Chapter 34
Kora’s POV
The word cut through me like a blade. Which.
The hunters’ voices picked it up, shouting it over and over, their hatred burning hotter with every repetition. Their eyes weren’t on the pack anymore. They were on me.
I stumbled back from the riverbank, my heart hammering so loud I could barely hear anything else. The herbs had done something—I didn’t even know what exactly—but the hunters had seen it, and now I was no longer just prey. I was a target.
Edward’s voice thundered across the battlefield. “Protect her!”
The command ripped the pack into motion. Luka surged forward despite his injuries, swinging his axe with brutal force. Mara was at my side in an instant, her body a shield between me and the hunters.
But there were too many of them.
Arrows flew, swords clashed, and the meadow became a storm of blood and screams. I pressed myself against a boulder, clutching what little remained of the herbs in my fist. My mind raced, desperate, searching for some way out of this.
Then I heard him. Not Edward. Not a hunter. But that voice. Aaron.
Do you see it now, little wolf? Do you see what you are? Even they know. Witch. Monster. Nothing more.
My breath caught. I whipped my head around, but he wasn’t there—only mist and battle and death. Still, his voice slithered inside my head like venom.
You can’t hide behind Edward forever. One day, he’ll see it too.
“No,” I whispered fiercely, my grip tightening on the herbs until the stems snapped. “You’re wrong.”
But doubt gnawed at me, raw and sharp. What if he was right? What if Edward looked at me the same way the hunters did—like something unnatural, something cursed?
I didn’t have time to sink into the fear. A hunter broke through the line, charging straight for me. His blade gleamed, his eyes wide with fanatic fire.
I raised my dagger on instinct, but he was too fast, too strong. His sword came down—and stopped.
Edward’s blade was there, catching it mid-strike. Sparks flew as steel clashed. With a snarl, Edward shoved him back and drove his sword through the man’s chest. Blood sprayed hot across my arm, and the hunter crumpled at my feet.
Edward turned to me, his face carved with fury and fear. “Stay with Mara! Do not move from her side, do you hear me?”
I nodded, my throat too tight to speak.
He didn’t wait for an answer, just turned back into the fray, cutting down anyone who came too close.
The battle stretched on, relentless. More hunters poured from the trees, their war cries echoing across the meadow. For every one that fell, two seemed to replace him.
But slowly—painfully slowly—the tide began to turn. Edward fought like a man possessed, his blade never missing, his strength unyielding. The pack matched his fury, their howls rising above the screams of men.
Finally, the hunters began to falter. Some pulled back, dragging their wounded. Others broke and ran, their chants of witch fading into the trees.
When it was over, the meadow was a graveyard. Bodies lay everywhere, hunter and wolf alike, the grass painted red. The river carried blood downstream, the water dark and sluggish.
I stood frozen, unable to breathe, unable to move. My hands were still tight around the herbs, though they were crushed and useless now.
Edward strode back to me, his chest heaving, his face streaked with blood that wasn’t all his own. His eyes locked on me, sharp and unyielding.
For a long moment, he didn’t say anything. Just stared at me. Like he was seeing me for the first time. Finally, his voice came, low and rough, “What did you do out there, Kora?”
I opened my mouth, but no words came. Because I didn’t know. I truly didn’t know.
The only thing I knew was that the hunters had seen me—and they would never stop coming now.
And maybe Edward... maybe he would start to see me the way they did. As something dangerous. Something else. Something less than human.
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