FATED TO THE ENEMY ALPHA

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER EIGHT

ELOWYNNE

The healer called it a mild stroke.

Mild, she said, as if it reduced the fear in my chest when I watched my father be carried to his bed by two of his warriors, his face slack and his hands frighteningly limp in mine.

Mild. As if it weren't my fault.

I sat in the private alcove outside his chamber on the cold stone floor with my knees pulled to my chest and stayed there for a long time.

I didn't know how long I stayed there. Long enough for the sun to set and the evening cold to settle alongside my guilt into my bones.

"El." Elena's voice was soft as she lowered herself to the floor beside me. “You’ve been back here all day.”

After Father was administered to, I came out the back door here and locked it from inside. I forgot I’d given Elena a spare key in the past.

"He's resting," she said. "The healer says he's stable."

I said nothing.

"The stroke wasn't because of the argument," she said carefully.

"The argument triggered it. I shouldn’t have—”

"Your father’s heart has been weak for a couple of months." She paused. "He's been hiding it. The healers confirmed it. It was only a matter of time for this to happen, regardless of what happened today."

I pressed my lips together as tears welled up in my eyes.

“Maybe if I’d taken my healing classes more seriously, I would have noticed—”

"Oh, El…” She pulled me into a side hug, and I cried into her shoulders, with her whispering over and over again that it wasn’t my fault.

After a few minutes, I pulled away, sniffed, and dried my tears.

“You have to pull yourself together, love. You are all your father has now.”

At the shift in her expression, my stomach tightened.

"I overheard some of the elders earlier,” she said, her tone serious. "They were in the lower hall talking about succession. About what happens if—when—your father can no longer lead."

“Why are they making plans already? He’ll recover,” I said flatly.

"I know, but they don't sound like they're willing to wait." She hesitated. "Some of them were already talking about suitable alphas from allied packs. Men who could step in and take over leadership here."

The word 'men' landed like a stone.

"They said they were concerned about the pack being left without a ruler or in the hands of someone untested," she continued carefully. "Someone who…who hadn't been trained for it."

She didn't say their exact words, I was sure.

They couldn’t leave the pack in the hands of a girl.

"I overheard some talking about finding you another suitor. They couldn’t understand why Conrad left.”

The hollow ache in my chest that had taken up residence since Xyron's words severed something inside me pulsed sharply with renewed anger.

I got to my feet.

"El, wait—" Elena stood quickly. "You've been through a lot today. Don't make any decisions when you're like this."

"Like what?"

"Like someone who hasn't slept and is in pain." Her eyes were steady on mine. "I know something happened. I don't know what, and you don't have to tell me. But I can see it on you, and I'm worried."

My throat tightened. I wanted so badly to tell her everything. About the clearing. About the training. About the bond I'd found and lost within the span of two days, about the way Xyron's eyes had looked at me in those final moments with enough hate to make me feel like I'd imagined every second of warmth between us.

I pressed my lips together.

"I'm fine," I said.

She looked at me for a long moment. Then, slowly, she nodded. She would wait. That was Elena.

On the third day of my father’s stroke, he regained consciousness.

And immediately, he sent for me.

I hadn't visited him. I couldn't bring myself to walk through that door and see him lying in that bed, smaller than the man I'd known my entire life.

That was what I believed, no matter what Elena or the healers said.

But when the message came, I rushed to the room.

He was lying limp on the bed when I entered, looking pale and diminished. But his eyes…they were sharp, and that steadied something in me.

"Hi, Dad,” I said softly, taking the space on the bed beside him.

We were quiet for a moment, and the silence between us was heavy with sadness and grief.

"I owe you an apology," he said finally, his words slow and drawled, like he was struggling to get them out.

I looked up.

"I made you a promise, and I broke it," he continued. "I told myself I was doing what was best for the pack. But the truth is that I was afraid. I was afraid of what the elders would try to do to you when I was gone." He met my eyes. "I have never once doubted your capability, Elowynne. Never. I see you. You think I don't, but I do. I knew you were sneaking out to train from the very first day, but I chose not to interfere. I was proud…”

“Dad…” I whispered, tears welling up in my eyes.

“…that you were pushing for what you wanted despite the limitations. Yet, I let fear make my decision instead of faith."

He reached toward the small table beside his bed, his movements painfully slow. I sat and waited as he opened the first drawer with careful, shaky hands and picked up a small object.

I recognized it immediately.

The Alpha Mantle, a carved ring that carried our pack's sigil, set in dark iron and silver, was worn only by the alpha of Moonveil and passed down to his successor.

He held it out to me. I stared at it.

"Dad, you're going to recover. You don't have to—"

"This isn't because I'm dying," he said, and his voice was so steady, so certain, that I believed him. "This is because you are ready. This should have been yours long ago." His eyes searched mine. "You are the only person I trust with this pack, Elowynne. The only one."

My hands shook as I reached out and took it from him.

The weight of it was heavier than it looked.

"Don't let them make you small," he said quietly. "You never were."

A tear slipped down my cheek before I could stop it. I pressed my lips together and closed my fingers around the crest.

"I won't," I promised, bending down to hug him.

“Good. I trust you’ll be a better leader than I was.”

Having the alpha mantle in my hands felt unreal, even though it was what I wanted since I was a child. I felt a weight immediately settle on my shoulders, and the journey hadn’t even begun yet.

***

I could hear the elders before I reached the hall. I had sent word in my father's name that I wished to address the council. Considering how fast they gathered, I could tell they were waiting for some news, whether good or bad.

"—cannot afford to leave the pack in a state of uncertainty. The Alpha's recovery is uncertain—"

"Then we act accordingly. We owe it to the pack to move quickly."

"There are two strong candidates for her union. Alpha Marcus of Stonehaven has expressed interest in an alliance—"

"And what of Elowynne? She must agree before anything is finalized."

There’s a brief pause, then another voice spoke. “She's emotional now, so she might not want to hear it. It’s up to us to arrange everything. She needs a strong husband to guide her. She's untrained, unprepared—"

I pushed open the doors.

The hall immediately went silent.

Seven elders turned to look at me. Some were familiar faces I had grown up around, men who had bounced me on their knees when I was small and called me little Elowynne with great fondness. Others looked at me with contempt, like I’d entered a room I wasn’t supposed to be in.

I walked into the center of the hall with my head up and my shoulders back.

"Alpha Seth is resting," my voice rang out loud and clear against the stone walls. "I am here in his place."

One of the elders, Elder Caius, who had served the longest and sat highest at the table, leaned forward.

"Elowynne," he said with the patient tone one uses on a child, "we were in the middle of a discussion. Perhaps it would be better if you—"

I slammed the crest on the table in front of them.

The sound it made against the wood cut through the room like a blade.

It also seemed to cut through their chests, because as every man at that table stared at it, I watched the recognition and realization travel across their faces in a slow, heavy wave.

"I believe," I said quietly, "that changes the nature of this discussion."

Elder Caius stared at the crest. Then, slowly, he looked up at me, an unreadable look shifting in his expression.

"The mantle was given to me by my father," I continued in the same steady tone. "By your Alpha. Of his own will, in full mind."

I met each pair of eyes around the table.

"I am Elowynne Vaelor. I am of alpha bloodline. I hold the mantle of Moonveil." I let the words settle before I spoke the last ones. "And I am your Luna."