Stormborn to the Alpha

Chapter 27 - The Hidden Journal

*Elara – pov*

The next few days settled into something dangerously close to peace.

Not normal, nothing about my life was normal anymore but peaceful.

Mornings settled into comfortable routine.

At exactly five AM Jake would appear outside my door banging dramatically like the estate was under attack.

“Rise and shine, Tiny Terror!”

I hated that nickname.

Adira loved it.

Training became brutal quickly.

Jake stopped going easy on me after day two when I nearly dislocated his shoulder.

Adira maintained she deserved full credit for that.

Raiden joined us whenever his own training allowed.

Which usually ended with him distracting me more than helping.

He would step behind me while I practiced strikes, adjusting my posture with slow hands against my waist and shoulders.

Or he would spar with me directly, forcing me onto my back while smirking down at me like he knew exactly what it did to my concentration.

He did know.

The smug wolf.

By evening my muscles usually ached pleasantly while the estate slowly transformed around us.

The downstairs renovations were nearly complete now.

Warm lighting filled the kitchen.

The marble counters gleamed.

The enormous windows reflected autumn gold sun from the forest outside.

It was beginning to feel like home.

Like Rosewood itself had been waiting for me to come home.

Most afternoons I disappeared into the library, sifting through dusty journals, old records and family histories.

I devoured everything.

My parents had left pieces of themselves hidden everywhere.

Notes in margins, pressed flowers between pages.

Letters.

Sometimes I forgot to breathe while reading them.

Raiden usually found me there eventually and the evenings became ours.

Wine by the fireplace.

Quiet conversations.

Lingering touches.

Slow and deep and then hungry kisses. We couldn’t get enough of each other, the more we made love to each other, the more we wanted, needed.

Then one night while we sat together on the library daybed, I finally worked up enough courage to ask;

“When will we mark each other?”

I had read about my parents’ mating and marking ceremony in one of her journals.

He blinked at me.

“When your wolf fully rises.”

I nodded slowly.

Something warm settled in my chest at the careful respect in his voice.

I love mate.

---

Rain hammered softly against the library windows the afternoon I found the journal.

I had spent hours reorganizing shelves and clearing out another hidden cabinet tucked behind warped wood paneling near the fireplace.

Most of the books inside had been ruined by damp and time.

But one remained untouched.

Hidden carefully beneath folded cloth.

My pulse quickened immediately.

The journal was smaller than the others.

Dark green leather.

No title.

And unlike the previous journals—

This one felt strange.

Power pulsed faintly beneath my fingertips the second I touched it.

Adira stirred uneasily. I opened it slowly.

My mother’s elegant handwriting filled the first page.

---

If you are reading this, then things have gone worse than I feared.

Cold spread through my stomach instantly.

The entries were different from her previous journals. They felt less personal and more desperate.

There were a bunch of spells and rituals.

My mother had been researching constantly near the end. It seemed almost obsessive.

I turned pages slowly while unease crawled beneath my skin.

One name appeared repeatedly;

Lucien.

My heartbeat quickened.

Entry after entry described growing paranoia within the pack.

Then I found the spell. The suppression spell.

My breath caught sharply. Detailed instructions covered several pages. Ancient witch magic designed to conceal wolf essence completely.

My mother had used it on me and on the two wolves who raised me.

Tears burned unexpectedly behind my eyes.

She hadn’t abandoned me. She had hidden me. Protected me.

Adira pressed close beneath my skin.

Mother loved us.

I swallowed hard and kept reading.

But the deeper I went, the darker the journal became.

Some spells were defensive, while others were about rituals for power amplification.

My mother had been terrified and willing to become dangerous to save us.

A loose page slipped free suddenly and drifted into my lap.

Unlike the others, this one looked rushed almost frantic.

---

Lucien grows impatient. I see shadows around him now. Blood. Teeth. Betrayal.

Alaric still believes loyalty will save us.

He does not understand ambition.

If I fail, our daughter must survive.

Even if she hates me for it one day.

My vision blurred instantly.

I pressed trembling fingers against the page.

“She knew,” I whispered.

Adira was quiet.

She saw the prophecy coming.

Thunder rolled outside.

For the first time since arriving at Rosewood, I truly understood how afraid my mother must have been before the end.

A floorboard creaked behind me.

I didn't need to look up to know who it was.

The warmth of his presence drifted across the room.

I carefully folded the loose page and slipped it back inside the journal. For a moment neither of us spoke.

Rain continued tapping softly against the windows while thunder rolled somewhere beyond the forest.

Raiden moved closer.

His gaze dropped to the journal. Then to my face.

"You found something."

It wasn't a question. I nodded.

"My mother knew."

Emotion thickened my voice.

"She knew Lucien would eventually come for us."

His expression darkened but instead of speaking, he sat beside me on the daybed.

The cushions shifted beneath his weight. Warmth settled against my side.

For a long moment we simply sat together listening to the storm.

I stared down at the journal resting in my lap.

"My whole life I thought I was abandoned."

Raidin's hand found mine.

"You weren't."

The certainty in his voice unraveled something inside me. I leaned into him before I could stop myself. His arm immediately wrapped around my shoulders.

The rain intensified outside. The library felt smaller somehow.

The fire crackled softly in the hearth.

I tilted my head back against his shoulder and looked up at him. His amber eyes were already watching me.

The air shifted.

Just that familiar pull that seemed to exist whenever we were alone.

His fingers brushed a loose strand of hair behind my ear.

Neither of us looked away.

The journal slid forgotten onto the cushion beside me.

And for the first time all day, thoughts of prophecies, Lucien, and ancient magic faded into the background.

Leaving only him.

Only us and the storm beyond the windows and the quiet promise in his eyes as he leaned a little closer.

Raiden put his hand on my face and led my lips to his. He kissed me softly and gently. He lifted and lowered me on the carpet before the fireplace.

He lifted my knit dress over my head. A shiver ran across my skin as I adjusted to the cold air and the warmth of the fireplace.

Raiden’s eyes never left mine as he bent down and claimed my lips again. He trailed kisses along my jaw, down my neck to my stomach while his hands massaged from my breasts down to my thighs.

Strong hands bent my knees upwards and his lips found my soaking p***y. I moaned and arched to allow him better access.

His togue licked through my folds to my c**t.

“Raiden” I whimpered breathlessly. My hands threaded through his hair and I tried to pull him closer. His tongue plunged in and out and I could feel my orgasm building.

“Yes, please” I moaned.

I was so near when his lips crashed on my mine and thrust in me hard and smooth.

He thrust in and out until we were both breathless and near our climax.

“Ah…Raiden” I screamed when my climax broke and all I could see were stars. Raiden turned us around so that I was on top of him, him still buried deep and pulsing inside me from his own climax.

Tonight we had a moment to spend in each others arms because tomorrow would be the alpha challenge.