Leah's POV
I stepped out of Redwood Mansion, the heavy doors groaning shut behind me like a beast drawing its last ragged breath. The moon hung low and vicious in the sky, its bloody light spilling over the battlefield, painting the carnage in shades of rust and shadow. The air reeked of death - smoke curling thick and acrid, blood pooling in the dirt, the metallic tang clawing at my throat. Before me, the crowd shuffled through the wreckage, their faces hollowed out by exhaustion, hands stained red as they hauled bodies and hacked at the earth. Some wailed, others worked in silence, but all moved like ghosts trapped in a nightmare they couldn't wake from. My hand drifted to my swollen belly, fingers trembling against the faint kick of life inside me. It was the only thing tethering me to this fucked-up world.
A sudden blur of motion snapped my head up, and I froze as two massive shapes lunged out of the haze. Direwolves - huge, hulking bastards with eyes like burning coals - landed in front of me, their claws gouging the blood-soaked ground. My heart slammed against my ribs, a scream catching in my throat as I stumbled back, one arm curling protectively over my stomach. For a heartbeat, I saw only teeth and menace, my pulse roaring in my ears, sweat prickling down my spine.
Then one of them laughed - a deep, guttural sound that rumbled through the air. "Haha, look, she was scared by me!"
"Shut up, Romulus!" the other one snarled, voice sharp and edged with worry. "She's pregnant, you'll scare her into miscarriage!"
I blinked, the fear draining out of me like blood from a slit vein. "Romulus? Remus?" My voice cracked, raw and shaky, as I stared at them. These weren't just any wolves - they were my wolves, the ones I'd thought were lost to this endless war. Joy hit me like a punch, and I lurched forward, throwing my arms around their thick necks, burying my face in their coarse, matted fur. It smelled of smoke and earth and something wild, something alive. "Are you okay?" I choked out, tears burning my eyes. "I thought I'd never see you again in my life!"
Romulus pressed his massive head against me, nudging me with a gentleness that didn't match his size. "I'm hurt behind my ear," he grumbled, bowing low so his ear brushed my hand. "Can you rub it for me?"
I laughed - a brittle, broken sound - and reached up, fingers sinking into the soft fur behind his ear. He let out a snoring grunt, his eyes slitting shut, body sagging like some overgrown pup. Remus snorted, shoving his snout into my other hand. "You look like a domestic dog, Romulus."
"Fuck off," Romulus muttered, but there was no heat in it. I scratched Remus's ear too, and he gurgled, a low, contented sound rumbling up from his chest. For a moment, I let myself sink into it - their warmth, their weight, the way they leaned into me like I was their anchor. My hands moved over their fur, tracing scars and knots, and I could almost pretend the world wasn't burning down around us.
But then my eyes snagged on something in the distance - a lone figure slouched on the shattered steps of what used to be the mansion's grand entrance. Finn. His silhouette was unmistakable, even through the haze of smoke and ruin. He sat there, a cigarette glowing between his fingers, staring at the smoldering chaos like it was some twisted mirror of his soul. My chest tightened, and I gave Romulus and Remus one last rough pat before picking my way toward him. The wolves didn't follow, but I felt their gazes boring into my back, heavy with something I couldn't name.
Finn didn't look up as I got closer, didn't even twitch. The cigarette hung loose in his mouth, smoke spiraling upward in lazy curls, blending with the stench of ash and death. His clothes were torn, streaked with dirt and blood - some his, some not - and his face was a mask of hollowed-out exhaustion. He looked like a man who'd already died and just hadn't figured it out yet.
"I have imagined this scene countless times," he said, voice rough as gravel, barely audible over the distant crackle of flames. "But it all seems different from what I imagined."
I hesitated, then sank down beside him on the steps. The stone bit into my thighs, cold and unyielding, but I didn't care. He still wouldn't look at me, just took a long drag on his cigarette, then crushed it out with a flick of his fingers, sending the butt skittering into the dirt. We sat there, the silence between us thick and suffocating, pressing down like the weight of all the shit we'd been through. My hands rested on my knees, clenched tight, nails digging into my palms. I wanted to say something, anything, but the words stuck in my throat like shards of glass.
Finally, he broke the quiet, his voice low and flat. "How do you plan to kill me?"
The question landed like a blow, sharp and cold, and I shook my head, my gut twisting. "I never wanted to kill you, Finn." My voice came out steadier than I felt. "Sak asked me to take care of you, no matter what, before he died. I'll stick to that."
He let out a bitter laugh, lips curling into a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "I never thought that the person I loved the most in my life could save my life after death." The words dripped with venom and grief, and I felt them sink into me, heavy and barbed.
I swallowed hard, forcing myself to meet his gaze even though he wouldn't look back. "Finn, I'm sorry for everything that happened to you. I owe you an apology. So here it is - I'm sorry. For all the bastards who hurt you, directly or not, I'm sorry. I don't expect you to give a shit about it, but I need you to know."
He didn't say anything, just dropped his head, his face blank as a slate wiped clean. No anger, no sadness, nothing - just a void where something used to be. The silence stretched thin, and I could feel it fraying, unraveling under the weight of all the things we'd never say. My chest ached, a dull, gnawing pain that wouldn't let go. He'd been broken too many times, and I'd had a hand in it, whether I meant to or not.
I pushed myself up, legs stiff and heavy, brushing the grit from my hands. "Also," I said, voice rough, "despite all the bad shit between us, I've never regretted saving you from that nightclub. Not for a fucking second."
I turned and started walking, my boots crunching against the blood-crusted earth. The battlefield sprawled out before me, a graveyard of shattered bodies and smoldering wreckage, the moon glaring down like it was judging us all. I didn't look back, didn't want to see if he was watching me go. But then his voice cut through the air, soft and ragged, stopping me dead.
"Can I see Lycidas again before I die?"
My breath hitched, and for a moment, I couldn't move. Fires flickered in the distance, licking at the skeletons of trees and tents, casting long, jagged shadows across the ground. The air was thick with the stench of burning flesh and metal, and every breath I took felt like swallowing ash. My hand drifted back to my belly, fingers pressing against the swell, and I wondered what kind of world I was bringing this kid into. A world of wolves and smoke and broken men like Finn, sitting alone on the steps, watching it all burn.