#Chapter 116 On the Run
#Chapter 116: On the Run
(Siena’s POV)
The darkness of the maintenance tunnels presses close around me, an oppressive weight that echoes the turmoil raging within my chest.
Raiden’s words replay endlessly in my mind, each syllable a spark igniting a wildfire of chaotic emotion.
“I’ve loved you from the beginning, Siena.”
Three words, whispered hoarsely as Raiden pushed me toward the escape tunnel. Three words I’d imagined hearing countless times in my dreams–but never like this. Never with blood staining his shirt and enemies closing in behind us.
I freeze, one foot already in the hidden passage.
“What did you say?” My voice barely carries over the distant sounds of pursuit.
Raiden’s eyes–midnight blue, almost black in the dim light–lock with mine. “I love you, Siena. I always have.” His voice breaks. “And if I don’t make it-*
“Don’t.” The word tears from my throat. “Don’t you dare.”
A confession I’d once desperately longed for, dreamed of hearing in quiet, vulnerable moments–but now, amidst immediate danger, it unravels my carefully maintained composure, threatening to fracture my strategic focus.
“Go,” he urges, giving me a gentle push. “Please.”
With one last look at his bloodied silhouette, I slip into the darkness of the tunnel.
The passage narrows immediately, forcing me to crouch. Cold stone scrapes against my palms as I feel my way forward, Raiden’s words echoing in my mind with each hammering heartbeat.
I love you. I love you. I love you.
My pulse pounds sharply in my ears, nearly drowning out the sound of footsteps somewhere behind me.
Are they Raiden’s pursuers, or has someone discovered this escape route as well?
I force my breath into slow, measured rhythms, channeling adrenaline into decisive clarity rather than panic.
Focus, Siena.
Survive now. Feel later.
The tunnel curves sharply left, then right. I count turns from memory–three lefts, a right, then the steep descent toward the underground river that borders Windhowl’s eastern territory.
Emergency lights cast ghostly blue shadows at irregular intervals, barely enough to prevent me from stumbling.
And still Raiden’s words haunt me, threatening to pull me back to him. His face when he said it–the naked vulnerability, the resignation, as if he were saying goodbye. As if he didn’t expect to survive.
My wolf bristles beneath my skin.
I pause at a junction, listening. Water drips somewhere in the darkness, the sound amplified by stone walls.
Beneath it, something else–voices, muffled but drawing closer.
My heart leaps into my throat. They shouldn’t know about this passage. No one but pack leadership and-
Realization hits me like a physical blow.
There’s a traitor among us.
Quickly, silently, I navigate further into the labyrinthine tunnels, memory guiding each precise step.
The voices grow louder behind me.
My wolf sharpens my senses–ears catching every footfall, nose detecting the faint scents of strangers mixed with something disturbingly familiar.
The passage narrows again, and the ceiling drops so low I’m forced to crawl.
The rough stone tears at my jeans and scrapes my palms raw; I push forward.
If I can reach the underground river, I can use the current to carry me beyond their reach. Suddenly, muffled voices drift through a ventilation grate above me. Heart accelerating, I pause instinctively, pressing close against cold stone walls, listening intently.
“…should have been dealt with months ago.”
Lila’s voice–sharp, venomous–sends a chill down my spine.
“Patience has served our purpose,” comes Mia’s softer, yet equally dangerous reply.
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#Chapter 116 On the Run
My blood runs cold. Mia, who had welcomed me back with open arms and warm smiles. “The Alpha is compromised. His feelings for her have made him vulnerable, exactly as we predicted.”
“And what if she makes it out?” Lila demands. “She’s more resourceful than you give her credit for”
A soft laugh drifts through the grate. “Oh, I’m counting on it.” Something in Mia’s tone makes my stomach sick. “By now, Raiden is either dead or captured. When she learns of it, where do you think she’ll go? What do you think she’ll do?”
“Return,” Lila says flatly. She’ll try to save him. Or Zion will get her, either way, it’s game over,”
Zion?
“Precisely.” The satisfaction in Mia’s voice makes my stomach churn. “And when she does, we’ll be waiting. Two problems, solved with a single trap.”
The betrayal burns like acid in my veins. Mia, who knew every detail of our security protocols. Who had access to his quarters, to mine.
She used that trust to orchestrate our destruction.
My destruction.
Something shifts in the darkness behind me a whisper of movement, the faintest disturbance of air. I’m not alone in this tunnel.
With horrifying clarity, I understand. This isn’t just a pursuit–it’s a herding. They’re driving me exactly where they want me to go.
I press myself flat against the wall, controlling my breathing through sheer will. The voices above continue their plotting, but my focus has shifted to the presence I can feel drawing nearer in the darkness.
Cold certainty settles in my chest. I won’t make it to the river. There’s only one path forward now–and it leads straight back to Raiden.
His words echo once more in my mind.
I love you. I always have.
My wolf surges beneath my skin, filling me with a fierce, protective rage that burns brighter than fear. If Mia wants me to return–if she’s counting on my love for Raiden to draw me into her trap–then I’ll give her exactly what she expects.
But on my terms. With
already drawn.
I close my eyes, mapping the tunnels in my mind. There’s another way–a forgotten passage that Raiden showed me once when we were still kids, when we still shared everything.
A passage that leads not to freedom, but to the heart of Windhowl.
To him.
My decision crystallizes, turning fear into resolve. I won’t run. Not anymore. Not when Raiden–and everything we could be -hangs in the balance.
The footsteps behind me grow closer, more confident. They think they have me trapped, cornered like prey.
They have no idea what I’m capable of when someone I love is threatened.
With silent determination, I begin to move again, not away from Windhowl, but deeper into its heart–toward danger, toward betrayal.
Toward Raiden.
“She’s separated from Raiden now,” Mia murmurs quietly, satisfaction clear beneath careful calm. “She leads with heart, not logic.”
Lila’s laugh drips bitterly through the grate, echoing sharply into my hiding place. “Once isolated, Siena becomes vulnerable. She’ll panic, run blindly–right into our carefully prepared trap.”
“Child’s play,” Mia snorts.
I refuse to be prey, manipulated by enemies‘ expectations.
Independence demands action, courage, direct confrontation.
Swiftly, I shift my strategy, carefully selecting a position for my own counterambush.
Shadows shift subtly across tunnel walls, footsteps approaching cautiously, enemies expecting fearful flight rather than
decisive confrontation.
Lila and Mia step clearly into view.
Surprise registers briefly upon their faces before swiftly replacing it with anger. “Siena,” Lila snarls softly, eyes narrowing sharply. “Finally stopped running?”
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#Chapter 116: On the Run
I step calmly into open view, posture confident despite vulnerability beneath careful composure. “Your game ends here.”
Lila’s lips twist bitterly, her eyes glittering sharply beneath dim lighting. “Always so brave,” she mocks quietly, stepping closer slowly, her movements predatory. But bravery won’t save you–not from the truth you’ve always feared.”
“You know nothing about my truths,” I reply softly yet firmly, refusing to rise emotionally to her bait.
Lila laughs bitterly, stepping swiftly closer, voice dropping viciously low. “He never loved you, Siena,” she taunts sharply, words cutting deliberately deep. “Even now, Raiden only wants what he can’t have. Once you’re gone, he’ll forget you swiftly enough–just as he always has.”
I meet Lila’s gaze steadily, “Whether Raiden loves me or not, is no concern of yours, traitor,” I snarl, the fury bubbling now, vilely in the depths of my soul.
Anger swiftly replaces surprise, bitterness darkening subtly behind her sharp gaze.
“And what about Zion?” She laughs, her eyes black like coal. “Did you think you suddnely were so loved by all? By him?”
She and Mia set off into a cackle.
Her hand moves swiftly beneath her cloak, revealing a small, deadly blade concealed carefully against her palm.
My muscles tense sharply, and my instincts scream urgently of imminent danger.
Yet before either can move, footsteps thunder urgently down the tunnel behind me, a familiar scent flooding powerfully through my senses an instant before his form bursts swiftly into the chamber.
“Siena!”
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