Chapter 238

Candido turned back to me. For the first time, there was something familiar on his face. He almost smiled. His eyes were as clear as before and I thought that maybe it meant that Estella’s enchantments were finally completely wearing off.

“Thank you,” he said and turned, heading back towards camp.

I set my jaw as he walked away. I couldn’t believe he just walked away after that. I was willingly staying behind. Why hadn’t he at least hugged me, if not kissed me?

I didn’t get a chance to ask him why or confront him because as soon as I headed back to camp, the jeeps were leaving. The trucks had already started to head out into the forest. I saw Candido standing in the back of a truck with a few other people disappearing into the woods.

I watched the truck leave, leaving me behind with most of Wolf Fang and a few other people who had been rescued from the vampires. There were a few fighters among them, but not enough. I didn’t see any of the members of Blue Moon or Moon Shadow except for the heavily injured man. He was still clutching his side and leaning to one side, but he was wearing less bandages than before. He was pale, but some of the color had returned to his face.

“Where are the other people that are supposed to defend us?” I asked, looking around.

He looked up and said nothing for a while. I glared at him. “Aren’t you going to answer me? I’m going to be your luna.”

His lips twitched. “I’ll die first.”

I huffed. “If I have anything to say about it… you won’t even be alive for the wedding.”

He lay back on his cot with a small smile. “I look forward to being spared that embarrassment and horror.”

I stomped past him looking for a vampire, but there were none. There weren’t even any Lunae wolves. I went over to one of the people who looked to be fighters.

“Where are all the werewolves from Lunae?” I asked. “They’re supposed to be here to defend us.”

The two looked at each other. The woman’s lips twitched, and she burst into laughter as the man grinned at me.

“They’re gone,” he said. “You didn’t really think a bunch of werewolves aligned with vampires were going to stay behind and protect us, did you?”

I narrowed my eyes. “Candido wouldn’t leave me unprotected.”

The woman laughed again. “And who are you that he would care so much?”

I glared at her. “I’m the future luna.”

Both of them laughed again. “Right. And I’m the queen of the lake!”

The man snickered. “Call me the leader of the tree frogs.”

I growled. “You’re going to regret mocking me!”

“I doubt you will ever stop making yourself so easy to be mocked.”

The woman scoffed. “If you were really going to lead us, you wouldn’t be asking us where the defenses were.”

She rolled her eyes and the man continued. “Estella—”

“Don’t mention her!” I hissed. “I’m Candido’s mate. I’m the next luna. She would have never been the luna! I would have never let that happen. Candido loves me, and she’s dead.”

The woman laughed again, throwing her head back, but the man remained silent. His eyes were filled with red light. The woman’s voice changed. There was a strange echo to it that I couldn’t describe.

The woman opened her eyes, and they were filled with red light.

“Never in this life or the next will you be equal to my star.”

I frowned, pulling back. “What does that… mean? Who are you talking about?”

They just kept laughing, loud and maniacal. They were practically cackling and their voices had turned so deep. My stomach turned. I walked away from them. There was something wrong with them. That red light usually only showed up in Wren, Candido and Raven’s eyes. Something was off. The more I walked, the more I realized that all the wolves who had been left behind seemed to have a faint red glow in their eyes. None of them were the Blue Moon or Moon Shadow wolves. I didn’t see anyone from New Moon either.

There also weren’t any vampires around.

I looked around nervously. Where was Cillian? He would know where all of them went, but I couldn’t find him either. I worried my lip and headed towards the group of Wolf Fang wolves who had been left behind. There weren’t many of them, and aside from them, there were just a few other werewolves whom I didn’t recognize.

“What do you want?” One of them asked.

I growled at them. “How dare you talk to me like—”

I broke off as I met the woman’s glowing red gaze. Her expression was completely blank. I swallowed and looked around. There was something wrong. Fear creeped down my spine. My heart started to speed up.

“Where… Where is everyone?” I asked. “Who are you?”

She cocked her head at an unnatural angle. “Everyone? Who are you talking about? All the people you killed?”

My stomach lurched and I glared at her. “Who told you that? Estella?”

“I see all, you twit,” she hissed. “And I have told you so much, so many times.”

Someone approached from behind me. I turned around and looked at the woman standing behind me. “I told you, but you think you know so much…”

I shook my head, looking between the two women who sounded exactly alike. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that they had the same voices as the woman and the man who had been laughing at me too. My blood went cold.

“Who are you?” I asked. “Why are you talking to me like that? I’m—”

“You will never be luna,” she said plainly and smiled.

Then, blood started to trickle down the woman’s nose. I gasped and jumped back.

“You may enjoy the mercy my Beloved has asked for you, you may enjoy the perks of this bargain, but just like your mother you will pay for it.” Her eyes narrowed as blood started to spill out of her mouth. “I have already seen the path you will walk, Hedy, and I relish the moment you fall.”

I heard rustling in the trees. The wind picked up and suddenly, I could hear footsteps. I turned around and saw glinting in the darkness.

“Get down!” Someone screamed.

Then, gunshots filled the air. The woman who had been speaking was riddled with bullets. Several bullets cut through my shoulder and side. I fell to the ground and my heart raced.

We were being ambushed. I looked up, searching for one of the fighters, but they didn’t move. None of them even seemed to notice that there were gunmen shooting at us. They crumpled like dolls under the gunshots. My heart raced as I crawled over the woman’s body, searching for some sort of weapon. There weren’t any. The boxes that had been left behind were all filled with clothes and other useless things.

The trees parted and people rushed in. All of them were dressed weirdly. They weren’t from Lunae, but they were backup either. They had to be vampires who had been on Marius’ side.

“Grab them quickly!”

“We have to get this done!”

My heart pounded against my chest. Everyone around me seemed frozen or just crumpled under the rain of bullets. I turned, searching for someone. I crawled over to a body to try and take their weapon, but the gun turned to ash in my hands. I scrambled to my feet and tried to run. Bullets streaked past me, I heard people screaming and running up ahead, and I was angry.

They had just left me? They hadn’t even looked for me.

“After her!”

I tried to hurry further into the forest. I heard more people screaming and dying. Gunshots followed me as I escaped. I didn’t know how many people had been murdered, how many people had survived, but as I neared an outcropping of rock and ducked behind it, I tried to catch my breath.

Had Candido known what would happen? Was that why he left me behind? Why he asked me to stay behind?

My eyes burned at the thought and I shook my head. I couldn’t believe that. Candido loved me. He would never put me in harm’s way, but his eyes had been glowing with that same red light before he left. That hadn’t been my Candido talking. It had to have been Estella’s enchantments. I clenched my jaw and looked around the corner. There were people coming towards me. Among them, I saw a blonde-haired man who looked a lot like Marius. His eyes were cold. They reminded me a bit of Ian, but his eyes were dark and he didn’t have the glow. He didn’t have the same aura either.

“The sooner she’s dead, the better,” he said and chuckled. “We’ll deal with the wolves later…”