Chapter 19: Ours to Protect
431 Words
Morning came quiet. Still.
Almost… too still.
Elara woke curled in Kade’s arms, the mark on her neck glowing faintly with warmth. They hadn’t moved much. There wasn’t a need.
But the peace didn’t last.
Because wolves don’t get happy endings without surviving a final storm.
⸻
“Border breach,” Daxon growled, bursting into the cabin before they were even dressed.
Kade was up in an instant. “Who?”
“Outsiders. Three rogues. Heavily armed. They want something.”
Elara was already pulling on her boots.
Daxon blinked. “You’re coming?”
Kade didn’t even glance at him. “She is Luna.”
“Damn right I am,” Elara snapped, eyes glowing.
⸻
They met the threat in the northern clearing.
Three rogue wolves stood smugly at the edge of Blackthorn land, flanked by bodies — two injured Ridge scouts, unconscious but breathing.
“We’re not here to start a war,” the leader said. “We just want her.”
He pointed.
At Elara.
Kade’s body tensed like a bowstring.
“Wrong territory,” he growled. “Wrong Luna.”
“She was promised to someone else,” the rogue sneered.
And Elara?
She stepped forward.
No hesitation.
No fear.
“She was never promised. She was taken. Abused. Abandoned. And now?”
She raised her voice, let it ring out across the clearing:
“She belongs to herself.”
The rogue lunged.
So did she.
⸻
It wasn’t a clean fight.
Elara took a hit to the ribs — hard enough to crack. But she didn’t stop.
Kade fought beside her, their bond a pulse of power and precision. They moved like they shared a single heartbeat. A single purpose.
To protect.
To defend.
To end this.
⸻
It was Elara who took down the leader.
A brutal takedown — knee to his chest, claws to his throat.
He gurgled out a final threat. “This isn’t over.”
She snarled, eyes wild with Luna fire.
“Yes it is.”
And when she shifted — full form, golden-blonde fur streaked with blood and moonlight — the pack howled.
Not in fear.
In awe.
Their Luna.
Ours.
⸻
Later, bruised but alive, she stood with Kade at the ridge and looked out over the land.
“They’ll come again,” she said softly.
He wrapped an arm around her waist.
“Then we’ll fight again. Together.”
She looked at him, eyes soft but strong.
“I’m not scared anymore.”
“You never were,” he murmured. “You just didn’t know it yet.”
- Writer
