GOLD & AZURE

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 10: THE AWAKENING OF THE SOLAR SHE-WOLF

PART I: THE WHISPERS OF SOLÉIA – ELOWEN

The black was no longer entirely black. It had become a kind of cottony gray, a thick mist dancing behind my closed eyelids. For a long time or perhaps only a few seconds, as time no longer had a hold on me, I floated in a painful in-between. In this void, memories rose to the surface like gas bubbles escaping from a fetid swamp.

I was four years old. I saw that immense marble hall again, so vast it seemed it could house giants. The scent of musky jasmine and gold dust floated in the air, mingled with the laughter of a woman whose voice sounded like a crystal harp. Mama. Her face was a blur of light, but I remembered the softness of her fingers in my curls. And then, there were the boys. Two faces, almost identical, one framed by a mane of fire, the other more severe, calmer. Names tried to breach the barrier of my amnesia. I... K... But each time, the shadow swept them away.

Then, the scent changed. It was no longer jasmine, but sulfur. The void. The crash of glass. My little solar ball shattering into a thousand pieces. A black-gloved hand snatching me from the ground while the world went up in flames.

The image shifted brutally to the thirteen years that followed. The darkness of the Dark Moon Pack. The smell of moldy earth, old blood, and transpired fear. I saw the face of Alpha Krane, a man whose soul seemed made of tar. He smelled of carrion and thunderstorms.

“You are nothing, little thing,” he often whispered while striking my face. “You are a mistake that the night forgot to digest.”

I saw myself again as a child, hidden under piles of dirty furs to escape the blows of the other pups. They called me “Cursed” because I couldn’t shift, because my scent was... different. Too pure for their world of mud.

Suddenly, in the midst of this chaos of memories, a voice resonated. It wasn’t an external voice. It vibrated in my bones, warm as a campfire, powerful as a roar.

“Well, isn’t this melodrama over yet? You sound like a tragedy from old minstrels three seasons behind schedule.”

I started internally. Who’s there?

“Who’s there? ‘Who’s there?’ she asks! It’s me, you i***t! Your other half. The one who was waiting for you to stop acting like a doormat so she could finally show her claws. My name is Soléia. And between us, you could make an effort with the welcome; I’m a Royal Wolf, not some vulgar prairie dog.”

A shape appeared in my mind. A gigantic wolf, with fur of gold so bright it seemed to emit its own heat. Her eyes were two miniature suns, and yet, her gaze was filled with infinite tenderness, almost maternal, despite her mocking tone.

Soléia... I thought, dazed. My wolf?

“Bingo! And let me tell you, sweetie, you’ve picked quite a choice specimen to wake us up. Do you smell that? That blend of frozen pine, ozone, and raw power? That’s the big cat carrying us. Ivan, that’s his leopard, a bit grumpy but charming, won’t stop purring in my ears. It’s annoying, but my god, is it effective for the blood circulation?”

I then felt a physical pressure. Powerful arms surrounded me, a radiant heat fighting against the cold of the room. My senses awakened one by one. I was lying against a solid chest. The heartbeat resonating against my ear was slow, steady, reassuring.

I slowly opened my eyes.

The light flooding the room was an electric blue, filtered through walls of translucent quartz. It was magnificent, almost unreal. But what captured my attention was the man holding me.

Thalys.

His glacier-blue eyes stared at me with an intensity that took my breath away. His skin was cool, but the heat emanating from him was magnetic. He smelled of clean snow and noble leather. Seeing me move, a flash of relief crossed his features, smoothing the lines of worry on his forehead.

“You have come back to us,” he whispered, his voice vibrating like a cello.

“Oh boy, that voice...” Soléia intervened in my head with a muffled giggle. “If I could turn into a puddle, I’d do it right now. Come on, say something, don’t just sit there catching flies!”

“Where... where am I?” I managed to articulate. My throat was dry, as if I had swallowed sand.

“At the Blue Glacier. In my quarters. You are safe, Elowen. No one will hurt you anymore. I swear it on my honor and my blood.”

I shivered. No one had ever called me by that name with so much respect. To Krane, I was “the slave.” To the others, I was “the thing.” But here, in this crystal tower, I felt... that I existed.

PART II: THE BONDS OF DESTINY – THALYS

Seeing her eyes open was like seeing the sun rise over a field of ice after a century-long winter. Elowen. My mate.

Ivan, my leopard, was pacing in my mind, clawing at the walls of my consciousness, demanding to be let out to lick the face of this wolf who smelled of snowflowers in the rain.

“Calm down, Ivan,” I commanded him with an authority that cost me dearly. “Look at her. She is still fragile. We don’t want her thinking she was saved by a big tomcat in need of affection.”

But it was hard. Seeing her like this, finally regaining color, her skin less livid, her lips returning to a rosy hue, awakened a protective instinct in me so fierce it almost frightened me. I knew my pack was grumbling below. The meeting with the Elders and my own family, less than twenty-four hours ago, had ended in a crash of overturned chairs and low growls. They did not accept that a “Cursed” one should soil the sanctuary of the Blue Glacier. My uncle himself had looked at me with a disappointment that I still felt like a scratch on my soul.

But I didn’t care. The world could crumble, as long as she was here, alive, in my arms.

“Do you remember what happened?” I asked softly, brushing aside a lock of hair soft as silk from her golden tresses. My hand trembled slightly, a weakness Ivan did not fail to point out with a mocking purr.

She frowned, an adorable little crease forming between her eyes, where the blue light of the quartz seemed to reflect with the most brilliance.

“Snatches... The snow. The blood. And that sensation of... of burning. As if something inside me wanted to explode.”

“That was your wolf, Elowen. She has finally awakened.”

Her eyes widened, two orbs of liquid gold that seemed to probe the depths of my being. She appeared to listen to an inaudible music, then a small, almost timid smile stretched her lips.

“She says her name is Soléia. And that she finds you... ‘effective for her blood circulation.’”

I couldn’t help but laugh. A frank laugh that made the air in the room vibrate, charged with the scent of cedarwood and snow.

“Soléia, eh? A name of light for a Royal Wolf. Ivan says he looks forward to meeting her officially, though he thinks she talks a lot for a newcomer.”

The atmosphere relaxed for a moment, but seriousness quickly reclaimed its rights. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the object I had found hidden in her shoe while Sacha, the healer, was preparing her for intensive care. A matte gold medallion, heavy and strangely vibrant. On its surface, runes were engraved, and at its center was a fire opal that seemed to contain a trapped flame.

“Explain this to me, Elowen. Why were you hiding it with such care?”

She stared at the medallion, and I saw her hands shake. I took them in mine, skin against skin. The spark of the mate bond shot through us, an electric shock so powerful that the quartz walls of the room emitted a low hum.

“It’s... it’s the only thing I have left from before,” she whispered, her voice breaking like thin ice. “I had it the day of the attack. Krane tried to take it from me dozens of times. He sensed the value of the gold, but he didn’t understand the value of the memory. So I hid it everywhere... under the dirt floor of my cell, in the hems of my rags, and finally in the sole of my shoe. I knew if he found it, he would destroy the last link I have to my family.”

“Your family... The Royal Pack of the Sun Bearers.”

She nodded, a solitary tear tracing a path down her cheek.

“I believe my father was a king. But everything is so blurry. My brothers’ faces... I see them in my dreams, but I can’t catch their names. I miss them, Thalys. It’s as if a part of my soul stayed back there, in the ashes.”

I squeezed her hands tighter, the scent of snowflower emanating from her intoxicating me.

“We will find them. I promise you. But you must know how you arrived here. I wasn’t the one who found you first.”

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“It was my younger twin sisters, Mia and Béa,” I continued with an exasperated sigh. “They just turned eighteen and, believe me, they are hungry for independence and adventure. They are tired of palace etiquette. To prove their worth, they ventured beyond the borders, into the heart of the Black Forest. It is a forbidden place, Elowen. They found you there, chained to a massive oak by silver bonds that burned the skin of your wrists and neck. They used their abilities to break those chains and dragged you to the edge of the territory. Without their thirst for freedom, you would still be there.”

Elowen looked stunned. “Eighteen... They risked their lives for a stranger.”

“They inherited the recklessness of our lineage,” I murmured. “But their bravery forced destiny’s hand. That was where I caught your scent. That was where I knew you were my mate.”

She remained silent, processing the information. In our world, the mate bond is sacred, but it is rare for it to cross species.

“But... you are a snow leopard,” she whispered. “And I am a wolf. It’s not possible. The legends say...”

“The legends say it is an abomination to narrow minds, and a miracle to those who can see,” I cut in. “In my pack, the Elders are terrified. They think the Royal Alpha must remain ‘pure’ to lead the Snow Leopard Packs. They fear your fire will melt our traditions. Yesterday’s meeting was violent, Elowen. My own uncle called for your execution for ‘the protection of the blood.’”

“They hate me...”

“They are afraid,” I corrected. “But I am the Alpha. My word is the law of this glacier. And I will let no one, not even my own blood, lay a finger on you.”

A silence charged with electricity settled in. The blue light of the tower seemed to throb with the rhythm of our hearts. I moved closer to her, feeling her short breath on my face. She didn’t pull back. On the contrary, she tilted her head slightly, her eyes fixed on my lips with an expectation that made Ivan roar with desire.

I placed a hand on her cheek, my thumb caressing her cheekbone with infinite gentleness. The scent of wildflowers became almost unbearably sensual.

“Elowen...”

I was about to close the space between us, finally about to seal this bond with a first kiss, when the crystal door of the room slid open with a deliberately excessive crash.

“Thal! We can hear you thinking about s****l desire from the bottom of the stairs; it’s embarrassing for everyone!”

I snapped upright, boiling with rage, my eyes turning electric blue. Karl, my Beta and best friend since the cradle, entered with a smirk, followed closely by Sacha and Anton. Karl smelled of tanned leather and iron, and his mocking expression told me he was savoring every second of my annoyance.

“Karl,” I growled, “unless you have a reason that involves the end of the world, I am going to turn you into a rug before you have time to say ‘Beta’.”

“Oh, is the big kitty grumpy because we interrupted his snack?” Karl snickered, leaning against a quartz pillar. “Sorry, old man, but we have news. And it’s serious.”

Sacha approached to check Elowen’s bandages, throwing an apologetic look at the young woman. Anton, true to form, stayed by the door, exuding his usual scent of forest and rain.

“Speak, Karl,” I ordered, trying to regain my composure.

“A stranger just arrived at the North border,” Karl began, his tone suddenly becoming more professional. “A young woman named Elara. She claims to be a fur trader, but she is accompanied by unusual equipment: a dog the size of a calf and a singed cat that seems to have more sense than most of our warriors. She was seen at the Biting Frost tavern.”

I frowned. “And what’s so special about a fur trader?”

“She’s asking questions, Thal. Too many questions. And not about the price of leather. She wants to know everything about the ‘Cursed’ one taken into the Palace. She’s trying to find out if she’s alive, how she’s guarded. Viggo’s spies say she has eyes that don’t lie: she’s a tracker. And she’s not from the North.”

Elowen tensed against me. I felt her fear recede to make way for a feverish curiosity.

“Elara...” she whispered, the name seeming to echo in her clouded memory.

“She doesn’t come from the Dark Moon Pack,” Anton added from the door. “Her scent, according to the reports, is that of the Southern lands. Of earth warmed by the sun.”

I looked at Karl. “You think it’s her Pack?”

“Or enemies who want to finish the job,” Karl replied. “In any case, she’s coming. And with the tension already reigning with the Elders because of your... interspecies rapprochement, we can’t afford a spy on our territory.”

I turned to Elowen. She was pale, but her eyes shone with a new resolution, encouraged by Soléia’s whispers in her head.

“The Blue Glacier has never known such heat,” I murmured to myself.

I stood up, holding out my hand to Elowen to help her out of bed. She took it without hesitation, her touch burning my palm.

“Karl, double the guards at the borders. Sacha, prepare her to go out. If this Elara wants answers, we are going to give them to her. But in my way.”

Karl gave me one last wink before heading out.

“Fine, Alpha. But try to keep your hands on your weapons and not your mate for five minutes; it would help us stay focused.”

I threw a pillow at him, which slammed against the door as he disappeared laughing. The storm was coming, but for the first time in my life, I had something precious to protect. And woe to anyone who tried to take it from me.