Chasing His Betrayed Luna by KiKi Jones

81. A Filthy Prisoner

AURELIA

My curiosity hung in the air as | let my legs carrytowards the voice. With every step | took, my broken heart

fell piece by piece. With every cell | looked into, | hurled, the foul smell irritating me. "How heartless is she

really? She clearly had people locked in here." Inara heaved without hiding her disgust.

In spite of her words, my wolf's curiosity coursed throughand it only intensified when the ssoft whimper

reached my ears again, "I can smell y-you. It's really you..."

Strangely, a tiny part ofseemed to recognize that voice. The feminine ring sounded familiar but | couldn't

place my finger on it.

"Who're you?" | questioned, taking cautious steps as the space becdarker.

As my voice echoed, sending waves back to my eardrums, there cno response from the oddly familiar voice

but to my surprise, another voice, not a familiar one, cried out, "Please letout. Please."

I inhaled sharply, ignoring the foul smell around me. Inara's sense of smell also picked up the undying scent of

people before their voices resonated, leavingshocked.

"Please letgo..."

"I won't tell a soul if you letout..."

"W-water... I'm thirsty."

Those cries overlapped and | couldn't point out just how many people were locked up. The loudness made me

wonder how no one had ever found this horrible place. If | was sad before walking into Larisa's underground

prison, my sorrows tripled, and the hate | felt towards that heartless wrench multiplied.

| halted, stopping in front of the first cell with an occupant. A teenage girl. She scooted closer to the metallic

door of the cell but distanced herself from it, makingrealize that the cell was laced with silver.

Her young face was pale and her eyes pleading, "You aren't her. Please release me. I've to be with my mom."

| found my voice in the midst of the emotional chaos and asked, "What's your name? Who is your mother?"

"M-my nis Maya. My mom is the head of servant." The teenage girl cried, putting effort into raising her

voice above every other.

"Nina? Your mother is Nina?" | gasped, putting my hands on the locks without thinking of how Maya would react

totouching silver.

Thankfully, she was too weak and disheartened to notice as she muttered breathlessly, "Yes. Please save me

from the Luna. She has been keepingcaptive-"

"Save your breath," | uttered gently, offering her a smile as | broke the lock. "I can see you're tired but | need you

to helprelease the others. Can you do that?"

"| can try." Maya nodded despite her state and that maderealize that she was nothing like Nina.

Without wasting time, | moved on to the next cell and the next, breaking lock after lock without feeling a sight

burn from the silver. Inara was right aboutbeing Immune but that was the least of my concerns as | set those

people free. "Thank you." | heard those two words repeatedly as | broke the locks and | nodded, asking everyone

to stay put so | could lead them out of here safely.

It wasn't until released about ten of

Larisa's prisoners that | found the owner of the familiar voice | heard earlier. Her tangled gray hair caught my

eyes first and when she etched, "You made it her, Aurelia," my eyes widened.

Focusing on breaking the lock of her cell proved to be difficult and my grip on the door loosened when she raised

her head, revealing the face behind her overflowing hair. Disbelief clouded my senses yet | murmured, "Iris..."

"Hmm mm." She hummed, gazing atwith nothing but sadness in her eyes. "I never thought I'd see you again

after my son lost you."

| ignored her words about how Raiden and | ended and quickly broke the lock, rushing into the cell. "How... How

did this happen?" | asked, shaking my head as | took in her condition.

Iris used to be a beauty for all eyes to behold and I've never seen her with gray hair. She used to have black hair

and the wrinkles on her face didn't have a place the last t| saw her which was many years ago.

Iris Flockhart, wife and mate of Ronald Flockhart and mother to Raiden Flockhart... How on earth did Larisa turn

her into this?

"I don't think we've enough tto discuss how | was once a respected Luna but now a filthy prisoner," Iris

answered, her gray eyes remindingof Raiden's.

"Let's get you out of here," | stated and tried to help her up but her legs were weaker than jelly.

Iris chimed sadly, "I thought my son would be the one to save us from here. His father and | have been waiting

but he never came-"

"Ronald is here too?" | couldn't believe my ears.

"He was here," Iris answered sadly. "And what's left of his body must be here somewhere."

Ronald was gone... just like Jessica.

Although | wasn't a fan of Ronald as we never had the chance to relate like a family even when | was married to

Raiden but even he didn't deserve to die in a place like this.

Tears rolled down Iris's face as she sobbed quietly. If my heart was still in one piece, it'd have broken for her but

at that moment, | could only help her on my back and assure her, "We'll find him. | promise."

While Ronald made himself a target the few times | saw him after | married Raiden, Iris had always made herself

available even when | was simply a servant in the Alpha's mansion. She was kind to me... to everyone.

"Regardless of the circumstances, It's good to see you again, Aurelia." Iris chided as | stepped out of the cell,

bringing her to the others.

"Likewise, Iris-" | tried to smile.

But my attempt was interrupted

when a loud crash cfrom above. | looked around as everyone else panicked, muttering their pleas to be

saved. Seven sent a prayer to the goddess, hoping it wasn't Larisa but hell, did | want it to be her.

| positioned myself between the end. of the stairs and the shaky people after putting tris down. The foul smell

from the cells made it

impossible for my nostrils to pick up the scent of whoever was coming towards us but | could hear footsteps,

sounding closer, and closer by the second.

"Oh, let it be Larisa, goddess. Just this once, favor me." | sent my prayer to the moon goddess.

However, shock rippled all overwhen | finally saw the masculine frof someone who actually wasn't

Larisa.

| mouthed his name, my voice carrying my surprise, "Andrew? What are you doing here?"

Perhaps the question | should have asked him was, "How did you get here?" but that didn't cross my mind... not

immediately.