CHAPTER 18
1652 Words
Elise stood on the front steps of the packhouse, her fingers clenched tightly around the hem of her jacket.
The morning air was cold on her skin, but she barely noticed.
Every part of her felt too warm, too exposed.
She sighed, her breathe showing in the cold.
Elder Kion was arriving today.
And though she’d tried to convince herself she was ready, her nerves betrayed her.
Her stomach churned, and her pulse rose.
Kai had offered to wait with her, but she’d asked him not to.
She didn’t want his comforting presence to mask her fear.
She needed to face this on her own, even if it broke her.
The packhouse had been polished until it gleamed.
Guards stood at their posts awaiting the Elder of the pack.
Even the air smelled different, it smelt sharp, metallic, like lightning before a storm.
She didn’t have to wait long.
The low growl of an engine drifted through the trees.
A sleek, black car rolled down the path like a silent predator.
Every one of the pack members was standing on their toes already.
Elise took a step back without realizing.
She’d faced bullies, betrayals, even near-death.
But nothing felt quite like this.
The door opened and Elder Kion stepped out.
He was tall, taller than Kai even, with thick silver hair tied back and sharp eyes that scanned the packhouse like a general surveying his army.
He wore a long black coat, the kind that looked more ceremonial than functional, and he moved with the commanding grace of someone used to being obeyed without question.
He was like a king.
Kai stepped out of the house then, his expression neutral but respectful. “Grandfather.”
Elder Kion’s gaze softened slightly. “Kai”.
His voice was gravelly but strong. “You’ve grown into your Alpha blood”.
Elise watched from a few feet away, hoping naively that he might look at her next.
He didn’t.
Instead, his eyes swept past her as if she were part of the background.
Kai noticed. “This is Elise,” he said, gesturing toward her.
Elder Kion didn’t step closer.
He didn’t even offer a greeting.
Instead, he turned to Lucien delightfully, “How have you been beta Lucien”, he teased.
“I’ve been very well Elder Kion”, Lucien answered while bowing respectfully.
Kai led Elise forward again, every step echoing like a countdown.
“Elise Thorne,” Kai said, voice steady, “this is Elder Kion. My grandfather.”
Elise swallowed hard. “It’s an honor to meet you, Elder.”
His eyes finally met hers, and Elise felt the weight of them like a blow to the chest.
He studied her with a look she couldn’t decipher—cold, unreadable, and deeply unimpressed.
Kion’s expression changed from being delighted to being disappointed, “Is it?”
“You’re the one causing all this noise,” he said flatly.
Elise opened her mouth, unsure what she even meant to say. “I—yes.”
Kion turned slightly, speaking more to Kai than to her. “She’s small.”
Elise’s throat tightened.
“She’s also powerful,” Kai said, trying to step in. “You’ve heard what she did.”
“I’ve heard rumors,” Kion replied, “and we both know how easily rumors twist truth.” His eyes flicked back to Elise, scanning her.
“Do you have a wolf?” He asked blatantly.
The question was like a slap.
“No,” she said quietly. “Not… not in the way others do.”
“So you don’t shift, you don’t fight. You haven’t trained.” He folded his hands behind his back.
“And yet, the council is buzzing because my grandson has taken a mate with no wolf.”
Elise felt every word like a blade carving across her chest.
“She has potential,” Kai said sharply.
Elder Kion arched a brow. “Potential doesn’t lead a pack. Strength does, bloodline does. Power that can be proven, not guessed at”.
“If you were dying Kai, she wouldn’t even be able to save you”. He said, shaking his head.
Elise took a step forward to defend herself. “I saved one of the pack members, maybe not a pack member, but an Everglade treasure” she said, voice shaking.
“Becky. I—I know I don’t look like much, but—” she continued to stutter.
“But nothing,” Kion cut in.
“You saved a girl once and cried in front of the pack like a child. You call that strength?”
Silence fell in the hall.
Elise blinked.
Her mouth went dry.
She couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe.
Kion’s gaze was like ice. “I came here to see what my grandson saw, and all see is a frightened girl playing dress-up in the clothes of a Luna”.
“You don’t even smell like a wolf!” He added, with expressions of disgust.
Elise flinched.
The words hit deeper than they should have, probably because they echoed the doubts she already carried.
Kai stepped in, anger sparking in his voice. “That’s enough.”
“I’ve said what I came to say,” Kion replied coldly. “If you insist on this pairing, the consequences are yours to bear.”
Then, without another glance at Elise, he walked past them into the house.
Elise stood frozen. Her chest ached.
She’d prepared herself for disappointment, for quiet judgment.
But not this.
Not public humiliation.
Not the way everyone nearby; warriors, servants, even younger wolves pretended not to hear but clearly did.
Kai turned to her. “Elise—”
“I just need a minute,” she whispered.
She didn’t wait for him to respond.
She turned and walked as fast as she could down the path, past the eastern wing, past the training field, and into the woods.
She didn’t stop until the trees swallowed her completely.
Only then did she sink to the forest floor, burying her face in her hands.
The tears came hard and fast.
Not soft, delicate ones, but broken, angry ones.
The kind you cry when you’re tired of pretending you’re okay.
The kind that burn your throat because you’ve held them in too long.
She cried because of the things Kion said.
She cried because they were things she’d secretly believed.
She cried because even though she tried to deny it, they were the truth.
She cried because she wanted to be more, but didn’t know how.
She didn’t just cry, she wailed.
“Elise.”
She jumped at the voice and turned quickly.
It was Lucien. He knelt beside her, his usually composed expression tinged with concern.
“Kai asked me to follow you,” he said.
“He couldn’t bear to see you cry” he added.
She sniffed and wiped her face roughly with the sleeve of her jacket.
“Go away.”
“I won’t.”
“I don’t need comfort right now.”
“I’m not offering comfort,” he said simply. “I’m offering truth.”
That made her pause.
Lucien sighed and sat beside her.
“Kion is a relic. A powerful one, but a relic nonetheless. He measures strength by tradition because that’s all he knows.”
“He’s not wrong,” Elise muttered. “I’m not what a Luna should be.”
“No,” Lucien agreed. “You’re something else entirely.”
She looked at him wondering if this was a compliment or not.
“You don’t fit into their boxes, Elise. And maybe that terrifies them.”
“Well, it terrifies me too”, she answered coldly.
Lucien chuckled softly. “Good. It means you’re awake. It means you’re not pretending.”
She didn’t respond.
She just stared at the sky, her heart still aching.
Lucien leaned closer. “Do you want to know what I see when I look at you?”
She didn’t speak, but she didn’t look away either.
“I see someone the shadows are watching.”
That made her blink. “What?”
“The enemies testing our borders, the strange magic in the forest, the feathers, the darkness, it all reconnects back to you, Elise”.
“I don’t think Kion came just to insult you. I think he came because he knows something bigger is coming”. Lucien said facing her.
A cold shiver slid down her spine.
Lucien stood and offered his hand. “So cry if you need to. Break down if you must. But then, get back up. Because whatever’s coming? It’s not waiting for you to feel ready.”
Elise hesitated, then took his hand.
She felt better and wondered how Kai must have felt that he needed to tell Lucien to talk to her in his stead.
They walked back slowly, the forest unusually quiet around them.
When they reached the edge of the woods, they saw Kai waiting, his expression unreadable.
But before Elise could go to him, a sharp howl split the air.
Then another.
And another.
Wolves began pouring out of the trees from the western side, guards, scouts, warriors.
Lucien’s face went pale. “That’s not our patrol group.”
A scout stumbled forward, bleeding from the side. “Alpha!” he called out hoarsely to Kai.
“They’re coming, black cloaks, they’re moving fast—too fast. Something’s wrong—”
Then he collapsed at Kai’s feet.
Elise stared in horror, heart pounding.
Kai drew his blade. “Get her inside!”
But Elise didn’t move.
Because just beyond the treeline, she saw them.
Figures, dozens of them, cloaked in black, drifting like smoke between the trees.
No sound.
No breath.
Just shadows.
And standing at the front were the same cold, unblinking eyes from her dream.
- Writer
