CHAPTER 43
1444 Words
Elise didn’t stop walking, not even after Becky’s cruel words settled into her chest like thorns.
She kept her back straight, her steps steady, even though the hallway felt longer than usual and every pair of eyes she passed seemed to slice through her.
By the time she reached her room, her hand was trembling against the doorknob.
But she didn’t let herself cry.
Not this time, she was tired of how fast tears build up in her eyes at the slightest inconvenience.
She closed the door behind her and leaned against it, trying to breathe past the tightness in her ribs.
There was a heaviness inside her, like everything she’d been burying was starting to c***k and shift, she could feel her heart breaking and swelling like it was trying to rise to the surface.
She felt all these like a physical pain
“He’ll choose the pack.”
“She’s not going to last long.”
“She’s exactly where she belongs.”
Elise walked to the mirror, staring at her reflection like she didn’t fully recognize the girl standing there.
Her eyes looked dull.
Her face too pale.
There was a faint bruise on her wrist from training the other day—no one had offered her help to clean it.
She didn’t expect them to.
But what stung most was how numb she felt.
How used to this she had become.
A knock came at her door and woke Elise from the dream she didn’t realize she was having.
She didn’t answer.
“Elise…?” came a voice.
She didn’t bother asking who it was, she just twisted the door knob open without opening it yet.
“It’s Yara,”the voice came again.
Elise opened the door slowly, allowing it to make creaking sounds as she did..
The younger healer stood in the hallway, holding a folded note in her hand. “I wasn’t going to give this to you, but… it came this morning. It was left at the gate with no name or signature for identification.”
Elise blinked. “From who?”
Yara shrugged, pressing the paper into her palm. “I don’t know. But the scent—there’s no wolf scent on it at all. It’s masked.”
That meant magic.
Elise unfolded it slowly.
It wasn’t long. Just a few lines, scribbled quickly in slanted handwriting.
The shadows remember you.
The mark wasn’t a mistake.
They fear you for a reason.
There was no name nor seal just like Yara said.
Just a jagged drawing of the same symbol carved onto the bodies from the recent border attacks.
The hairs on her arms stood up.
“Is something wrong?” Yara asked, shifting her weight nervously.
“No,” Elise lied. “I’m fine.”
She closed the door again without another word and paced back to her bed, sitting slowly.
Her fingers traced the mark on her arm through the fabric of her sleeve.
It wasn’t burning—but it wasn’t silent either. It pulsed faintly, like a heartbeat.
Like it knew.
Later that evening, the packhouse grew quieter.
The halls emptied.
The weight of responsibility settled back over the warriors like a thick fog—Elise could feel it.
Something had changed, something bigger than just more attacks.
She stepped outside for air.
The moon was low and distant, shrouded by heavy clouds.
The stars were barely visible, and the air felt heavier than usual, like the forest itself was holding its breath.
Down by the firepit, a few warriors gathered, whispering.
Elise didn’t approach them.
She turned the other way, walking aimlessly through the stone paths toward the edge of the northern territory.
She ended up near the small lake past the tree line—the one she used to sneak off to whenever she was down and needed a place to cry.
The water looked black under the cloudy sky, its surface still and quiet.
She sat at the edge of the water and let her fingers trail through the cold grass.
Her thoughts wandered again.
To her mother… she didn’t know who her mother was except for the crescent necklace she left around her neck.
To the mark.
To the girl she used to be—before the Silver Moon Ball, before the visions, before Kai.
She didn’t notice the footsteps behind her until they were too close to ignore.
“Elise,” came Luka’s voice.
She tensed.
Slowly, she turned around.
Becky stood beside him, arms folded tightly over her chest.
She looked like she hadn’t come to talk—she’d come to provoke.
“What do you want?” Elise asked, her tone flat.
Luka’s lips twisted into something resembling amusement. “We figured we’d find you sulking out here again.”
“Or maybe communing with the shadows,” Becky added with a mocking smile. “You know, since you’re their chosen one now.”
Elise stood up slowly. “I’m not in the mood.”
“Clearly,” Becky replied, stepping closer. “But you need to hear something.”
“I don’t need anything from you.”
“Oh, but you do,” Becky said sweetly.
“Because while you’ve been off playing tragic and mysterious, we’ve been handling the real work, you know? Works for the actual wolves, the leaders?”
“You’re not a leader, Becky.”
“No,” she admitted with a shrug.
“But I know how to survive. You? You walk around like something’s owed to you just because you’ve got a scar and a sad backstory.”
Elise’s hands curled into fists at her sides.
“You think Kai’s going to protect you forever?” Becky continued. “The moment the next threat shows up—and it will—he’ll do what every Alpha does. He’ll choose strength. Power. Not whatever it is you bring to the table.”
Luka’s eyes glittered with something meaner than usual. “We’re just giving you a head start before everyone else turns on you.”
“Because they will,” Becky added. “It’s only a matter of time.”
Elise’s voice was quiet, but it cut like ice. “You’re afraid.”
Becky blinked.
“What?”
“You’re afraid of me,” Elise repeated, stepping forward. “You always have been. That’s why you talk so loud. That’s why you never shut up. You’re trying to convince everyone else I don’t matter because you already know I do.”
Becky’s face hardened. “Don’t flatter yourself.”
“You’ve been watching me since the trials. Since the mark showed up. You’re scared because you don’t understand it—and because you know you never will.”
“You’re wrong.”
“Am I?”
Luka stepped forward, jaw tight. “You’re still powerless.”
Elise stared at him calmly.
“Then why are you both still here?” she asked. “Still checking up on the ‘powerless girl’ alone in the woods? Seems like a lot of effort for someone who doesn’t matter.”
They didn’t answer.
A c***k of tension split the air between them.
Elise didn’t wait for another insult.
She turned her back and walked away—deliberate, unhurried.
Let them think she was weak.
Let them underestimate her again.
That had always been their first mistake, although, their words did get to her even for a bit.
Back inside the packhouse, Elise went straight to the war records room.
It was mostly abandoned at night—just rows of old scrolls, ledgers, and maps, gathering dust under lantern light.
She lit a candle and flipped through the pages of an old border patrol book until she found what she was looking for:
Past attacks near the western edge of the forest.
Her eyes scanned the reports.
Dates, patterns, names.
And then—there it was again.
That same strange symbol.
The one she saw on the paper.
The one carved into the earth near the bodies.
But this report was dated years before.
Way before the prophecy was spoken.
Her chest tightened.
This wasn’t new.
Someone had known.
The prophecy didn’t begin with her.
It had only awakened through her.
She grabbed the page and folded it into her coat just as the door creaked open behind her.
Kai stepped in, pausing at the sight of her standing over ancient war records.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, eyes narrowing slightly.
Elise held up the page. “I found something. Something you need to see.”
“Hmm…”
He closed the door behind him.
The room fell silent.
- Writer
