The Rejected Mate’s Return

Chapter 3: Wolfless No More

Dorian's fist flew straight at her face.

Elara ducked. Barely. His knuckles grazed her ear, and the wind of the blow stung her cheek.

"Too slow," he growled.

His knee slammed into her ribs, and she crashed onto the frozen ground. Twenty Silverfang warriors watched from the edge of the field, arms crossed, faces cold.

"Get up, Blackthorn reject," Dorian said. "Or crawl back to the Alpha who threw you away."

Elara spat blood into the snow.

Crawl back.

She remembered the guards dragging her through the hall. Selene's smile. The way Damon's eyes had flickered, then turned to ice.

She got up.

Dorian knocked her down again. She got up again.

By the fifth time, her lip was split and her back was bleeding through her bandages. Kane stood by the stone wall with his jaw locked, and she could see he wanted to stop it.

"Enough," he said.

"No." Elara wiped her mouth and raised her fists. "Again."

Dorian sneered and charged.

And something inside her snapped open.

Heat roared through her chest. The world turned sharp and silver. She heard his heartbeat, smelled his surprise, and saw his fist coming in slow motion.

She caught it.

One hand. Easily.

Dorian's eyes went wide. He pulled, and couldn't break free.

A voice whispered inside her head, deep and ancient.

Finally.

Elara gasped. "Who...?"

Don't fight me, little one. I have waited twenty years.

Her wolf.

She was awake.

Silver light poured over Elara's skin, racing up her arm like lightning. She twisted, and Dorian flew across the field and hit the stone wall hard enough to c***k it.

Dead silence.

Then, one by one, the warriors dropped to one knee.

Elara stared at her glowing hands. She could feel the wolf inside her, enormous and furious and hers.

They fear us now, it purred.

"I don't want them to fear me," she whispered.

Then what do you want?

Her eyes lifted, glowing pale blue. "I want to know who locked you away."

The wolf laughed, a low, dark sound. Then let me show you.

Pain split her skull.

A memory crashed through her mind. She was a baby, wrapped in a blanket, and a woman's hands glowed green above her face. The hands pressed against her forehead, and everything went dark.

Elara screamed.

Kane caught her before she hit the ground. "Elara! What did you see?"

She clutched his sleeve, shaking. "The woman who sealed my wolf. I saw her face."

"Who?"

Before she could answer, the gates crashed open. A bloodied warrior stumbled in, gasping for breath.

"Alpha! Blackthorn's army is at our border!"

Kane's face turned to stone. "Who leads them?"

The warrior's eyes slid to Elara.

"Alpha Damon himself. He says she stole from his pack. If we don't hand her over by sunrise, he'll burn Silverfang to the ground."

Elara's blood ran cold.

Damon. Coming for me.

Her wolf growled in her mind. Good. Let him come.

But she barely heard it. The face from her memory was still burning behind her eyes, gentle, lined, familiar.

"Kane," she whispered. "It was Mara."

He went rigid. "My healer?"

"She sealed me. I saw her." Elara's voice shook. "She used to serve in Blackthorn. She left the year I was born."

"Mara has served Silverfang for ten years," Kane said slowly. "She has treated you for four days."

The warrior's face drained of color.

"She's been inside the stronghold the whole time," Elara breathed. "Watching me. Reporting to someone."

"Dorian!" Kane roared. "Lock down every gate! Find Mara, now!"

The warriors scattered. Elara pushed herself up, ignoring the dizziness.

"I'm coming with you."

"You're not ready."

"I don't care." Her wolf pulsed beneath her ribs, hungry and sure. "She took twenty years from me. I'm not letting her run."

Kane held her gaze for one long second. Then he nodded.

They ran for the healer's chambers.

The door hung open. The room was empty, the shelves swept bare, the bed stripped. A single candle still burned on the table, and beneath it sat a folded note.

Elara snatched it up. Her hands shook as she read the three lines inside.

You are not the only one who survived that night.

Ask your Alpha what he did twenty years ago.

Ask him why he never told you.

Elara slowly lifted her eyes.

Kane stood very still, his face unreadable.

And from the mountain border, a war horn began to sound.