The Devil's Bargain
1029 Words
Elara's POV
Kaine Blackthorne looked exactly like he was a killer in an expensive coat. He stood in the doorway of my father's study like he owned it. Given the circumstances, maybe he did. Power came off him in waves. His wolves stood beside him in perfect formation, hands near their weapons, eyes locked on me.
I didn't move from where I sat on the edge of my cot. Standing would look aggressive. Staying seated was rude enough to remind him I'd been an Alpha once too.
"Veylor," Kaine said. His voice was cold and flat. "You've been busy."
"I'm always busy during the full moon." I kept my voice neutral. "Your scouts should've known better than to track me last night."
"Those scouts were doing their job. Your beast killed them on Blackthorne land." He stepped forward, and his wolves moved with him like a weapon. "That's an act of war."
"Then declare war and get it over with." I met his eyes, letting him see I meant it. "Send your army. Burn what's left of this place. Put me down like the rabid dog everyone knows I am."
"Tempting." Kaine smiled, but it was cold. "But wasteful. You're more useful to me alive."
That caught me off guard. Kaine wasn't known for mercy or second chances. He ruled his pack through fear and total control. "Useful alive" wasn't something he usually said before killing someone.
"Explain," I said.
Instead of answering, Kaine stepped aside. The woman behind him moved forward, and I got my first real look at her. Small, maybe five-foot-five, with dark hair pulled back in a braid. Her clothes were simple: worn jeans, a faded jacket, and boots that had seen better days. But her eyes surprised me. Dark brown, almost black, and completely unafraid.
The healer. The one whose scent had confused me.
"This is Elara," Kaine said, pointing to her lwas property. "My healer. She has a proposal for you."
Elara's jaw tightened at the word "my," but she didn't correct him. Smart. Arguing with an Alpha in front of his pack was a good way to lose teeth.
"I know what you are," she said, looking directly at me. Her voice was steady and calm. "I know about your curse. The blackouts. The loss of control. The body count keeps growing no matter what you try."
"Everyone knows that," I said. "It's not exactly a secret."
"But not everyone knows how to fix it."
The room went quiet. Even Kaine's wolves shifted, surprised. I leaned forward, studying her face for lies or craziness. Most people who claimed to cure curses were con artists trying to make money off desperate fools.
"If you could fix it, you would've already done it and collected the bounty on my head." I kept my voice steady. "So what's the catch?"
Elara glanced at Kaine. Something unreadable passed between them. Then she looked back at me. "The catch is that it takes time. Resources. Access to places and knowledge that I can't get while locked in Blackthorne territory."
"She wants to study you," Kaine cut in, his smile growing. "Run her little experiments. See if your curse can be controlled, maybe even transferred. Imagine it as an army of wolves with your power, but under my command. No blackouts. No loss of control. Just pure, focused violence."
My blood went cold. The idea of more wolves suffering this curse, turned into weapons for someone like Kaine, was worse than anything I'd been through. But I kept my face blank.
"And if I refuse?" I asked, though I already knew the answer.
Kaine's hand moved to the sword at his hip. "Then I'll kill you here and now. But first, I hunt down every single person who carries Veylor blood. Your cousin in the eastern territories. Your aunt who married into the Greyfang pack. That half-brother your father never acknowledged but everyone knows about. I'll kill them all, down to the last child, and I'll make sure they know it's because you chose death over cooperation."
The threat hung in the air like smoke. Kaine would do it too. He'd done worse for less.
I looked at Elara. "And you're okay with this? Turning me into his pet project?"
Something flickered in her eyes, guilt, maybe, or anger. "I'm okay with stopping you from killing more innocent people. How I do that isn't really up to me."
Fair enough. We were both prisoners here, just in different cages.
"Seven days," Kaine said, holding up fingers. "You have seven days to show progress. After that, if Elara hasn't proven that your curse can be useful, I'll kill you and everyone connected to your bloodline. Understood?"
Seven days until the next full moon. Seven days to either find a cure or die trying. The choice wasn't really a choice at all.
"Understood," I said.
Kaine nodded, satisfied. "Good. Elara will stay here with you. She needs to study your condition up close. My wolves will watch the area. If either of you tries to run, they'll kill you both."
He turned to leave, his pack moving with him like a shadow. At the doorway, he paused and looked back at Elara. "Don't disappoint me. You know what happens when people disappoint me."
Then he was gone, taking his wolves and his threats with him.
The silence that followed felt heavier than his presence. I stayed on my cot, watching Elara as she pulled a worn backpack off her shoulder and set it on my father's old desk. She didn't look at me. Instead, she focused on unpacking supplies, jars of herbs, rolled bandages, and a leather journal filled with tight handwriting.
"So," I said finally. "Are you actually going to try to cure me, or are you just buying time before Kaine kills us both?"
Elara stopped unpacking. She turned to face me, and for the first time, I saw past the calm mask to the exhaustion underneath. Dark circles shadowed her eyes. Her hands shook slightly before she pressed them together.
"I'm going to try," she said quietly. "Whether it works or not is up to you.”
- Writer
