The Alpha's Forbidden Grimoire

chapter 2: Return To Blackpine

Elara's POV

I didn't pack. Kade didn't let me.

He grabbed my wrist, his skin burning hot against mine, and dragged me out of my shop into the rain. Liam was shouting something behind us, but the sound was swallowed by the storm and the sudden, vicious snarling inside my own head.

The Grimoire was waking up.

For three years it had been silent. Little black freckles on my spine I could hide with foundation. Now, with Kade's hand on me, they burned.

He is cursed blood. He is your mate. He is your enemy.

"Let go of me!" I twisted, but his grip was Alpha-steel. The black veins on his neck were darker now, angrier, like they knew I was near.

"Get in the truck," he ordered.

It wasn't a request. It was an Alpha command, and my human body tried to fold. My witch blood pushed back, and the effort made my nose bleed.

Liam pushed between us. "Kade, stop it. You're hurting her! Elara, are you -"

"I'm fine," I spat, wiping blood. I didn't want Liam's pity. Not now. Not after he stood there too, even if he screamed. "Don't touch me. Either of you."

Kade's eyes dropped to the blood on my lip. Gold flared. His nostrils flared. For a second, something raw and possessive crossed his face, and then it was gone, buried under disgust.

He hated that he wanted me. Good. I hated that my magic wanted to heal him.

"Get in," he repeated, quieter.

I got in the backseat because I refused to sit next to him. The whole two-hour drive to Blackpine territory, I stared out the window at the forest getting thicker, darker. The same forest I ran through as a child to bring Luna Lyra rosemary. The same forest where my family was burned.

No one spoke. Liam kept looking at me in the rearview mirror like I was a ghost he was afraid would vanish. Kade drove with one hand white-knuckled on the wheel, the other hand constantly clenching and unclenching, like he was fighting his own wolf.

When the pack border gates came into view - huge iron wolves howling at the moon - my glamour shattered completely.

Every wolf in a mile radius howled.

Not a welcome howl. An alarm howl.

Intruder. Witch. Blood.

Kade slammed the brakes. The gates were opening. Wolves were pouring out, shifting mid-run, teeth bared.

"Stay in the truck," he snarled at me.

He stepped out into the rain. And the rain... stopped hitting him. That was how much power an Alpha held.

"Kade! You were supposed to be back yesterday! Where -" A woman's voice, sharp, sweet, possessive.

Seraphina.

She was even more beautiful than I remembered. Hair like black silk, red lips, a white dress that made her look pure. She ran to Kade and threw her arms around his neck.

And then she saw me in the backseat.

Her arms froze.

Her smile didn't drop. It sharpened.

"Who is that?" she asked, but she was already sniffing the air. Her nose wrinkled. "It smells like... rot and herbs. Like a -"

"She's the healer the Seer told me about," Kade cut her off, too fast. "From the Eastern Pack."

Liar. Bad liar.

Seraphina walked to my window, her heels sinking in mud, and knocked. Tap. Tap. Tap.

I rolled it down because I wouldn't cower.

Up close, she was perfect. And her eyes were pure hate.

"Well, well," she whispered so only I could hear, with a smile for the gathering pack behind her. "The little Crowe weed. You survived the fire. Did you crawl out from under your mother's corpse?"

My magic surged. My Grimoire tattoos burned so hot I thought my shirt would catch fire. Blood floated from my bleeding lip, just a droplet, hovering between us.

Seraphina saw it. Her eyes widened.

Kade was suddenly there, his hand slamming down on the window frame, blocking me from view. His body caged mine.

"Enough," he growled at Seraphina, but his eyes were on my floating blood. Panicked. "She is under my protection. No one touches her. The Seer said only she can break the curse. If anyone harms her, I will rip their throat out myself. Is that understood?"

The whole pack went silent.

Protection. Not pack. Not guest. My protection. That word meant something. It meant claimed.

Seraphina's perfect face cracked.

"Your... protection? Kade, she's a witch! Your father -"

"My father is dead," he roared, and the Alpha power in his voice made every wolf, including me, drop their gaze. Even Seraphina flinched. "And I am Alpha now. She stays in the old Luna quarters. No one enters without my permission. Liam, take her."

Liam opened my door. His hand was gentle.

Kade didn't look at me again. He turned his back and walked away with Seraphina clinging to his arm, whispering poison in his ear.

But I felt it. The second his back was turned, the mate bond he was trying so hard to hide pulled taut between us, like a burning thread tied around my ribs.

He hadn't rejected me.

And in Blackpine, that was a death sentence for both of us.