My Unfated Mate

Chapter Six

Elen stood outside the training room for several seconds before finally reaching for the handle.

She had spent the last few days trying to decide how much Drew needed to know.

The answer, she had finally concluded, was not everything.

Not yet.

She still did not trust him completely. The strange connection between them made that difficult to explain, but Alpha Red insisted it was real. Since Drew’s power had entered her through his claws, Elen had been able to sense something of him inside her. It did not feel threatening.

If anything, it felt strangely familiar.

That was the only reason she was willing to have this conversation at all.

She pushed the door open.

Drew stood in the middle of the training room, dressed in black as usual. He turned toward her, a faint smile appearing on his face.

“You’re getting better at finding your way around.”

“I got lost twice.”

“Improvement.”

Elen rolled her eyes and stepped inside.

“I need to talk to you.”

The amusement disappeared from his face.

“All right.”

She closed the door behind her.

“I need your help.”

Drew studied her for a moment. “That sounds serious.”

“It is.”

She walked toward the centre of the room, then stopped.

“I want to show you something first.”

His eyebrow rose.

Elen took a breath.

Her body shifted.

The transformation was almost effortless now. Bones cracked and reshaped, muscles expanded, and crimson fur spread across her skin. Within seconds, the enormous red wolf stood where the young woman had been.

Drew went completely still.

His eyes travelled over her massive frame before returning to her face.

“My wolf awakened a few weeks ago.”

“I assumed as much.”

“She calls herself Alpha Red. According to her, she is one of the original wolves created by the Moon Goddess.”

Drew stared at her.

“That would explain the size.”

“Apparently.”

“And your strength.”

“Probably.”

He regarded her for another moment.

“What else?”

Elen sat on one of the benches.

“There is something else inside me. Magic.”

Drew’s expression changed slightly.

“Magic?”

“My mother was a mage.”

He remained silent.

Elen looked down at her hands.

“I can feel the magic, but I don’t know how to control it. I’ve never been taught.”

“Why?”

“My parents.”

The words came more quietly than she intended.

Drew did not interrupt.

“My parents were killed when I was a baby. My uncle took me away before it happened and raised me in the human world. My mother had placed a severance on my powers before she was killed because she believed it was the only way to keep me hidden.”

Drew bowed his head, “I’m sorry you went through that.”

“You don't have to be,” Elen replied immediately.

“A severance?” He asked, continuing the conversation.

Elen nodded.

“It suppressed everything. My wolf. My magic. All of it.”

“And now it’s gone?”

“Yes.”

She looked at him.

“That’s why I need help.”

Drew waited.

“I know Cindy is a mage.”

His expression became thoughtful.

“You want her to train you.”

“I want to ask Cindy for help,” she answered. “But I don’t know her, and she clearly doesn’t like me.”

“Cindy doesn’t like most people.”

“That makes me feel much better.”

Drew almost smiled.

Elen hesitated before adding, “That’s why I decided to tell you.”

Drew nodded slowly.

Then something in her story seemed to click inside his mind.

His expression changed.

“Your parents.”

Elen looked at him.

“What about them?”

“You said your mother was a mage.”

“Yes.”

“And your father?”

“Bernard Stormryder.”

Drew’s eyes widened.

For the first time since she had entered the room, he looked genuinely stunned.

“Bernard Stormryder?”

Elen remained quiet.

“He was one of the most powerful werewolves Aetheria had ever seen,” Drew continued. “And your mother was Selene I believe?”

“Yes.”

He gave her a look.

“I am trying to process this.”

“Take your time.”

Drew studied her again.

Then another thought seemed to occur to him.

“Have you ever heard of the prophecy?”

Elen frowned.

“What prophecy?”

Drew’s expression became curious.

“The prophecy concerning the destroyer.”

Elen stared at him.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Drew watched her for a moment, then recited the words he had heard so many times from Cindy and the old records.

“Rejected by her own,” he began, his voice steady,

“Birthed from flames sown.

Known by all

But seen by none.

Bearer of two torches

The mark lights the third.

Daughter to two great warriors

Offspring of two betrayal errors.

Controller of all three realms

Would herald the return of the destroyer.

And when the destroyer arrives

Only by the conqueror would the realm survive.”

Elen stared at him.

She knew those words.

She had heard them from Greg.

But she had never expected to hear them from a vampire.

“How do you know that?”

“It’s an old prophecy. Many people know of it. Especially the mages.”

Elen’s eyes narrowed.

“I thought almost nobody knew about it.”

“Most people don’t.”

Drew’s gaze remained fixed on her.

“And that’s why I asked.”

Elen said nothing.

Drew began pacing slowly across the room.

“Rejected by her own,” he murmured. “You were rejected by your own people before you were even old enough to understand what was happening.”

Elen’s expression tightened.

“That’s one interpretation.”

“Birthed from flames sown. You were taken from Aetheria, and your disappearance was hidden behind a fire.”

Elen remained silent.

“Known by all but seen by none.”

He stopped.

“Everyone who matters in Aetheria knew Bernard had a child. But nobody knew where that child still lived.”

Elen crossed her arms.

“You’re making assumptions.”

“I am.”

He continued anyway.

“Bearer of two torches.”

His eyes moved toward her.

“Your father was a werewolf. Your mother was a mage.”

Elen didn’t respond.

Drew’s excitement was becoming increasingly difficult to hide.

“Daughter to two great warriors. That’s obvious.”

“Perhaps.”

“Offspring of two betrayal errors.”

He paused.

“The first betrayal could be the people who turned against your parents.”

Elen’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“And the second?”

Drew looked at her.

“Your mate.”

She didn’t answer.

That silence was answer enough.

Drew’s eyes widened.

“You were rejected by your mate.”

Elen’s jaw tightened.

“That doesn’t prove anything.”

“No. It doesn’t.”

He smiled faintly.

“But it adds another piece.”

He looked toward the window, his mind clearly racing.

The prophecy had existed for generations.

People had searched for its meaning.

Cindy’s people had preserved it.

They had debated every line and found almost nothing certain.

And now, within a single conversation, he had found more answers than anyone had managed to uncover in years.

His gaze returned to Elen.

“There’s still one part I don’t understand.”

Elen knew exactly which one.

“The mark lights the third,” Drew said.

His eyes dropped briefly toward her shoulder.

“What mark? And what's the third torch?”

Elen’s heart skipped.

She remembered the four scars.

She remembered the cold power inside her.

And she remembered what Alpha Red had told her.

She wasn’t ready to tell him.

“I don’t know.”

It was not entirely a lie.

She didn’t know what the mark and the third torch meant either.

Drew studied her face.

For several seconds, neither spoke.

Then, surprisingly, he didn’t press.

Instead, he smiled.

“I believe you.”

Elen frowned.

“Why?”

“Because if you were trying to deceive me, you would have prepared better answers.”

She almost laughed.

“That’s your reasoning?”

“It’s one of them.”

Drew walked toward her.

“The prophecy says the girl will be the controller of all three realms.”

Elen’s stomach tightened.

“You’re getting ahead of yourself.”

“Maybe.”

He stopped in front of her.

“But look at what I know already. You’re Bernard Stormryder’s daughter. Selene’s daughter. You have an original wolf. You carry powerful mage blood. You were hidden from Aetheria after the deaths of your parents. Your mate rejected you.”

He paused.

“And now your powers have awakened.”

Elen looked away.

“I still don’t see how that proves I’m the person in the prophecy.”

Drew smiled.

“I didn’t say it proved it.”

She looked back at him.

“But?”

“But I think you might be.”

Elen didn’t answer.

Drew’s expression remained unusually serious.

“And if you’re right about needing Cindy’s help, then you should speak to her.”

“That was the plan.”

“I’ll arrange it.”

Elen nodded.

She turned toward the door, but Drew’s voice stopped her.

“There is something else.”

She looked back.

“I know you don’t trust me completely.”

“You’ve told me enough to explain why you need help, but not enough to explain everything that’s happening to you.”

Elen said nothing.

Drew’s eyes softened slightly.

“I don’t blame you.”

He stepped closer.

“If our positions were reversed, I probably wouldn’t trust me either.”

That surprised her.

“But you’ve been honest with me,” he continued. “So I think it’s only fair that I return the favour.”

Elen’s instincts immediately sharpened.

“What do you mean?”

Drew held her gaze.

“But you don’t know who I really am. Why I live alone with six other people in this mansion. Or what my friends and I do to earn us the title ‘rogues’.”

Elen felt her heartbeat quicken.

Drew’s expression became serious.

“I have kept certain things about myself hidden from everyone outside the rogues.”

He paused.

“But I think you deserve to know.”

“Why?”

“Because whatever is happening between us isn’t normal.”

Elen thought of the strange power inside her.

The connection she could feel whenever he was near.

The inexplicable sense that some part of him had become intertwined with her.

Drew seemed to read the question in her eyes.

“I don’t believe our meeting was an accident.”

He took another step toward her.

“I think our fates are connected in more ways than either of us understands.”

Elen stared at him.

For the first time, she realized that she wasn’t the only one keeping secrets.

And whatever Drew was about to reveal might change everything she thought she knew about him.