Rise of the broken Luna

Chapter 003

Shadows of Regret

Elara’s POV

The moon hung low in the sky, its silver radiance spreading like a veil of silent judgment across the woods. Though I welcomed the cool night air nibbled at my flesh. It was better than the stifling warmth of the Moonshadow Pack, the place I used to call home where I had been driven out, humiliated, and deprived of all I had ever known. Every stride I made near that cursed location now made me both excited and terrified. Would anyone know me? Darius could know me?

As I walked across the deep woodland, my heart was in my chest. The sound of rustling leaves and the far-off cries of wolves only helped me to remember the life I used to lead—the one I had been mercilessly denied.

Four five years. Five long years after Darius had broken me. At the remembrance, I tightened my hands and urged myself not to focus on the suffering. He had not been worth it. The bundle proved not worth it. Though I couldn't acknowledge it to myself, the searing need for retribution still simmered inside me.

I was supposed to have a strategy. I have to keep to it. And I couldn't let my feelings control me either way.

I was taken from my thoughts by a quick branch break behind me. I stopped, senses sharpened right away. Someone—or something—was trailed behind me. My eyes flew to the shadows in search of movement, but all I could see were the trees swinging in the breeze.

"Who is there?" I gave a low but consistent call. Not heard. The stillness that followed was frightening. Watching, I could sense the presence still just out of grasp. A predator poised for its strike.

Though my heart flew, I forced myself to remain cool. Not the same timid, shy girl they had earlier turned aside. I had learnt fighting and how to survive in the wild. Still, the discomfort chewed at me.

My fingertips stroking the cool metal, I gently groped for the dagger buried beneath my cloak. I would be ready if this were another game Selene performs.

The rustling got louder and nearer. My hold tightened toward the hilt. I moved slowly back, looking for any indication of the invader across the treeline.

He then surfaced.

As Darius emerged, his tall, powerful form lit by the moonlight seized my breath in my throat. His black eyes locked with mine, and for a brief instant I sensed regret, maybe. But it disappeared as fast as it had shown, then the austere mask he wore took front stage.

"Elara," he continued, his voice hoarse, as though it had taken all in him to pronounce my name. You returned.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and pushed myself to look straight ahead without flinching. "Did you think I wouldn't?"?

His jaw locked and I could see doubt flickering in his eyes. Not after all he had done, he had not anticipated my coming back. I was not here for him though. I arrived here only for myself. And for Kela as well.

"Why?" he questioned, approaching closely, his presence as usual overwhelming. I smelled him, cedar, and the faintest trace of smoke. Once a perfume that would have reassured me, it now just set off the simmering rage under the surface.

"Why did I return?" I repeated, staring at him narrow-wise. Possibly I have unresolved business.

His brow wrinkled, and his frame showed the strain rising in it. "Elara, what do you want from me? Revenge? How can one separate this pack?

I laughed; the sound was sharp and sour. Reverse? That would be much too simple, Darius. I am not here to wipe out your pack. Here I am to get what I lost. Our dignity. My life. And... I chewed back the words, my mind flickering to Kael. Not quite yet. He deserved not to know the truth.

Darius moved forward, his hand reaching for mine, but I pushed aside before he could make touch. His hand hung in the air for a moment before he dropped it; his face stiffened with irritation.

"Elara, listen to me," he urged, his voice lower now, nearly begging. "I made a mistake—that's right."

"Mistake?," I cut him off, my voice rising with rage. You made me ashamed. You turned me down before everyone. What do you know about what that has done to me? What will cost me?

He stammered at what I said, but I continued. I had spent far too much time holding this in.

Darius, you were supposed to be my friend. We were meant to be somewhere. And you tossed that away in response to lies. Because you feared?

Darius stepped back, shame casting shadows over his eyes. "I know I damaged you, Elara. I realize I cannot turn back the past. But you must grasp this as well. I behaved as I felt was best for the pack. I— "

"What was good for the pack?" I spat and tightened my fists. "You didn't turn me down for the pack, Darius. You turned me aside as you were too frail to challenge Selene. You thought her lies covered over those of your own mate.

His face contorted in agony, and for a split second I caught sight of the man I had once loved—vulnerable, regretful. I , however, let myself pity him. Not right now. not following everything around.

"You're right," he said gently, his voice hardly audible. I was feeble. I let her play with me. I let terror rule me.

My heart thumping in my chest, I looked at him. Although honest as it was, his acknowledgment did not alter the past. But it caused me to stop, just momentarily.

Could he really come to regret what he had done? Could he be able to atone?

Not exactly, I refused to let myself go into that trap once more. Not when Kael was on protection. Not while the pack still showed the marks of his treachery.

"You're too late, Darius," I answered, my voice calm but determined. "You rejected a different girl than me. Your apology is not what I need. I also absolutely do not need you.

Turning to go, our talk weighed heavily on my shoulders. But Darius's words halted me as I moved first away.

He said, "Elara, wait," and I could detect his urgency in tone. " kindly... I do not want you to leave.

I stopped; my back stayed pointed to him. One of me wanted to go, to walk away and never turn around. Still, another side of me—that which had once loved him— urged me to stay. to hear him out. To find out whether anything remained worth saving.

But before I could decide, a sharp howl sliced through the night air, shoving cold down my spine. It lacked the howl of any typical wolf. This was yet another, darker thing.

Darius stood stiffly next to me, his eyes ablaze with panic. That is not one of ours.

My blood seemed to have frozen. I had heard that wail before. The Clan Shadow Shadow.

Darius grasped for my arm and murmured, "We have to go," his voice sharp. I turned away from him though.

"I'm not going anywhere with you," I said, but as the howling became closer dread seized me.

With a sobering look, Darius added, "Elara, this isn't about us anymore." "They arrive for the pack. They won't stop either until they have wrecked everything.

I hesitated, caught between my want to see the pack—my former home—suffer for what it had done to me and my impulse to defend myself. But I knew I couldn't allow innocent wolves to pay victim to the Shadow Clan's anger as the howls rang over the night, growing louder and more threatening.

I nodded after a long inhale. "Fine." Not that I have forgiven you, though.

Darius nodded curtly, his visage stern as we both headed toward the howling source. Whatever resentment we harbored or suffering we carried would have to wait. Because something considerably darker was approaching each of us.

I couldn't get rid of the impression that this was merely the beginning as we fled the woodland and the shadows closed in all around us. Secrets and threats that would split our planet were about to resurface from the history we had so fiercely attempted to bury.

And I knew that whatever came next would be a fight for more than just retribution as the first glimpse of the Shadow Clan's evil troops emerged on the horizon. It would be an effort at survival.