stripped of her title, exiled to the farthest reaches of the pack’s territory.

But something in him had changed.

The warmth that once lingered in his eyes was gone, replaced by an icy detachment. He never asked how he survived. He never acknowledged my presence at his side, despite the scars on my wrist proving what I had done for him.

He refused to see me.

And yet, I still followed him.

Still loved him.

Still hoped.

But now, as I stared at my own lifeless body—damaged, bloodied, abandoned—I realized how foolish I had been.

Damien had never belonged to me.

And now, it was too late.

Because I was gone.

Or so he thought.

---

The wind howled through the pack house, rattling the windows. The Beta stood beside Damien, waiting for his Alpha’s command.

Damien’s jaw was clenched, his expression unreadable as he looked down at me.

“This isn’t over,” he muttered.

The Beta hesitated. “Alpha?”

Damien didn’t answer. He reached down, fingers brushing over my cold skin. And in that moment—

My fingers twitched.

It was so faint, so quick, that even I wasn’t sure it had happened. But Damien’s eyes sharpened, his entire body going still.

I felt it then.

A shift in the air.

A slow, burning pull in my chest.

I wasn’t truly dead.

Something was bringing me back.

And this time, Damien wouldn’t be able to ignore me.

This time, I wouldn’t beg for his love.

I would make him fear it.