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The flames roared higher, swallowing the Crimson Howlers‘ homes one by one. Smoke stung my eyes, but I couldn’t look away. People were screaming, scrambling to drag their children to safety, and Cassian just stood there, watching it all like it was nothing more than a battlefield map. There was no hesitation in him, no flicker of pity, only that hard, cold satisfaction I’d come to recognize.
Before I could take another step back, his hand closed around my arm and yanked me toward him. “We’re leaving.”
“Where?” My voice caught as he pulled me to the horses. I knew we were heading to my previous pack, but I wondered how are we going to get there without alerting people. After all, the fire already attracted everyone’s attention.
“I know a shortcut,” he said, lifting me onto the saddle like I weighed nothing.
“A shortcut to what?”
He swung up behind me, gripping the reins. “Nightfall Pack.”
The wind tore past us as he pushed the horse hard, veering off the main trail. My stomach dropped when I saw where we were headed, the cliff. The same one hiding the entrance to the cave where my father had kept the children.
I twisted to look at him. “What are we doing here? Why this place?”
“This,” he said, dismounting. “Is the perfect way into your pack. They’ll never think the ones who set the fire would come back.”
Before I could answer, he scooped me into his arms and ran straight into the cave. The darkness swallowed us, but he didn’t slow.
Just as he’d predicted, there were no guards. No sounds. No one at all,
“You memorized the entire map’s?” I asked.
“Yes,”
He stopped at a narrow stone stairwell and started climbing, his steps sure. At the top, pressed his hand against a section of the wall, and a door slid open.
he
I froze in the doorway. My heart slammed in my chest. I knew this place, I’d been here before.
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Chapter 52
The library.
“Surprise?” he said.
“How did you know?” I asked.
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“There are multiple entrances to that place,” he replied. “One of them is in the supply warehouse.”
“That’s where you started the fire?” I asked, the realization settling inside me.
Instead of answering my question, he smirked. “Are you ready?”
I froze, my gaze sweeping over the shelves. I didn’t need him to explain. Cassian wanted to burn this place too.
Memories I hadn’t thought about in years came back one after another, running my fingers along these books as a child, hiding in the corner during storms, pretending the library was mine. But those moments didn’t matter anymore. Not after the failed awakening. Not after the way Celeste had looked at me like I was something special when in fact, I am but a pawn that she wanted to manipulate and use.
It hit me then that I didn’t know my family at all. Not my father, who had taken those children. Not my mother. And definitely not Celeste. Whatever image I’d built of them was
gone.
I looked back at him. “How much time do we have?”
“Enough,” he said.
I nodded in response. I knew every corner of this place. Every hallway, every shortcut, every hidden passage the Omegas used because they weren’t allowed through the main entrance. I’d cleaned every inch of these walls once, carrying buckets heavier than I could manage, slipping through narrow gaps just to finish my work before the next inspection. Now, that same knowledge would make our movements faster.
I led Cassian to the first spot, the supply storage. If they’d moved anything important after the fire, it would be here. The shelves were stacked high with sacks of grain and crates of dried meat. Cassian didn’t waste a second. He pulled out the same black sphere he’d used on the Crimson Howlers Pack, setting it in the center of the room.
“This one will burn slow, but it won’t stop,” he explained. “Just placed it in the middle of the room and leave it be. Let it do it’s thing”
I’d seen what it could do. The black flames would spread until there was nothing left.
From there, I took him to the firewood storage. The air was thick with the scent of dried bark
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Chapter 52
:
and resin. Perfect fuel. He placed another sphere between the stacks.
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The last stop was the herb storeroom. Bundles of dried plants hung from the ceiling, and rows of jars lined the shelves. Some were rare, roots and leaves that took months to gather. I knew exactly what would happen once the fire reached them.
Walking through these places brought back memories I didn’t want but couldn’t push away. Jack, the Beta’s son, had once cornered me in the firewood storage, shoving me against the stacked logs until my back ached for days. Lilian, his sister, had dragged me into the herb room more than once just to knock the jars from my hands, making me clean the mess while she laughed.
One winter, they’d used me as their practice target in the training yard, throwing small rocks and snow packed with ice. Jack had hit me in the ribs so hard I couldn’t breathe. Lilian had smirked, telling me to get used to it because “that’s all Omegas are good for.” Then they shoved me to this place to… heal myself.
I had been their punching bag, their way to pass time when they were bored. And no one had stopped them. Not my mother. Not Celeste. Not anyone.
Cassian glanced at me as he set the last sphere in place. “Ready?”
I nodded. This time, I wasn’t the one taking the blows.
We returned to the library just as the first trails of black smoke curled in from the corridors. The heat was faint now, but it wouldn’t stay that way for long.
Stepping inside brought back another memory I’d buried, one that still made my skin prickle. Jack and Lilian had cornered me in the back hall one night, accusing me of stealing food from the kitchen. Before I could defend myself, Jack had shoved a lit candle against my sleeve. The flames caught fast, licking up my arm. I’d dropped to the ground, smothering it with my own hands, crying until I could barely see.
Celeste had found me afterward. She’d given me a jar of ointment, half–empty and smelling faintly of mold. I’d thought she cared then, thought she was the only one in this family who might actually love me. Standing here now, I almost laughed at the thought. She hadn’t been helping me, she’d been keeping me useful.
“Let’s go,” Cassian’s words broke my stupor. He was already moving toward the cave entrance when a voice cut through the growing crackle of flames.
“Intruders!”
We both stopped. A woman stood at the far end of the hall, her eyes widening in alarm. She didn’t recognize us under the hoods, but I knew her voice instantly. Luna Genevieve- my
mother.
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Chapter 53
Chapter 53
ATASHA’S POV
