CHAPTER TEN
1840 Words
I had no idea how long we slept tangled in each other’s arms, but I didn’t want it to end. Because the warmth of Thorne’s arms felt so much like home… peaceful and safe.
It gave me a comfort I’ve not felt for a long time now.
And I wished it would last forever.
Until a sharp and loud knock came on the door.
I jolted awake, my heart slamming against my ribs.
Oh god.
“Elara?” Aiden’s voice carried through the door. “Are you awake?”
Beside me, Thorne’s eyes flew open. We stared at each other, both frozen in pure panic.
“Little sister?” Liam now. “We need to talk to you about the festival.”
“Just a second!” I called back and cleared my throat when I realized that my voice was too high and even I could hear the panic in it. “I’m… I’m not dressed!”
Thorne rolled out of the bed so fast I feared that he might fall and hit his head on something but he didn’t…thankfully.
He grabbed his clothes from where they’d been scattered across the floor, jerking them on with quick movements and steady hands, despite the obvious fear in his eyes.
I pointed frantically at the closet and he slipped inside just as the doorknob started to turn.
“Don’t come in!” I lunged for the door, pressing my weight against it. “I’m naked!”
The door stopped moving.
“Okay, okay.” Aiden sounded amused. “We’ll wait out here. But hurry up. The festival planner is downstairs, and Mother wants you to help choose the venue decorations.”
“I’ll be down in five minutes!”
“Make it ten,” Liam added. “You sound like you just woke up.”
Their footsteps retreated down the hallway, and I sagged against the door, my heart still racing.
That was f*****g close. I really need to start locking my door more.
The closet door opened and Thorne stepped out, fully dressed now, his expression thunderous.
“This is insane,” he whispered. “This is exactly why we can’t do this. Do you understand how close that was? If they’d walked in, if they’d found me here…”
“I know.”
“No, I don’t think you do.” He ran both hands through his hair, that gesture I’d come to recognize as pure frustration. “They would’ve killed me, Elara. Right here in your room. Your brothers would’ve ripped me apart without a second thought.”
“But they didn’t find you.” I wrapped my arms around myself, suddenly very aware that I was still naked under the thin sheet I’d grabbed. “You’re fine.”
“This time.” He moved to the window, checking to make sure the hallway outside was clear. “But we can’t do this again. We can’t risk…”
“I know.” The words came out sharper than I meant. “Trust me, I get it. This was a mistake. You’ve made that abundantly clear.”
He turned to look at me, and I saw pain flash across his eyes. “That’s not what I…”
“Save it.” I moved to my dresser, pulling out clothes without really looking at them. “You need to go. I have a meeting downstairs.”
I didn’t want to look at him or continue this conversation. My hands were shaking, my whole body trembling and I was dangerously close to sobbing.
“Elara…”
“You want to stay away from me?” I spun to face him, and I hated the way my voice shook. “Then stay away, and stop confusing me. Stay totally away. Stop climbing through my window in the middle of the night. Stop kissing me and touching me and telling me you can’t help yourself. You are messing with my head and I hate it so stop!”
“I’m not trying to—”
“Yes, you are.” Tears burned behind my eyes, but I wouldn’t let them fall. “You keep saying one thing and doing another. You tell me we can’t be together, that it’s too dangerous, that you won’t risk your life for this bond. And then you show up in my room in the middle of the night begging for the same thing you swear would destroy you. You are sounding like a f*****g broken record. Yes, No. Yes, No. Which one is it? Make a choice and f*****g stick with it.”
“Do you think this is easy for me?”
“All I think is that you’re a coward.” I knew the words were cruel but I couldn’t get myself to care. “A coward who is too scared to fight or stand for what he actually wants. So you settle for taking what you want in the dark and then run away when the sun comes up.”
“That’s not fair.”
“None of this is fair.” I grabbed a robe, wrapping it around myself with shaking hands. “But at least I’m honest about what I want. So get this into that thick skull of yours…I will be damned if I will let you keep treating me like your dirty little secret and I will be double damned if I keep on begging you to acknowledge what we have.”
Thorne’s face twisted with something I didn’t care to pinpoint, and his shoulders sagged. “I’m sorry, Elara. You are right. I’m a coward and you don’t deserve me messing with your head this way.”
“Then just go and leave me alone!”
He moved to the window, ready to climb back out the way he came. “I won’t come to your room again. Won’t touch you, won’t kiss you. I’ll keep my distance like I should’ve done from the beginning. I know you are angry but at the end of the day you will see that it was all for your own good.”
He paused at the window, looking back at me one last time. The expression on his face was so broken, so full of longing and regret, that my chest physically ached.
“For what it’s worth,” he said softly, “last night wasn’t a mistake. It was the best night of my life. And I’ll regret walking away from you for the rest of mine.”
Then he was gone, disappearing over the balcony like he’d never been there at all.
I stood there for a long moment, staring at the empty window. Then I got dressed mechanically, my mind numb.
This was what I wanted, wasn’t it? For him to make a choice and stick with it. For the confusion and mixed signals to stop.
So why did it feel like my heart was being ripped out of my chest?
-----
By the time I made it downstairs, I’d managed to pull myself together. Mostly.
The sitting room was already full. Aiden and Liam sat on one of the couches, going through what looked like budget spreadsheets. A woman I didn’t recognize—the festival planner, probably—was setting up fabric samples and decoration mockups on the coffee table.
And my mother sat in the center of it all, looking regal and beautiful in a deep blue dress that matched her eyes.
“There she is.” She smiled when she saw me, patting the seat beside her on the loveseat. “Come sit, darling. We have so much to discuss.”
I took the offered seat, and immediately her hand found mine. She squeezed gently, her thumb brushing across my knuckles in a gesture that was so maternal it made my throat tight.
“This is Vivian,” she said, gesturing to the planner. “She’s organized every major festival in Silverwood for the last twenty years. She’ll help bring your vision to life.”
“Your Highness.” Vivian bowed slightly. “I have to say, this is such a wonderful idea. The pack will be thrilled.”
“I hope so.” I tried to focus on the fabric samples, on the sketches of potential booth layouts, but my mind kept drifting. To Thorne. To the look on his face when he’d left.
“Elara?” My mother’s hand squeezed mine again. “Are you alright? You seem distracted.”
“I’m fine. Just tired.”
“We kept her up late going over some boring political matters,” Liam lied smoothly. “My fault. I got carried away with planning.”
Mother’s expression softened. “Well, try to pay attention now, sweetheart. This is your festival. You should have a say in how it looks.”
We spent the next hour going through options. Vivian was efficient and creative, offering suggestions while still deferring to my preferences. Aiden and Liam contributed ideas about security and crowd management.
And my mother never let go of my hand.
She kept touching me—brushing hair from my face, adjusting my collar, squeezing my fingers. Like she needed the physical contact to confirm I was real. That I was actually here.
“I think the white and gold color scheme would be lovely,” she said, holding up two fabric swatches. “It gives this elegant and warm feeling, you know?”
“I like it.” I did, actually. It was beautiful without being ostentatious.
“Your father would’ve loved this, you know.” She smiled. “He always said a true leader serves their people, not the other way around. He would’ve been so proud of you, Elara. Thinking of the Omegas, wanting to help those who have less. You’re just like him.”
Something cracked in my chest. “I never got to meet him.”
“No.” Tears shimmered in her eyes. “He died before—before you were taken. But he held you once, right after you were born. And he said you were going to change the world.” She cupped my face, her touch gentle. “From the looks of it, he was right.”
I couldn’t speak through the emotion clogging my throat.
“I’m so proud of you.” She pulled me into a hug, and I let myself sink into it, burying my face in her neck. “So incredibly proud. And I’m so grateful to have you home.”
“I’m glad I’m here too.” The words surprised me because they were true. Despite everything—the confusion, the impossible rules, the heartbreak—I was glad.
This was my family. My real family. And they loved me.
That had to be enough.
Even if my heart was breaking into pieces I didn’t know how to put back together, because of a man I barely knew.
- Writer
