Chapter 32: All I Wanted Was to Be Wanted

Chapter 32: All I Wanted Was to Be Wanted Evelyn~ If he and his pack really wanted to hurt me, wouldn’t they sound angry or upset? But even the other werewolves, who were calling out my name, sounded worried. "LUNA! LUNA EVELYN, WHERE ARE YOU?!" "Was the fire not big enough? Is that why you thought we hated you?!" What were they talking about? I ran because the fire was too big and too hot! In the middle of my confusion, my wolf offered a bit of clarity. "The reason they burned the wooden stake might not be for some witch trial," she said gently. "It could just be a tradition." I let out a tired breath. "What kind of tradition involves setting someone on fire?" Wouldn’t it be better if their traditions didn’t look like public executions? Maybe ... I don’t know ... a feast? Flowers? A welcome that doesn’t involve flames and torches? "You can’t just change a pack’s traditions," my wolf said calmly. "It’s called a tradition for a reason. It’s something passed down from their ancestors, something sacred. They’re not something they can just change overnight." "I know," I muttered, clicking my tongue. "I was joking." She ignored my sarcasm and kept going, her voice softer now. "Among supernatural beings, fire has always symbolized rebirth. A new beginning. A life rising from the ashes." "They might not have lit that stake to kill you or erase you from this world," she said quietly. "Maybe it was the opposite. Maybe it was their way of welcoming you. Maybe they were trying to say they’re ready to start a new life with you as their Luna." Welcoming me? I didn’t expect there were people out there who’d be happy to see me join their pack. Even in Theron’s palace, some of his own people couldn’t hide how much they disliked me. I always thought there wouldn’t be a single place in this world where I’d be welcomed warmly. That no one would smile when I walked into their territory. Was I wrong? "You’ll never know unless you stop running," my wolf whispered. "I wasn’t wrong about Theron’s personality. So why not give me the chance to read Rael’s too?" I swallowed hard, then forced myself to ask, "Then, tell me ... what do you think Rael is like?" She answered like a soft breeze brushing against my face. "He’s kind. Maybe even kinder than any of your other mates." "That’s ridiculous," I laughed under my breath. "You haven’t even met all of them. How can you say that Rael’s the kindest?" "That question works both ways," she replied. "You haven’t even gotten to truly know Rael or his pack. So how can you judge them so harshly?" Her words left me silent. She’d been right about Theron. Maybe ... she wasn’t wrong about Rael either. Once my trauma stopped clouding my thoughts, I finally felt like I could think clearly again. "Should I call out to him?" I asked. It wasn’t like I was going to die if I stayed here all night, but honestly, the spikes hurt so much, I could barely breathe whenever I tried to move. Every little twitch sent a wave of pain through my whole body. Yeah, it would definitely be better if someone pulled me out of here. "You don’t have to scream for help," my wolf said gently. "I think ... he’s already found you." Ah, I almost forgot that Rael probably had an incredibly sharp sense of smell. He was even able to find me all the way in the Valedorn Kingdom, so of course he could track me down easily in this forest. "EVELYN!" His voice came first, then his face suddenly appeared over the edge of the pit. His eyes widened in shock, horror written all over his face when he saw me broken, bloody, and barely hanging on, with sharp wooden spikes sticking through my body like a cruel trap. "No, no, no, no, no!" Without even thinking, Rael jumped straight into the pit. Somehow, he landed perfectly, right in the tiny space that didn’t have any spikes. "How did this happen?! How could something like this happen to you?!" "Why were you running from me?!" he shouted. But even though his voice sounded harsh, I could tell he was just desperate. Of course he would be desperate. I was the one thing he needed, the key to unlocking his true power. So of course he didn’t want me dying this easily. "No, no, no ... what if you die?" He wasn’t really asking me that, it sounded more like he was panicking to himself. "No! What the hell am I doing? I need to get you out of here!" He scrambled back up the pit’s edge, yelling at the top of his lungs, "Beta Marek! Get the best doctor we have! Hurry!" He shouted several more times, but I wasn’t really paying attention to his words anymore. The pain in my body was becoming unbearable. I tried to lift my hand, but since one of the spikes had pierced through it, blood instantly gushed out from the wound, and Rael looked like his soul left his body on the spot. "What are you doing?!" he scolded, clearly panicking. "D-don’t move! Don’t move your body at all! You’ll make the wounds even worse!" He carefully examined my whole body, probably checking to see if any of the spikes had hit my vital organs. If they hadn’t, there might still be a chance I could survive, even if I only have a mediocre healing ability. But somehow ... every single spike had pierced through my major organs, like my heart, lungs, stomach, kidneys. An ordinary werewolf wouldn’t be able to survive this bad luck, not even with healing ability. After all, werewolves weren’t immortal. We could still die if our vital organs were too badly damaged. But, I was an exception. "I’m ... fine," I whispered weakly. "This is nothing." Instead of calming down, Rael suddenly started crying. Tears streamed down his face so heavily that for a second, I thought his eyeballs might actually fall out of their sockets. It must’ve looked so bad that he thought his only chance at gaining power was about to die. "How can you say this is nothing?!" he cried. "How can you call this nothing when MY WIFE is dying right in front of me?!"