Betrayed, Then Fled to the Fated Alpha

Chapter 5 One Last Chance

Elara's POV

'Let go of me! This is against pack law!'

I fought the Warriors with everything I had.

Nyx was screaming inside me.

'Shift. Tear them apart.'

I held her back by force and lifted my eyes to Ryan.

'Ryan Walker. Can you look me in the eye and tell me Seraphina Thorne is actually Alex?'

My eyes burned so badly I could barely see. The grief was right there, huge and drowning and vicious, threatening to spill over.

My torn gown had exposed my back.

All those silver scars faced the room like a statement no one could deny.

Ryan's hands curled into fists.

He knew those scars.

Six years ago, those same hands had pressed medicine into every wound while rage shook through him so hard he could barely speak. He had asked me again and again who did this to you.

I never answered.

In the six years after, I never let him see my back again. Never let him look too closely at what had never healed right. Never let him see the damage silver left behind.

He had promised me, in that first year, that no one would ever hurt me again.

I saw him start forward.

Then Seraphina's hand closed around his arm.

'Ryan. I don't feel well.'

Her voice was barely above a whisper.

But it struck him like a thrown blade.

He stopped.

And I could read everything on his face.

He thought she was dying.

He thought her time was running out.

He thought, what does Alex's name really matter in the end?

Elara will have other chances.

Elara is young.

Elara will survive.

One heartbeat passed.

Then he said, each word placed with horrible care, 'I know who my own designer is. Seraphina Thorne is Shadow Pack Silver Peak Corporation's head designer. Alex. That's final.'

Seraphina lifted her chin.

And one tear slid down my face.

Even after everything, even after the mark on her, even after I had already decided to leave him, some last broken corner of me had still been waiting.

Still hoping.

Still begging for him to choose right just once, even if it was already too late.

He answered me clearly.

Nyx's voice broke.

'He isn't worth our tears.'

Ryan saw me cry.

Something in his expression wavered.

I had never cried in front of him.

Not once in six years.

Not through exhaustion, not through disappointment, not through heartbreak.

He took half a step toward me.

Seraphina reacted instantly.

'What are you all waiting for?' she snapped. 'Get her dress off and search her. Or do I have to do it myself? Ryan, tell them.'

She pouted, eyes wide with practiced hurt.

Ryan's throat moved.

Then he looked at me and said flatly, 'If you haven't done anything wrong, being searched won't hurt you.'

I started laughing.

There I was, on my knees on cold marble, shoulder torn open, scars bared to the entire room, laughing at the man I had loved for six years while he decided this was reasonable.

'That's enough. Take her to the back.'

Ryan finally couldn't keep watching.

Seraphina opened her mouth to press harder, but something in his face stopped her.

The Warriors bent to yank me upright.

I threw them off.

'Don't bother.'

My voice could have cut steel.

'Since Alpha Ryan thinks I need a strip-search, doing it in a back room just gives people more to gossip about. You want to see? Fine. I'll do it myself.'

I grabbed the pearl gown in both fists and ripped.

Nyx's voice went cold and steady.

'If this is what it takes to take back our dignity, let them look.'

The fabric fell away.

Underneath, I wore a fitted black underlayer.

And all of it became visible.

Every silver-white scar across my back.

My legs.

My skin.

Marks that had never faded and never would. Silver-soaked leather left permanent damage on a wolf. Wherever silver touched, healing died.

The entire room inhaled.

'Moon Goddess... what happened to her?'

The reporters sensed blood in the water instantly. Cameras exploded in white flashes.

I ignored all of it.

I looked only at Ryan and Seraphina.

'I'm down to my underclothes now. Nothing left to hide. If Alpha Ryan and Miss Thorne still aren't satisfied, you're welcome to come inspect me yourselves.'

Ryan's eyes had gone red again, that dark, bleeding crimson that meant his wolf was very close to snapping.

Those scars were six years old.

He remembered every one of them from the night he found me.

He had spent days trying to ease that damage, barely sleeping, furious he had not arrived sooner.

He never found out who did it.

Now I saw the truth beginning to dawn in his face.

Seraphina looked at my body, and her eyes narrowed.

Then she spoke quickly, smoothly, viciously.

'Elara slept around with Rogues after she left our family six years ago. My parents couldn't allow that kind of behavior in our house. That's why we had to send her away. And now she's standing here showing off the consequences like she's some kind of victim?' She swept her gaze across the room with perfect disgust. 'It's revolting.'

The room shifted instantly.

'Wait, she was doing that back then? She had only just awakened her wolf at eighteen—'

'No wonder the Thorne family didn't want her.'

Pity curdled into contempt.

Seraphina smiled.

She wasn't afraid.

There had been no cameras in that isolation chamber. Her parents would never betray her. She believed I had nothing.

Ryan stared at me, something dark and complicated moving in his eyes.

'So that's where the scars came from.'

If a look could flay flesh, his would have done it.

I looked at Seraphina's face, the same malice she had worn six years ago when she decided she wanted me dead.

Then I laughed.

Once.

Soft. Short.

'Seraphina. You think because there were no cameras in that isolation chamber, you can say whatever you want and I'll just have to swallow it?'

Her expression flickered.

'What are you talking about?'

I raised my wrist and let the bracelet catch the light.

'You say this is your design. You say this belongs to the Moonlit Radiance collection. Then tell me—what's special about it? What does it actually do?'

Every eye in the room swung to her.

She didn't know.

Of course she didn't know.

She had never seen the design files. She had only accused me to humiliate me. She hadn't thought past the wound she wanted to inflict.

Her eyes darted to Ryan.

Ryan's brow tightened. I could see his discomfort growing now, obvious and spreading.

'Seraphina doesn't need to prove anything to you,' he said. His voice was cold, but strained. 'She designed it. That's already established. Return the bracelet, and we'll let you leave without further consequences. That's the offer.'

'You can offer grace all you like,' I said. 'I'm not the one who needs it.'

Then I lifted my hand.

And tapped the memory crystal twice.

Deliberately.

The moonrune stone slid aside.

A flood of pale blue light burst from the bracelet and surged upward, projecting straight onto the enormous display screen at the back of the launch hall.

The room fell silent.

And then every single person in it froze.