The battle was over, but the silence that followed felt like a thousand screams pressing against my chest. It wasn't peace. It was a heavy stillness, a weight that hung in the air, thick with the smell of blood, dust, and sweat. The echoes of fighting were gone, but the damage remained, both around me and inside me.
I stood alone at the edge of the battlefield, surrounded by the wreckage of war. Bodies lay scattered on the ground—some still, some twitching with the last remnants of life. The once vibrant forest was now a landscape of chaos, the trees scarred by the battle. The Earth beneath my feet felt strange, as though it were still trembling from the violence that had just erupted.
I touched the side of my face, feeling the warmth of my own blood. My body ached with the aftermath, but there was something deeper, something heavier. The adrenaline was fading, leaving behind the cold reality of what had just happened. People had died. Friends, enemies, all reduced to lifeless shells. I didn't know how I was supposed to feel about that. I'd been trained to fight, to survive—but nothing had prepared me for the weight of taking a life, or the sight of so many lost.
"Raven."
The sound of my name cut through the fog in my mind. I turned, finding Hunter standing a few steps away, his eyes scanning the battlefield. His expression was unreadable, but the tension in his shoulders, the bloodied rips in his clothes, told a different story. He was no longer just the ruthless Alpha of the Bloodfang Pack. In that moment, he was human. He had been through the same battle I had, felt the same weight, the same loss. But unlike me, he had a pack to lead. People who depended on him.
Hunter's voice was steady, but I could hear the exhaustion in it. "It's over."
I nodded, though the words didn't make sense to me. How could it be over? How could anything be over when so much had been lost? When so much had changed?
"Is it?" My voice came out hoarse, even to my own ears. "How do we move on from this?"
He didn't answer right away, his gaze shifting to the fallen bodies. For a moment, it seemed like he was seeing something I couldn't—something deeper than just the physical aftermath. Finally, his eyes found mine again, his jaw set.
"We rebuild," he said. The word hung between us, heavy and impossible. I didn't know if it was for the pack or for us, for the Bloodfangs or for everything we had been through. Maybe it was for both.
"I don't know if I can," I whispered, the weight of his words sinking into my chest. "I don't know how."
He looked at me then, really looked at me, as though he could see the confusion and pain swirling inside me. His voice softened, but it was still strong. "One step at a time. That's all we can do."
I didn't answer, but I couldn't tear my eyes away from him. There was something in his gaze, something like understanding, like he knew exactly what it was like to feel lost after something so devastating. He had led the pack, fought to protect them—but now, in the quiet aftermath, I saw a different side of him. The side of him that wasn't the ruthless Alpha, but the man who had carried the burden of command on his shoulders, who had been forced to make decisions that tore him apart.
The silence between us stretched on, uncomfortable, but I couldn't bring myself to break it. I didn't know what to say. There was nothing that would fix what had happened. The damage was done, and the pieces scattered in front of us were too many to pick up in a single breath.
Movement caught my attention, and I turned to see Kieran. He stood a few yards away, his face pale, his eyes vacant. He wasn't moving toward us, but I could feel his presence in the air. The air between us had always been charged, full of unspoken words and unresolved emotions. But now, with everything that had happened, I couldn't read him anymore.
He wasn't the man I had once known. And yet, he wasn't a stranger. There was too much history between us for that.
I took a step toward him before I could stop myself, my heart pounding in my chest. "Kieran," I called out softly, but he didn't move.
When he finally looked at me, his eyes were full of regret—eyes that seemed to be searching for the right words but couldn't find them.
He looked down at his feet, the weight of everything that had happened pressing on him too. "I didn't want this," he muttered, his voice barely audible above the wind. "I didn't want any of it."
I swallowed hard, trying to keep the lump in my throat from choking me. "But you were part of it. You helped them. You helped Lady Seraphina."
Kieran's expression twisted with pain. "I know. I know. And I can't undo it." His voice broke on the last words, and for a moment, he looked more like the boy I had once loved, the boy who had promised to protect me, than the man who had betrayed me.
"You made your choice," I said, the words coming out sharper than I intended. "And now we all have to live with it."
His eyes dropped to the ground again, guilt washing over his face. "I thought I was doing the right thing. I thought I was protecting the pack. I didn't know what she was really doing. What she really wanted."
The truth in his words was painful. Lady Seraphina had used him, manipulated him, and he had fallen for it. I had fallen for her lies too. We had both been blinded by loyalty, by the need to protect what we thought was right. But in the end, it had all been a lie. And we had paid for it.
"I know you didn't mean for any of this to happen," I said quietly, my heart heavy. "But that doesn't change what you did. It doesn't change what you helped cause."
He nodded, and I could see the weight of my words sinking in. The man who had once been my lover, who had once held me close, was nothing like the person I saw now. He was a stranger, a man torn apart by the decisions he had made, the alliances he had followed.
"I'll leave," Kieran said finally, his voice flat. "I can't be here. Not now. Not after everything that's happened."
I watched him turn away, his back slumped as he walked toward the edge of the battlefield. He didn't look back. And maybe it was better that way.
Hunter stepped up beside me, his presence a quiet strength. "He's lost," he said, his voice rough. "And we can't save him."
I nodded, my throat tight. "I know."
Neither of us spoke again as Kieran disappeared into the distance, swallowed by the shadows of the forest. The silence that followed felt heavier than anything I had ever known.
There was nothing left to say, nothing left to do.
Hunter's voice broke the stillness. "You're not alone in this, Raven. Not anymore."
I looked at him, really looked at him, and for the first time, I felt a shift. It wasn't just the Alpha who had stood beside me through the battle. It was him, the man who had carried so much weight on his own, the man who had been scarred by his own choices.
"I know," I whispered, and for the first time in a long while, I felt something I hadn't expected to feel—hope. Not for the future, not for everything that was lost, but for what we could rebuild. Together.
And
that was all I could hold on to now.