Chapter 35: After the Abyss

Aurora

I lay on the floor next to the dungeon door. My eyes felt heavy as I looked up to the doorknob.

I could feel my life escaping from my body.

I heard commotion from the other side of the door, and I tried to bang on it, but my arms were heavy as lead.

“He-help,” I tried calling out, but my voice was barely more than a whisper.

The door swung open and I felt someone kneel beside me. My vision was blurry. I couldn’t see who it was.

“Aurora!” I recognized the voice. It was Max.

“Aurora, hold on! Hold on!” he told me.

“Medic! Someone get a medic in here! We’ve found her!”

I heard more footsteps approaching, but I couldn’t determine who they were.

“She’s badly injured, beta. I don’t know if she’ll make it,” someone said.

My eyes were closing. I couldn’t keep them open any longer.

“Aurora! Open your eyes!” I heard Max shouting at me, but I couldn’t open them.

I just wanted to sleep. My body ached all over, and I felt exhausted.

I just wanted to rest…

“Aurora! Aurora!”

Silence and darkness engulfed me. And then, I felt no more pain.

I was at peace.

Wolfgang

I rushed to the hospital as soon as the report came in.

The troop had found her, badly injured and unconscious, and brought her back.

I had seen it all. The fight with the rogue leader. He had bitten her and broken her ribs, puncturing her lungs.

~“I can’t feel her. I can’t feel Rhea!”~ Cronnos shouted in my head, making me even more anxious.

I ran as fast as I could to the emergency room, desperate to see her.

“Where is she?! Where is Aurora?!” I shouted to the nurse at the front desk, but I got my answer from elsewhere.

“She’s okay, Wolfgang. We got to her in time,” Max said from behind me.

I grabbed him by his collar. “Where is she?!”

“She’s in the ICU. She had wolfsbane in her system, so the injuries she suffered were pretty severe. She is stable and recovering, but is in a coma. The doctors don’t know when she will wake.”

~“Wait, I can feel her! I can feel my mate! She’s coming back to us!” Cronnos shouted in my head.~

“I need to see her. Now!” I ordered Max.

But he didn’t budge. “Not until you promise that you’ll reject her once you see her,” Max answered, shoving my hands off of him.

“What did you say?!” I growled at him.

“Reject her, and leave her alone, Wolfgang.”

“She is my mate!” I shouted at him.

“And look at all the pain you put her through! She didn’t deserve it!” he shouted back. “She was almost killed by that bastard! You failed to protect her!”

He glared at me. “Either reject her, or don’t bother looking for her again—alpha.”

With that, he turned and walked away.

Aurora

I sat in a beautiful meadow. The summer breeze blew my hair.

In front of me was a massive lake, shining under the bright moon. I recognized the lake. It was the one I’d discovered when I first shifted.

The one I kept seeing in my dreams.

Was this a dream?

“You’re awake, young one,” a sweet voice called out to me from beyond the lake.

A beautiful woman with porcelain skin and long, silver hair stood floating over the water.

Her eyes were yellow; she seemed to glow with the moon. I’d seen her in my dreams many times.

“Wh-who are you?” I asked as she approached.

“I’m the Moon Goddess, my child,” she answered, sitting down gracefully beside me. The silk robe she wore spread around her beautifully.

“The Moon…Goddess?”

She nodded, smiling sweetly.

“Does that mean that I’m…dead?” I asked her.

“You are here…but you’re still over there as well, my child,” she answered mysteriously.

“What does that mean?”

“It means that you are dead, but you’re still alive.”

I cocked my head to one side. “I’m sorry, but I’m not following.”

She laughed and held her hand out over the lake. “The Aurora that was trapped in that dungeon died from her injuries.”

I shivered. An image glimmered on the lake's surface. It was me, lying motionless on the dungeon floor.

“But, the night you bond with your mate, the night Wolfgang marked you, he took a piece of your soul into himself.”

The image on the water changed to Wolfgang, holding his chest in agony.

“How is that possible?” I asked, staring at the images before me.

“You see, when wolves find their mates, and the male marks the female, they take part of the other’s soul within them.”

She smiled. “That’s why, when a wolf touches their mate, they can feel everything they’ve been through. That is the power of the bond.”

“Did Wolfgang feel everything that Klaus did to me?” I asked her.

“Yes, Aurora. He suffered as much as you did,” she said. “Both he and Cronnos felt the pain you went through, and suffered even more when they lost connection with both of you.”

“Is Rhea dead too?” I asked, dreading the answer.

“She has perished as well, my dear. Her lifespan had already been cut short by your exposure to the wolfsbane. When she gave you her last bit of strength, she also gave her life.”

Tears rolled down my cheeks. “She sacrificed herself for me?”

“Yes my dear…”

I cried, remembering my wolf’s limp body. We had been together such a short period of time, but she had become my best friend.

“I’m so sorry, Rhea…I was careless,” I cried into my hands. “I’d do anything to get you back.”

“Do you wish to see your wolf again, my child?” the Moon Goddess asked me.

Again, she held her hand out for me to take.

“Yes…” I placed my hand in hers, and went to stand beside her.

The Moon Goddess smiled. At that moment, a blinding light flashed over the horizon. I heard a howl.

Then I saw her. Fur as white as snow gleamed in the moonlight as she ran toward us over the water. Her purple eyes were as bright as ever.

“Rhea? Rhea!” I ran into the water, my arms wide open as she came into my embrace.

Both of us fell back into the lake, but I didn’t care about getting wet. My wolf was here in my arms, strong, healthy, and happy.

“I thought I’d lost you!” I sobbed.

She jumped up and down in my arms, her tail wagging vigorously. Gone was her faded-looking fur. Now it shone bright and strong.

“I’m so glad to see you!” she shouted with glee, licking my face.

“Now, my child, are you ready to go?” the Moon Goddess asked me, walking over to us. Her feet never once touched the water.

“Go? Where?” I asked.

I looked at Rhea, who cocked her head to one side.

“That depends on you, my child, and what you decide,” she said. “Will you come with me, or will you return home?”

I looked at Rhea, who replied with a wide smile, her tongue hanging from her open mouth.

“I’ll follow you wherever you decide to go, Aurora,” she said. She was engulfed in a bright purple light that zoomed straight to my chest.

I turned to the Moon Goddess and gave her a smile. “I’m ready.”

She smiled at me and extended her hand, touching my forehead. I fell back into the water, sinking deep into it.

I struggled to swim back to the surface, but I couldn’t. I watched the Moon Goddess hover above the lake as I descended deeper into it, until I was covered in darkness.

I awoke to the sound of beeping. I tried opening my eyes, but they felt heavy.

Where was that beeping coming from? I tried again to open my eyes, and was momentarily blinded by a bright light.

I blinked as my eyes adjusted to it.

I looked around and saw that I was, once again, in a hospital room. Machines all around me were the source of the beeping.

There was something over my nose and mouth. I dragged it off. It was a breathing mask.

“Aurora!”

I turned to the door to see Max running to my bedside.

“You’re awake! How are you feeling? We were worried that you’d never gain consciousness again,” he said.

“I thought I’d never wake back up either,” I said with a smile.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“Like a huge truck just ran over me,” I tried to joke.

“How’d I get here?” I asked.

Max wavered for a moment before he answered. “We ambushed the rogues and found you in the dungeon bleeding to death. Did you fight against the rogue leader?”

I nodded. I could still feel his fangs digging deep into my ribs.

“Did—Did he…?” he trailed off, but I knew what he was trying to ask.

I looked down at my hands and nodded again. I shuddered from the memories of his disgusting body touching mine.

I hadn’t realized that I’d started crying until I felt tears drip onto my hand.

“Are you alright? Does something hurt? Should I call a doctor?” Max asked, freaking out.

“No…it’s okay,” I reassured him. “I’m just overwhelmed by everything that’s happened.”

He gripped my hand and squeezed it tight. “Everything will be alright, Aurora. You’re safe now.”

I smiled back at him.

He was right. It was finally over. I had escaped death’s grip.

I was still alive.