Chapter 5: No Turning Back
Ivy’s POV
"Good Evening Luna" A little girl greeted while passing by, I was standing by the waterfall, I could only think of how my pack has sold me off to this place of cruelty.
I didn't deserve such but who was I to complain, a Nobody, wolf less Omega! She turned around and walked back into the pack house.
I never believed in fate. If fate were real, it wouldn’t have cursed me with this life, this pack, this prison. But as I stood in the dimly lit corridor, frozen in place, I knew fate had led me here at this moment.
The whispered voices of a maid and Selene drifted through the cracked door. I hadn’t meant to eavesdrop, but the name that left the maid’s lips made my blood run cold.
“Lady Selene, it’s confirmed. Ivy is with child.”
I sucked in a breath, pressing myself against the wall, my pulse hammering in my ears.
"How? How did she find out? Ohh no this is bad" Ivy whispered
I hadn’t dared to think about it in two days since I found out. The missed cycles, the sickness in the mornings, it had all been easy to ignore when I had no control over my future. But now, hearing it aloud a second time made it more real. And the fear that followed threatened to choke me.
Selene’s laughter sent a chill through my spine. “That whore really thought she could carry Kael’s child?” she sneered. “She won’t live long enough to see it born.”
The maid hesitated. “What…what do you mean, my lady?”
“What do you think I mean?” Selene’s voice was venom. “I will kill her and that bastard growing inside her. I told Kael, if he ever so much as touched another woman, I would make sure neither she nor the child lived.”
My hand flew to my stomach instantly, trembling. She meant it. She really meant it.
Selene’s next words were quieter and more of a whisper, but I heard them all the same. “Find me someone who will take care of this. Make it look like an accident.”
My eyes widened and I didn’t wait to hear more. My breath was trapped in my chest as I turned and ran. My feet pounded against the stone floors, my mind racing. She was going to kill me. She was going to kill my child.
I didn’t stop running until I reached the healer’s chambers. I burst through the door, panting, my vision swimming.
The healer, the woman with kind eyes, looked up in alarm. “Luna?”
I slammed the door behind me, my chest heaving. “You!! You... You told her, didn't you?” I hissed.
Her brow furrowed. “Told who what?”
“Selene.” My voice cracked. “She knows. She knows about the baby, and she’s going to kill me. She’s going to kill my child.”
The healer’s face paled. “I swear to you, Luna, I didn’t tell anyone.”
I wanted to believe her. The panic clawing at my throat begged for someone to trust. But how could she not have told? Who else knew?
“Then how did she find out?” I demanded. “I was careful. No one knew, no one!”
The healer looked shaken, but her eyes held nothing but honesty. “I don’t know. But, Luna, you can’t stay here. If Selene has decided this, there is nothing that will stop her.”
Tears burned my eyes. “Then help me. Please.” My voice dropped to a whisper. “Help me escape.”
The healer looked away, as if weighing the impossible. “If I do this, and I’m caught…” She exhaled sharply. “You’re asking me to risk my life, Luna.”
“I know.” I choked on a sob. “But I’m carrying a life inside me. A life she wants to destroy. Please... please.”
Her eyes searched mine, and something inside her shifted.
“I’ll do it,” she whispered.
Relief flooded me, making my knees weak. “Thank you. Thank you.”
She grabbed my shoulders, forcing me to meet her gaze. “Listen to me carefully. You have to wait until nightfall. The guards rotate after midnight, that’s your only chance.”
I nodded quickly, gripping her hands like a lifeline. “I’ll be there.”
The night was mercilessly cold.
I pulled the cloak tighter around myself as I crept through the shadows, my heart a drumbeat in my ears. Every step toward the gate felt like stepping closer to freedom and to death. If they caught me…
No. I swallowed hard. I couldn’t think about that.
The healer waited for me near the outer wall, her face partially hidden under a hood. “Come quickly,” she whispered.
She led me through the narrowest passageways, places only someone who had lived here for decades would know. I held my breath as we neared the gates, the heavy iron looming before me like the threshold to another life.
“Stay here,” she whispered, slipping away into the darkness.
The wait was agony. The seconds stretched, every sound amplified. My legs ached from the tension of standing still, my body ready to bolt at the first sign of trouble.
Then... the creak of metal.
The healer returned, her hands shaking as she gestured toward the now-slightly-open gate. “Go,” she urged. “Now.”
I didn’t hesitate. I stepped through, my heart racing as I moved past the boundary that had caged me for so long. The wind was sharper on this side, the air tasting different... like something untainted by the Iron Fang Pack.
Freedom.
I turned back, my eyes meeting the healer’s. She had risked everything for me. I wanted to say something, to thank her, to promise I wouldn’t forget this but no words came.
She seemed to understand.
I took one last look at the pack that had stolen so much from me, the pack that mine had sold me off to. The place that had taken my choices, my dignity, and almost my life.
“I will never return, I need to save my child” I whispered.
Then I ran without looking back.