The air in the Crimson Fang chamber was thick with tension, the weight of secrets and unresolved emotions pressing down on Bella. She stood between her parents, Misery and Eryon, feeling the pull of their presence—the warmth of a mother’s embrace and the commanding strength of a father’s gaze. But the anger she felt still burned hot in her chest, a flame that refused to be extinguished by their mere presence.
Misery’s silver hair shimmered in the moonlight, her face drawn with sorrow. Eryon’s gaze was filled with regret, a pain so deep it seemed to radiate from him. Yet, neither could offer the comfort Bella desperately needed. Instead, all they had were explanations—ones she wasn’t sure she was ready to hear, but ones that, perhaps, would begin to unravel the mysteries of her past.
Misery was the first to speak, her voice soft but laden with a sense of heavy truth. “Bella, you have to understand… we didn’t leave you out of choice. We did it because we believed it was the only way to keep you safe.”
Bella clenched her fists at her sides, her nails digging into her palms as she fought to control the surge of emotion threatening to spill over. Her voice was cold as she responded, “Safe? You left me with strangers. With wolves who treated me like dirt. How is that keeping me safe?”
Misery flinched, the pain in her eyes deepening, but she didn’t look away. “We knew it was dangerous for you to be near us, especially after you were born. You don’t understand the prophecy, Bella. You don’t know what it means for you—or for us.”
Eryon stepped forward, his imposing presence casting a shadow over the room. “Shadowbound hunted us for years, Bella. They wanted you because of the power you carry. You are the key to a prophecy, one that could change everything for our kind. We couldn’t let them find you. Not when you were so young, so vulnerable.”
Bella’s heart skipped a beat. The words struck her like a blow to the chest. The prophecy. The one Lira had alluded to, the one she had been running from her entire life. But she had never known it was this important. She had always thought the prophecy was just a distant legend, something for the old wolves to talk about around the fire. But now, hearing her parents speak of it, it felt as though her entire existence had been shaped by something far greater than she could have ever imagined.
Misery continued, her voice trembling slightly as she spoke. “You were born with a dual bloodline, Bella. The blood of two powerful wolves—the Crimson Fang and the rogue Luna’s line. That’s why Shadowbound wanted you. They believed that if they controlled you, they would control everything. Your father and I… we couldn’t let that happen. We had to hide you. To keep you safe from the world that would have destroyed you for what you are.”
Bella felt the weight of her parents’ words crash over her like a wave. A dual bloodline. The power of two wolves coursing through her veins. No wonder she had felt so different her whole life, why her powers had always been unpredictable, why her instincts were sharper than any wolf she had ever met. And Shadowbound? The very same pack that had been hunting her, the pack that had manipulated Esmera into her schemes? They had known what she was from the beginning.
Eryon’s eyes were dark with regret as he spoke, his voice heavy with emotion. “We thought we were protecting you, Bella. If we had kept you with us, they would have come for you sooner. They would have killed you to take what was ours. So we made the hardest decision of our lives and left you behind. But it wasn’t just to protect you from them. We wanted you to grow strong, to learn who you are on your own. We believed that, one day, you’d be able to fight back. To be the one to end this war, to bring balance to everything that’s been torn apart.”
Bella’s mind was racing, the weight of her parents’ secrets bearing down on her. They hadn’t abandoned her for selfish reasons—they had done it out of fear. Fear for her safety, for the prophecy that tied her fate to forces she had only just begun to understand. But understanding didn’t make the hurt go away. It didn’t erase the years she had spent alone, wondering why they had left her in the first place.
“And what about me, huh?” Bella’s voice cracked, but she pushed through the pain, her words sharp as daggers. “What about the years I spent growing up with wolves who treated me like nothing? What about the loneliness? The fear? You left me to fend for myself, and you expect me to just forgive you?”
Misery’s face twisted in sorrow, and Eryon’s jaw clenched tightly. They both stepped forward, but Bella held up a hand, stopping them in their tracks. She couldn’t hear their excuses anymore. The hurt was too fresh, the betrayal too real.
“You think this was all for my good?” Bella’s eyes burned with unshed tears. “You abandoned me, and now you expect me to just… accept it? You left me with nothing but questions and pain. You didn’t protect me, you just hid me away like I was some secret you didn’t want anyone to find.”
Her words hung heavy in the air, an accusation that echoed through the room. She was torn between the desire to forgive them and the overwhelming anger that had built up over the years. The pain of being abandoned—of growing up without the love and guidance of her parents—was something that couldn’t be so easily erased by explanations or apologies.
Misery’s eyes filled with tears, and Eryon’s shoulders slumped, the weight of Bella’s words settling over him like a cloak of guilt. They had failed her. They had made choices that, at the time, they believed were right, but those choices had come at a cost—a cost that Bella could never forget.
Bella stood tall, her fists clenched at her sides, her voice trembling with emotion as she spoke again, the words coming out harsher than she had intended.
“You abandoned me to wolves who treated me like dirt,” she said, her voice cold, her heart torn in two. “You can explain it all you want, but it doesn’t change what you did.”