The Alpha's Lost Heiress

The House Of Wolves

The wolves did not move.

They stood in the rain like silent guardians, their golden eyes fixed on Elara while the storm tore through the Silverpine Forest around them. She could hear her own breathing, quick and uneven, and beneath it came the faint pounding of her heart. The silver pendant hanging against her chest had stopped glowing, but the warmth it had left behind seemed to have spread through her entire body. Nobody spoke. Even Rowan appeared unwilling to break the strange silence that had settled over the clearing.

Kael Draven was the first to move. He stepped toward Elara, and every wolf immediately lowered its head. The gesture should have been reassuring, but somehow it made her more nervous. Kael stopped several feet away, studying her with an expression she couldn't decipher. His clothes were soaked from the storm, yet he seemed completely unaffected by the cold. There was something unnervingly composed about him, something that made Elara feel as though she were standing in front of a locked door and he possessed the key. “You need to come with me,” he said. Elara folded her arms. “That isn't happening until someone tells me what is going on.” Kael's jaw tightened. “There are people in those woods who want you dead.” “And I'm supposed to trust the man who just arrived with an army of wolves?” His eyes flickered toward the animals before returning to her. “They're not my army.” Rowan gave a quiet, humorless laugh. “That's probably the least reassuring thing you could have said.”

A distant howl interrupted them. Kael's expression changed instantly, and he turned toward the trees. “They're getting closer.” Rowan looked at Elara. “He's right. We can't stay here.” Elara hated that both men were speaking as though she were the only person in the clearing who didn't understand what was happening. She wanted answers, not another command. She wanted someone to explain why strangers knew her name, why Rowan had called her Seraphine, and why her mother's pendant had suddenly reacted to a pack of wolves. Most of all, she wanted to know why Kael had looked at her as though he had seen someone return from the dead. “Fine,” she said at last. “I'll go with you, but nobody touches me, nobody orders me around, and somebody is going to explain everything.” Kael's mouth tightened into the faintest hint of amusement. “You negotiate remarkably well for someone standing in the middle of a wolf territory.” “And you avoid questions remarkably well for someone claiming to know me.”

They reached the SUV minutes later. Rowan climbed into the back while Kael opened the passenger door for Elara. She hesitated before getting inside, watching him carefully. “Where are you taking me?” she asked. “Draven Estate.” The name meant nothing to her until Rowan spoke from the back seat. “It's the safest place in Silvercrest.” Elara turned toward him. “You keep saying things like that as if I'm supposed to understand.” Rowan leaned against the seat, his face pale from the injury beneath his coat. “You will.” Kael shut the door before she could respond. The vehicle moved through the forest, tires cutting through deep mud as the storm battered the windows. For several minutes nobody spoke. Elara watched the dark trees slide past and tried to organize the impossible pieces of the evening. She had broken down on a mountain road, discovered an injured stranger, been chased by unknown people, escaped through a hidden tunnel, and encountered wolves that appeared to recognize her. Now she was being taken to the home of a billionaire Alpha who claimed she had been missing for twenty-four years. It was absurd. Yet the fear in Rowan's voice and the certainty in Kael's eyes made it impossible to dismiss as a bizarre coincidence.

“You said my name isn't Elara,” she finally said. Kael kept his eyes on the road. “I said you were hidden under another identity.” “Why?” Silence filled the vehicle. Elara looked at Rowan through the rearview mirror. He avoided her gaze. “Why does everyone know more about me than I do?” Kael's hands tightened around the steering wheel. “Because your mother made sure you wouldn't remember.” Elara's chest tightened. “Remember what?” Kael glanced at her. “The night your family disappeared.” She turned toward him sharply. “My family didn't disappear. My mother died when I was six.” Kael's expression remained unreadable. “That's what you were told.” Elara felt anger rising beneath her fear. “Then tell me the truth.” He didn't answer immediately. Instead, he drove faster. “The truth is dangerous.” “So is keeping me ignorant.” This time Kael looked at her for several seconds before returning his attention to the road. “You're right.”

The estate appeared beyond the trees just before dawn. Elara had expected a mansion, but Draven Estate looked more like a fortress built into the mountainside. Dark stone walls rose behind enormous iron gates, while narrow towers disappeared into the mist. Warm lights glowed from hundreds of windows, creating the strange impression that the enormous building was watching them approach. The gates opened before Kael even stopped the vehicle. Elara stared at the property in disbelief. “You live here?” “Yes.” “Alone?” “No.” Before she could ask who else lived there, the front doors opened. Several people stood beneath the stone entrance, all watching the vehicle with expressions ranging from concern to outright shock. Kael stepped out first, then helped Rowan from the back. Elara remained inside for another moment, suddenly unwilling to cross the threshold. She had the uncomfortable feeling that the moment she entered the house, there would be no going back to the life she'd known.

Kael opened her door. “Elara.” She looked up at him. “If I walk inside, I want one thing.” “What?” “No more half-truths.” His gaze held hers. “I'll tell you what I can.” “That's not what I asked.” Kael studied her for a moment before nodding. “Then I'll tell you the truth.” Elara stepped out.

Inside, the estate was even more impressive. Dark wood lined the walls, enormous paintings covered the corridors, and silver symbols had been carved into the stone above every doorway. Elara recognized the wolf emblem from the card she'd found in Rowan's pocket. The people gathered in the entrance hall fell silent when she entered. An older woman standing near the staircase stared at Elara as though she were looking at a photograph that had suddenly come to life. “It's her,” the woman whispered. Kael's expression hardened. “Everyone leaves.” Nobody moved. His voice became colder. “Now.” The group scattered without another word.

Elara followed Kael into a private study while Rowan was taken elsewhere to have his injury treated. The room smelled faintly of cedar and old books. Kael closed the door and walked toward a large desk covered with documents. He pulled out a photograph and placed it in front of her. Elara picked it up.

Her breath caught.

The photograph showed a woman standing beside a young girl in front of an enormous stone building. The woman had Elara's eyes, her dark hair, and the same small crescent-shaped birthmark beneath her collarbone.

It was her mother.

But the little girl standing beside her was unmistakably Elara.

She stared at the photograph, unable to understand why her hands had begun shaking.

“I don't remember this,” she whispered.

“You weren't supposed to.”

Elara looked up. “Why?”

Kael opened a drawer and removed an old black book. He placed it beside the photograph and opened it to a page filled with symbols. At the center was a drawing of a silver crown surrounded by wolves.

“The Moon Crown,” he said. “Your family carried its bloodline for centuries. The crown wasn't merely a symbol. It represented authority over the oldest supernatural clans in Eldoria.”

Elara stared at him.

“Supernatural?”

Kael's eyes met hers.

“Werewolves.”

The word should have sounded ridiculous.

Instead, everything that had happened in the forest suddenly made horrible sense.

Elara pushed the photograph away. “If this is true, why don't I remember any of it?”

“Because your mother erased your memories and hid you among humans.”

“From whom?”

Kael's face darkened.

“From the people who destroyed your family.”

Elara swallowed. “Who were they?”

Before Kael could answer, the study doors opened violently.

Rowan stood there, breathing hard.

“Kael,” he said, “we have a problem.”

Kael turned.

Rowan held up a small black object.

“They found the cabin.”

Elara stood.

“Who?”

Rowan's eyes moved toward her.

“The people who have been hunting you.”

Kael's expression became cold enough to silence the room.

“How close?”

Rowan looked toward the windows.

“They're already inside Silvercrest.”

At that exact moment, every light in the estate went out.

And from somewhere beyond the walls came the sound of a wolf growling.