Chapter 4: Blood Awakens
1309 Words
Rafael’s POV
“Hold her down.”
“I am holding her!”
“Not like that...she’s shifting again!” Elena screamed, the sound almost breaking my chest.
“Rafael...!” Lucia’s voice started breaking. “She’s already burning up!”
“I can see that myself,” I snapped, already on my knees beside Elena’s convulsing body.
She was caught between forms, even bones half-set, and I noticed her skin glowing with moonlight. Not long, claws started ripping free and retracting in agony. Within a few minutes, her scent flooded the room, wild and wrong and also mine. The bond roared uncontrollably inside me.
“Elena,” I called her urgently, gripping her shoulders. “Look at me, please, stay with me.”
Her eyes opened, turning to gold, and also terrifying.
“It hurts,” she gasped for air. “I’m breaking...I’m breaking...”
“You’re not,” I lied so as not to scare her anymore. “You’re shifting.”
“I don’t know how!”
“I do,” Lucia said sharply. “And this is too much, too fast. Her body can’t take it anymore.”
A sickening c***k sound was heard, followed by a choking on a scream.
Mateo swore under his breath. “Alpha, she’s dying.” That word alone shattered something in me.
“No,” I growled in refusal. “She’s not.”
Lucia grabbed my arm forcefully. “Rafael, listen to me. There’s only one way to stabilize a forced awakening like this.”
I already knew what she meant, my instinct telling me before she even began.
Mate Bond, claim and share.
Mateo stiffened on realizing what she meant. “Alpha… no.”
Lucia’s eyes were sharp as a weapon. “You can’t be considering that.”
“It’s illegal,” Mateo added quickly. “Sharing Alpha energy with an unclaimed mate is...”
“...is punishable by death,” Lucia finished without emotion. Elena cried out again, this time, blood spilling from her lips, which was usual.
That decided it for me. I wasted no time in doing whatever it takes to save her.
“I don’t care anymore,” I said.
Mateo grabbed my shoulder, trying to stop me. “Alpha Rafael! The elders will feel it right from where they are. Every Alpha in the realm, miles away will...”
“I said I don’t care about what anyone has to say.”
Lucia stared weirdly at me. “If you do this, there’s no going back, and you will...”
I met her gaze, unwavering in my decision. “There was never a way back.”
Elena’s fingers clawed weakly at my arm, struggling to hold me. “Please,” she whispered, barely audible for me to hear. “Don’t let me die now.” My chest burned greatly like it was being ripped open just by listening to her.
“I won’t,” I vowed, even though I had no idea how.
I quickly pressed my forehead to hers, ignoring the way the air seemed to become very tense around us. “Elena. I need you to trust me now.”
Her laugh came out very broken. “I don’t have much choice, do I?”
“No,” I admitted softly. “But I swear to you...this will definitely save you.”
“And damn you afterward.” Lucia muttered. I didn't listen to Lucia, but bit into my palm without hesitation.
Blood welled up almost immediately, very thick, glowing faintly silver with Alpha power.
Mateo cursed under her breath. “Rafael...”
"Enough of that.” I brought my bleeding hand to Elena’s mouth without her permission.
Her eyes widened in shock, but I didn't give her time to ask questions. “What are you...”
“Drink now,” I ordered, my voice changing into Alpha command. The bond became tighter.
Elena gasped the very moment my blood touched her lips...then, she moaned out loud.
The sound nearly undid me, but I held myself.
Power violently started flowing between us, raw and intimate and also wrong. My energy poured into her like wildfire, flooding her veins, igniting her wolf fully for the first time.
She arched against me, a sob escaping from her mouth, then her body began to heal instead of breaking.
“Oh moon goddess,” Lucia whispered. “The bond...it’s now locking.” I felt it too. The connection deepened, sharp and consuming.
“Elena,” I breathed out. “Stay with me.”
“I can feel you,” she whispered, eyes glowing brighter than ever. “Inside me.” My control dangerously growing wide. “Focus on what we are doing, take a deep breath."
Her claws immediately started retracting, bones settling. Her breathing became steady...still shallow, but no longer fading.
Mateo exhaled shakily. “She’s stabilizing now.”
Lucia looked at me like I made her witness a disaster unfold. “You’ve just declared war through this.” Before I could reply to her, the room suddenly went cold. For no reason, every hair on my body stood on end. I turned slowly to my left, and by the doorway stood the elders.
Not two, but five of them, ancient, powerful, and furious.
“You dare,” the eldest snarled, eyes glowing white like vampires . “You dare share Alpha blood without sanction, and to a human?”
“She was dying, so I had to do something,” I shot back. “And she’s alive now because I took the decision.”
“She's alive, and that's for now,” another elder said. “You’ve broken sacred law, and must face the consequences.”
Lucia stepped forward to meet us. “The Moon goddess chose her.” That earned a murmur from the elders.
“The Moon that I'm familiar with, does not choose humans,” one of them snapped furiously.
“She’s not human,” I said evenly to their surprise. “Not anymore, not after encountering me.”
Everywhere became quiet immediately. Then, Elena stirred weakly in my arms. “Rafael?”
I tightened my hold on her instinctively. “I’m here.”
Her fingers curled into my shirt, more like asking for protection. “Why does it feel like… everything changed?”
“Because it did,” one elder said coldly, even though she wasn't talking to any of them.
A horn sounded outside...very sharp, yet foreign. Mateo stiffened like he already knew what it meant. “That’s not ours.”
A warrior burst in moments later, breathless. “Alpha...there is a message at the border, from the Morana Pack.”
My jaw tightened on hearing that, wondering how news flew so fast. “Already?”
The warrior swallowed hard, like there was a lump on his throat. “They left a warning.”
“What kind of warning?” Lucia demanded with her eyes wide. The warrior held out a cloth bundle with shaking hands.
I unwrapped it slowly to see the content. I saw blood soaked through the fabric. A severed wolf claw lay quietly inside, marked with Morana sigils.
It was a challenge, a promise, and they will keep it. Elena whimpered softly, pressing closer to me. I looked down at her, then back at the elders.
“You wanted proof she’d bring war,” I said quietly. “Here it is for you all to seeis.”
The eldest elder’s voice suddenly dropped to a whisper. “If you keep her… blood will fall.”
I met his gaze, Alpha to elder, unflinching, even when the matter at hand demands blood.
“Then let it go,” I said. Outside the chamber, wolves began to howl uncontrollably.
And somewhere in the dark, our enemies were already smiling, with the assumption that they had trapped us.
- Writer
