POV: Elara
And then it disappeared, leaving only warmth behind, as if the flame had curled up inside me like a secret.
But secrets always burned when held too long.
The next day began cold, both in the air and in the way Kael looked through me like I wasn't there.
He didn't call me. He didn't talk. And when I saw him at the edge of the training ground, his eyes were locked on someone else.
Seraphina.
She stood beside him in her usual silver-laced armor, tossing her long braid behind her shoulder like she belonged there, like she still owned a part of him I never could. She laughed softly at something he said.
He didn't laugh back, but he didn't walk away either.
I stood behind one of the columns, unseen in the darkness. My stomach twisted.
So that was what I was now?
A spark he didn't understand.
A flame he feared.
But her? She was traditional. Pureblood. Noble. Everything the court accepted.
And me?
A living mess. Half wolf. Half something else. With marks still deepening on my ribs and a fire I couldn't control sleeping beneath my skin.
Kael turned suddenly, eyes searching the courtyard, almost like he felt me watching.
I ducked behind the column too fast, putting my hand to my chest.
I didn't wait to see if he followed.
Because deep down… I already knew he wouldn't.
That night, sleep didn't come easily.
The cold stone pressed into my back, and the flickering light barely chased the shadows from the corners.
But finally, I drifted and fell into a nightmare that felt all too real.
It started with the sound of chains.
And then my mother's scream.
I turned in the dark, running barefoot across the dreamscape of the Mooncrest woods. Trees bled red leaves. The sky pulsed like a wound.
I found her in the clearing, on her knees, metal cuffs around her wrists, elders standing over her in judgment.
"She hid it," one snarled. "She knew what the child would become."
"She defied the laws," another said. "Mixed bloodlines. Broke the circle."
My mother looked up at me. Her eyes were bright, sparkling.
"Elara," she said, reaching for me. "Run, "
And then they dragged her into the earth.
Screaming.
Burning.
Gone.
I woke with a jolt, sweat sticking to my skin, the air thick with heat.
My palm was glowing again.
I sat outside my room for air. The castle was still half-asleep, staff slowly rising, the rooms quiet. I pulled my knees to my chest, trying to breathe through the ache in my chest.
Footsteps echoed down the hallway.
I didn't look up.
Not until the footsteps stopped right in front of me.
"Well, well," said a voice I hadn't heard in weeks.
Familiar. Cruel. Mocking.
"Miss me? "
My eyes snapped up.
Luca.
Dressed in shiny black and green, his blond hair perfectly in place, and his emerald eyes gleaming with amusement.
"W-what are you doing here? " I forced the words out, scrambling to my feet.
He smiled like a fox. "You didn't hear? I've returned from my foreign trip. Representing the southern packs."
"You're not welcome here."
"Hmm. The King disagrees. I'm a prince, remember? We can't just throw those around."
I stepped back, but he moved closer.
"You look different," he whispered, eyes scanning my face. "Less fragile. Less obedient."
"Maybe because I'm not yours to break anymore," I snapped.
He chuckled. "Oh, Elara. Don't act like we didn't share something real. I was your mate."
"You rejected me."
"I made a mistake," he said easily. "One I intend to fix."
I glared at him. "You sold me like property. I was nothing to you."
"Wrong." His voice dropped. "You were everything. That's why I worried. That's why I gave you away. Because I was weak."
"And now you want me back? Why? Because of what I might be? "
He smiled again, and it was empty. Cold.
"Let's just say… whispers move fast. Half wolf. Half… something else."
"You don't know anything."
"I know enough. Enough to realize the power you hold. And I want it beside me, not against me."
I pushed past him.
He caught my arm.
"Don't touch me! " I shouted.
He pulled me close, holding my chin between his fingers.
"You were mine first," he whispered. "And you will be again."
Behind us, the air changed. A shadow moved near the doorway.
Luca's hand stilled.
Slowly, he turned his head.
Kael stood at the end of the hallway, totally still, his face unreadable, but his eyes were darker than I had ever seen them.
Jealousy.
It radiated from him like a spark.
Luca released me, grinning as he stepped back.
"Alpha King," he greeted. "Didn't see you there."
Kael said nothing.
Not a word.
Not even a bark.
He stared at Luca like he was already imagining breaking every bone in his body, but he didn't move.
Didn't claim me.
Didn't say anything.
Luca gave me a final glance and walked away, totally unbothered.
I stood there, shaking.
And Kael? He just turned and walked in the opposite direction.
I stared at the empty hallway where he disappeared, my heart torn in two, and behind me, Luca's voice repeated once more, so soft, so certain.
"You'll see, Elara. He might be King... but I'll always be your first."
His voice faded into the shadows, but the chill it left behind stuck to my skin like frost. I stood there frozen, not from fear, but from the war raging inside me.
Luca's touch still stayed on my jaw like a mark.
Kael's silence… stung more than any slap.
He saw… he saw Luca touch me, corner me, and he turned away.
I should've been angry.
I was angry, but not just at Kael.
At myself.
For letting either of them hold any part of me after everything. After being rejected, shamed, tossed to a monster… only to find maybe the monster wasn't Kael at all.
Maybe it was the man who smiled as he sold me.
Maybe it was the girl who still wanted to believe he once loved her.
I swallowed back the heat burning my throat. Not fire. Shame.
"I'm not yours," I whispered into the empty hall, voice shaking. "Not anymore."
But even as I said it, my heart clenched.
Because part of me knew, I didn't just say it for Luca.
I said it for Kael, too.
I backed into the stone wall, slid down until my knees hit the floor. My chest ached. My ribs still throbbed from Nerissa's attack days ago. My dreams were haunted. My wolf was quiet.
And now both men who once claimed me were turning me into a prize to be won or dumped.
Was there anyone here who truly saw me?
Not the dragon.
Not the maid.
Not the threat.
Just… Elara.
The wind howled outside the castle walls. It sounded like the cry of something ancient, something that once had wings and fire, now buried beneath ages of silence.
Maybe I was just like it.
Buried. Forgotten.
Until now. I wiped the tears from my face with the back of my hand. The mark on my palm, once dull, flickered again. Just for a second, but I felt it.
I wasn't done. Not even close, and if Kael and Luca wanted to play kings with my heart, they'd soon learn…
I wasn't made to be held, I was made to burn.