Chapter 3
1077 Words
Kael Thorn’s POV
The treaty celebration was in full swing.
Warriors lined up at the pack gates, and families gathered. Allies arrived one after another, and everyone was dressed in their finest.
The Silverhollow Pack looked perfect on the outside, but not me.
I stood in front of our guests, shaking hands, nodding politely, wearing the fake smile I’d mastered over the years.
However, inside, something was boiling. It started as a pressure in my chest.By midday, it was more like a storm.
My wolf, Narcisse, wouldn’t stop pacing. I could feel him scratching at the edges of my mind, growling like he wanted to break free.
He was angry, and I knew why.
‘Stop,’ I told him through the bond. ‘Not now.’
‘You feel it too,’ he growled back. ‘Something’s wrong.’
I already knew it was about Elara, the mate I rejected, the one I refused to claim.
She’d been in my head all day, and it wasn’t just guilt anymore, it was something else. Something urgent and hollow.
‘You should’ve claimed her when you had the chance,’ Narcisse snapped.
I didn’t answer him, what could I say?
I had convinced myself I made the right decision, because Elara Quinn had killed my uncle during her first shift, she’d torn him apart.
Sure, she claimed it was self-defense, and yeah, deep down I knew my uncle had done things he shouldn’t have. But he was still blood. An Alpha-blooded warrior, respected, and feared.
His death turned the whole pack against her, they needed someone to blame, and Elara became the target.
So I walked away from her, I rejected her in public.
She was just a broken girl in dirty clothes, barely tolerated by the pack. And I was the future Alpha, I had duties, a pack to lead and a reputation to protect.
I was supposed to be with Nyla Voss, daughter of our strongest ally. She is smart, polished, and perfect on paper.
But that didn’t stop me from dreaming about Elara.
Every time I touched Nyla, I imagined Elara. Her stubborn jaw, her fierce eyes, her quiet strength. Even after I rejected her, she stayed in my thoughts.
I hated it, I hated her, or at least I tried to.
But then, it hit me. A sharp pain to the chest, like claws raking across my heart. I stumbled back from the crowd, clutching my ribs.
“Narcisse, what is this?!”
He was howling in my head, curled in pain. I could barely hear him.
And then he said it.
‘She accepted the rejection.’
“What?” I was stunned.
‘She let you go,’ he whispered. ‘She let us go.’
I sank into a chair behind the pack hall, feeling like the ground had vanished under me.
She was supposed to wait, and to fight. To believe there was still hope between us.
I thought I had time, I thought I could choose her later, when it was easier.
But now, she was gone. The bond between us snapped.
The pain was unbearable. I doubled over, growling, my fists clenched until my knuckles turned white. My breath came in short, panicked gasps.
No, she wasn’t supposed to leave me. I slammed my fist into the stone wall beside me, cracking it.
“She can’t do this,” I whispered, but she already had.
I stood abruptly and reached out through the mind-link. “Guards, release Elara Quinn from the dungeon. Now!”
There was no answer.
“This is an order, where is she?”
There was silence, a cold chill settled over me. Something was very wrong.
I raced toward the dungeons, when I got there, two guards were standing awkwardly near the gate, eyes wide.
They didn’t even greet me.
“Where is she?” I barked.
The younger one swallowed hard. “Alpha… there was an incident.”
I didn’t wait.
I shoved past them and stormed down the corridor, every step echoing. The air was thick with the smell of blood. When I reached her cell, my breath caught.
The door, gone. Ripped off its hinges like paper.
Silver bars twisted and mangled, blood on the walls. Torn clothing on the floor, and near the hallway, two warriors were dragging out mangled corpses, ripped apart like prey.
“What the hell happened here?!” I roared.
A senior guard limped over, his lip was busted, and his hands shook.
“The Lycan King came, Alpha, he took her.”
“What do you mean took her?” I grabbed him by the collar, fury erupting in my veins.
“The guards, they tried to, he found out they…” The man choked on his words.
“Tried to what?” My voice dropped. It was more dangerous that way.
“They tried to hurt her, Alpha, the King killed them. All of them.”
I dropped him.
My vision pulsed with red, she’d been assaulted. My mate, and I wasn’t there to protect her. I should’ve been the one to rip their throats out.
I stormed out of the dungeon and mind linked every hospital guard.
One answered. “She’s in recovery, Alpha. The King left her in our care.”
I ran.
I didn’t speak to anyone, and hardly breathe. I just ran until I burst into the hospital, pushing past doctors and nurses, ignoring their shouts.
When I reached her room, I stopped dead.
Elara lay on the hospital bed like a fallen angel, hooked up to IVs.
Machines beeped slowly beside her as her body was pale and bruised. Her cheek was swollen, and her lips cracked. She was too thin, too fragile.
But even like this, she was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.
I moved closer, heart pounding. I knelt beside the bed and reached out, brushing my fingers against her cheek.
A spark of warmth tingled down my fingers and Narcisse stirred.
Even now, after everything, I could feel the mate bond trying to heal.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
My voice cracked.
I leaned down and kissed her forehead, just lightly. Her skin was cold and I wanted to hold her, protect her, and beg her to wake up.
But then, I felt a presence behind me, someone else had entered the room.
I stood and turned slowly, eyes narrowing, and then came the voice.
“What happened to her?”
- Writer
