CHAPTER4
1322 Words
ELARA
My head felt like it was stuffed with wet cotton.
The sweet, cloying scent of the sedative was still stuck in the back of my throat, making me
want to gag. I tried to lift my hand to rub my eyes, but I couldn't move. A cold bite of metal
dug into my wrists.
I opened my eyes, but the world was just a blur of grey and orange. I was sitting on a hard,
uneven floor. The air was damp and smelled like old cigarettes and wet dog.
"She's finally coming around," a voice said. It was deep.
I blinked rapidly until my vision cleared. I wasn't in the forest anymore. I was in a room made
of wood —maybe a cellar or an old bunker. A single, dim bulb hung from the ceiling, swaying
slightly in a draft I couldn't feel.
Two men stood a few feet away. They weren't wearing pack colors. Their clothes were
mismatched, dirty, and smelled of the wild.
Rogues.
The one who had spoken was tall and thin, with an ugly scar running from his ear down into
his collar. The other was older, with greying hair and eyes that looked far too cold.
"Where am I?" I croaked. My throat felt like I had swallowed sand.
"Somewhere the Blackwood scouts won't find you for a while," the older one said. He
stepped closer, crouching down so we were eye-level. "You've caused quite a stir, Elara
Vance."
"I don't know who you are," I said, trying to keep my voice steady. My heart was hammering
against my ribs, but I refused to let them see me shake. "And I don't know what you want.
I'm wolfless. I'm a nobody. You picked the wrong girl."
The scarred one laughed. It was a dry, nasty sound. "A nobody? The whole forest felt the
bond snap into place today. It was like a lightning strike. We’ve been waiting for Kaelen
Thorne to find his match. We just didn't expect it to be a little human-shaped fluke."
"He rejected me," I snapped. "He told the whole pack I was nothing. If you're looking for a
ransom, he won't pay a single coin for me."
The older rogue tilted his head. "Is that what you think? That he doesn't want you?"
"I know he doesn't."
"Then why is he currently tearing through the Neutral Territory like a demon?" the man
asked. He reached out and grabbed my chin, forcing me to look at him. His fingers were
calloused and smelled of iron. "The bond is a funny thing, Elara. He can reject you with his
words, but his wolf? His wolf is currently screaming for blood. We can feel his rage from
here."
I felt a sharp, sudden tug in my chest. It was the bond. It wasn't the panic I'd felt earlier; it
was a low, vibrating heat.
Kael. He was close.
I hated it. I hated that I could feel him. I hated that even now, after he had humiliated me, my
body was reacting to his proximity like a flower reaching for the sun.
"He's coming for his property," I spat, pulling my face out of the rogue's grip. "Not for me. He
just doesn't like people taking his things."
"Maybe," the older man said, standing up. "But we didn't take you just to annoy the Alpha.
We heard stories about the Vance bloodline. Stories that didn't involve 'wolfless' daughters."
"What are you talking about?"
"Your grandmother," the scarred one chimed in. "She wasn't a wolf either, was she? But
people were afraid of her. They called her a 'seer.' A 'source.'"
"She was just an old woman who knew herbs," I said. My pulse was starting to race for a
different reason now. My grandmother had always told me stories, things she said I had to
keep secret.
The power is in the blood, Elara. Not the fur. She had said.
"We'll see," the older rogue said. He pulled a small, silver dagger from his belt, the blade
was too thin for murder. "Stress usually brings out the truth. If you're really just a human girl,
then Kaelen Thorne gets a corpse. If you're something else... well, then you’re worth a lot
more than a ransom."
He stepped toward me.
"Stay back," I warned.
"Or what? You'll growl at me?"
He reached out, the tip of the silver blade grazing my collarbone. It was cold, then it burned.
Thump-thump.
A violent pressure built up behind my eyes.
It felt like it was something deep inside my own bones, something that had been sleeping for
eighteen years and was suddenly being poked with a hot iron.
"I said stay back," I whispered. My voice sounded different. It was lower, vibrating with a
power I didn't recognize.
The air in the room suddenly felt too much on my lungs. The swaying lightbulb above us
flickered and died, plunging us into near-darkness.
"What was that?" the scarred rogue asked, his voice suddenly tight. "The generator?"
"It’s her," the older one muttered. He sounded more excited than scared. "Do it again, girl.
Show us."
He pressed the blade harder against my skin and a tiny drop of blood welled up.
The pressure inside me exploded.
It wasn't a shift. There were no bones breaking. But a wave of energy radiated out from my
chest. It felt like a physical shockwave.
The stone wall behind me cracked, a spiderweb of fissures spreading upward toward the
ceiling. The wooden chair across the room was thrown against the door as if hit by a truck.
The rogues stumbled back. The older one dropped his knife, his eyes wide with shock.
"The hell..." the scarred one breathed.
For a second, the room wasn't dark to me. I could see everything. Every speck of dust, every
heartbeat, every breath. My skin felt like it was glowing, a strange, pale light humming just
beneath the surface.
Then, as quickly as it had come, the feeling vanished. The pressure died down, leaving me
gasping for air, my head spinning.
The lightbulb hummed back to life.
The two rogues were staring at me like I was a ghost.
"She’s not wolfless," the older man whispered. He looked at the cracked stone wall, then
back at me. A slow, greedy smile spread across his face. "She’s a Siren. A conduit. Thorne
has no idea what he’s holding onto."
"We need to move her," the scarred one said, his hand reaching for his gun. "If she can do
that while she’s chained up, we won't be able to hold her once she finds her feet."
"Agreed. Get the van. We're taking her to the Ridge. The boss will pay triple for a live
Source."
I slumped against the wall, my strength completely gone. My wrists ached where the
shackles had pulled during the surge.
Kael, I thought. It was the first time I had ever called out to him through the bond. I didn't
mean to, but I was so tired.
Kael, they’re moving me.
MILES AWAY
The black wolf skidded to a halt on a ridge overlooking the valley.
Kael’s ears pricked up. He could hear the faint sound of an engine starting in the distance.
But it was the sensation in his chest that made his fur stand on end.
A surge of power had just rippled through the bond and it wasn't his power.
Then, a whisper.
Kael.
His wolf let out a low, guttural snarl.
He didn't know what she had just done, but he knew she was fading.
The distance between them was shrinking, but it wasn't fast enough. He leaped from the
ridge, his claws tearing into the earth as he pushed his body to its limit.
He didn't care about the rogues. He didn't even care about the trap.
He was going to kill every single person who had touched her.
- Writer
