Elaria's POV
I lay crumpled on the cave floor, soaked in blood, my blood. It clung to my skin, hot and sticky, pooling beneath me as if it too couldn't believe what just happened.
Each breath came in ragged, shallow gasps. Every inhale scraped against my ribs, and each exhale tasted like ash.
My wolf howled inside me...not from pain, but from fury.
"He lied to us." She growled in anger.
She was bleeding with me, wounded but unbroken. She paced and growled in my mind, her snarls wild enough to tear the world apart. I wanted to howl with her, to scream, to rip out his throat with my own teeth.
But my body wouldn't move.
Pain pulsed where the dagger had pierced me, yet it was nothing compared to the ache in my chest... that hollow where Kaelen's love used to live.
I still felt the phantom warmth of his arms. I still remembered how he looked at me like I was his moon.
And now... he stood silent, looking at me like I was nothing.
Suddenly, boots scraped against stone, and I blinked the blur from my vision.
Alpha Darius.
Luna Lily.
Crescent warriors flanked them in a tight line, faces unreadable, none flinching at the sight of me bleeding in the dirt like an animal.
Were they all in on this?
Darius stepped forward...not hurried or afraid. He crouched in front of me like I was a wounded creature to observe. I'd looked up to this man like a father... and now...
"My, my..." he murmured, tilting his head. "Still breathing. You always were a stubborn thing."
I gritted my teeth and forced myself upright.
His eyes gleamed and not with regret, but pride.
"Let me tell you a little about your father before your end," he said, his voice low. "You should know... your father was a great man."
My breath caught. What?
"His origin was unknown to all, no clan we recognized," he went on, standing now, "but his power... unmatched. He came to Crescent for love. For your mother. And I welcomed him with open arms."
His words coiled around me, soft and suffocating.
"But then, problem arises," he continued, "wolves started listening to him. Following him. My rule, my legacy, was at risk. I'm not a bad Alpha, so why should they have been swayed by a stranger?"
"So you killed him," I rasped, the only truth that made sense.
He smiled.
"I offered peace. He believed me. That was his mistake. I had to protect what's mine and goddess, he was difficult to end." he laughed.
Tears slipped down my cheeks before I could stop them. My fists clenched in the dirt. The man they taught me to hate... was betrayed. My goddess...
"And my mother?" I whispered. "What did you do to her?"
"She wouldn't stop being foolish and we needed to keep her shut," he said with a shrug. "We did what had to be done. A few rituals. A few... corrections. Just enough to scatter her mind."
My stomach turned.
Every broken whisper and foggy gaze.
That wasn't madness, that was torture and she wasn't crazy. She was surviving.
"And me?" I choked. "Why let us suffer? Why keep me alive?"
His smile widened. "You were our redemption."
I shook my head. "No. You could've killed me too. You're evil!"
"No," he corrected gently, like I was a child. "We couldn't do something so foolish. We took you the moment you were born...to prepare you."
He gestured to the silver bowl, its faint pulse still glowing.
"Your blood was the key to breaking the curse your father left behind...a curse that bound our bloodline and slowly poisoned it. A curse so powerful no one could break except by him or someone from his bloodline."
He stepped closer.
"But it had to be broken willingly. That's why we took you in, gave you love. Comfort. Family."
I turned to look at Kaelen and he was still silent.
Darius followed my gaze. "That's why Kaelen was chosen, to keep you soft. Open. Trusting. To keep you away from wanting to dig into the past."
I couldn't breathe. My heartbeat thundered in my ears. Every memory, kiss, and whisper he fed me, they cracked and rotted in my chest.
My wolf let out a broken growl, trembling from within.
So did I.
"You used me," I said, barely above a whisper. "You all used me."
Kaelen looked away as my gaze locked on him. He didn't meet my eyes. He didn't need to.
His silence was enough.
He had played his role well, been the warmth in my winter, the whisper in my storm, the lie I clung to like truth. He was the shelter, the promise, the hope... right up until I bled for them.
He was never my lover but just a weapon dressed in tenderness.
And I...I had loved him anyway. I loved the family that ruined mine, the same ones who made the entire pack spit on my name.
The ache fractured something deep in my chest but behind the heartbreak, something else began to rise.
Rage.
Hot, feral and unforgiving.
My wolf surged forward, no longer hiding behind pain. Her growl echoed through my bones.
She was done being prey and so was I.
My body trembled... then stilled as I pushed to my feet, legs shaking, but spine rising straight.
Gasps tore through the warriors.
I looked down at the dagger still buried in my stomach, then I smiled and slowly, I gripped the hilt... and pulled.
The metal slid free with a wet sound, but I didn't fall.
I healed instantly.
The blood dried. The wound vanished and my skin shimmered where the blade had struck.
"No..." Luna Lily whispered, stumbling back. "Kaelen... you used the poison dagger, didn't you?"
Kaelen didn't blink or answer and he doesn't have to.
I turned slowly to face them, my voice low and sharp. "Of course he did."
Their faces drained of color.
"The poison was real," I said, baring my teeth in a grin. "I just wasn't like you imagined. I'm immune...because I'm a healer. One you'll never understand."
The ground trembled beneath me and the runes around the ritual stones flickered violently... then began to crack.
Power pulsed beneath my skin, raw, ancient, untamed and I loved it.
The warriors surrounded me, blades drawn, eyes hard.
I didn't wait, I lunged and my claws tore through the first throat before he could swing. The second fell before he even saw me move. Blood sprayed and screams followed.
They weren't ready for me, they never were and I laughed low, shaky and broken as my claws tore through flesh and ripped out organs.
Tears streamed down my cheeks, yet I smiled, wide and wild like something inside me had snapped free.
"I swear..." I whispered, voice raw and shaking, "I'll end you all."
My eyes burned as I met their stares one by one.
"Alpha. Luna. Kaelen."
I tilted my head, grin trembling.
"None of you are leaving this grove alive."
The Luna staggered backward, fear etched into her face.
"Bring her out!" she shrieked.
Everything slowed and two warriors emerged from the shadows, dragging someone between them.
My breath hitched and my wolf whimpered.
"Mama…"
She was limp and bloody. Her silver hair clung to her face, her dress torn, soaked with blood. Her feet dragged over the stones, and her wide eyes were dazed and filled with terror.
But she was alive, barely.
"No," I breathed.
The Alpha stepped forward, calm and precise, and pressed a blade against her throat.
"Stand down," he ordered. "Or she dies."
My body locked. My heart shattered all over again.
"No, don't listen to them." My wolf howled inside, wild with grief, but I couldn't move. Not with that blade quivering against my mother's throat.
"Let her go," I growled. "If you hurt her, I swear I will burn your entire legacy to ash."
Darius didn't flinch.
"You've fulfilled your purpose. But that mate bond still connects you, it strengthens you. That makes you dangerous."
He turned to Kaelen.
"Reject her."
"No," I whispered. "Don't."
Luna Lily stepped forward, voice smooth, face serene. "If you accept his rejection, you and your mother will be exiled. Alive."
"If I don't?" My voice trembled.
"She dies."
I looked at my mother. Her lips moved faintly. My knees trembled and my wolf whimpered in protest, warning me that rejection would weaken us beyond repair.
But what choice did I have?
Kaelen stepped forward.
His eyes were hollow.
"I, Kaelen of Crescent Pack," he said coldly, "reject you, Elaria, as my mate."
Something inside me shattered but I stayed standing.
"I…" I gasped. "Elaria Valen... accept your rejection."
The moment I spoke, something tore inside me, like claws ripping out my soul.
My knees buckled, vision dimmed and the light in my veins faded. I collapsed powerless.
My wolf's voice vanished.
Like she was gone.
The Alpha didn't wait.
"Kill her," he said. "Now."
Arrows flew.
One pierced my shoulder, another struck my thigh and a third lodged beneath my ribs.
I gasped as poison blazed through my veins. My body convulsed, my limbs went cold and I fell, sinking into the dirt.
And just as everything began to fade, a scream tore through the grove.
"ELARIA!"
Her voice was clear, sharp and sane.
My mother broke free.
Her silver hair was tangled, her body bloodied, and breath ragged, yet she crawled, dragged herself to my side, sobbing my name.
She glowed faintly and weakly but she glowed.
She pressed trembling hands to my wounds, whispering frantically, "You can't die. Not now. Not like this. You have to live. You have to find out who you are…"
Tears fell from her face onto mine.
And for a moment... my skin began to knit.
My power stirred, then more arrows came but she didn't move or flinch.
She wrapped herself around me and took every strike with her back.
Still... she held me and whispered.
"My little moonlight," she breathed. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. But I love you. Your father and I... always have."
Another arrow hit and she coughed and shuddered and then... her light burst.
Power flooded into me and with her final breath, she screamed and a wave of energy exploded beneath us, swallowing me whole.
I flew, soaring through darkness and wind and fire and light, too fast to scream.
And the last thing I heard as her magic pushed me into the unknown was her voice.
"I love you, Elaria. Please... live."