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Lorelei POV

My eyes fluttered slowly open, only to find myself staring up at a blanket of stars scattered across the dark sky.

Oh, right.

I had been pushed off a cliff.

For a split second, I had really hoped that terrifying plunge had been nothing more than a bad dream. But the reality of the cold night air and the agonizing ache radiating through my body told me otherwise.

Now, how long had I been unconscious after the fall? And how was I even still alive?

I tried to shift my body, only to let out a loud groan of pure agony. That’s when I realized my right leg was badly injured.

As my mind gradually cleared, I looked up at the shattered foliage above me and realized the only reason I had survived the drop was because my leg had gotten caught on one of the thick tree branches on the way down.

The impact had slowed my momentum, breaking my fall and saving me from slamming into the rocky ground below with full, fatal force.

I lay flat on my back for a moment, breathing heavily as I tried to assess the rest of the damage.

My leg throbbed with an ache that flared violently with every tiny movement. My arms were deeply scratched and bleeding from the rough branches I had crashed through. My head pounded like a bass drum, and my vision swam dangerously whenever I tried to focus on a single point.

I was alive.

But I was completely trapped.

I forced myself to look around, trying to get my bearings. The forest below the cliff was pitch-black, the massive trees casting long, eerie shadows beneath the moonlight. I couldn’t hear the comforting sounds of the orphanage anymore. No laughter. No shouting. No games. Nothing.

How far had I actually fallen? How long had I been blacked out? And most importantly... who was it that pushed me?

"Help!" I called out, my voice coming out hoarse, cracked, and terrifyingly weak against the vast wilderness. "Someone, please... help!"

Nothing.

Only the mocking rustling of leaves and the distant, lonely hoot of an owl answered me.

I tried to push myself up using my forearms, but the moment I put any weight on my lower body, the pain in my leg became too much to bear. I collapsed back onto the dirt with a choked cry, hot tears of frustration and fear pricking at the corners of my eyes.

I was alone, heavily injured, and most likely lost in unfamiliar territory.

And absolutely no one knew where I was.

I pressed my palms against the cold earth and forced myself to take a deep breath.

Think, Lorelei. Think.

Someone had to notice I was missing eventually. Paul, that annoying prick who had been shadowing me all day, might actually prove useful for once. I guessed his suffocating presence was a blessing in disguise after all. I just had to hope he had realized I was gone by now and had already raised the alarm.

As the minutes stretched into what felt like hours, the darkness of the forest grew even thicker, and a biting chill began to seep deep into my bones.

It was then that I realized that if I truly wanted to be found, I couldn’t just lie here in the dark like a sitting duck. I had to at least make an effort to make myself visible.

Despite the pain radiating through my lower body, I gritted my teeth and forced myself to sit up. Sobbing quietly from the exertion, I dragged my heavy body across the dirt toward a large fallen tree trunk nearby, using the rough wood as support to pull myself into a semi-seated position.

I leaned my back against the bark and gasped heavily for breath, my whole body trembling uncontrollably from the effort. My hands were scraped raw and covered in dirt, my clean clothes were torn to shreds, and my leg...

My leg was definitely not in good shape.

Carefully, I tilted my head down to examine the injury.

The fabric of my fresh jeans was torn completely open and soaked through with dark, sticky blood. I could see a deep, jagged gash running along my calf, and the unnatural angle of my ankle told me it was probably severely sprained or worse.

"Okay," I muttered to myself, my voice shaky and trembling in the quiet night. "Okay. Just... stay calm. Someone will come. Darius will notice. Paul will look for me."

But even as I whispered those reassuring words into the empty darkness, doubt still crept in.

Would anyone actually be able to find me out here?

The forest surrounding the territory was vast and dense. The night was pitch-black. And my scent was so faint that it would be almost completely hidden beneath the canopy of trees.

I wrapped my arms tightly around my chest, shivering violently as I tried to preserve what little body heat I had left.

And with nothing else left to do, I waited.

I waited for so long that I eventually drifted off to sleep, only to be abruptly awakened by something cold and slick coiling around my lower leg.

Thinking it was just a stray leaf or a branch brushing against me in the wind, I sleepily reached down and grabbed it. But as I lifted my hand and brought it closer to my face for inspection, a sharp, menacing hiss echoed through the quiet night, causing my brows to knit together in confusion.

The exact second I felt the object writhe and flex powerfully in my grasp, a part of me instinctively sensed that something was horrifically wrong.

My eyes flew wide open, and every drop of color instantly drained from my face as I found myself staring directly at a large hissing snake.

"Ah!" I screamed as I violently hurled it away from my body.

But the snake didn’t give up.

The moment it hit the dirt, it immediately whipped around and began slithering straight back toward me, its dark body gliding across the crunchy fallen leaves with terrifying speed.

I didn’t know much about reptiles, but I knew that some snakes could be deathly venomous, and I certainly wasn’t about to let one bite me just to find out what kind it was. Even if there was an antidote back at the orphanage, I would be dead long before anyone managed to find me.

Forcing myself to my feet while completely ignoring the pain in my injured leg, I desperately tried to run. But I only made it two pathetic steps before my weakened leg gave out beneath me, sending me crashing heavily to the ground.

The snake wasn’t giving up either.

Its hissing grew louder and far more aggressive, and its pace increased drastically as it closed the short distance between us.

I screamed at the top of my lungs, desperately scrambling backward on my elbows, trying to put as much distance between myself and the creature as possible. But my battered body could barely move fast enough.

I watched in absolute horror as it rapidly coiled itself around my injured leg once again. Its head rose into the air, its sharp fangs bared as it prepared to strike.

But at that exact, terrifying millisecond, a blurred hand suddenly shot out of the darkness.

It caught the snake around the neck mid-strike, stopping it mere inches from my skin before ruthlessly tearing it apart with its bare hands.

I gasped.

Then I looked up.

A pair of brightly glowing amber eyes stared right back at me from the pitch-black woods.

Kaelen.

Never in a million years would I have thought I would feel an overwhelming sense of relief at the sight of the Alpha King.

But right now, seeing him was the most beautiful thing I had ever witnessed.

The relief hit me so hard that the dam finally broke, and I started sobbing uncontrollably.

Immediately, Kaelen dropped to his knees in the dirt beside me and wrapped his powerful arms around my trembling body, pulling me tightly against his massive, warm chest.

"It’s okay," he whispered into my hair, his deep voice thick with an emotion I couldn’t quite place as his large hands stroked soothingly up and down my back. "I got you. You’re safe now. I’ve got you."