36. August

36

August

I kept fighting, my body instinctively responding to the chaos around me. I felt detached, like I was watching myself fight from above. My every move was automatic, and I wasn’t concerned about anything except the desire to take Raol down.

If I could kill him, I could end this. I would pay whatever cost was required—even my own life.

Especially my own life.

I already knew that I didn’t deserve to survive. After what I’d done to Elisabed and all my actions as a tool for the council...the mistakes I’d made, and the pain I’d caused...it would be better for everyone if I died here today.

I was ready for death, so I focused on the task at hand without worrying about the possibility of dying.

I had one goal and one mission: kill Raol. I would end this today, and I fought alone with a single-minded determination.

Then I saw them—Finn and Marshall—fighting by my side.

I knew they weren’t just here to help me. They were here for a larger purpose, more important and deeper than the fight itself. They fought almost as one, their focus, power and strategy combining as if they shared a single heartbeat.

I’d never seen anything like it.

For a second, I was stunned. I couldn’t think or react as I watched them work together with synchronization that could only come from a bond forged through years of war, camaraderie, and something deeper that I didn’t quite understand. But I couldn’t let myself get distracted. I couldn’t lose sight of Raol.

Raol .

The bastard was slipping away.

I pushed forward, shoving a body out of my path, and broke into a sprint. The blood, the bodies, the shouts around me all faded into the background as I locked eyes on my target. Raol’s back was to me, his movements panicked, his retreat calculated. He was trying to flee, and that made him more dangerous. A desperate wolf was a deadly one.

“Raol!” I snarled, my voice hoarse with rage.

I pushed harder, the distance between us closing.

I didn’t care about anything else. Not the blood spraying from bodies, not the chaos, not even the small, desperate part of me that wished I didn’t have to do this at all. I just needed to kill him.

But then, just as I was about to close in, something froze me in place.

A scream.

It was faint, distant, but unmistakable.

Elisabed .

My heart stopped. She was here. She was here, and she was in danger.

I turned, but the sight that greeted me made everything inside me splinter.

There she was, her back to me, facing off against one of Raol’s men. I could see the terror in her eyes, the way her body trembled, and I knew. I knew before anything else happened.

They were going to take her.

I moved before I could even think. My legs burned with the effort, my body pushing through the haze of rage and panic.

But I wasn’t fast enough.

The man lunged forward. Elisabed seemed to land a hit on him, and he staggered briefly before he punched her.

I was so focused on her that I didn’t see the other men closing in.

They came out of nowhere, swarming me, forcing me down to the ground. I struggled, my blood boiling with rage, but the sheer number of them overwhelmed me. I fought like a wild animal, but it was no use. They overpowered me, and within moments, I was on my knees, shackled and helpless.

I couldn’t get to her.

“Elisabed!” I screamed, my voice hoarse with desperation.

I couldn’t breathe.

I couldn’t move.

The weight on my chest felt like a thousand pounds as I fought against the arms holding me down. I could see her shackled, her body forced to walk, her eyes wide with terror. My chest burned with rage, pain, and an emotion I couldn’t even begin to understand.

She was slipping away from me, and I couldn’t do a damn thing to stop it.

“Take him to the woods,” one of the men said, his voice cold and flat. “He’ll be dealt with there.”

I struggled against them, but it was pointless. I couldn’t break free. I couldn’t escape. They dragged me through the trees, past the chaos of the camp, and I had a sickening realization—it had all been a trap. A carefully laid trap designed to lure me in and then capture me.

But then, there was a sound.

Footsteps.

And before I could even think, I saw them—Marshall and Finn. They came running into the clearing, eyes wild with urgency, their bodies ready to jump back into the fray.

“August!” Finn shouted, his eyes landing on me. But the moment he saw me, the chains that bound me, and the defeated look on my face, his expression twisted.

But it was too late.

Raol’s men had already surrounded us. They closed in from all sides, cutting off any escape.

Marshall growled low, his teeth flashing in the moonlight. “We can’t do this,” he said, his voice fierce but strained. “We can’t fight them all, not like this.”

I could barely focus. I could barely process what was happening, too consumed with the realization that Elisabed was still out there and I had failed her.

“We surrender,” Finn snarled, looking toward where Elisabed had disappeared and dropping to his knees.