The Forbidden Eclipse Queen Claimed By Two Alphas

CHAPTER FIVE

ELENA POV

Fragments of my past rushed through my head like jagged glass.

I remembered being seven years old, locked in a dark room while my mother screamed outside.

I remembered the red light of an eclipse bleeding through the window crack.

I remembered her trembling hands pressing against my cheeks, whispering over and over, 'Never let them see the mark on your wrist, Elena. Promise me.'

I never knew why, until now.

By morning, the elders had spun the servant's murder to turn the entire academy into my enemy. Rumors spread through the hallways like wildfire.

They called me cursed, a monster, seductress and a royal assassin.

Photos of me lying unconscious on the floor of the party flooded every screen in school.

Someone had edited the images, making it look like I was smiling while the man bled out behind me. Over night, I became the most hated girl in Blackridge.

Ariel Camacho led the attack. She had spent three years trying to get Lucian into her bed, and my existence ruined her life's ambition.

It happened in the main dining hall. Hundreds of students watched as Ariel slammed forged document papers onto my table.

"She was meeting Lucian in secret for months!" Ariel yelled, her voice echoing off the high rafters. "She planned this whole thing to trick our Alphas!"

The crowd jeered, tossing plastic cups and garbage at my table. I sat completely still, my heart hammering against my ribs. I saw what was happening. Someone wanted to destroy my name before I even understood the power living inside me.

Ariel stepped close and slammed her palm hard across my face.

SLAP!

My head snapped sideways. The entire room went dead quiet.

Pain stung my cheek, and humiliation burned in my chest. But then, a cold, dark wave rose in my blood. My wolf snapped its jaws. The third symbol on my wrist ignited into a violet flame.

I turned back, looked Ariel straight in her eyes, and struck her across the face with the full force of my palm.

BOOM!

The impact sounded like a thunderclap. Ariel flew ten feet through the air, crashing through a long wooden table and smashing into the stone wall.

The crowd gasped in horror. Her friends lunged forward to attack me, but a low, terrifying growl rattled the floorboards.

Lucian pushed through the crowd. Every wolf instinctively backed away from him. He did not say a single word. He simply walked over and planted himself right at my side, his golden eyes scanning the hostile room.

A second later, the heavy front doors swung open. Damian strode in, his jaw set, and took his place on my other side.

The entire student body stared in utter shock. The two most powerful Alphas in school were standing side-by-side to shield the same girl.

Ariel groaned on the floor, pushing herself up. As she wiped blood from her lip, her sleeve pulled back.

I froze. A tiny black mark sat carved on Ariel's wrist. It was the exact same symbol cut into the forehead of the dead servant.

"Ariel..." I whispered, stepping forward. "What did you do?"

Before I could expose her, every door in the hall slammed shut.

The massive glass windows shattered simultaneously, showering the floor with sharp shards.

Thick black smoke poured into the room, making students choke and scream. The emergency alarms shrieked, then died.

Red liquid began oozing out of the stone walls. The academy was literally bleeding, and giant glowing Eclipse symbols spread across the ceiling.

"Evacuate!" Headmaster Vance bellowed. "Get the doors open!"

The doors refused to budge.

Then, the ancient voice hissed inside my skull again, loud and terrifyingly clear: 'One of the men beside you will betray you before the blood dries'

I looked at Lucian, then at Damian. My stomach twisted into knots. Which one?

Suddenly, Damian reached out and grabbed my arm. "We have to go, Elena!"

Lucian snarled, shoving Damian away hard. "Get your hands off her, Cross!"

The two Alphas lost control. Their wolves broke through, and they smashed through a stone support pillar, tearing at each other with lethal claws.

"Stop it!" I screamed, tears blinding my eyes. "STOP IT!"

My Eclipse magic erupted out of my chest in a massive force field. The wave blasted both Alphas backward, throwing every student and teacher off their feet.

When the dust settled, everyone was staring at me in terrified silence.

Except Lucian and Damian were not looking at me anymore. They were staring past my shoulder at the end of the long hallway.

I turned around slowly.

A woman stood in the corridor beneath the burning red symbols. She wore a heavy, ancient black gown, her long dark hair falling over her shoulders. Her face was an exact mirror image of my own.

She was not a ghost, she was breathing!

She raised one pale hand, and every single wolf in the building dropped instantly to their knees, groaning in agony.

She pointed her index finger directly at my chest.

Around her neck hung a silver chain holding a cracked emerald pendant. It was my mother's necklace.

A cruel, chilling smile spread across her face as the three symbols on my wrist burned with blinding, unbearable fire.