Chapter 12 - The Journal
1305 Words
*Elara – pov*
The library smelled like dust, cedarwood, and forgotten things.
Morning light spilled through the towering windows, illuminating floating particles in the air while rows and rows of ancient books stretched endlessly around us.
It was beautiful despite feeling deeply unsettling.
I trailed my fingers along cracked leather spines while Raiden watched from nearby with entirely too much patience.
“You realise how insane this sounds, right?” I muttered.
“Mhm.”
I glanced at him.
“You’re not helping your case.”
His mouth twitched slightly.
“I wasn’t aware this was a courtroom.”
I rolled my eyes and continued scanning titles.
History.
Botany.
Astronomy.
Ancient languages.
Nothing screamed:
*Congratulations, you’re secretly a magical princess.*
Which honestly made me feel marginally better.
“I’m indulging you,” I informed him.
Raiden leaned casually against one of the shelves, arms crossed.
“You keep saying that.”
“Because it’s true.”
“Interesting definition of indulging.”
I ignored him.
Mostly because every time I looked directly at him lately, my brain short-circuited a little.
The kiss had ruined things.
Not badly. Just…awkwardly. I noticed him constantly…his voice, his hands, the way he always seemed aware of where I was.
And worse…my body noticed him too, which was deeply inconvenient.
“You’ve been pacing the same aisle for ten minutes,” Raiden observed.
“I’m thinking.”
“You’re avoiding.”
I shot him a look.
He looked unbearably pleased with himself.
“I am requested downstairs.” he says, pushing off the shelf. “I’ll bring coffee.”
I glared while he disappeared downstairs.
The moment he left, the room felt quieter, colder somehow.
I exhaled slowly and wandered deeper into the library. There had to be answers here somewhere.
Not because I believed all of this fully.
I didn’t. I couldn’t.
But in the same sense, I also couldn’t explain:
* the visions
* the electricity beneath my skin
* the strange waking feeling inside me
* or why touching Raiden felt like setting my nervous system on fire
I stopped near the far corner of the library where an old rolling ladder rested against towering shelves.
The highest rows were thick with cobwebs and untouched dust.
Something up there caught my attention immediately. A single dark book shoved sideways behind several others.
Hidden.
My pulse quickened strangely.
No logical reason.
Just instinct.
I climbed the ladder slowly.
Wood creaked beneath my weight while I reached toward the forgotten corner.
The closer I got, the stranger I felt. As if something was pulling me forward.
My fingertips brushed the spine of the dusty book and the world seemed to disappear.
A violent rush of cold slammed through me instantly. My breath vanished. The library blurred.
I felt myself falling…actually falling this time…Or maybe not. I couldn’t tell anymore.
Strong arms caught me before impact.
The smell of cedarwood and rain flooded my senses.
Raiden.
Then everything dissolved completely.
---
Warm candlelight flickered softly around me.
I stood in the master bedroom again.
Only now it wasn’t abandoned.
The room lived.
Fire crackled in the hearth.
Curtains moved gently in the breeze.
Voices echoed faintly somewhere downstairs.
And standing near the window…was her.
My breath caught painfully.
She looked exactly like me or rather I looked exactly like her.
Same face.
Same mouth.
Same posture.
Her hair fell in rich waves of deep red and her eyes glowed emerald green in the firelight.
She smiled sadly the moment she saw me.
“Elarielle.”
My chest tightened instantly.
“You’re real.” I said in disbelief.
The woman’s smile trembled slightly.
“No,” she said softly. “Not anymore.”
Emotion closed unexpectedly around my throat.
“You’re my mother.”
Her eyes softened immediately.
“Oh, my sweet girl.”
Something inside me cracked at the way she said it.
Like she truly loved me.
Tears burned suddenly behind my eyes and I hated how immediate they came.
“What is happening to me?” I whispered.
She stepped closer slowly.
“This memory was left for you,” she explained gently. “Protected by the magic inside my journal.”
My gaze dropped toward the old leather-bound book now resting in her hands.
“If you found it,” she continued quietly, “then it means I was unable to return to you.”
Pain flickered across her expression briefly.
Not fear.
Grief.
“My beautiful baby girl…” she whispered. “I prayed you would have more time.”
I shook my head slightly.
“Time for what?”
Her eyes held mine steadily.
“Your awakening.”
The word sent chills down my spine.
“Your wolf was hidden,” she explained softly. “Suppressed by my magic to protect you.”
My stomach twisted violently.
“No…”
“You were never fully human, Elarielle.”
The room seemed to tilt around me.
“This can’t be real.”
“I know it feels impossible.”
“It *is* impossible.”
Her smile turned unbearably sad.
“Your mind will fight what your soul already knows.”
I stared at her desperately.
“Why hide me?”
“There are many that fear your existence.”
Silence.
My pulse thundered painfully.
“Your father was the Alpha King,” she continued quietly. “And there were those who feared what our bloodline could become.”
I tried to breathe, tried to think but nothing seemed to work.
Her expression softened again.
“Trust your mate.”
The words hit strangely and my mind went to Raiden immediately.
“He will help guide you through what comes next,” she said.
My voice shook.
“Raiden?”
A small smile touched her mouth.
My chest tightened painfully.
“Your wolf will awaken fully soon,” she whispered. “And when she does… you must not face it alone.”
The room around us began fading slowly.
Panic surged instantly through me.
“Wait!”
Her form blurred at the edges.
“There’s so much I don’t understand!”
“You will understand with time, my love.”
Tears burned my eyes now.
“Please don’t leave.”
And for one heartbreaking second, she looked exactly like a mother saying goodbye to her child.
“You were always meant to survive,” she whispered softly.
Then the world shattered into white light.
---
*Raiden’s – pov*
I heard the crash before I reached the library door.
Pure terror ripped through me instantly.
“Elara!”
I moved faster than thought.
The ladder shook violently as her body pitched backward from the upper shelves and books were falling to the floor.
I caught her seconds before her head struck the floor.
My wolf surged forward in panic.
“Elara—”
Her body went limp in my arms immediately.
Cold fear settled heavily into my chest as I carried her toward the old daybed beneath the windows.
Then I saw her eyes.
Completely white.
Not rolled back.
White.
Magic.
My pulse hammered violently.
“What the hell…”
I sat beside her quickly, gripping her hand while panic clawed at my ribs.
She wasn’t convulsing anymore and wasn’t injured but she also wasn’t here.
“Elara”
No response.
Her breathing remained steady but distant somehow. Like her consciousness existed somewhere far away from this room.
Anger surged suddenly beneath my panic.
I hated this. Hated not understanding what was happening to her. Hated seeing her vulnerable and unreachable while I could do absolutely nothing.
My wolf paced frantically beneath my skin.
Protect her.
“I’m trying.”
I tightened my grip around her hand instinctively.
Her fingers twitched weakly against mine. Relief hit hard enough to almost hurt.
“I’m here” I said quietly.
- Writer
