Fated To You

Chapter 3 FRACTURED ALPHA

Alpha Kael Thorne, bearing his fangs and with great effort, even if he was feeling sore in the mouth, stood at the northern frontier of the Nightshade Pack.

The usual shady dealings among the animals, like the constant buzzing of the insects and chirping of the birds, had vanished, and a certain tension pervaded the atmosphere like a dense fog. He breathed in and out, the smell of pine trees being very strong and the scent ensuring he wouldn't lose his balance, but it didn’t help the hurricane inside him.

Elara was the one.

His brain was drenched with her name as if it were a heart with an unquenchable beat.

Five days had passed since the Blood Moon. It was five days since Kael had pronounced those words which became a nightmare for him.

I don’t take you next.

He could not get rid of her smell in his dreams every night that passed since their separation. He saw her face every time he shut his eyes. What made things even worse was that the cord—the one that connected them—was still pulling at his spirit like a place that would not heal and keep bleeding.

He Imagined that the turn down would be liberating.

It was not so.

Rather, it splintered and disturbed something very important inside him.

“Alpha.”

Kael flicked his head to see Beta Ryker drawing near, worry written on his face. “The counsel is on hold,” he said. “We have reports from the southern patrols. Another rogue sighting.”

Kael gave a single nod, letting out the breath he had been holding. “Let’s go.”

As they moved back to where the pack hall was located, the heavy burden of the leadership was on Kael like a second skin. He was conditioned to be a decision-maker. However, rejecting Elara—he had not been distant and consequently not strong; he had rather been a coward with fear as his ally.

And now, fear was spreading in the pack.

The elders were already in the council chamber. On the war table were the maps laid out. Mistress Ailith, the old healer, looked at Kael with alertness when he came in.

“Another rogue raid,” she stated. “Third this week. They’re coming in organized waves now. This is not coincidence.”

Ryker made a sound of agreement. “It’s as if they are hunting.”

Kael’s teeth gritted. “Hunting what?”

One moment of silence ensued.

Then, soon after, an elder said, “Us, of course they are hunting.”

Fists were formed from Kael’s hands. “We won’t let that happen. They will pay for every brother and sister. How many rogues were there?”

“The latest one can’t be over five at least even if they do not come in a small group.”

“Let them come the rogues!” shouted Kael, and for a brief instant, he seemed the old Kael full of confidence gained from the shout and firmness. But the next moment, all that was there was the tired Kael who just rejected his soulmate.

The rest were also taken aback, but they did not hold back

Elara had experienced it previously before the creature’s sight.

A spine-chilling feeling. A faint movement.

She rotated in the darkness and acted as if she were roasting her fireless camp. Her vision sharpened, her senses heightened—then she perceived the sound of twigs breaking behind her.

At that moment, she jumped away right when the animal sprung out.

It wasn’t a wolf. Not completely.

It was enormous, large, and the color of gray in variegated shades with deformed limbs. A dark sorcery-affected creature with its fur in bad condition, glowing red-eyed and all.

It let out a roar.

She went through a roll, her heart racing, and hid behind a tree.

The monster ran at her.

Her instincts were at their peak. The sign was throbbing.

She didn’t think twice, she raised her hands—and once more, the light appeared.

Silver. Dazzling.

It erupted out of her hands and hit the rogue right in its chest.

The monster wailed—an inhuman, deforming sound—and it was knocked back.

But it still didn’t collapse.

It happened to spring forward again.

Elara was taken by her breath. There was no weapon for her. She had no strength left. She was edging back towards a precipitous slope, her feet sliding in the moist leaves.

Her death was certain now.

The outlaw was drawing back, prepared to leap—

—and suddenly Kael struck it from the side like a lightning bolt.

The sign on Kael’s chest—the one imprinted by the Moonstone when he had taken the oath of the Alpha—was faintly glowing. He recognized that feeling. Had it during the Blood Moon.

Elara.

He swiveled to the council. “Border patrols to be doubled. No one is to leave in pairs. I want two scouts on the east.”

Ailith was scrutinizing him. “And what about the girl?”

Kael’s gaze became firmer. “She took her decision.”

However, the words felt like ashy residue.

Kael was that night on the roof of the packhouse gazing at the moon. The silver light was being cast off the moon by the clouds that were always moving over the moon. Underneath his skin, his wolf was restless and stirred.

He hadn’t transformed for days.

Not since the night he had first met her again in the woods.

Not since she had turned a rogue into smoke with her power burst that shouldn’t have existed.

He still experienced the intense sensation of it—overpowering, raw, similar to lightning.

It had profoundly affected him.

And the fear it brought him was greater than the fear of any rogue.

Because inwardly, Kael was aware that *she was transforming.*

Not in a slow manner.

It was quick.

The curse they had all been talking about in hushed tones was not a curse. It was something ancient. A pack the pack was not prepared to grasp. And perhaps… something that he had been too much of a coward to confront.

He was still gazing at the moon when the siren went off.

A distinct, piercing sound.

And then, another.

His wolf form met the other animal, and his teeth sank in deep. They were rolling on the ground, growling and biting. The trees were drenched with blood.

Kael’s fury was savage. But still, he controlled it. It was deadly.

He indulged in the rogue with such force, tearing it into pieces. The beast let out one last shriek before becoming a heap of ashes and charred fur.

Elara was motionless.

Kael gradually changed, his breath coming in gasps. His torso was covered with blood, and the cuts on his arms were already healing.

He looked at her.

There were no words exchanged between them.

Then, Kael moved closer, to the point where he could get her scent—wild roses and storm air.

“You have a wound,” he told her.

Her eyes opened wide. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“I came because your life was in danger.”

“I had it all under control.”

“You did not.”

Elara had rapid breaths. Their bond was vibrating softly but firmly, painfully.

“I have told you,” she said in a low voice, “I do not require your protection.”

Kael’s gaze enveloped her for a long time. “Perhaps not. But I definitely need yours.”

The last sentence caught her by surprise.

“What?”

“I witnessed your act. That illumination. That force.” He lowered his voice. “The pack does not recognize your true identity. But I believe you are the only one who can prevent the storm that is coming.”

Elara shook her head. “You turned me down. You called me cursed.”

“I made a mistake.”

The silence was long between them.

Then Kael added, albeit in a low tone, “Besides, the rogue isn’t the only reason I’m here. The bond… it still exists. I can still feel it.”

Elara retreated a bit, her heart beating fast. “Don’t.”

He made a move towards her.

“Don’t,” she countered, her voice very weak. “You cannot possibly harm me and then rely on my trust.”

“I do not have any such expectation. Nonetheless, if you return, we can work on the problem at hand together.”

She fixed her eyes on him.

One part of her was ready to yell, while the other part was leaning towards the idea of hugging him.

But she chose to say instead:

“Then do not behave like my Alpha anymore. I am no longer a member of your pack.”

And then she turned and was gone among the trees.

Kael stayed put.

However, the intensity of his gaze lingered with

her long after the forest had claimed her.

The darkness behind her had, yet again, shifted.

The burst of light had been seen by something else.

Something much older… and much darker.