Chapter 97: Chapter 97

~A graveyard~.

Someone had turned this place into a fucking graveyard.

Ten, perhaps twelve, bodies were strewn across the ground. Some were intact but others… were in pieces. An arm here, a piece of an ear there… This wasn’t a skirmish or a pack dispute gone wrong.

This was a fucking slaughter.

The smells were nauseating, blood seeping into the soil, corrupting everything.

The sun had accelerated the decomposition process, leaving behind a foul stench. To lessen the impact of the smell, most of them had shifted back into their human forms.

Their noses were still sensitive, but it was somewhat more tolerable.

“What kind of beast did this?”

Maya could only shake her head at Jason’s question. ~Who indeed~? This happened, not far from their home.

Was it a threat? Something that would come for them next? She might not have known them but… even she found it hard to stomach.

Some of them didn’t even have the chance to revert to their human forms. They died as beasts.

No one could utter a word. They could barely breathe.

“Do you think anyone survived?”

“You think whoever did this left anyone alive?”

“Maybe we scared them off.”

She shook her head. “No, these bodies have been here for some time.”

But maybe… maybe if she had patrolled more frequently… She forced her eyes shut.

No, she wouldn’t entertain that thought. They might not have ventured in this direction. And then what? Would they have died for a pack they didn’t know?

This was a tragedy, but it wasn’t her fault.

“What are we supposed to do with them,” she asked, navigating through the corpses and body parts.

She didn’t know where they belonged, where they came from. They couldn’t even identify potential attackers. All the scents were unfamiliar to them. It would be impossible to distinguish ~friend~ from ~foe~.

“We have to collect them. We could burn them here, or further away.” He rubbed his neck, his muscles tensing.

“We might need to start a controlled forest fire. We can’t leave their scents, or the smell of blood lingering. It might attract the wrong crowd.”

Maya nodded in agreement, even though it meant cleaning up someone else’s disaster. They couldn’t afford the potential backlash for their pack. Their scent was already permeating the area. It was best to get rid of everything…

Looking at the mess, an uneasy feeling began to churn in her stomach. ~Something isn’t right~. Her throat tightened, her ears twitched. Something was out there.

What could it be?

~Thump. Thump~.

What ~was~ that noise?

“Can you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

Maya didn’t respond to Jason’s question. Instead, she continued to navigate through the carnage, trying to trace the source of the noise.

“Maya, hear what?”

She disregarded him, venturing further and further away. The more distance she covered, the louder the noise became.

~Thump. Thump~.

What the hell was that? Her heart seemed to be beating at a snail’s pace while she fought to swallow past the lump in her throat.

Her legs trembled, making each step she took unsteady. Despite swaying a few times, she managed to remain upright without stumbling.

~Thump. Thump.~

A heartbeat. That was a heartbeat.

But her feet had led her to… nothing. There was… her eyes widened in shock and she dropped to the ground. ~Fingers~.

Fingers were protruding near a bush. She tore at the leaves, the branches until she could see that an arm… and a head were there, partially buried.

It was a man. He had long, wet, dark blond hair sticking to his face, a face that was smeared with dried blood and marred with cuts. ~Is he dead~?

~Thump. Thump~.

No, he was, he was the heartbeat. Her chest tightened and she found it hard to breathe, hard to think. Her stomach churned and bile rose in her throat.

No, no. He wasn’t dead. Despite the dirt, his complexion was normal. He wasn’t blue, he wasn’t pale or deathly white.

He was ~alive~. She didn’t hesitate before plunging her hand into the mud that surrounded them. She began to clear it away from his body, one handful at a time.

It wasn’t fast enough.

But she couldn’t think, she couldn’t stop.

She had to free him.

~Thump. Thump.~

Maya quickened her pace, scraping at his body as she uncovered parts of his chest. If she could remove a bit more, she might be able to pull him out. A little more, she just needed a little ~more~.

“I think Maya found a live one.” Jason’s voice sounded distant, as if she was imagining it.

He was. ~Barely~.

Jason’s voice seemed far away as she continued to dig into the earth, uncovering as much as she could. Half the body was visible now but it wasn’t enough. She had to get all of him out.

“Hey, hold on, let me help.”

As soon as Jason’s arm came into view, Maya felt her heart rate spike and her vision blur. It took barely a second before she slapped his arm away from the body.

Jason pulled his arm back to his bare chest, looking at her with a puzzled expression. “Maya?”

~What the fuck was wrong with her?~ Why did she do that?

“I-I…” She halted her movements, stopped digging him out.

~Thump. Thump.~

“Yeah, hmm—I could use some help.”

He studied her face, scrutinizing her features, and for a moment, she thought he might refuse. He should refuse. What was wrong with her?

She moved around the body and bent over to grab one of the arms. Jason mirrored her actions and grabbed the other one. They both began to pull with all their might, their efforts accompanied by loud grunts. ~Damn, he was heavy~.

But she couldn’t stop. She couldn’t leave him like this.

~Thump. Thump.~

By the time they managed to pull him out of the hole he was in, sweat was trickling down her forehead. The combination of their forceful pull and his heavy weight sent both of them sprawling on their backsides.

Maya grimaced as her wrists bore the brunt of the impact. ~Damn~. She tried to take a deep breath but the crushing sensation in her chest made it difficult. She licked her parched lips as she staggered to her feet.

She felt Jason rise beside her as she approached the still breathing body they had extricated. He was a bloody mess. He was covered in cuts… smeared with blood and what appeared to be a stab wound on his chest, close to his heart.

~Thump. Thump.~

Oh shit.

She was aware.

~She understood what was happening to her~.

Maya pressed her thumb and forefinger to the bridge of her nose, then let out a breath so forceful it made her nostrils flare.

~Damn it~. This had to be some kind of ~sick joke~. The cosmos was mocking her. Whatever ~deity~ was up there, it was having a field day.

“He belongs to me.”

Jason raised an eyebrow, glancing between her and the half-naked, barely alive man. ~Right~, she couldn’t fault him for his confusion. “As in... to finish off?” he queried, perplexed.

She let out a weary sigh, her shoulders drooping. “No... he’s mine.”

She took a deep, drawn-out breath. Maya moved her thumb and forefinger to her temples, then slid them down until she was pinching the bridge of her nose again. “He’s my idiotic-~idiotic~-ass ~mate~.”

Just her ~damn~ luck.